Chocolate Tasting at Hedonist

Those of you not scared away by the freezing temperatures should venture to South Ave on Saturday for a chocolate tasting at Hedonist.

K-ster and I were able to taste this dark chocolate truffle collection, designed by Hedonist's intern Cody Whaley, at a beer and chocolate pairing at Tap and Mallet Wednesday. So I can say with authority that the collection is amazing! My favorite is probably the cardamom but the imperial stout was so smooth you could imagine eating an entire box no problem! And typically I'm very averse to anise but that truffle had a nice spice that made me question my anti-anise stance immediately. They were all phenomenal (especially with the beers expertly paired by the Tap staff). And the ginger truffle (with Pop Rocks -- how awesome?!?) wasn't at the tasting so I definitely can't wait to visit and try that one myself.

I personally love how it's dark chocolate, which tends to be the ladies' favorite, but these truffles aren't overly sweet at all. Something for people (i.e. guys) who get sick over too many Snickers fun sizes. They're super sophisticated and I'm excited for Cody, for the Hedonist, and for Rochester to have such a talented chocolatier!

All about Macouns

Macoun apples have been a regular Farmers Market must-have for us this past month or so, since they work for both baking and snacking. The Boy's mother also had to get a few on their recent visit, but when I mentioned them to my mom at a farmer's stand in South Carolina last week, she'd never heard of them. Down there it was all about the Honey Crisps. Considering that Honey Crisp sounds like a cereal and macoun sounds like...I don't know what since no one pronounces it correctly (ma-cown).

So the explanation for this is the Macouns were created in upstate NY! Yay Cornell mad scientists! They're a hybrid of Macintosh and Jersey Black (which I've never heard of but which sound hilarious). If you'd like to learn even more about my favorite workday snack, check out this huge run-down on the Grub Street blog feature: "Farm to Restaurant."

Cutting Down on Food Waste

Because I have 4 pears that I simply forgot we owned last week, and a half of a loaf of bread that will be molding any minute, and I'm sure you do too:

Planet Green's 50 Ways to Never Waste Food Again.

Storing the edges of onions and peppers and corn cobs for vegetable broth sounds good. Not so sure about fruit leather. I definitely need to figure out the whole canning thing, but simply using the freezer more often has already saved a lot.

Best of Rochester

Time to vote for City Newspaper's Best of Rochester 2009.

Share your love for your favorite Roch restaurants, bars, venues, shows, parks, personalities, bartenders, and politicians.

Attention Beer Geeks

October of course also means Oktober. And for those of you who've been waiting patiently for beer's most celebrated month -- there are a few events you want to put on the calendar.

Today marks the start of the Sample NY Beer Festival in Canandaigua. Suspiciously held at the New York Wine and Culinary Center. So don't let German beers take all the credit -- give some love to NY State craft beers.

Tap and Mallet is also putting together a Beer Advocate evening. Beer Advocate is the most amazingly dense website of beer conoisseurship the world has ever seen. Some of the website's contributors will be there and Oktoberfest brews will be discounted! Go and speak the language of beerlove: Saturday October 17th starting at 5.

Feeling Autumnal

Ladies and Gentlemen: it is time to get down with Fall.

After much rain, high winds, and 40 degree mornings, even a stalwart Champion of Summer like myself cannot deny the reality we are all presented with: It is Fall. We must bundle up and begin to cope -- preferably with Pumpkin Spice Lattes and apple pies!

Here are a few of my favorite fall recipes floating around the blogosphere this week:

Cauliflower Soup from The Dabble.

Polenta Sandwich with Greens and Cheese from Serious Eats. (Man, I have much love for polenta, along with her sister Grits, and I can never figure out a way to use them. I can see frying them on a griddle and putting some portabellos in there too. Or the old Thanksgiving Leftover scenario).

Mushroom Risotto from What's Gaby Cooking. (speaking of mushrooms...)

Caramel Corn Doughnuts from Playing with Fire and Water. (despite not loving caramel corn or doughnuts, these look fantastic. I think it's the close proximity to my fall favorite -- caramel apples).

Time for a crunchy-leafy walk to Stever's for caramel apples. Or a trip to Hilton for the Apple Fest this weekend!

Plantains

Plantains are a new favorite at our house. You can buy 6 for $1 at the Farmers Market. The trick is to make sure the skins turn totally black -- that's when they're ripe. If you try to use them too early, thinking they're like a banana, boy do you have a chore on your hands. Those skins do NOT come off easily and the fruit itself can be rock hard. This has tripped me up several times, and I still probably don't wait long enough for them to get fully ripe (and sweet). Thus, the not-quite-ripe ones I use tend to taste more like a potato than a banana. Just a hint of sweetness.

Previously I've tried to use plantains to make mofongo -- or some approximation thereof. It's close to the mashed potato/plantain combo they serve at John's Tex Mex.

This past weekend I used plantains to make a pastelon. That's basically a lasagna with fried plantains instead of lasagna noodles. The Noshery's website is very helpful in making this, though I just sort of dumped fried plantain strips, seasoned with cumin, then Sazon seasoned ground beef, then whatever cheese we had on top of each other. And even that turned out awesome.

The next day I used the rest of our plantains in a curry. Phenomenal as well. You can not go wrong with the plantain, I'm tellin' ya.