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I've decided it's time to put all my culinary activity into one place. Please visit www.tammystastings.com for all the news about TT Supper Club, classes and workshops, private event catering, chocolates and more!

TT Supper Club

These days I've been focusing most of my culinary creativity on TT Supper Club, so I gave it its own home. Please check out the website for dinner reports and announcements, or to join my mailing list!

TT Supper Club #4

This past Saturday night I hosted a fundraising dinner for SELMA. Their weekly Friday morning breakfasts raise money for a variety of local organizations. This fundraiser was for SELMA itself, to cover capital expenditures (like dishes) that make serving breakfast to 100 people every Friday morning possible. The hosts of SELMA - Lisa Gottlieb and Jeff McCabe - were my assistant cooks for this dinner, and it was really great to spend the afternoon and evening getting to know them while cooking and serving with them. Their help was indispensable - Jeff spent at least 90 minutes cutting vegetables and assembling the most complicated ratatouille known to man, and Lisa came up with the innovative idea of molding individual tart shells over the outside of a tipped over muffin pan. Brilliant!

This was my most ambitious menu so far, I think, but fortunately everything went off without a hitch! Pictures and menu below. And the guest list was great - as usual, I wished I'd had more time to spend getting to know my diners! For more pictures and commentary on the meal, check out this blog post from guest Brian Steinberg.

	Bounty from the Farmer's Market waiting to be turned into dinner.
	Yellow Oyster Mushroom Tart This was the first time I'd seen the Michigan Mushroom people at the farmer's market in quite some time, so I had to add a mushroom course. Lisa not only figured out how to make the tart shells, but contributed some of her homemade farmer's cheese to the cause too! The pea shoots were contributed by diner Brian Steinberg's new business - Inchworm Microgreens.
	Heirloom Tomato and Mozzarella Napoleon with basil oil
	Carrot Soup with toasted pistachios, hazelnut oil and chives
	Mixed Greens with Roasted Fennel and Roasted Beets
	Baked Lake Trout with Confit Byaldi "Confit Byaldi" is the fancy name for "most complicated ratatouille known to man." It involves layers and layers of thinly sliced veggies, laid out in a beautiful spiral. I forgot to take a picture of the pre-cooking version, but you can see someone else's here. This is the dish that Remy the rat makes at the end of the movie Ratatouille, and the recipe is from Thomas Keller (of The French Laundry).
	Lamb Rib Chop with Summer Bean Cassoulet
	Sheep's Milk Gouda, Leonore, Constant Bliss, Bayley Hazen Blue garnished with pickled raisins, creamed honey and grape mostardo
	Panna Cotta with Poached Peaches and 10-yr aged balsamic vinegar
	Mignardises Peach pate de fruit, milk chocolate almond rochers, and a dark chocolate yuzu truffle

TT Supper Club #3

I had a fabulous time last night, cooking dinner for eight great diners. Together, we raised $240 for Growing Hope. *And* I even remembered to take pictures! That was probably because of how easy my amazing assistant cook made things for me. Dee was one of the diners at my very first dinner, and when she volunteered to be my assistant this time I jumped at the opportunity. She's an accomplished cook and hostess herself, running a B&B and catering weddings and parties at The Rooms at Grayfield. She made my job very easy, and was excellent company too.

I've got two dinners coming up, one on August 29 for SELMA, and one on September 12 for Doulas Care. These dinners are a little different, as the benefit organization is taking on the responsibility of filling the guest list, so all I have to do is cook! However, if you'd like to attend either of these dinners, just let me know and I'll put you in contact with the person managing those guest lists. The Doulas Care dinner will be $75, with $50 going to support Doulas Care. I'm not entirely sure of the pricing for the SELMA dinner yet, but I should have details soon - contact me for more information.

Now for some pictures from dinner #3!

	Bounty from the Farmer's Market waiting to be turned into dinner.
	Cauliflower Panna Cotta with Salmon Roe
	Sauteed Squash with their Blossoms and a little goat cheese and black pepper
	Corn Soup with Bacon silky smooth corn soup with corn kernels, crispy bacon and chives
	Salad of Heirloom Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella with basil oil and 40-yr balsamic vinegar dots
	Salmon-Dill-Potato Cake with Horseradish Mustard Sauce on a mixed green salad with lemon vinaigrette
	Pork Tenderloin with Peach Tomato Compote and Collard Greens and a salad of cherry tomatoes and peaches
	4 Corners Creamery Aged Goat Cheese, Marieke's Gouda, Gorgonzola garnished with spicy orange marmalade, pickled raisins, creamed honey and blueberries
	Flourless Chocolate Cake with Beet Ice Cream and a crispy beet chip

Report from TT Supper Club #2 and Date Announced for #3

The July version of TT Supper Club was just as much fun as the June version was. Many thanks to my 8 fabulous diners who contributed $200 to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. And an even bigger thanks to Mom's Kitchen who was my tireless assistant. I really can't thank her enough. MK administers the annarborfood mailing list and is one of the most recognized names in the Ann Arbor online foodie scene. We met a couple of years ago when she attended a chocolate truffle class I was teaching. She's got a particular interest in helping feed the poor, so when she heard about my Supper Club project, she offered to be my assistant if I was doing something along those lines. We decided on the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, and then had a blast cooking and serving together. Thanks, Mom!

Next month's Supper Club event will be on August 8 (yes, that's just two weeks away!) and will benefit Growing Hope:

Growing Hope is dedicated to helping people improve their lives and communities through gardening and healthy food access. Based in Washtenaw County, Michigan, we work with neighborhoods, schools, community groups, and families to develop and sustain gardens. We also work to increase local food security through our Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers' Market and other efforts that improve access to healthy, affordable food. Growing Hope is dedicated to helping people improve their lives and communities through gardening and healthy food access. Based in Washtenaw County, Michigan, we work with neighborhoods, schools, community groups, and families to develop and sustain gardens. We also work to increase local food security through our Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers' Market and other efforts that improve access to healthy, affordable food.

If you'd like to reserve one of the 8 spaces at the August 8 dinner, please email me with your food restrictions and preferences. Early requests will receive priority, but I reserve the right to adjust the guest list in order to manage conflicting food restrictions. I'm happy to accommodate a variety of food restrictions, such as gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian, I just don't necessarily want to do them all at the same time! Also, I don't yet have an assistant cook lined for the August 8 dinner - please let me know if you'd be interested in volunteering!

The *only* thing that went wrong at this month's dinner was that I was so focused on the food that I completely forgot about taking pictures until the 6th course (out of 9)! So not nearly as many pictures as last time. But here's the final menu, with pictures where i do have them.

Raspberry Gazpacho

Caramelized Zucchini with Walnuts and Fiore Sardo
I recreated this from leftovers after everyone had left to get a picture. Then I ate it!



Creamed Corn with Caramelized Onion and Basil
This was an extra course I decided to add just yesterday morning, because this was the first week I'd seen corn at the market and I figured we should celebrate.

Land and Sea Pasta with Mussels

Nicoise Salad
I'll describe it so you can visualize: red potatoes, green beans, white and deep yellow boiled egg wedge, bright pink center of the seared tuna, and then a drizzle of yellow-green salad dressing.

Seared Duck Breast with Blueberry Sauce, Chard and Roasted Carrots



Selection of Cheeses: Brillat Savarin, Fiore Sardo, Lingot de Quercy
With frais du bois ("wild" strawberries) and pickled raisins for garnish.

Cherry Pie with Thai Basil Ice Cream and Manjari Chocolate Shavings
I scheduled this event on my only available Saturday in July, which happened to be the same night as the SFHV Pie Lovers Unite event. Sad to be missing that, we served pie for dessert in their honor.



Petit Fours: Raspberry Pate de Fruit, Pistachio-Rose Petal Mendiants, and White Chocolate Covered Stem-on Cherries

TT Supper Club to benefit Capuchin Soup Kitchen

I had so much fun last month, I'm doing it all over again!

On Saturday, July 25th I'll be hosting a supper club event to benefit and the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit. I'll be offering an 8-course tasting menu, designed to highlight seasonal and local foodstuffs. The menu will be wine-friendly, but the event is BYOB (or better yet, bring some to share). A donation of $50 is requested per person.

Here's a little more information about this month's benefit organization:

Earthworks’ primary activities include running a 1.5 acre farm and apiary, hosting classes for Detroit gardeners, hosting two youth programs for area kids, attending markets with youth during the growing season, and providing support for guests of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen who are interested in gardening and food justice. We are a full program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and have our offices and gardens on their grounds. Every day we are striving to be more responsive to our soup kitchen community and neighborhood. Currently, the majority of our produce is incorporated in the meals at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and we are planning to install a commercial hoop house (similar to a greenhouse but uses only heat from the sun) to provide greens for the soup kitchen and for marketing to the public.

If you'd like to reserve one of the remaining spaces at the July 25 dinner, please contact me ASAP with your food restrictions and preferences. I'm happy to accommodate a variety of food restrictions, such as gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian.

Rhubarb Mojito

Ilex from Homesteading in a Condo was one of my TT Supper Club guests, and she requested that I post the recipe for the pre-dinner cocktail I served. So here it is!

Rhubarb Mojito
1 oz chopped rhubarb
5-6 mint leaves
1 oz rhubarb syrup
1 oz light rum
3/4 oz lime juice
club soda
extra mint
rhubarb stalk

Muddle rhubarb and mint. Add syrup, rum, lime juice, shake. Strain into glass filled with ice, top with club soda. Garnish with extra mint leaves and rhubarb stalk.

Cocktail Challenge - Three for summer

	Mojito - Bacardi light rum, Muscovado brown sugar, fresh mint, and ice. And lime, although the description fails to mention it. Wouldn't be much of a Mojito without it! Mojitos have become the new faux-tini, but this one is pretty classic and was nice and refreshing for our first meal out on the patio this spring. The Muscovado brown sugar adds some interest over the more typical white sugar or simple syrup.
	Ramos Gin Fizz - This is the first drink on the cocktail menu, and I have to admit that I'd been avoiding it. It just seemed like too much! Plymouth Original Dry Gin, heavy cream, egg white, lemon and lime juice, orange curacao and club soda. My verdict? It's certainly tasty. And not as sweet as you might think from looking at it. But the cream and egg white make it pretty substantial, so it was a lot to have with a meal. Maybe a good choice for when I want a cocktail, but I'm a little bit hungry too, but don't really want to eat...
	La Floridita No. 2 - Vya sweet vermouth, light crème de cacao, fresh lime juice, pomegranate grenadine. The website claims there's some rum in there too, although it's not on the printed in-restaurant menu. In any case, I thought this was delicious! And it's a perfect example of why I wanted to do this challenge - it's not a drink I ever would have picked off the list to order otherwise. I love Vya vermouths, and they didn't let me down here. And while there's some sweet fruitness to the drink, it doesn't taste like fruit juice - you can tell you're drinking a cocktail, and that's what I'm usually looking for. I'm adding this one to my rotation for sure!

First TT Supper Club a Success!

Thank you to the eight adventurous diners who came out to my first supper club event, and to Emily of Preserving Traditions and Eat Close to Home for her tireless assistance in the kitchen! The event was everything I'd hoped it would be. I got to meet and cook for some really wonderful food lovers, and enjoyed listening in on the lively conversation at the dinner table. We raised over $250 for Preserving Traditions, and learned about the long and storied history of the Grange movement (of which Preserving Traditions is now part) and all the ways it has supported farmers over the years.

Next month's TT Supper Club will be on Saturday, July 25th and will be a benefit for Earthworks Urban Farm and the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit.

Earthworks’ primary activities include running a 1.5 acre farm and apiary, hosting classes for Detroit gardeners, hosting two youth programs for area kids, attending markets with youth during the growing season, and providing support for guests of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen who are interested in gardening and food justice. We are a full program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and have our offices and gardens on their grounds. Every day we are striving to be more responsive to our soup kitchen community and neighborhood. Currently, the majority of our produce is incorporated in the meals at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and we are planning to install a commercial hoop house (similar to a greenhouse but uses only heat from the sun) to provide greens for the soup kitchen and for marketing to the public.

If you'd like to reserve one of the 8 spaces at the July 25 dinner, please email me with your food restrictions and preferences. Early requests will receive priority, but I reserve the right to adjust the guest list in order to manage conflicting food restrictions. I'm happy to accommodate a variety of food restrictions, such as gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian, I just don't necessarily want to do them all at the same time!

Guests at Saturday's dinner were obliging enough to let me do that stereotypical food blogger thing of taking pictures (although I missed a couple of courses), so I'll leave you with a peek at how we celebrated spring.

	Bounty from the Farmer's Market waiting to be turned into dinner.
	The guests gather.
	First up: radishes with raw milk butter and Murray River pink sea salt The butter was made by one of the guests, Ilex who writes the blog Homesteading in a Condo. She'd emailed me to ask if I'd like to use it in the meal. Normally I'd just serve it with bread, but she's gluten-free, so I needed to find another way to highlight it. This was perfect.
	Sauteed beet greens with a bit of 10-yr balsamic vinegar, roasted beets, Zingerman's Creamery Aged Chelsea goat cheese, and freshly ground pepper.
	Chilled potato-sorrel soup garnished with chive flowers
	Pan-seared skate wing with parsley-lemon butter, radish leaf pesto, and steamed asparagus
	Indian spiced roasted leg of lamb, lentils with garlic and onion, pea shoots sauteed with mustard seeds, and mint raita These pea shoots from Gardenworks were the very definition of fresh - they were still back at the farm picking them when I arrived at the Farmer's Market!
	Ig Vella Dry Jack, Idziabal, Zingerman's Creamery Aged Chelsea
	Vanilla bean panna cotta with rhubarb compote

Supper Club Update

There are still spaces available for Saturday's inaugural TT Supper Club dinner. I've been having a lot of fun thinking about what's at the market and planning a menu. Here's what I'm thinking about right now, subject to change based on guest food restrictions or market unavailability. Oh, and note that this will be a gluten-free meal - I might serve some bread on the side for those that can have it, but all of the dishes are gluten-free.

Celebrating Spring!
Spring Radishes with Butter and Salt
Beet Greens, Beets, and Goat Cheese
Sorrel Soup
Salad of Local Greens
Fish with Herb Butter, Radish Leaf Pesto, and Asparagus
Indian Spiced Lamb, Lentils, and Pea Shoots Sauteed with Mustard Seeds
Selection of Cheeses
Rhubarb Panna Cotta
Petit Fours

Email me if you'd like to join the fun!

Homemade Pop Tarts = Delicious

Someone on eGullet posted a recipe for making your own pop tarts. A lot of pop tart recipes just have you use a regular pie crust dough, but he tried to develop a crust that was akin to the original (although much tastier). So I decided to give them a try, and the result was delicious!

	First batch ready to go in the oven.
	First batch out of the oven: chocolate, blueberry and strawberry.
	The "money shot." This one is blueberry - my favorite. The filling is homemade blueberry jam I received as a gift.
	For the second batch, I had some friends over, and we made a bunch of mini-tarts, all in different flavors. I frosted them in different colors so I'd be able to tell them apart.
	L to R: caramel, apricot, raspberry, thimbleberry, blackberry. All from random half-jars of preserves, jam, etc hanging out in my fridge.
	To tell them apart while they were baking, we docked the top pastry with a letter to represent the filling. These are two of the three savory ones we made - the P is pesto & parmesan, and the M is mango chutney. There was also a sundried tomato & parmesan one. We thought tapenade would be great, but didn't have any - next time!

One of the things that makes pop tart dough different than you'd expect is that it's not sweetened. There's just 1 tsp of sugar to 3.5 cups of flour in the recipe. This makes it perfect for playing with savory fillings as well as sweet. And I love the visual fun of having a savory that looks sweet. To really play the trompe l'oeil card, I just need to figure out how to mimic the frosting and sprinkles in a savory application.

I've been pretty staid in my sweet fillings so far, just because I have so many jars of jam in my refrigerator. But there's lots of possibility for creative applications there too.

The other thing that's different about pop tart dough is that it's kind of dry. So you'll want a glass of milk to wash them down - it's the perfect pairing.

Cocktail Challenge: The Sazerac

As foreshadowed in my last cocktail challenge post, I did head into the Absente drinks, starting with the Sazerac - Jim Beam Straight Rye, Absenté, and Peychaud's Bitters with simple syrup, lemon oil, and a twist. I thought this might be okay, because I'm a big fan of Jim Beam Straight Rye. But this cocktail was a little aggressive for me... Strong - not a lot of mixers in there. It was reasonably good for careful sipping when it cold, but as it warmed up the anise taste from the Absente started to become much more prominent. So I just kept slipping ice cubes in, and found that it started to grow on me a little bit, especially once the ice diluted it a little more.

Still, this isn't one that I'd order again. But I didn't expect to like them all, so that's okay!

Introducing the TT Supper Club

Summer is a tough time of year for chocolate making, so Tammy's Tastings (the business) always takes a summer hiatus from regular sales. But while I love making chocolates and confectionery, I also love to cook. So this summer, I've decided to use my hiatus a little differently.

I'm pleased to introduce the TT Supper Club. Once a month, from June through September, I'll be hosting a fundraising dinner in my home to benefit different local food organizations. My inaugural dinner will be June 6 and will benefit Preserving Traditions:

Preserving Traditions is a non-profit club based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We aspire to keep old-time foodways alive and well, to build and support our local foodshed, and to make really good food for our families and neighbors!

If you're not familiar with the group, I think they're really exciting. It's a grass roots, bottom-up effort, with people getting together to learn skills from each other that encourage eating well and seasonally and locally. They host their events at the Pittsfield Grange and are planning to use the funds raised to better outfit the kitchen there so that they can offer a wider range of classes and to more people. Local foodblogger Emily from Eat Close to Home is the founder of the group and will be helping me cook the dinner. She'll talk a little about the organization at the meal, so it's a great opportunity to learn more or get involved.

Each dinner is limited to eight people, and will feature a tasting menu designed to highlight seasonal and local foodstuffs. In order to be as flexible and market-driven as possible, I won't be posting a menu in advance; you'll just have to trust me. (Edited to add: here's what I'm thinking about for the June dinner.) The menu will take into account food restrictions (vegetarian/gluten-free, etc) and preferences/dislikes. Here's a sample menu, so you'll have some idea of what you can expect:

Wild Mushroom Tartlette
Seared Scallop with Tarragon Leek Sauce
Salad of Baby Greens with Hazelnut Vinaigrette
Lake Perch with Beurre Blanc and Roasted Asparagus
Roasted Quail with Yellow Oyster Mushrooms, Pea Shoots and White Grits
Cheese Plate with Garnishes
Rhubarb Galette and Vanilla Ice Cream
Petit Fours

Dinners are designed to be wine-friendly, but are BYOB (or better yet, bring some to share). A minimum donation of $50 is requested per person.

Sound good? If you'd like to reserve one of the 8 spaces at the June 6 dinner, please email me with your food restrictions and preferences. Early requests will receive priority, but I reserve the right to adjust the guest list in order to manage conflicting food restrictions.

If you'd like to be notified about future dinners, please subscribe to the TT Supper Club Mailing list by filling out the form below, and you'll be the first to know when I'm accepting requests for July and beyond. Your privacy is important to me, and I'll never share your email address or information.

Name:


Email:

I'm really excited to have a chance to use my culinary creativity to help our local food community, and I'm looking forward to cooking for you!



Photos courtesy of Kitchen Chick, who I've been lucky enough to cook for many times.

Cocktail Catch-Up

Well, I had this theory about writing a nice blog post about each cocktail I've tried so far in my cocktail challenge. But I've fallen behind, and starting to lose track of what I drank. So I'm going to write one big catchup post with notes, and then hopefully will be back on track to do the one-by-one...

Manhattan - Trying drinks like this is one of the reasons I set myself this cocktail challenge. Because it's a true classic, and something that any budding cocktailian (is that a word?) should be familiar with. Zingermans' version includes Jim Beam Straight Rye (which I love), Vya Sweet Vermouth, Gary Regan's Orange Bitters No. 6, and a real maraschino cherry. With no non-alcoholic mixers, I was worried that this was going to be really strong, but it was really quite delightful, and not too sweet. The housemade maraschino was a treat when I got to the bottom of the glass.

The Knickerbocker - Brugel Dominican Dark Rum, Bol's Orange Curacao, muddled fresh raspberries and freshly squeezed lemon juice. This is a girly drink if I ever saw one. It's sweet and pink, and kind of like candy. Definitely easy to drink, but fairly unremarkable.

The Bronx - Plymouth Original dry gin, Vya dry vermouth, Vya sweet vermouth, freshly squeezed orange juice, Gary Regan's Orange Bitters No. 6. I like gin, and adore Vya dry vermouth, so this was an easy pick for me. It's been a while since i tried this one, but I'm sure I liked it...

Champagne Cocktail - A touch of sugar, a dash or two of Angostura Bitters, L Mawby Blanc de Blanc. And a lemon twist, though that's not listed in the ingredients. I love sparkling wine, and wasn't sure how I'd feel about having it "adulterated" but this was just a lovely, festive cocktail, with the bitters giving it a really nice complexity.

Ward Eight - Jim Beam straight rye, freshly squeezed lemon juice, freshly squeezed orange juice, superfine sugar, pomegranate grenadine. Knowing I liked the Jim Beam rye, when I started the cocktail challenge I tended to pick the rye drinks. This bears a lot of resemblance to my favorite cocktail, the Scofflaw.

Jack Rose - Laird's applejack, freshly squeezed lemon juice, pomegranate grenadine. Another girly drink, but the lemon juice keeps it from being cloying.

Buster Brown - I tried this one on the strength of Mom's Kitchen's comment on my last post. And I was not disappointed. Maker's Mark bourbon, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, simple syrup, Gary Regan's orange bitters No.6. Smooth and very easy to drink, but not too sweet.

Blood and Sand - The Famous Grouse scotch whisky, Vya sweet vermouth, cherry Heering, freshly squeezed orange juice. Not as sweet as I feared (but still pretty sweet) this had a nice complexity.

The Monkey Gland - Plymouth Original dry gin, freshly squeezed orange juice, Bénédictine, pomegranate grenadine. The Benedictine was definitely an interesting flavor component, and I'm looking forward to trying it in some of the other drinks.

So that's 10 out of 35 - making pretty good progress. However, not being a huge anise fan, I've been avoiding the drinks with Absente in them, and there are a LOT of them. I think I'm going to start working on them next, for two reasons - a) I suspect I'll like them more than I think I will, and b) if I don't like them, I don't want to have a whole lot of them piled up at the end!

Woman on a Mission

Tap, tap, tap... is this thing still on? Seems to be.

I've been sadly neglecting this blog, but since I was still getting a few dozen hits a day and people seemed to find some of my old content useful, I decided that I should leave it up. Just in case anyone needed ideas for things to do with duck fat, or how to cook jambalaya for a crowd.

But I'm on my summer hiatus from scheduled chocolate making for the business side of Tammy's Tastings (special orders still accepted), so I've got a little more time to devote to blogging.

And something to blog about.

I'm a big fan of the classic cocktail list at Zingerman's Roadhouse. With all freshly squeezed juices and good bitters and other specialty ingredients, Zingerman's has the best cocktails in town, I think. It's a serious list, not just a bunch of overly sweet "something-tinis."

But I quickly got into a rut once I discovered the Scofflaw (Jim Beam rye, Vya dry vermouth, lemon, pomegranate grenadine, orange bitters). It's my favorite cocktail ever, and whenever I'd go to the Roadhouse I'd look fondly at the rest of the list, then order my usual.

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to break out of my rut, so I set myself a mission - try every cocktail on the list. There are 35, and since I set the goal I've tried 7, a different one on each visit. I was already starting to lose track of which ones I'd had, and what I thought about them, so I thought this was a mission worthy of dusting off this old blog.

I'll fill in the first 6 in separate posts, but for now I'll talk about last night's cocktail - The Jupiter.

This is quite a dry cocktail, especially in contrast to the Jack Rose that I'd had on my last cocktail outing. Zingerman's version has Plymouth Gin, Vya Dry Vermouth, Parfait Amour, and freshly squeezed orange juice. But the orange juice is more of a garnish than anything else - the drink is almost clear, with only a bit of floating pulp to make you believe there's juice in there (future posts will have pictures). I wasn't familiar with Parfait Amour, so James brought me some on its own to taste. It's a very sweet liqueur, with a slightly bubble-gum like aroma and flavor. It's hard to put your finger on exactly what it tastes like, but there were definitely vanilla and floral bits in the taste I had. It adds a really subtle note to the cocktail, but I'm sure I'd have missed it if it wasn't there.

I'm used to slightly sweeter and tarter cocktails, so my first sip of this was a bit of a surprise. But I figure it's training wheels for when I work up to having a martini. It was definitely a sipping drink, and as I sipped it really grew on me, and it was a nice drink to relax over while listening to jazz and talking to my neighbors seated at the bar.

7 down, 28 to go...

Food as art

What happened to the Food! | The Best Article Every day

I think these little cauliflower sheep are the cutest thing ever. But the rest of the pictures are great too.

News from Tammy's Tastings

A Box of Flowers for Mother's Day

Every year it's the same question - should I get my mother a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates? Well, now you can do both, with a box of flowers from Tammy's Tastings.

Each box of 12 pieces ($22) or 5 pieces ($10) contains an assortment of four flavors:

Jasmine - Dark chocolate ganache is infused with jasmine tea and encased in a crisp dark chocolate shell.
Honey-Vanilla - Milk chocolate surrounds a drizzle of delicate wildflower honey on top of a creamy milk chocolate ganache infused with real vanilla beans.
Pomegranate-Rose - Dark chocolate carries this blend of fruity and floral notes.
Lavender Caramel - This slightly chewy and not-too-sweet caramel has a hint of lavender and is wrapped in dark chocolate.

Visit my website to place your order.

Also...

I've been working on a line of candy bars, and have a limited quantity available for sale at this time. Orders will be filled in the order they are received, but when they're gone, they're gone!

Sweet Salty Crunchy - Crunchy pretzels, salty caramel, Koeze natural peanut butter and roasted peanuts dipped in 60% dark chocolate. Valentine's Day early-bird orderers may remember this as the "Needs a Name Candy Bar."
Pick Me Up - Soft coffee nougat is topped by a chewy espresso caramel that's studded with crunchy espresso beans from Mighty Good Coffee. Dipped in 72% dark chocolate, this is the ultimate candy bar for coffee lovers.
Rockier Road - Fluffy homemade vanilla marshmallows, crunchy toasted almonds and chewy candied ginger stud a soft dark chocolate center for an exciting combination of flavors and textures.

Wedding Season

Are you or someone you know getting married this summer? Chocolates from Tammy's Tastings make beautiful and delicious favors for your guests. And a chocolate or wine tasting event is the perfect thing for a bridal shower. Contact me for more information!

Interview over at Kitchen Chick

Kitchen Chick a local Ann Arbor foodblogger, and she interviewed me for her blog. We talked about how I got my start in the food business (like carrying 20lb bags of flour on a bicycle), what some of my current favorite chocolate brands are, and more. Please check out the interview and the rest of the blog - Lisa's writing and photography are totally delicious! And, speaking as a foodblogger myself, if you like what you see - please leave her a comment - we bloggers LOVE comments!

Oh, and since her post mentions my Easter chocolates, here's a picture of the finished product. I always have a lot of fun trying out different decorating effects, and this time was no exception!

Tammy's Tastings Newsletter

The Smell of Easter

When I host a chocolate tasting, I take guests through 3 steps - taking a "whiff" (what's the chocolate smell like?), taking a bite (what's the texture like?), and taking a taste (what flavors do they notice?). In nearly every chocolate tasting there will be at least one chocolate that everyone agrees "Smells like Easter!"

And why not? While we certainly associate chocolate with other holidays, if you celebrate Easter, memories of chocolate eggs and easter bunnies were formed long before you ever got a box of chocolate from a sweetheart on Valentine's Day.

Unfortunately, a lot of Easter chocolate isn't particularly good. And some of it is downright bad! But thanks to Tammy's Tastings, you don't need to settle for bad chocolate in order to relive your childhood Easter chocolate memories. Visit my Easter page to place your order today! The Easter collection includes a "turtle" bunny or egg (filled with salty caramel and toasted pecans) and an assortment of four other flavors:

Raspberry - This classic combination of dark chocolate and raspberry is a perennial favorite.
Chai Spice - Milk chocolate harmonizes beautifully with a blend of spices that includes cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and more, while the dark chocolate shell balances the sweetness of the center.
Lemon-Rosemary - White chocolate provides the perfect creamy backdrop to the high notes of citrusy lemon and a hint of earthy, foresty rosemary.
Hazlenut Praline - A dark chocolate shell surrounds this combination of toasted hazelnuts, caramelized sugar, and milk chocolate. Another classic combination, and one that is decadent and delicious!

Orders must be received by Friday, March 14; earlier for shipping to the western US.

Upcoming Event

American Rebels Chocolate Tasting
Coming in April, date TBD. In the 1980's, microbreweries pushed the boundaries of what we knew beer could be. In the 1990's, small coffee roasters began challenging the supremacy of Starbucks. And in the 2000's, chocolate is the new frontier. In this chocolate tasting, we'll have a chance to compare side by side the offerings from a crew of American Rebels - small, one or two person operations who are making bean to bar chocolate and breaking as many rules as they can along the way. Space will be limited - contact me today to pre-pre-register, and you'll be able to provide input on the date and time!

Wishing you good tastes,
Tammy