All Good Things I ate today!

This chocolate is really delicious! I got this Icelandic Chocolate delight at Whole Foods the other day and its almost gone! The company, Noi Sirius is based out of Reykjavik and has been making this chocolate since 1933. I normally like darker chocolate than this, but its about as close to "milk chocolate" that I can manage. It is sweet and creamy and has a really rich vanilla flavor and would also be really good for baking!



I wanted to introduce BIG MAMMA. She has been continuous supplying Mike and I with a delicious Kombucha brew for months and she is getting HUGE!!!! She might be 4" thick! AWESOME. We are using Puerh, a really earthy tea, and it tastes amazing.



See what I mean!?



Oh and breakfast! Todays recipe, though totally simple, is really delicious and nutritious!

Gallo Pinto

-1 yellow onion
-6 cloves garlic
-1 jalapeno pepper
1-2 Tbs olive oil
-1 can of black beans
-1-2 Tbs Chili Powder
-1 cup Brown Rice
-Salt and Pepper

Start by boiling 2 cups of water with 1 cup of rice and a pinch of salt. In a pan, caramelize 1 yellow onion chopped in some olive oil, 5-10 minutes. Add 6 minced cloves of garlic and 1 minced jalapeno pepper and let cook for another 5 minutes or until the garlic starts to brown. Add 1 can of black beans, salt and pepper to taste and 1-2 tablespoons of Chili powder. Let this cook until the beans are hot! When the rice is done (about 20 minutes) add them to the beans and eat up.

Candied Nuts!

What to do with all those nuts that you leave when you finish all the good stuff from a huge bag of trail mix... duhhhhh make them from being unappealing enough that they will never be eaten to be delicious sugary treats!!!

Make Candy out of:

NUTS
CITRUS PEELS
LENTILS
ETC...?

all you need is
-1 cup SUGAR
-1/4 cup WATER
PAN
-2 cups leftover Nuts (item from above)

Put them all in a pan and stir constantly. Water should evaporate and you'll be left with lots of sugary nuts, then keep stirring!!! You need to let the sugar melt, when it does, it will turn a nice caramel color and be super sticky and hot (!!!! really hot, caution! don't pop one in your mouth unless your tongue is made of steel or other non sensitive macho material) POur the contents of the pan out on a large plate or dish and let cool. Enjoy!!! It shouldn't take but 15 minutes total!
(pardon this super goofy picture of me)

WorD to my NYC Street Vendors!! NUTS 4 NUTS 4 LIFE

Cocao V: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, and some more chocolate

For easter, instead of going home and have a huge decadent brunch with the family, I had to stay in NYC and do lots of homework, yuck. The weather is so nice and all I wanted to do was go outside and indulge in a leisurely weekend. That couldn't happen, but I did have a very leisurely and decadent lunch with friends at Cocoa V a vegan chocolatier in Chelsea, right near Blossom. Though they are mostly dedicated to there absolutely beautiful chocolates, they also serve desserts like cake, cupcakes, and brownie sundaes which is what I had. They also have a lunch menu, I sampled some vegan quiche, what they call "the whimsical Quiche of the day" and a Chickpea Tuna melt. The lunch was ok, the quiche was pretty good, but I would stick to the chocolates myself.

So The brownie sundae was super delicious, with vanilla soy dream and chocolate and marshmallow sauces.

We also sampled chocolates, and it was a real treat! And had coffee, I believe the Roaster is Stumptown.

This is my vote for the Best:

1. That beautiful green chocolate contains an amazing fruit goo, a really interesting mix of Pistachios and Apple, The Pistapple
2. The one with pink swirls, though not as pretty as the Pistapple, had a very interesting gooey filling, sweet and rich, and full of burnt sugar grain! yum.
3. The Pretzel cluster, everyone likes crunchy, sweet, salt, its a scientific fact!

Ginger The Ancient Elixer

sick time. now what? I don't want to cook I don't want to bake. I want to lay in bed and watch "Ghost in the Shell" and drink tea and blow my nose a sufficient amount of times before my hankerchief gets too disgusting.



Finally... I have discovered the cure!



mmm Newmans Ginger-O's! and dun-dun-dah-dah!!! GINGER ROOT!



And in case anyone is wondering... The Ginger People ginger candies are far superior to Reeds. These are actually chewy and even more spicy...especially the peanutbutter ones. The orgininal ginger candies might be comparable, maybe. And I haven't had Ginger people Ginger Beer, but the Juice is really good!