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CUISINE, CULTURE & COMMUNITY Presented by Les Dames d’Escoffier International – Philadelphia

April 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment

So I heard about a wonderful event happening on Saturday that I wanted to share with you all.  It’s called CUISINE, CULTURE & COMMUNITY: A Global Celebration of Women & Food presented by Les Dames d’Escoffier International, Philadelphia. The Philadelphia  Chapter is a talented and philanthropic group of chefs, restaurateurs, cookbook authors, bloggers, media personalities, wine and spirits specialists, educators, nutritionists and farmers, hosting a fundraiser benefiting its Educational, Scholarship and Green Tables initiatives.

Attendees of CUISINE, CULTURE & COMMUNITY: A Global Celebration Of Women & Food will have the opportunity to meet renowned cookbook author, TV personality and current Grand Dame, Nathalie Dupree, who will serve as keynote speaker and sign copies of her new book, Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking.

The Symposium presenters include flavor expert, Marcia Pelchat (Monell Chemical Senses Center), Amy Hoopes, Chief Marketing Officer, EVP, Global Sales of Wente Family Estates Vineyards, Dame Angie Brown hosts a panel featuring Chef Tia McDonald (The Vetri Foundation for Children) and Delilah Winder on Breaking the Color Barrier in the Kitchen; local legend Chef Georges Perrier and Charlotte Calmels (Bibou) are panelists for Women and Their Role in the French Kitchen, led by Chef Michèle Haines of the Spring Mill Café; and Chef Marta Quintana who will teach a hands-on Cuban Cooking class. Gluten free/vegan baking is also on the menu, served up with a special appearance by Jason Roberts from The Chew.  Underwriting sponsors include ShopRitetm, The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, Roland Foods, and ESCA Enterprises, Inc.

WHO: LDEI Philadelphia; lesdamesphiladelphia.com

WHAT: CUISINE, CULTURE & COMMUNITY: A Global Celebration of Women & Food

WHERE: The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, 4207 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104

WHEN: Saturday, May 4, 2013 • 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., plus an Afternoon Reception

WHY: To raise funds for LDEI Educational, Scholarship and Green Tables initiatives, as well as shine a light on the many talented individuals working in the culinary, hospitality, farming, beverage and education fields with whom the organization has relationships. And of course, to have lots of fun savoring what the Dames enjoy most: thinking about food.

COST: Registration of $105, includes breakfast, lunch, all sessions & afternoon reception but a promotional price of $75.00 will be offered to all of you! Simply register for the event under the “professional member registration” rate on the website.

This looks like it’s going to be a wonderful event! I hope to see you there!

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Celebrating Mardi Gras with a Turkish Mocha Fancy from Federal Donuts

February 12, 2013 by 1 Comment

In honor of Mardi Gras, I stopped in Federal Donuts at 16th & Sansom to try a new donut flavor. You may remember that I’ve posted about a few other flavors that I’ve tried and I’ve always been happy with them! Now I’m more into the “Fancy” donuts than the “Hot Fresh” donuts. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a few of the Hot Fresh donuts and they are good, BUT they don’t have any icing on them and you all know I’m a sucker for icing.

The donut that I got was the Turkish Mocha Fancy. It has a Mocha glaze with cardamom and “a flurry dusting of Ground PTs Coffee,” according to Federal Donuts.

I love coffee. I love coffee flavored things. My absolute favorite ice cream from Scoop DeVille here in the city is the coffee ice cream with oreos mixed in. That’s what I got the first time I went there (probably about 9 years ago), and that’s what I get every single time I get ice cream from there. It’s so amazing I can’t even pick anything else out. Do you have one of those places that you go to and you get the same.thing.every.time? Well that’s me with coffee ice cream at Scoop DeVille.


Long story short, when I saw this donut on their menu, it had my name on it. And let me tell you this was amazing. I love it. I would take this one over the chocolate peanut butter donut any day (and I liked that one!). The donut was soft & fluffy, and the flavor the cardamom brought to the donut was out of this world.  This definitely wasn’t a heavy donut at all. It took everything I had in me to not lick the paper. So if you’re near 16th & Sansom or Two Street, you have gotta try this bad boy.

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Knob Creek Bourbon Dinner at Meritage

November 30, 2012 by 3 Comments

Last night I had the pleasure of attending an invite-only Bourbon Dinner at Meritage (500 South 20th Street, Philadelphia).  As part of Knob Creek’s new “The Standard” Dinner Series, the world’s best small batch bourbon partners with a local city’s best restaurant to raise some glasses (and the standard for good dining).  We got to learn the rich history of this quintessentially American spirit.  We got to savor the bold, signature flavor of Knob Creek through the signature cocktail and custom bourbon-infused dinner pairing created by Chef Anne Coll.

I have a long list of restaurants in Philadelphia that I want to try, and Meritage has been one of them. So I was very excited to hear that this dinner was going to be held there; I’ve heard wonderful things about Chef Anne Coll.

The Distillery Specialist that dined with us was Theo Rutherford and he did a great job at teaching us about Bourbon. I loved hearing some of his stories! He was very personable and you could just tell that he loves his job!

Bourbon is a type of American Whiskey that is a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn. Most brands are produced in Kentucky, but it may be produced anywhere in the United States.

Once it goes through the production process the clear spirit is placed in charred-oak barrels (which can only been used once!) for aging, during which it gains color and flavor from the caramelized sugars in the charred wood. Bourbons gain more color and flavor the longer they mature.

Let’s get to the Food and Bourbon Pairings! The food was absolutely amazing and the flavors were right on  point.

First – let me apologize for the photo quality – the lighting wasn’t that great in the restaurant and I only have my iPhone – so the picture quality isn’t that great. My apologies! [Read more...]

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Federal Donuts + a Cameo from Hurricane Sandy!

October 29, 2012 by 7 Comments

Here in Philadelphia we’re blowing away! The wind & rain from Hurricane Sandy is starting to pick up. Everything in the city and surrounding suburbs is closed. No public transportation. Restaurants and shops are closed. My office is closed. So I’m taking full advantage and I’ve parked myself on the sofa with the remote in my hand. Days like this are few and far between so I’m enjoying it while I can.

This time of day the city is usually very busy with so many cars on the street and people on the sidewalks. That’s not the case today. Take a look at how quiet and calm the city is ~ the calm before the storm.

But enough about this Hurricane – let’s talk DONUTS! Because who doesn’t love donuts?

Have you ever been to Federal Donuts? I had never been to the original shop in South Philly, but I always heard about how awesome it was and that their donuts and chicken were amazing. There was always a line out the door and they sold out quite often. They opened up a second store in Center City that’s located at 1632 Sansom Street. Now I have to say that this very dangerous for me, as I live 2 blocks away and work a half of a block away from this store. It’s just way too easy to stop by for a donut (or two) on my way to the office.

One morning that’s just what I did. I didn’t even have to worry about waiting in line because I was the only person there. I only let myself get two donuts, so it was a hard decision on what flavors to pick. Take a look at their menu; everything looks good! I ended up getting two fancy donuts: Lemon Bar and Mint Chocolate Cookie.

I love Lemon. So I knew that I had to get this donut. And let me tell you it was so good. You know how I love frosting. As you can see there is plenty of it on this donut. The cake was so flavorful and fluffy. I loved the lemon flavor – it was absolutely perfect. The donut paired with the icing had the perfect amount of zing to it. The perfect amount of tang.And the streusel bits? LOVED THEM.


As I sit here and look at the pictures of the donut, I want one. Now. It was that good.

I don’t think I can go back to Federal Donuts and NOT get this donut.

I can’t let myself do that. So you have to get this flavor when you go to Federal Donuts.


It goes great with a Latte from Starbucks.   But let me tell you what doesn’t go well with a Latte.

The Mint Chocolate Cookie Donut. Coffee and Mint don’t mix, in my opinion.


This was the donut I wasn’t too sure about. Mint Chocolate Cookie. Sure, I love mint flavored things. But I just wasn’t sure about a mint flavored donut.  But what did I have to lose? I loved the amount of frosting on it and and those cookie crumbles? I just couldn’t resist them.

I loved how the mint and chocolate flavors worked together. They really complemented each other. It reminded me of an Andes Candy. And those bad boys are delicious! So get this donut the next time you go to Federal Donuts.


And I’ve gotta say that I was pleasantly surprised! This is a donut that I would definitely get again.


Isn’t that a beauty? Seriously. I want one right now. Even if they were open, I wouldn’t brave the rain and wind for it. That will have to wait until Hurricane Sandy sees her way outta here.

I want to try the Chicken soon too – I hear it’s outstanding!

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FreshDirect is now delivering in Philadelphia!

September 27, 2012 by 3 Comments

When I lived in the surburbs I LOVED to go grocery shopping. I’d go and walk around and browse, check out all of the new products, take my time, etc. You’d find me at the grocery store a few times a week because I was always stopping in for a few things here and there. It was something I enjoyed doing.

Now we live in the city. I HATE grocery shopping now. It’s always such a huge production to go get groceries. There’s always traffic. The store is always crowded. Everything in the city is priced so much higher than in the suburbs. I just straight up dislike grocery shopping. And then once I drop hundreds of dollars on a few bags of groceries, I know that I have to get everything from my car up to the 23rd floor of my building. Ugh!

I’m not sure if you know this yet or not, but FreshDirect is now delivering in Philadelphia! (as of October 1, 2012)  How neat is that? So I’m happy that I’ll get to try FreshDirect out and have it delivered right to my door. No more crowds. No more high prices. No more carrying grocery bags up to the 23rd floor! This is a win/win. Do you think I can convince them to put everything away for me? ;)

They even have a special offer for new customers in Philadelphia! You can save $50 on your first order (minimum $125) with the code FDINPHILLY. Now it’s only available for first-time residential customers in the Philadelphia delivery area, and it expires 12/31/2012. There’s some other fine print but it sounds like an awesome deal. Give it a try and see how you like it!

 

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