Sugar Savvy

I kinda can’t deal with how good Emily’s Dark Chocolate Covered blueberries are. They’re dangerously addictive. I am also surprised to say that they taste better than any other chocolate-covered blueberry product I have eaten in Maine, a place where blueberries are revered and served in a seemingly endless permutation of delicious options.
These little dark […]

Ah, Starbucks. Is there anything you can’t put into your coffee-loving maw? Or, more to the point, is there anything loyal Starbucks customers won’t put in their own coffee-loving maws? The company’s latest foray comes in the form of “artisan style” chocolate, which bears the following slogan: “When coffee dreams, it dreams of chocolate.” The […]

First, complete disclosure. I did not come up with the brilliant idea of vanilla sugar. Full credit goes to the domestic goddess herself, Nigella Lawson, who advocates its usage in her cookbooks, which I admittedly purchase with the devotion of a religious follower. Okay, so I exaggerate. But she is pretty cool.
A couple of weeks […]

I’m always amazed by egg whites and the transformation that occurs when they’re subjected to intense beating with my stand mixer, a.k.a. Rosco. I recently had the luck of purchasing some organic vanilla beans (Madagascar Bourbon and Tahitian) from a friend-of-a-friend, who bought them wholesale. I was looking for an excuse to use them, and […]

Brace yourself (and your children, if applicable) for the sugar rush that the International House of Pancakes, a.k.a. IHOP, has dreamed up. The breakfast-centric restaurant chain has paired with 20th Century Fox for a special cross-promotional menu to celebrate the opening of its film Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Jim Carrey voices the elephant […]

For reasons that are not necessary to divulge here, these mints have been a long time coming. As a fan of anything ginger, ever, as a rule, and peppermints in general, I was excited to try these two new offerings from the smart, socially conscious people at Newman’s Own Organics. I’d previously tried other organic, […]

Wrigley’s seems to be taking its flavor cues from Bath and Body Works, circa 1998. Case in point: One of its latest offerings is Beary Pearberry, which reminds me of my go-to fragrance for several years—pearberry. On the recommendation of a friend who has been obsessed with it and whose gum preferences are usually aligned […]

Cheese is like a religion in our house, and although we’ve had a fondue pot for years, we’ve inexplicably never used it for chocolate. I decided it was time to remedy that situation, and the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday gave me an excuse to try it out. In the end, however, the process took place […]

Recently, I took a culinary press trip to Jamaica sponsored by the Jamaica Tourism Board.  Shortly after my return, I was sent something that I wish I’d sampled while in country, as they say. It was a package of three dried cocoa balls, nutmeg and a grater, along with instructions on how to make “Jamaican […]