Godiva Ice Cream Parlor Truffle Bars

I saw these chocolates in the Godiva e-newsletter today. I would step on someone for truffle bars. Shopping trip, anyone ?



NEW Ice Cream Parlor Truffle Bar Collection

Our Chef Chocolatiers have combined ice cream favorites with rich Godiva chocolate to create the quintessential summer chocolate bars. Our 6-bar assortment includes two Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate, two Hazelnut Gelato in Milk Chocolate, one Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate, and one Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate. 6 bars (8.4 oz.)

Spicy Etorki Pizza

*Update: Please vote for my entry in the Ile De France Springlicious Recipe Contest.
**Update #2: Thank you to Robert, Jamie & David for posting my entry on your respective Twitters and FB. Love you guys X D
**Update #3: Shout out to Simon & Jennifer for posting the link on Friendster



One thing I've always enjoyed eating is cheese. After all, nothing is more relaxing & fun than sipping wine & tasting new cheeses with friends. I was really happy when Ile De France sent Etorki sheep's milk cheese to me this month.

Etorki was the first sheep's milk cheese I have ever tasted. The cheese has a soft, smooth feel, with a delicious taste similar to white cheddar. When melted, the Etorki takes on a mellow flavor reminiscent of mozzarella and Parmesan combined. I knew from the first bite that this sophisticated, flavorful cheese would work perfectly with spicy foods.

That is why I decided to bake Spicy Etorki Pizza. The flavors of the Etorki cheese and the spicy adobo sauce balance each other well.

Spicy Etorki Pizza

Two 8 oz packages of crescent rolls
2 2/3 cups Etorki sheep's milk cheese, shredded
One 8 oz can of adobo sauce with whole peppers
6 deli slices of oven roasted, cured turkey breast
1/4 cups frozen white onions
1/3 cup frozen yellow corn
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp thyme
2 Tbsp frozen green pepper
Baking spray

Preheat oven to 365 degrees.

In a small microwavable bowl, mix the corn, onions, green peppers, salt, pepper & thyme. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Set aside.

Put the adobo sauce with whole peppers in a blender or food processor. Blend for 10-12 seconds until peppers are integrated with the sauce. Set aside.

Cover a large baking sheet with a layer of aluminum foil. Give the foil a quick spritz of baking spray.

Remove crescent roll dough from packages. Roll out over the aluminum foil lined tray.

Spread the adobo sauce over the crescent roll dough.

Next, sprinkle 1 1/3 cups Etorki sheep's milk cheese over the sauce layer.

Six overlapping slices of deli turkey go over the Etorki.

Now add another 1 1/3 cups Etorki sheep's milk cheese.

The final layer is the corn, green pepper & onion mixture.

Bake at 365 for 25-30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown.

Serve immediately.

If you can't manage a reservation book... *sigh*

Real phone conversation from today:

"Hi, XYZ Restaurant. How can I help you ?"
"Yes, do you take reservations ?"
"What, you mean like for today ?"
"Actually, for Mother's Day."
"Welllll....We tried having reservations at Easter. But there were so many people showing up that people with reservations didn't get seated. Total disaster. We won't do that again. So yeah, we don't have reservations on Mother's Day. But you can still show up."

Dean and Deluca Easter Treats

Easter is generally not my favorite season to find new foods. Many products simply receive a dash of pastel coloring or an egg shape. And that's it. What I (vainly) look for in Easter gifts are new flavors in exciting,innovative forms. When I opened my email today & saw these Dean & Deluca treats,though, I went "Oh, cuteness overload! Need an Easter shopping spree now!"


Marzipan Bunny Family
"Every holiday, Rebecca Russell crafts charming figures for us out of flavorful almond marzipan. This Easter she's outdone herself with her adorable bunny family, all dressed up for spring and each toting a colored egg. We love them as placeholders at the Easter table."


Easter Mini Cupcake Candies
"These may look like little cupcakes, but they're actually chocolates dreamed up especially for us by the talented artisans at Knipschildt Chocolatier™. Each box contains nine 71-percent Ecuadorian dark chocolate shells topped with a milk chocolate nest and a hand-painted egg that gives a clue to the luscious filling inside. The red egg perches atop a dark chocolate ganache filling, the yellow egg nestles on passion fruit ganache filling, and the green egg sits on coconut ganache filling."


Garden Patch Cookies
"ONLY AT DEAN & DELUCA. Eleni started her business baking trays of her mom's oatmeal cookies from her New York City apartment. Luckily for us, she's added a few things to her repertoire since then. She's become famous for these hand-iced sugar cookies in whimsical designs. We can't get enough of them and think these Garden Patch cookies perfectly capture the freshness of spring."


Easter Glory Baskets
"The extraordinarily talented artisans at Knipschildt Chocolatier™ craft each one of their chocolate eggs by hand, one at a time. They then fill them with passion fruit ganache, and hand paint them with glorious spring colors before tucking them into bright little baskets that are sized up just right to show them off."

Toys R Us, Part 2: Girl Gourmet Refill Pack

Continued from Review # 1





Girl Gourmet Ultimate Deco and Sprinkler Refill Kit. It included 3 frosting packs: chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. Just add water to the mix for frosting. Can I say how cute that cartoon baker is ? I would use that for my icon here if it wasn't trademarked.



This kit had 6 sprinkle packs. I'm saving those for another day.





Each pack made 1 shot glass of frosting.

The chocolate frosting smelled and tasted like a thinned Duncan Hines frosting. It tasted good, except for a mysterious metallic taste.

The vanilla frosting had a metallic taste and smell. It was sickly sweet. The second scent this frosting had was similar to the honey flavoring you find on granola bars.

The strawberry frosting had a very nice smell. Not artificial like I expected. Unfortunately, the strawberry frosting tasted like strawberry medicine laced with metal. Yuck!

I do not recommend purchasing the Girl Gourmet Ultimate Deco and Sprinkler Refill Kit. It tastes metallic and is a waste of money.