Valentine's Day easy and affordable

Feb 14th

I am no expert since I am single but Valentine's Day is supposed to be all about LOVE.

What is LOVE?  According to Wikipedia this is what it is!

"Love encompasses a variety of strong and positive emotional and mental states, ranging from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection and to the simplest pleasure."

It doesn't say anything about it being between a man and a woman so who says you can only show people you love them if you are a couple?

Why not look at it as a day to show the people in your life that you love them or even if you are alone do something special for yourself to give yourself a bit of loving care for a change.

You don't have to be rich to show someone you care about them.  I have put together a few ideas for things that you can do that can be helped with a few grocery and dollar store items.  You don't have to make reservations at the fanciest restaurant or be a culinary whiz.  With a little bit of thought and effort you can create a meal that's full of heart while still staying on a reasonable budget.  Don't limit this to only 1 day a year.  You can do these things anytime of year.

First:  You can pick up some interesting things at your local dollar store.  I picked up a can of Hearts of Palm at my local dollar store for about $2.00.  This is an overlooked vegetable so it's great for something light and quick to make.  Just slice it and add a vinaigrette even if it's a bottled Italian dressing or just oil and lemon juice and salt and pepper that's fine.  I added a pop of red with chili flakes but you can add some crushed pink peppercorns or even some pomegranate seeds for color and sweetness.  This will easily serve 2 people.


Second:  You can always serve Pizza but make it Heart shaped.  I made this heart shaped pizza from scratch and added jarred artichoke hearts and cut out red peppers with a heart shaped cookie cutter and topped it with red onions and goat cheese for a bit of tang.  This is the fancy "I made it myself" version but you can take a step down and buy some frozen pizza dough and a jar of tomato sauce and some cheese and whatever other toppings you like but make sure you shape it into a heart before you bake it.  Still think you have no time or can't do this much then you can order a heart shaped pizza but it doesn't really show someone that you went out of your way for them but it's still cute.

Third:  Don't forget dessert of course.  Dark chocolate is great for boosting the feel good part of your brain so unless they don't like chocolate this is usually a good choice.

I have 3 choices for you for dessert.  You can take a few pantry ingredients and a little time and effort and make some shortbread cookies and decorate them with sprinkles with little hearts as I did above.  You can take something like homemade or store bought brownies and cut them into heart shapes.  Pick up some heart shaped chocolates and don't forget a cute little card. 

Of course you can pick up a little gift and put it in a cute heart shaped tin or box.  Add some balloons if you like because they always add a sense of occasion.  Depending on the time of day you can enjoy some wine or just take some cranberry juice and you can add some blood orange slices or some carbonated drink to it to add some bubbles.

Make it look as nice as you can even if the items aren't fancy.  You can even pick up little heart shaped cakes from the dollar store and see below where I just put some of the cookie sprinkles on top.  Put a caramel, chocolate or strawberry sauce on the plate to make it even fancier.  I didn't have any or I would have for this photo.

 

 You can add things like these pink meringues that I made last year or pink popcorn or even something like pop rocks.   Find a nice plate,  you can even find this at the dollar store and the placemat above is a felt placemat from the dollar store.  You can even find chocolate covered heart shaped cakes at the dollar store if the rest of these things are too much for you.

Take your time and make it as nice as you can.  What counts is the theme, the thought, the effort and the love you put into it that matters.

If you are single you can have your BFF over for dinner or if you have a little girl or boy in your life you can make some of these things with them.  You can have a Galentine's Dinner and make it a potluck with your gal pals and have them bring something with the red, pink or white theme.

An of course if you are SOLO and everyone else has fancy plans elsewhere you can still do all of this for yourself and watch a great movie and enjoy your time to yourself.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY  

XOXO..... Linda

Valentine's Day Cheap and Easy Gifts

Five Cheap and Easy Valentine's Day Gifts

If your significant other expects you to buy them expensive jewellery or take them out for expensive dinners when you don't normally do that then I think you may be with the wrong person.

I am no expert in the romance department but I think that Valentine's Day should be about showing people you LOVE that you are willing to show them how much you care and it could be in simple easy and inexpensive ways.

Here is a list of things that I would suggest you could try.  You can do 1 or a few of these in a day.
They are all simple and show that you have made some sort of effort to put some thought into doing something nice but you aren't trying to buy their Love.

1.  EASY and CHEAP -  Make a simple breakfast for your special person.  Make the effort in presentation.  Fry and egg in a piece of bread that you cut a heart shape out of the centre with a cookie cutter and toast the cut out piece as well.  Shape your bacon into a heart shape.  Decorate the plate with Sriracha or Ketchup with love symbols or their name.   Serve with fresh orange and blood orange juice.  And if you can get a Heart shaped placemat from the dollar store like this one it will make it look like you really went all out in thinking about this breakfast.

2.  SIMPLE LUNCH -   Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make Avocado toast and top it with bacon and grated cheese or even cherry tomatoes would be great.  Serve it on a pretty plate to make it more attractive.  You don't even have to be a cook to do this.  You can buy the microwave bacon or skip the bacon and add other toppings.  It's tasty and easy to make.

3.  SO YOU CAN'T COOK DESSERTS -  Cherry Black Forest Parfait -  You are clueless in the kitchen but you want to make a spectacular dessert?   Try this one.   If you are really culinary challenged you can buy cherries in Syrup and the whip cream in the can and just make layers in an attractive glass and add chocolate shavings to each layer.  You can add Brandy to the cherries to add more luxurious flavour.   

For this one I made Vanilla whipped cream and I used frozen Cherries and added Brandy and the chocolate shavings were made with a vegetable peeler.   I added a chocolate heart on top for a decorative touch.

4.  YOU GOT COOKING SKILLS BUT NO MONEY -  If you have eggs and an extract and sugar you can make these pretty meringues.

How to make these meringues:

4 egg whites

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of Vanilla extract or flavoured extract.

Food coloring if needed *optional

Whip the egg whites until foamy and then add the sugar and keep whipping until the eggs become thick and then add the vanilla extract.   In mine I added a reduced juice of a blood orange instead.  You can do this with lemon, lime or oranges.  Cook it down until it reduces the water content and concentrates the flavour.  Whip until it forms a stiff peak.  Add food coloring if needed.  I had to add a bit of red food coloring to these ones.   Use a Star tip in a piping bag or a ziploc bag and bake in a 200 Degree oven for about 2 hours.   Store in an airtight container once they are cooled.  You can use them to top your 

5.  NO TIME AN NO SKILLS -  Get SQUISH 

I love getting SQUISH gummies if I don't know what to buy someone because you can buy different shapes and they have different gift packs all the time.  For Valentine's Day they have these 3 flavour lip gummies.  In Cherry, Watermelon and Grape.  They taste delicious and a little bag like this is only $6.   You can get them at the little Kiosk at the Bay on Queen St. W. in Toronto and I am not sure where else.  Give them in the packet and maybe add a flower with it, or put them in a fancy glass bowl or dish and wrap it up in cellophane with a ribbon for a fancier gift and they get to keep the container.  

See there is no excuse not to do something thoughtful even if you don't have a lot of time or money.
It really is the thought that counts.  Show them you care and you think of them and are willing to go out of your way for them.

You can even do these things for your close friends.

Other ideas of things you can do that your loved ones would appreciate could be:

1.  Clean the house or hire a cleaning service.  Always nice to come home to a clean home.
2.  Likewise do the dishes.
3.  Cook or order a fantastic meal that isn't pizza.
4.  Go grocery shopping and buy all the basics and maybe heavy items.
5.  Help with physical things like laundry or moving things.

This should get you started if you can't think of anything.   Take it from here and do as many of these as you like or I hope they inspire you to get creative.

Show the people you care about them while they are here because you never know how much time you will have with them.

❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥

Valentine's Day Recipes for your Chocoholic Sweetheart

Now that the Superbowl is over it's time to pay more attention to your Sweatheart.  It is the month of Love and one of the highest months of consumption of chocolate besides Halloween and Mother's Day.  So how about taking chocolate up to the next level and cook with it instead of just buying it and giving it away.  Yes it's more work but it will earn you Big "Brownie" points with your sweetheart.

I was asked by Green & Black's Chocolate to make a meal that was created by a fellow blogger but I decided to whip up my own recipes instead.  This is what I came up with.

I wanted to participate in this because I like that Green & Black's is high quality Fair Trade and Organic and they taste amazing with some great flavours.  I received the Burnt Toffee, Ginger, Maya Gold and the Dark Chocolate to make these recipes.  I made an appetizer, main and dessert.  Although the appetizer is probably more of a dessert but it's Valentine's Day...eat 2 desserts the chocolate is good for you.

Ginger Chocolate Walnut, Ricotta in a Filo Bowl with a Blood Orange Glaze

I  came up with this Filo Ricotta recipe because I thought of what I had on hand and what pairings would go well with Ginger Chocolate.  This is a bit of a re constructed Cannoli with the flavours but not in presentation or form.

Ingredients:

3 squares of Green & Black's Ginger Chocolate
1 small container of Ricotta cheese get the smooth one.
1 pkg of filo pastry
1 tbsp walnuts (optional)
2 blood oranges
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tbsp honey

Directions:

Roll out a defrosted package of filo pastry on a baking sheet and cover with a damp tea towel to keep it from drying out while you prepare the filling.

The filling:  Grate 2 squares or as much as desired into the Ricotta cheese using a microplane grater.  Add the zest of 1 or 2 blood oranges depending on the size of them.  Add a teaspoon of honey and a half a tablespoon of crushed walnuts.  Mix well.

Assemble the filo sheets by brushing one sheet of filo with melted butter and then adding another sheet on top then brush butter on top and fold over.  Cut 2-4 squares depending on how big you want to make them or how many people you want to serve.  I suggest that you add a half a tablespoon in the middle of one of the squares and then wrap it up like a parcel.  I made mine in a ramekin and then took them out and baked them further but they turn out better when cooked on a cookie sheet so you can pull the filo up and twist the top to make a presentation parcel.   Bake in the oven at 375 degrees until it browns on the edges and gets crispy.  Maybe about 10-15 minutes.  keep checking because they can burn easily.

In a little pot add the juice of the blood oranges and the remaining honey and reduce until it turns into a syrup consistency.  You can add more sugar or honey if you like it sweeter.  This is the glaze.

Take the filo out of the oven and place one on a large plate and drizzle the glaze on the plate in a heart shape or however you want to decorate it.  Leave a bit to drizzle on top of the pastry.  Top with crushed walnuts and add a square of the Ginger Chocolate on top or you can grate it or add shavings to decorate.  That's it and it tastes delicious.

Chicken with a Mole sauce and spicy black beans and rice

This is my version of a Mole.  I am no expert in Mexican food so I looked at a few recipes and did it my own way.  I omitted the tortillas that I saw in different recipes and I couldn't get all of the chili's suggested but this tasted good so it worked for me.

Ingredients:

Mole:

2 Mulato dried chilies

2 Ancho dried chilies

1 Chipotle dried chili

3 tomatillos

1 large onion

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of raisins

1/2 cup of almonds

1 box of chicken stock

1 tsp of cumin

1/3 of a bar of Maya Gold Green and Black's Chocolate

Directions:

Soak the dried chilies in boiling water for about a 20 minutes or until soft. Cover completely with water and set aside.

Take the outer coating off the tomatillos and the onion and cut in half and place on a baking try and broil in the oven until they char or bbq them if you can.

In a blender add the soaked chillies and the soaking liquid but make sure you have pulled out the stems and leave any seeds that remain at the bottom.  Add the charred onions and tomatillos to the blender and the raisins and almonds and garlic.  Blend until smooth and add chicken stock until you get the consistency of a thick sauce.  Pour into a stock pot and add the cumin and cinnamon and simmer for about 15 minutes and add the chocolate in the last 5 minutes of cooking to melt and blend into the sauce.

I pan fried chicken breast and added the Mole sauce on top but you can certainly pour the mole sauce in the pan with the chicken and cook it with it to permeate the chicken.

I served it with rice and Spicy Black beans.  You might want to make a salsa type of salad if you want something lighter.  I won't bother with the Black bean recipe but just to say that I cooked dried beans in chicken stock and added chilies and other spices.

I garnished with cilantro and cut hearts out of red peppers.   You can get creative here if you like.

 Burnt Toffee Chocolate Mousse 

I am not going to provide the Mousse recipe that I made because I wasn't happy with the consistency.  It was too grainy and not light.  I wanted to make my mom's version but I haven't had it in over 10 years and couldn't remember exactly how she did it.   Let's just say you use eggs, whip cream, chocolate and butter to make it.  I have made a mousse recipe in the past that turned out better than this and I made try and work on this to see if I can get it closer to my mom's version.   I used the Burnt Toffee chocolate which tasted great but I would probably recommend this for the filo pastry recipe more than a mouse because there are the bits of toffee so it isn't as smooth.  I wanted to use the Blood Orange Chocolate but it wasn't available.  I also used some of the Dark chocolate with this which I would recommend and add some brandy to really enhance the flavour.  My mom added Brandy, that's the part I remember.

Some of these are labour intensive and the Mole has a bunch more ingredients for the traditional version but I wanted to give you ideas of creating a Valentine's Day Dinner for someone you Love.  You can make it for yourself if you don't have a sweetheart.  I ate this all by myself and enjoyed it.

Dark chocolate has a lot of health benefits so it's a great thing to cook with and you can experiment.  Chocolate is great in a BBQ rub too and then there is always Hot Chocolate or Smores.

Get in the Kitchen and Get Creative with Chocolate.  Your sweety will LOVE you for it.

Green and Black's was established in 1991 in England and has become a world leader in Organic fair trade chocolate.

for more info:  www.greenandblacks.co.uk  & www.facebook.com/GreenandBlacksCanada

Disclaimer:  Green and Black's chocolate was provided but the recipes and opinions are my own.

Heart Healthy Valentine's Day dinner

Are you one of those people that don't like to go to a packed over priced restaurant for Valentine's Day and feel the pressure of having the perfect dinner with your date?

Maybe you should skip the restaurant and make something for your special someone at home instead.  You can prep as much as you like in advance and just warm and assemble or you can make it a shared experience where you cook together.

Here's a couple of dishes that will make your night a bit more Heart Healthy and still big on flavours.   I came up with this recipe because of things I had on hand that I thought maximized a tasty meal that will leave you feeling great after dinner for a better Valentine's Day Evening.
Here's my 3 course meal that will boost your energy for good things.

1st Course

Steamed Artichoke with Spicy Vinaigrette

This recipe is a mish mash of something my mom used to make all the time with adjustments by my brother and I.  We kept experimenting with the basic vinaigrette sauce my mom made.

To start steam 2 Artichokes until you can remove one of the leaves easily.  Before you cook them soak in a lemon water solution to help hold the color a bit more and then toss the lemon into the steamer pot when cooking.  You can trim the artichokes to make them look better but we never bothered to do that.

In a small bowl combine a teaspoon of mustard.  Our mashup included both yellow mustard and dijon mustard.  You can use grainy mustard if you like too.  Add a small clove of crushed garlic.  Add 1 part acid (lemon juice or vinegar)  we used both lemon juice and different vinegars including malt vinegar.  Add another part of olive oil.  A traditional vinaigrette is more oil than vinegar but I have found that it's better to have equal parts so that it doesn't slide off the artichoke and retains a punch.  Add a teaspoon of chopped parsley.  And to kick up the heat add a couple of drops of sriracha or tabasco sauce.  You can add chili flakes too but the sauce will work better.  Add a pinch of sugar to balance the acids.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well.  To serve just pull an artichoke leave and dip it in little individual sauce bowls as seen in the photo.

2nd Course

Turkey Scallopini with sweet potato and spinach

Turkey Scallopini

2 slices of Turkey Scallopini or pounded turkey white meat if you can't find it.

Get 3 deep dishes and one small cookie sheet.

In one bowl add panko bread crumbs, nutritional yeast, grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, thyme and lemon zest.  

In the second bowl add flour seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper, paprika, cayenne and garlic powder.

In the third bowl beat 3 eggs.  You don't need to season the eggs.

To Bread the Scallopini first coat with the flour mixture and then shake off the excess.  Then dip it into the egg and let the excess drip back into the bowl.  Then dip it into the panko mixture and pat it down and make sure you cover all the spots well.  Place on a cookie sheet and let it rest for 20-30 minutes to make it stick better.  It only takes a couple of minutes to cook it so you will cook it while the other things are done.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes.  Cut up a large sweet potato into 1/4 inch slices and then using a heart shaped cookie cutter cut out heart shapes from each slice.  In a bowl add a drizzle of olive oil, smoked paprika, regular paprika, salt and pepper.  Add to cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 350degrees for about 20 minutes or until browned.   

Using the leftover sweet potato scraps boil them in water until soft and then drain and add freshly grated nutmeg, butter, salt and pepper and mash until smooth.  Keep warm.

Spinach

In another saucepan boil water with salt and add a bag of spinach and blanch until bright green.  Remove from the water with a spider and drain the water out.  Add the spinach back to the pot and add butter, a tbsp of heavy cream, grated nutmeg, grated parmesan cheese and salt and pepper.  Puree with a stick blender until smooth.  Keep warm.

Once the you have all the sides ready and warming you can heat a frying pan on medium high heat and add vegetable oil to coat the pan.  Once the oil is hot add the breaded turkey and cook until you see it start to rise up on the bottom or until it is golden brown underneath and then flip over to cook the other side.  it should take about 5 or 6 minutes to cook each Scallopini.   Drain on a plate with paper towel.

Now you are ready to plate.    Add the mashed sweet potato first,  then add the Turkey Scallopini,  If you puree your spinach really smooth you can add it on as a sauce or just set it to the side.   Add the brown heart shaped sweet potatoes on top and the side of the plate.   Garnish with a lemon slice and a pinch of paprika.

If you are more creative than me when it comes to plating you can probably make it look even better.. But I made this for myself so this was my first attempt at plating.     Unfortunately the sweet potato and turkey were too close in color but you could make a steak instead if you wanted to change the protein.

3rd Course (Desert)

Blood Orange Chocolate Hazelnut

I kept the desert course easy and light but with a nice sweet finish that will still leave you satisfied.

Cut a couple of blood oranges into thin slices and arrange on a large plate.   Toast hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until they are slightly browned.  Crush or chop the hazelnuts.   Melt a good quality chocolate bar in a microwave or using a double boiler.  A bowl on top of a saucepan with water simmering.   You can also heat up heavy cream and pour into a bowl of broken up chocolate and stir until smooth and shiny.  In a pinch you can use Nutella or chocolate syrup but a good quality dark chocolate would be the best option.  Drizzle the chocolate over the orange slices and then sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts on top.  That's all there is to the desert but it's a really nice balance of sweet, sour, crunchy and smooth that will satisfy your palette but not leave you feeling bloated.

Unfortunately the worst part of this whole thing is the dishes that need to be cleaned up...  but I say do the dishes together and then enjoy the rest of your evening feeling very satisfied and hopefully very Happy.

Have a very Happy Valentine's Day and i hope these suggestions make your night a great one.

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for FOOD LOVERS

It's almost Valentine's Day and you haven't got a clue what to get for your Sweetheart right?

Well skip the lingerie because all it does is make them feel like they need to have a perfect body.

Feed them with Love and Yummy things instead.

I'm going to give you a few ideas of things you can get or do for and with the ones you LOVE and they all revolve around food in some way or another.


Here are 10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas that will get you lots of LOVE for a little bit of money or a little more:

1.     Dinner Reservations to a restaurant that has a Prix Fixe Valentine's Day Menu if you book far enough ahead of time.  It's not very creative but the creative part comes in choosing the perfect restaurant that caters to your loved one's tastes.   Some suggestions for restaurants in Toronto include:

1a.   Susur Lee has special menus at two of his restaurants, both BENT and LEE have Prix Fixe 4 course meals for $95.00 and I can tell you that if you are lucky enough to see Susur during your visit it will be well worth it.  The food and the service at his restaurants is world class.  Susur is the master of Asian Fusion and the restaurants are beautiful.   It's a bit pricey but this is a restaurant to impress someone special.

1b.   THE BEVERLEY HOTEL on Queen Street West also has a $60 per person menu and the Chefs at the Beverley are very creative with their food so if you are looking to try something new then that's a good place to go.

1c.    DESTINGO has a 4 course "Be Mine" menu that includes Aphrodisiacs.  I haven't been there but I have heard good things.

1d.    LUMA at the Bell Tiff Lightbox on King St. West has a 3 course meal and if you are taking the TTC it's a great one stop shop where you can go and have dinner and see a movie in the same building.

1e.    Want to feel like a Celebrity?  How about going all out at ONE Restaurant,  one of Chef Mark McEwan's restaurants in Yorkville.  Their Valentine's Day menu is $100 per person and you can do a bigger splurge and book a fancy room in the Hotel for desert.

Ok I will move on from fancy restaurants now to a few other things.   What if you want to stay in instead, here are a couple of ideas for that.

2.     You can order a Heart Shaped Pizza from BOSTON PIZZA,  it's a charity initiative so it's a good thing and it looks cool.  The pizza's aren't the best in the city but it's the thought that counts here.

3.     If you are a good cook then it's always a good thing to cook your best dish and do the dishes afterward or if you have a little bit of cash to burn you can hire a PRIVATE CHEF and they will do the fancy cooking for you.

4.     You can also set up special monthly delivery specialty item boxes from places like the CARNIVORE CLUB, popular for men,  or FOODIE PAGES has all kinds of curated products, or you can even set up a healthy Organic Food delivery from FRESH CITY FARMS and I have mentioned them before but AMAZING CLUBS CANADA has all kinds of things like Wine of the Month, Cheese of the Month, Chocolate of the Month and a whole lot more.

5.     What if your special someone loves to cook.  I just got a heart shaped candy red LE CREUSET pot that I just love.  It's a pot that you can cook and serve in and it will last forever which is probably more than I can say for some relationships.

6.     There are lot's of sweet things that are outside of the regular chocolate box too.  Although a high quality box of chocolates is always a good thing it's still nice to show that you are original and like to do things a bit different than everyone else.   How about sending a dozen Red Velvet cookies in a bouquet from ZELCOVIA COOKIES,  cookie bouquets start at around $50 plus taxes.

7.     And there are Cake pops you can get for Valentine's Day from the POP SHOP.  I'm going to pick some up next week.

8.    I found a company that will deliver special Valentine's Day Cupcakes to you too. They are called TORONTO CUPCAKES.

9.   What about signing up for a Cupcake Decorating class with your date.  LE DOLCI has special classes all the time and it's a great thing to do if it's a new person in your life or you are getting predictable.

10.   And there are Macaron classes too.
My friend Mardi of EAT LIVE TRAVEL WRITE specializes in teaching Macaron classes but I can see from her site that she is all booked up for a while but you can book a workshop for a future date and give it as a future date.

Ok.. I can probably think of a few more but this should get you started in the right direction.  If you have any other creative ideas that you stumble upon in your research please let me know and I can add them to the list for next year.

I have made it as easy as I can for you by providing the links to these places so that you can save lot's of time scratching your head trying to come up with the perfect gift for your Food Loving mate.

Please feel free to LIKE my Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/starvingfoodie and post any special finds or photos of gifts you purchase from info on this Blog Post.   Or you can just like my Page and you can be notified when I have special events and other special things happening.



I will be spending my Valentine's Day at my friends home.  He has hosted a dinner party for all of his single friends and family for the past few years.  He makes heart shaped bread buns and personalized cookie lips like these.  And he goes all out in the food and the decor and always has little Valentine's Day treats to take home.  I have been requested to make my Smoked Cheddar Mac & Cheese to bring along to the dinner in my Heart Shaped Le Creuset pot.  Although it might be too small if he has invited a lot of single folks.

So get cracking on those gift ideas and let me know how it goes.

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day whatever you do.   MUAH!

A Vine Romance's Wine & Chocolate Pairing Event

Do you love wine and chocolate?

I am not an expert when it comes to Wines, so I decided to find someone who is to write a Guest Post for me and they are going to be hosting an upcoming Event just before Valentine's Day.  A perfect night out with a special person in your life or even a bunch of single friends looking to learn a few things.   Introducing my friend Priya and her partner Alex who will be your hosts for this special event.

We’re Alex (Certified Sommelier at Lee Restaurant) and Priya (Actor and Host), from A Vine Romance, and we’ve got the perfect event to get your taste buds bursting with joy!

We’re teaming up with The Chocolateria on Roncesvalles for a
Wine & Chocolate Pairing event on Sunday, Feb 8^th from 5-7pm.

People love to pair wine with chocolate so we wanted to give you some ideas on what to look for when you select wines to match with chocolate goodness.

We’ll be sampling the following 5 wines:

The “Commandaria” has been touted as the oldest wine in the world! (For more, read this CNN article http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/13/business/commandaria-the-oldest-wine-world/). It is originally believed to have been given its name by crusading knights in the 13th century, but to have first been made up to 5,000 years ago. Expect it to be sweet and extra concentrated, due to the fact that the grapes are left to dry (or bake!) in the sun for 10 days after picking.  You could say it would taste like a fruitier, nuttier version of a tawny port!

We’ll open a Samos Greek Muscat because white muscats are great with chocolates, especially the lighter styles—white chocolate, milk chocolate or any chocolate with candied ginger or orange. It’s not as cloyingly sweet as an ice wine, nor is it a wine you see often, which is exactly why we picked it!  

The Brachetto d’Acqui will show you just how nicely some bubbly will go with chocolate. This is a wine EVERYONE should try, especially those who are just starting their wine journey. It’s light, not-too-sweet-but-sweet enough, and it’s such a pretty deep rose colour, we’re thirsty just thinking about it! This will pair nicely with mousse-filled chocolates because the creaminess of the filling will be matched by the fizz of the bubbles.

Amarone makes an appearance at our event as being one of the rare drier styles of wine that pair well with chocolate. This wine is best for those who might not want sweet wine on top of their sweet treat. It has a rich fruit flavor that complements a dessert without overwhelming it.

A good port is a no-brainer to match with chocolate! We recommend this for the richest and darkest cocoa delights.  This is historically the most famous wine & chocolate pairing.  You can be the judge as to how well this old standby fairs against the hipper wines we’ve handpicked.

But hey—let’s not forget the chocolates! BlogTO picked The Chocolateria as one of the best chocolate shops in Toronto and their chocolatier, Sydney, will be on hand to discuss all his heavenly creations…and maybe share a trade secret or two!

You’ll taste a variety of their bonbons and dark chocolate barks and squares along with their famous chocolate-dipped potato chips along with several of their truffles, and you’ll even have the opportunity to dip a few truffles yourself.

There are no door sales! Space is limited to 30 guests so reserve your spot today at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/wine-chocolate-with-a-vine-romance-tickets-15521576453

For more information about Alex and Priya of A Vine Romance check out their website: 

A Vine Romance and follow them on Facebook here: A Vine Romance

Event - The Luxury Chocolate Show

What event can you go to on a sunday afternoon where it's packed with Chocoholics in a frenzy?  Yes the 4th Annual Luxury Chocolate Show just happened at Roy Thompson Hall in downtown Toronto where there were streams of Chocoholics eager to check out all the chocolate treats.

My friend works at Roy Thompson Hall and was working the door.  She said it was a mad house when I entered the building.  She was busy directing media, and throngs of people that cashed in on those online deal tickets so there was a steady stream of people at the show all day.

I was only there for a short time and only tried a couple of the samples but I did take lots of picks for you to check out.  I realized that I wasn't as much of a chocoholic as I thought I was.  I resisted the many tables of chocolate sweets and a couple of savoury dishes.  I hadn't had lunch yet so I find I don't crave sweets until after I eat my meal or when I am just totally exhausted and need a pick me up.

Some of the things they had at the show were Chocolate eating contests, chocolate making demos, and chocolate pairings with wine and beer.  Some of the chocolate treats included chocolate shoes, chocolate skulls, cake pops, macarons, truffles, cookies, cakes and anything you would normally find chocolate in.

Some of the vendors participating included LeDolci, Laura Slack, Brix, Penthouse Catering, Thompson Chocolates, Xocai and Giddy YoYo and too many more to mention.

This was a fundraising event and run in conjunction with the Chocolate Ball that I attended recently.

Here are some of the pics of what I got near at the show.  I missed a few things because there were too many people to get near it to take a photo.

9th Annual Chocolate Ball Gala a chocoholic's heaven

The 9th Annual Chocolate Ball was held at the Eglinton Grande Event Hall this past week on a night that saw a crazy rain storm that flooded the streets of Toronto again.  The timing of the start of the event  happened at the same time as the storm decided to go crazy leaving attendees of the gala to run like crazy to get into the event or to find a creative way of getting there around the flooded streets that were close to the venue.  But there were quiet a few including myself that made it out to the event for a night of Chocolate.  The theme of the event was TROPIC COCOA: A salute to movies, music and dance of the Tropics.

The Chocolate Ball is a Charity Event that benefits Prostate and Breast Cancer Initiatives.
The organizer is also responsible for the upcoming Luxury Chocolate Show at Roy Thompson Hall.

The Chocolate Ball is more of a Celebration of Chocolate and an over the top party complete with Hula  girls, photo booth, casino tables, caricatures and a silent auction.   Lots to see and be entertained by at this Gala and then there is the Chocolate.  Imagine tables around the room covered in all things chocolate.  I would have liked to see a few more savoury chocolate dishes but there were a couple of different kinds of tacos, some chocolate Ribs and a couscous salad I think.  I didn't try that one but I tried the Tacos and the Ribs which were delicious.   And then there was the rest of the room full of cakes, crepes, tarts, chocolates, candies, and anything that you could think of that was made of chocolate.  I tried as much as I could but you can only eat so much chocolate at one time before you go into a chocolate coma.   Some of the vendors that were there were Earl's Kitchen and Bar, Penthouse Catering, Crepe a Go Go, Personal Chef Solutions and Rasool's Charbroiled on the Savoury side and La Rocca Creative Cakes, Giddy Yoyo, Chocostyle, Xocai, M Thompson Chocolates to name a few.

The organizers did a great job of making the event fun and interactive and people were encouraged to hop on the dance floor and learn how to shake their hips with the Hula dancers.   A couple of the chefs got into the act even.

Here are a few photos I took at the event.  The lighting wasn't great for food pics but it was designed to make the room sparkle.