Sweet Events: August 30th - September 5th, 2010

To help you go out and explore desserts around town and to help me get back into the regular habit of blogging (I know, I know), I'd like to highlight some dessert-themed events going on around town this week:

TONIGHT
Kickass Cupcakes: Cocktail Cupcake Happy Hour
5:00PM-7:00PM
http://www.kickasscupcakes.com

Free tastings of mini cupcakes with cocktail inspired flavors, plus gelato and music!

MENU:
- Root Beer Float
- Lotus Blossom
- Snickertini

Any dessert-themed events to add? Please let me know!

Boston's Best Classic Whoopie Pies - For Free!

Image courtesy of Boston Magazine and www.davebradleyphoto.com 

Now, you know I love whoopie pies.  I love bringing out of town guests to Finale Desserterie and Bakery so they can sample the Boston Cream Pie.  However, the best part is introducing them to the whoopie pies and watching the ensuing "whoopie fight."  The guest is always skeptical of whoopies at first.  Amid their "what's a whoopie?" protestations I advise them to trust me and try them; if they don't like the whoopies I will always take them.  Alas, it never gets that far because once the guest tries one, and especially if there are multiple guests, the whoopie fight ensues to see who can get as many as possible.

But now that Finale's whoopie pies have won Boston Magazine's "Best of Boston Classic" there will be no fighting because everyone can have them!  I am so excited that Finale is celebrating by giving a free whoopie pie with every lunch and dinner order.  Or if you visit the bakery case and you can buy 3 whoopie pies and the 4th one is free (offers valid 8/3-8/10).  Congrats to Finale, and hurry in and enjoy!

Want Free Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream?

Image by I.Z. RELOADED : DAILY ONLINE REFRESHMENTS

A little birdie sent me the schedule for the Ben & Jerry’s Boston Scoop Truck for Wednesday, July 28:

1. Boston Common – 11:30am-12:30pm
2. Faneuil Hall – 1:30 – 2:30pm
3. Harvard Square – 4:00 – 5:00pm

Enjoy the free sample of ice cream!

Support Taza Chocloate's Flood Recovery

Obviously I love Taza Chocolate.

As you may know, due to our crazy monsoon rains lately, Taza Chocolate up in Somerville suffered a devastating flood to their new warehouse:



Taza is down but not out!  They are selling Taza Dollars to help raise funds to rebuild.  From their blog:

SUPPORT TAZA'S FLOOD RECOVERY NOW. INTRODUCING TAZA DOLLARS!

Support Taza’s flood recovery now, and shop for delicious chocolate and other great Taza stuff later! Taza Dollars are $10 shopping certificates printed on recycled Taza 80% Stone Ground Bar wrappers, good toward any purchase at our soon-to-be-opened Taza Factory Store. Buying Taza Dollars is a great way to help Taza generate much-needed cash for our post-flood rebuild, and get some of our signature stone ground chocolate treats for yourself any time after our Factory Store opens. Taza Dollars also make a terrific gift for Boston-area chocolate lovers and buy-local supporters.

Taza Dollars are good at the Taza Factory Store only, and are not valid on tazachocolate.com. The Taza Factory Store will be located at 561 Windsor St. in Somerville, MA (expected opening Aug-Sept, 2010). Taza Dollars have no expiration date, but the entire value of a Taza Dollars certificate must be used on a single purchase. No balance can be carried and the Dollars have no cash value.

Thank you for supporting our recovery! Enter this code for free shipping on this item only: FREESHIP1.

Consider purchasing Taza Dollars today!

Nostalgia Eating

(Image by poptartsbox)

There's a great post on nostalgia eating over at The Awl called "Hamburger Helper and the Entropic Degradation of All Things."  Writer Brent Cox beautifully describes his nostalgic love for eating Hamburger Helper and also his disappointment and thoughts about how the product may have changed over the years.  Yet he still buys it as an adult, trying to recapture his childhood experiences.

It's a well written piece that you should definitely check out.  Some of the comments are literally LOL funny, others touch upon their own food nostalgia triggers.  It got me thinking about mine too.  For me, I spent most afternoons when I got home from high school cooking up my Swanson's fried chicken dinner. And yes, on occasion I will still buy them!  I think they still taste exactly the same...and I still eat the chocolate brownie first.  Don't you?  :)

What is your food nostalgia?

New England's Best Ice Cream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/doubledareya/2443303427/ / CC 2.0

Boston.com has a great slideshow of New England's Best Ice Cream.  My favorite soft serve ice cream, my preference lately, is Kells Kreme up in Revere Beach.  They also carry my favorite hard ice cream, Richardson's Ice Cream, so the next time I stop by I will either have to stockpile calories or make a truly tough decision.

To All the Restaurants That I've Loved Before

On the eve of yet another move to yet another neighborhood in our fair city, I find myself reflecting back on all the favorite hangouts that are no longer, sadly, a short walk or short T ride away. Over the past 10 years I've (somewhat affordably) lived near Brighton Center, Packard's Corner in Allson, Cleveland Circle, Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, and, starting tomorrow, Jeffries Point in East Boston. Among the many highs and lows, the tradeoffs of each street address and zip code, and the life changes that accompanied each move (my mother has drilled into my head that "everything happens for a reason" so many times I now believe it), I'm trying to make the best of the current set of changes and remember that some doors in life don't open until you close others.

To that end, here's a sneak peek of the view from the deck off my new kitchen:

Now before you get too excited, the view tradeoff is that my car insurance doubled. Yes, doubled.  But I am very excited. And thinking about switching back to Zipcar.

But back to the food.  Places I like to hang out, especially on my (student) budget, tend to be low-key, casual, affordable, with friendly service that doesn't rush you out or get in your face constantly, and I can just relax, sit, and chill.  In no particular order, here are some of my favorite haunts that I wish I could take with me:

• Cafe Mirror, Brighton Center. Breakfast and peanut doughnut.
• Eagles Deli, Cleveland Circle. Best breakfast sandwich and best home fries. My favorite home fries!
• Zaftigs, Brookline. One of my favorite restaurants, everything is good. Try the silver dollar pancakes with strawberry butter, tuna salad sandwich, potato salad (yum!), or cupcakes. Best to hit Zaftigs on off hours (not weekend brunch time) or you could easily have an hour wait. Late afternoon or after dinner-rush is best; late afternoon best for chatting with other diners.
• Taam China, Brookline.  Everything is good, especially the lunch specials.
• Chill, Cleveland Circle.  My favorite frozen yogurt.
• Cooking Cafe & Grill, Packards Corner.  I love their steak and cheese.
• Java Jo's, Forest Hills.  Even though it takes 15 inexplicable minutes for them to make, their sophisticated sausage sandwich will be extremely hard to replace.
• Ula Cafe, Jamaica Plain (between Green St. and Stonybrook T stops).  While it could get crowded, this is another high quality cafe where all the food is good.  Get there early to get your favorite items, like granola and yogurt or pastries (popovers with homemade jam - YUM), before they run out.
• Doyle's Cafe, Jamaica Plain.  Great food steeped in history?  Oh how you will be missed.

There are probably many more that I am forgetting to mention, but I need to get back to packing.  Mover ETA in 7 hours...

How to Properly Enjoy Bites of Taza Stone Ground Chocolate

How long did it take you to figure out how to enjoy Taza Chocolate?  I'll admit, I've always been able to enjoy it as hot cocoa but always felt like there was some secret to actually eating the chocolate by itself.  The grainy texture by itself I've always found...unappealing.

Recently I was fortunate to take a food writing class at the Boston Center for Adult Education where, lo and behold, one of my classmates worked at Taza!  She gave us all free samples of their Guajillo Chili Chocolate Mexicano (thank you!):

My classmate leaned in and suggested that to really appreciate the complex flavors in the chocolate, you should let the chocolate sit in your mouth to melt a bit.  The secret was out!  So simple, perhaps to some so obvious, but for me this was IT.  If you break off a small piece, let it sit in your mouth for at least 10 seconds (20 is even better), the crystalized texture starts to release all the different flavors, one by one, created by the stone ground chocolate process.  For the Guajillo Chili variety I sampled, the first flavor you taste is the pure chocolate.  Oh what a delight!  But even better was when the chili flavor kicked in - WOW.  The absolute best part was that the spicy, chocolate flavor stays on your tongue in the most satisfying of ways for awhile after you finish.  Delish!