Summer rolls out and fall formally comes in with a nice (yet unexpected) chill in the air means the end of food stalls/events outdoors with the impending winter. This also means it's a damn good time to have yourself a food crawl before the weather gets really unpredictable. As such, and as promised, we had ourselves a Dumpling Crawl in late September.
Read more#ChocolateTakedown 2016
It’s been over a year since I did a Brooklyn Takedown. I wasn’t necessarily going to enter another one. I mean, ice cream isn’t my forte. I contemplated doing the mac n’ cheese. The others didn’t seem up my alley because I’m more adventurous in my baking than my cooking. Plus, I don’t worry about meat.
But Takedown founder/colossus Matt Timms announced a new one this year: the chocolate takedown. This one to take place on Valentine’s Day. I thought about it for all of three minutes before emailing Matt, “I’m in.” The sponsors for this round would be Brooklyn’s own Raaka Chocolate near the BQE. They kindly donated 5 pounds per Takedowner. So I schlepped over and got my 5 pounds of pastilles.
Read more#TopTenChocolatiers2015
Once again the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) served as the backdrop for a food celebration this one hosted by Dessert Professional.com. The annual Top Ten Chocolatiers Hall of Fame event on Wednesday, January 27th was an indulgent festival of chocolates with deep flavors, new combinations, and stunning presentations.
Navigating my way through the main ICE floor in FiDi I was given directions to make a few turns but after the first turn I simply followed the intense smell of chocolate which led me to my destination. ICE staff offered pockets of people hors d’oeuvres while weaving through the incoming crowd. This was the pregame before tasting all the decadence that the Top Ten Chocolatiers had on-hand.
Read moreDessert Offerings of 2015
In addition to the annual list of readers you know it’s also time for the annual list of desserts I had, the good, the bad, the ugly. And it seems fitting to post it on my birthday! Yay sweets! As you know I like to keep it honest. Life is too short for bad books and bad desserts.
Sweet Buttons Desserts – This place has been around for about 3 years in the Lower East Side. It’s in walking distances from Sugar Sweet Sunshine and they specialize in small treats. Passionfruit is one of my fave items on dessert and when done well in a tart it can be refreshing and perfect. Sweet Button’s had a great gelatin filling and thick buttery crust with meringue on top that was delectable and worth a winter splurge. I loved it big time. In fact I owe that place a visit.
Read moreChicken Wing Crawl in the BK. #WingingitBK
Mid-May on one of the first real humid days of the season Margaret Chen & Jackie Gordon decided we would "wing it...in Brooklyn" and thus the great chicken wing crawl began and ended after 8 stops (with a few in-between) and 7 hours.
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