Chocolate Apprentice

Caramelized White Chocolate

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I first heard about caramelized white chocolate Last January, when I had the good fortune to attend the Ecole Chocolate Graduate Luncheon in San Francisco.  There, we were treated to samples of fabulous chocolates and bonbons, one of which was made with Valrhona’s “blonde chocolate”, Dulcey .

According to the company’s executive chef and director, Frederic Bau, Dulcey was created by mistake, after he left white chocolate in a bain marie. [Read more…]

Long Love and Commitment…and Chocolate

This weekend, I am heading off to a celebration of long-lasting love and commitment.  Two dear friends are celebrating their recent marriage after having been together for many years, and this to me makes it all the sweeter.  They are dear, caring, private people who have raised a beautiful child, and worked together through many health issues, and it is an honour to be part of their special day of celebration. [Read more…]

Summer Savours

I am having one of those sense memory experiences.

They seem to happen for me a great deal in summer.  It must be the warm air tickling my skin and nose hairs, and rustling up odors and sounds that hearken back to “Dayes of Olde”, as I have taken to calling my life before kids.

They range from

  • the sound of a float plane crossing a still, blue sky
  • the rustling of deciduous leaves in the afternoon heat
  • the musky odor of forest dirt, stirred up by a sneaker on a path
  • the blast of cruise ship whistles in the harbor (we have a lot of ‘em here in the summer) [Read more…]

Chocolate Macarons

I was leafing through the beautiful pages of a new chocolate book given to me by my thoughtful partner, over a cup of coffee, looking for inspiration and new chocolate challenges.  The photography in this book  is absolutely stunning, filled with pictures of impossibly tall, mouthwatering chocolate structures, but the picture of the dark chocolate macarons was what really got my salivary glands going. [Read more…]

Life, Love and Strawberry Ice Cream Sodas

I have been working every Sunday since September, with a group of teen acting students, on a play close to my heart:  Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.

The play is one of the most oft-produced in North American Theatre, and features some pretty big themes:  Life, Love and Death.  Not exactly a light-hearted farcical romp, this quietly moving play has demanded a great deal of commitment and maturity from our students – and I am proud to say – they have risen to the challenge. [Read more…]