Calling all Chocolate Chefs

Hey, 'Burghers! Got a great recipe that includes chocolate? WQED is holding their next cooking marathon in honor of the greatest food on Earth - ChOcOlAtE!

Recipes will be reviewed and put into the station's newest cookbook C is for Chocolate. Also the best recipes will be demonstrated - along with the chef who sent it in - live on the air Saturday, November 21st.

Be sure to get your entries in by November 10 to be considered for the book. Also indicate if you'd be willing to create your chocolate masterpiece on air on the 21st.



Sounds like a good idea to me!

A Complete 180

When most people think of Resse's, it's a pretty safe bet that people think of peanut butter cups. There's also Resse's Pieces, small M&M-like candy - minus the chocolate. Although, Reese's is a Hershey's brand, while M&Ms comes from Mars.

Well, Resse's has come out with a new peanut butter treat: Reese'e Select Cremes. These are square treats with smooth, creamy peanut butter inside a chocolate shell. While you may be thinking it's just a peanut butter cup in a different shape, think of it as the peanut butter cup being a Toyota and the Creme as a Lexus - one step up.

In my professional chocolate opinion, these are much better than the peanut butter cups (although, my dad would disagree). The peanut butter is creamier, not as dry and the chocolate isn't so waxy.

These are perfect for a chocolate emergency; although, I'm willing to bet I could easily put away 10 of these in one sitting!

A Healthy and Yummy Snack

My treat for this evening is Yoplait Delights Chocolate Raspberry yogurt. This yogurt is low fat and only 100 calories. Yes, please!

It could easily be mistaken for pudding with just its appearance. But the taste is still distinctly yogurt. Chocolate on the bottom and a sweet raspberry flavor on top. The chocolate on bottom isn't distinctly milk or dark. Personally, I'd like it to be a little bit darker to offset the sweet raspberry. Also, the chocolate is not a super rich taste. But for low fat, low calorie sweet treat - gets the thumbs up.



Yoplait also offers the Delights in Triple Berry Creme, Creme Caramel, and Lemon Torte. Pretty tempting. Very enjoyable for a guilt-free chocolate treat.

Reason #344 Why I Hate the English Language

Today at work someone asked the correct spelling of the plural form of the word bus. We all looked at each other and shrugged. One s or two? We all thought one. Mind you, we are a group of teachers.

So we pull out good 'ol Webster's Dictionary for a consultation. Turns out either one is correct. According to Webster's, Buses and busses are both correct plural forms of bus.

AAAARRRG!


*** however, when I run the Blogger spellchecker, it tells me that busses is misspelled. humph.

The Devil Wears Orange

It's hard to believe, but my little Benjamin Roscoe is almost 6 months old. They grow up so fast. ::tear:: In the 5 months that he's owned me, he has taken over the apartment completely.

He tries to attack/jump on/play with/bite Riley (Brittany's 2 year old cat). And he tries to attack the water in the toilet when you flush. He's fallen in once. He knocked Brittany's computer off the counter causing her to lose everything on her hard drive. Every morning when we wake up, or when we come home from work, it looks like our apartment has been broken into. The movies are knocked off the stand, all the coasters are pushed off the end table, and the trash can is usually on its side.


Benjamin eats trash. Benjamin eats a lot of things. So far the things (that I know of) that he has eaten include: paper towels, sour cream, cereal, potatoes, corn, a half a loaf of bread, french fries, spiders, garlic dipping sauce, shrimp, candle wax, and milk.

It's a good thing he's cute, because he sure is bad.

Bug Bites

My latest indulgence comes from 3 little squares I found at the grocery store. The brand is called Endangered Species Chocolate. Once again they are all natural and organic. I got one milk chocolate square, one dark chocolate square and the new Chimp Mint dark chocolate square.

Individually wrapped, the Bug Bites (milk and dark) chocolate comes with a little insert about an insect. Interesting to find inside, as I'm biting into my dark chocolate, I'm reading about the Fungus Beetle. The dark chocolate itself is very good. Although it doesn't say on the package, my guess is that it's at least 75% cacao. I can taste the bitter cocoa inside. The milk is a little sweeter and somewhat pleasant. The mint is that same base as the dark chocolate with a curiously strong mint taste. The only 2 ingredients are organic dark chocolate and organic peppermint oil.



Even more pleasing to me is what goes on behind the scenes. At http://www.chocolatebar.com/ visitors are not prompted to start shopping for chocolate (although that is an option) they are first prompted to learn more about endangered species and the innovation of the company. According to their website, "ESC confirms that all beans used in its products are purchased from small, family-owned properties where the income benefits the community. The company also donates 10-percent of net profits to help support species, habitat and humanity."

Going green and eating delicious, organic chocolate while helping out wildlife? Gotta be a big 10!

Small-Town Taste

I'm not sure what the first chocolate was that I have ever eaten. The first chocolate I remember eating is from a small (at the time), locally-owned shop called Sarris's.

Frank Sarris is a big, Greek man with a sweet tooth. He used to make chocolate out of his basement before opening up a shop. He tried and tried until he made the perfect chocolate recipe. Wanna know what he did with all the rejects? He buried them in his back yard. Boy wouldn't I like to take a shovel to that yard!

Now the shop is a block long in Canonsburg. The factory is right in the same building. There's an old-fashioned ice cream parlor as well. Before he made it big, Frank Sarris actually lived in the top floor of the building. Sarris chocolate is by far my favorite chocolate.

I could (and probably will) write a hundred other blog posts about Sarris but this one is dedicated to the Hard Cap Sundae. In the ice cream parlor, they serve over 30 flavors of homemade ice cream. Take that Baskin Robbins! There are close to 20 different toppings as well; but the one thing you must try is the Hard Cap Sundae. The topping is created with Sarris milk chocolate that is melted to the perfect temperature. When it is poured onto cold ice cream, it hardens just enough to create a shell, but still soft enough to melt in your mouth.



My favorite combination is mint chip with milk (or sometimes dark) chocolate hard cap. Top it off with a cookie stick and some homemade whipped cream and you've got the perfect indulgence.

Of course, it earns no less than a 10 out of 10 on the official Chocolate Emergency scale.