Gooble! Gobble!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY
TO ALL !

DINNER MENU:

Starters:
Pancit Molo (Wonton Soup)

Entree:
Roasted (20 lb.) Turkey with Cherry/Pecan/Apple Stuffing
Barbeque Spare Ribs

Sides:
Green Bean Casserole with Portabella Mushroom Sauce
Roasted Butternut Squash with Maple Syrup
Roasted Herbed Potatoes
Steamed Brussel Sprouts
Cranberry/Pecan Sauce
Corn Casserole
Red Cabbage

Dessert:
Sweet Potato Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Cassava Cake

(A few recipes to follow)

2006 Cocoa Couture Collection

One of my decadent fantasies? To be able to slip into a slinky couture dress - and then get to eat it after!

This resplendent wedding gown accented with white chocolate (above, left) was created by Carlos Linzan and Julie Jengali.

Wanna be a cone-head for a day?
This Martin Howard (for Baskin-Robbins) creation (above, left) might just suit you perfectly.
On January & February 2007, Baskin-Robbins will be introducing new chocolate ice cream creations such as the "Swiss Chocolate Treasure" ice cream, and a new Blueberry Lavender ice cream combined with Milk Chocolate.
Doubly-Delicious!!!

Even Rafe bags (above, right) contributed to the show.
I'll take one of these milk/white chocolate sachel over their Kate leather snap bag anyday!

Rachel Leigh and Allison Kelly teamed up with Fritz Knipschildt, and came up with this cute polka-dot mini-dress (above, left).
Speaking of "cute", this funny chocolate balloon clown (above, right) was also created by Fritz & Torben Bang for Knipschildt Chocolatier.

Another chocolate art (above, right) was titled "Jungle Theme".
This was created by Regis Monges, the Pastry Chef from Le Cirque.

LINKS:
http://www.knipschildt.com/flash.html
http://www.lecirque.com/index2.htm
http://www.baskinrobbins.com/

9th Annual Chocolate Show

When I was a kid watching the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for the umpteenth time, I had always wondered how it would be like to be surrounded by tons of all-you-can-eat chocolates.
I guess this is the closest feeling that I could get to being inside Wonka's factory.

The annual Chocolate Show was held in Metropolitan Pavilion & Altman Building a couple of weeks ago. The mountains of truffles and chocolate samples occupied 40,000 square feet of the building! Everyone got the chance to take a tour (and sample and/or buy) of chocolate creations and meet the top chocolatiers and pastry chefs from US, Asia, Europe and Africa.

There were a few whimsical and elegant edible art like this pink "KIMONO" (above, left) created by Kiyoko Koizumi for Mary's Chocolate, Japan.

Established in 1950, Mary's Chocolate has specialized in making chocolates (above, left) for the past 56 years in Tokyo, Japan. Mary's was a runner-up to the Grand Prix in the Awards Chocolat at the 8th annual exhibition in Paris. And at last year's exhibition, Mary's was awarded the Special Prize with Honors - the judges unanimously selected Mary's as the world's finest brand.

S wanted to check out the chocolate fountain first. We did find it at Booth 9, which was occupied by Divalicious Chocolate!. Located at Jackie Gordon's, Divalicious Chocolate! Cafe also serves chocolate Slush-alicious, hot chocolate espresso, and lattes. If you can't get enough of your chocolate "fix" there, the chocolate fountains can also be rented out.
This company was voted "Best Party Rental" in New York Magazine.

There was also an area for the little ones called "The Kidzone" which featured cooking classes and games. S participated in one cupcake decorating session during the afternoon. Alas, most kids didn't even have the desire to eat their pretty, sweet creations by this time.

Despite the fact that the cocoa-rush was making me jittery, we couldn't resist buying a box of truffles, a few chocolate bars from Payard and a couple of chocolate lollipops from Michel Cluizel to take home. Francois Payard's Pastry Shop & Bistro is located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Aside from an array of handmade chocolates, they also offer pastries, cakes, petit fours and assorted confections.
Michel Cluizel is based in Normandy and specializes in high content chocolate bars and award-winning 1ers Crus de Plantation.

LINKS:
http://www.chocolateshow.com/
http://www.marychocolatier.com/List.html
http://www.payard.com/home.php
http://www.divaliciouschocolate.com/,
http://www.cluizel.com/

Good Eats: S'MAC (Macaroni & Cheese)

Alright. Alright. I concede defeat.
The macaroni and cheese in this East Village joint is better than mine.
Just ask S.

Some people may think that a couple of Engineers have no business opening and running a restaurant, but the owners (husband/wife team) and brains behind this place proved all non-believers wrong.
When it came to cooking and selling the ultimate comfort food, they've got it down to a T.
It's a surefire winner!

Short for "Sarita's (wife's first name) Macaroni & Cheese", S'MAC specializes in...
...well - boiled elbow macaroni mixed with cheese!
They have all sorts of combination - from cheddar to gruyere,
from goat cheese to brie.

Just stepping inside this cozy yellow-orange restaurant made S and I feel like we had stumbled inside a huge vat of heavenly, gooey delight!

The place was packed the evening that we dropped by.
There was also a fairly long line of patrons waiting to place their orders.
However, once one of the staff got ours, it took only a mere 5 minutes for the piping hot food to appear on our table.
Talk about fast service.

S tried the "Build-Your-Own" option:
An order of Nosh(smallest) sized all-American cheese,
with a single hotdog,
extra cheese,
and crunchy breadcrumbs on the top.

I was craving for something with a little twist and the Manchego (manchego cheese, fresh fennel and shallots) fitted the bill perfectly.

LINK:
http://www.smacnyc.com/home.html

CANStruction 2006

14th Annual Design/Build Competition

To benefit City Harvest, NYC's top architecture and engineering firms created 42 brobdingnagean structures made of thousands of cans of food (plus single-serve applesauce containers, boxes of pasta and bags of candies). These astounding structures are also helping raise public awareness to the fact that we could contribute in feeding the needy in our own little way. That is - one can at a time.

Aptly called CANStruction, this charity's ultimate goal is to end hunger. All the cans used in this exhibit will go straight to the local food banks.

All in good fun and armed with a few cans of Light Chunk Tuna, I dropped by NY Design Center to ogle and cast my vote for my favorite structure. This year's winning entry will be honored with the People's Choice Award and the results will be posted at www.sdanyc.org.

There were a few mythical creatures like Perkin Eastman's bat-like dragon (left) called "Dragon of CAN-a-lot" and HOK Architects' sea serpent (right) called "Make Hunger A Myth".

There were also some of the more common animals like Arquitectonica's hungry-looking croc (left) called "A croc-CAN-diles lament", and STV's herculean frog (right) called "CANphibian". Other animals/bugs that graced the show were a couple of ladybugs, an ant, a snail, a white rabbit, and a golden lion made entirely of Bumblebee's Solid White Albacore.

These jumbo sushi entrees - left is by Desimone Consulting Engineers PLLC simply titled "SUSHI" and the one on the right by NELSON called "CANifornia Roll" was enough to make me salivate.

At least one showroom outshone (literally) the exhibit. Earth Tech presented this cornucopia called "Plenty to Share" inside Metropolitan Lighting Fixture Co. (located on the 5th floor). Omg, the super hi-end chandeliers on display made the whole room glow.
This beaut crystal ball alone (above, right) carries a price tag of$11,985.00!
(How many hungry people will that amount feed?).

Of course, the exhibit would not be complete without paying some homage to NYC. This apple (left) was presented by Handel Architects LLP and given the title: "The Big Apple Says: "Slice Hunger to the Core!".

So, who did I vote for? Well, I'm a sucker for cutesy stuff so my ballot went to Arup's mammoth horse (right) called "TroCAN Horse".

New York Design Center is located at 200 Lexington Avenue (between 32nd & 33rd Street) and the exhibit runs from November 9 - 22, 2006.

Price of admission? One can of food will get you in.

LINKS:
http://www.nydc.com/
http://www.canstruction.com/indexi.html