The Diva That Ate New York //

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Chocabaret Countdown: The Rollercoaster Ride

Come to Chocabaret on Kickstarter 5.21.13

This morning I woke up at 5:30 trying to get present. That means I woke up feeling my heart beating hard and my chest feeling tight and my thoughts whirling around in my head.

So I took a shot of Rescue Remedy and tried to get present. I tried not to think about all the things I have to get done before the launch of my Chocabaret Kickstarter campaign in one short week. The “now” one short week that’s been nine months in the making.

I tried not to stress over the photo shoot tomorrow and the shopping and cooking that goes with it, the workshop I’m running on Thursday, the jobs I have this weekend—all things that have nothing to do with the launch…

Then there’s all that is related: submit final campaign for approval, send out press release, write the blog posts, and I still have to confirm a chocolate maker or two… Then there’s the literally hundreds and hundreds of emails I have to write… Oh, and I have to sing and look rested and relaxed for my live launch. Oh crap, I still need a musician to accompany me in my kitchen on Monday… no Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday. The launch is on Tuesday! Get present! Get present! Get present!

Panic is what happens when I look at the mountain of stuff I have to do. The same panic and fear that’s been skipping hand-in-hand with the excitement and exhilaration I’ve been feeling all these months. It’s been a roller coaster ride. One moment I feel brave and brilliant, the next I’m in the fetal position on my sofa, curled around my cat wishing I could switch places with him… wondering do I put myself through this? Why? Why? Why! What makes me think I can do this? I can’t do this!

So I breathe and I try to get present. Be here now as they say.  And I try to focus on two things: my purpose and my believers.

Whenever I talk about my new show, Chocabaret: where an artisan chocolate tasting meets a cabaret show”, the faces of the people I’m talking to light up.

And there’s my why. That light in their eyes is in line with my purpose which is to delight people. When I look at the word “delight” it sorta looks like the opposite of what it means. De-light could mean to un light or remove light. But thankfully the real definition is:

Friday, May 3, 2013

Salted Chocolate Honey Roasted Peanut Caramel Crunch Bars

Salted Chocolate Honey Roasted Peanut Caramel Crunch Bars

My friend Justin who writes the blog Just Cook NYC* stopped eating gluten last year before the New York Food Blogger Bake Sale.

He looked great and felt much better, but it was challenging for him when it came to eating out with friends. When you go gluten-free, you’re limited by what you can eat, especially when it comes to sweets because there’s a whole lotta gluten going on.

I’ve always loved to bake. Not because I have such a sweet tooth, but because it makes people really happy. So there’s always lots of gluten in my oven. But, challenged and inspired by Justin and knowing that there’d be more people with gluten allergies at the Brooklyn Flea, where the bake sale was held, I thought let me make something for those folks.

What would be yummy? I’m not one to try and take things that have gluten and make them gluten-free. I find it much easier to take things that are and always have been gluten-free and make them delish! That way whether they’re gluten-free or not becomes irrelevant.

That’s how I came up with Salted Chocolate Honey Roasted Peanut Caramel Crunch Bars.

Friday, May 3, 2013

How To Temper Chocolate

Peanut Butter Truffles

While chocolate has been very, very good to me, I don’t consider it a friend, especially when it comes to making chocolate. It’s made me stomp, scream and cry. I’m certain that at least half my gray hairs are from chocolate. It’s like a friend that you only hang out with in small doses because you’re never sure whether you’ll have a good time or bad time. The good times are awesome, but the bad times totally suck. Chocolate is like that for me.

Even though I’ve been working with chocolate for 10 years, I still approach it with caution. 

What’s funny is before I got into the chocolate business, I hated working with chocolate because I couldn’t stand getting it on my hands. I do anything to avoid that and it is unavoidable. Whenever you work with chocolate, you may want to set up a Dexter-like kill scene… cover the walls, the floors and every surface you’re working on with the plastic… LOL! And you will still wind up with chocolate all over you.



You may wonder, “How did you ever wind up in the chocolate business?” All I can say is life works in mysterious ways…

Friday, May 3, 2013

Salted Caramels

Swoon… that’s my reaction to eating well made, homemade caramels. I believe the first salted caramels I ever tasted were from Fran’s Chocolates in Seattle. All hail the Queen! It was many years ago and I remember thinking,“Oh my god! What HEAVEN is this?.

At that time, I put caramels on a pedestal—I decided they were out of my area of expertise and my ability. Looking back, I don’t really know why.

Well, it could have something to do with the fact that when I finally decided to make them, they did not come out right… twice. Perhaps I had premonitions of failure…

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Chocolate Pudding

Swoon… Chocolate Pudding!

Dear Bill Cosby,

How could you lead people astray all these years by plugging commercially made pudding with such glee?

It’s painfully clear to me that you’ve never had homemade chocolate pudding or would have never taken the money for promoting that sad comparison.

Please let me know when you would like me to come by and make you some homemade chocolate pudding. I’m slightly concerned from judging from your past reaction to commercially made pudding and your current age, you might just have a stroke when you taste my pudding.

I do believe that it’s worth the risk.

Yours truly,

Jackie

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate Truffles

SHRIEK!!! That was the sound coming out of my mouth along with a lot o’ cussing when I realized that the recipe I had PRINTED on my truffle RECI-TEE shirts had a typo in it.

When I decided to create my RECI-TEES I didn’t realize how much I SUCKED at managing production of such things. I’m not anal enough or detail oriented enough. I’m creative, not laterally motivated.

I went back and found I had created two versions of the recipe file for the printer, I don’t know how or why I did that, but there it was staring back at me. Luckily, I was able to take solace because I have dear friends who have written cookbooks who had similar experiences, so I did not beat myself too long about it. I had to sell the adorable shirts with a note of correction. SIGH…

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Triple Chocolate Brownies

Triple Chocolate Brownies

I’ve been making this brownie recipe foreva! I started out using the recipe on the back of the Baker’s Chocolate box (who else can remember the disappointment when you bit into a block of Baker’s unsweetened chocolate? YUCK!). Back then, I’d chop up milk and dark chocolate Hershey’s bars to make them “triple chocolate”—Hey, we did not have a lot of chocolate choices back then. I thought I was very clever at the time.

I recently made these for New York Women’s Culinary Alliance Potluck using Guittard chocolate, Kerrygold butter and added chopped cacao nibs and sprinkled them with flaky pink salt. Then I popped the rest in my purse and gave them out to friends at Tale, my girlfriend’s storytelling show in the East Village—the Magic Cookie Lady strikes again! Two people, who had them, told me later, they actually dreamt about them.

Feel free to improvise by adding varying types of chocolate, nuts, seeds, salts etc. Brownies are very flexible! As you can from the Salted Cacao Nib Crusted Triple Chocolate Brownie picture below.