Last Sunday, I started the day off with William Sonoma complimentary cooking class at Washington Square Mall. They hand you a nice 10% coupon as you walk in, along with a handout about the dish we will be focusing on. The delightful dish was pasta, which anyone can get cravings for in cold weather because you need something hearty, filling and usually meaty and cheesy. They passed around rustic cookbooks, defined pasta kinds (we were sad that macaroni was not important enough to get a definition), envied their pasta kitchen aid attachment and watched the food being made from the mirror above the stove. I was quite intrigued by the pasta that was folded into a coin shape and had writing on it.
We were allowed to try a standard bolognese with corkscrew pasta, which they had spiced using a rolling herb mincer. We also had a smoky spaghetti.
Check out the herb mincer
Thus, I embarked upon the new store for my fantasy kitchen. I bought a nine inch cake pan and my friend bought a shovel like thing for his wok. My boyfriend searched for a knife sharpener, but they were very expensive.
So that was my brunch. Then around noon I took the MAX for another adventure. My older sister and I went to the Portland Annual Chocolate Fest at the Convention Center around 1pm. As we entered they gave us bags for our purchases and with some coupons. What I didn’t realize, is that they give you a myriad of free samples, of chocolate that is. Wine was also plentiful along with sake and a nice chocolate martini from Leonidas with vodka and Baileys. The martini was free, but wine tastes were usually a dollar or two.
Some unique tastes that I either purchased or wished I could purchase:
-Pinot Noir dessert sauce from Euphoria chocolates= Tart like berries from the wine plus smooth and light chocolatey taste. They also make chocolate caramel clusters.
-Ladybug Chocolates= After tasting many caramels, this one knocked my socks off. The caramel is fresh and almost drippingly soft and buttery, covered with a robust milk chocolate that has just the right amount of fleur de sel. I believe she said something about it being apple smoked too.......
I also bought a chocolate covered twinkie for my mum’s birthday, and it has small pink and purple hearts on it.
-Coco tutti= Very unusual concoctions, including a cappucino truffle and a green spearmint marbled truffle that looks almost like that chocolate rock candy. My favorite of theirs was their ginger dark chocolate, after you take a bite, the ginger taste quickly strengthens in your mouth.
-Theo= Very mainstream and usually very expensive. But oh so good. I tried the highest percent of cocoa chocolate there which was around 80%. But I fell hard for one of their fantasy bars with fig, fennel and almonds. For only $3!
-Cocoa Velvet= lots of great flavor concoctions here. I bought some earl grey lavender treats. They also had one with pear cognac flavor and another with smokey whiskey flavor.
-Brownies from Heaven= Tried a taste of their blue cheese brownie which is a step up from the cream cheese brownie. It also possible to buy a bite of a brownie for $1, which was larger than my fist. I would’ve but by that time I was getting chocolated out.
-Tea Time Toffee= Don’t call them almond roca! I was told when having a taste. The nuts on top of the chocolate layer have a roasted flavor.
As for the wines, I retreated to my old favorite and bought a bottle of Hip Chicks’ Drop Dead Red
Most of them were decent but didn’t really blow me away. I did like HV Cellars’ plum fruit wine, which was nicely aerated and captured the slight earthiness of the plum. My sister tried the blackberry one too, which tasted like the pie!
We were allowed to try a standard bolognese with corkscrew pasta, which they had spiced using a rolling herb mincer. We also had a smoky spaghetti.
Check out the herb mincer
Thus, I embarked upon the new store for my fantasy kitchen. I bought a nine inch cake pan and my friend bought a shovel like thing for his wok. My boyfriend searched for a knife sharpener, but they were very expensive.
So that was my brunch. Then around noon I took the MAX for another adventure. My older sister and I went to the Portland Annual Chocolate Fest at the Convention Center around 1pm. As we entered they gave us bags for our purchases and with some coupons. What I didn’t realize, is that they give you a myriad of free samples, of chocolate that is. Wine was also plentiful along with sake and a nice chocolate martini from Leonidas with vodka and Baileys. The martini was free, but wine tastes were usually a dollar or two.
Some unique tastes that I either purchased or wished I could purchase:
-Pinot Noir dessert sauce from Euphoria chocolates= Tart like berries from the wine plus smooth and light chocolatey taste. They also make chocolate caramel clusters.
-Ladybug Chocolates= After tasting many caramels, this one knocked my socks off. The caramel is fresh and almost drippingly soft and buttery, covered with a robust milk chocolate that has just the right amount of fleur de sel. I believe she said something about it being apple smoked too.......
I also bought a chocolate covered twinkie for my mum’s birthday, and it has small pink and purple hearts on it.
-Coco tutti= Very unusual concoctions, including a cappucino truffle and a green spearmint marbled truffle that looks almost like that chocolate rock candy. My favorite of theirs was their ginger dark chocolate, after you take a bite, the ginger taste quickly strengthens in your mouth.
-Theo= Very mainstream and usually very expensive. But oh so good. I tried the highest percent of cocoa chocolate there which was around 80%. But I fell hard for one of their fantasy bars with fig, fennel and almonds. For only $3!
-Cocoa Velvet= lots of great flavor concoctions here. I bought some earl grey lavender treats. They also had one with pear cognac flavor and another with smokey whiskey flavor.
-Brownies from Heaven= Tried a taste of their blue cheese brownie which is a step up from the cream cheese brownie. It also possible to buy a bite of a brownie for $1, which was larger than my fist. I would’ve but by that time I was getting chocolated out.
-Tea Time Toffee= Don’t call them almond roca! I was told when having a taste. The nuts on top of the chocolate layer have a roasted flavor.
As for the wines, I retreated to my old favorite and bought a bottle of Hip Chicks’ Drop Dead Red
Most of them were decent but didn’t really blow me away. I did like HV Cellars’ plum fruit wine, which was nicely aerated and captured the slight earthiness of the plum. My sister tried the blackberry one too, which tasted like the pie!
No comments:
Post a Comment