I am a chocoholic.  I am also a chocolate snob.  For instance I used to like Godiva, but they have really sold out lately and the chocolate quality has gone down hill.  I also don’t really like milk chocolate very much anymore.  It’s just not my thing.  Lindt- uhuh, no way too buttery.  I just want me some good quality chocolate, and interesting flavors and fillings are a plus.

So where do I get my chocolate?  Artisan Confections, period, done, say no more.

Jason Andelman makes a fine selection of truffles, barks, bars, caramels, dragees and even hot chocolate.  The truffle flavors change from time to time to keep things fresh.  The passionfruit has a great distinction between rich dark chocolate and the tang of passionfruit, the caramel truffles are like bombs of oozing caramel goodness contained in a tasty, crunchy shell, the lavender honey is a personal favorite with a subtle but rich texture underneath a just thick enough, but not too thick layer of chocolate.

Of course then there is the Bittersweet bark with my other addiction: candied ginger and coconut.  This is a great little crunch which is ther perfect bite at 3:00 in the afternoon when you need just a taste of something sweet.

But if you are like my Hubby then you need the peanut butter bars, crispy peanut butter praline with honey topped with chocolate are the best little candy bars I know.

And then there are the fought after, sought after caramels which are so good.  While on the one hand the melt in your mouth goodness has just the right balance of sweetness, you also don’t want it to melt too fast because then it is gone and you need another!

Jason’s chocolate make great gifts and stocking stuffers.  I know my Hubby is probably headed there this season and me too!  And doesn’t it feel good to support a native Virginian?  There are also fantastic chocolate classes, and you can see him making his tasty chocolates right in the store!

So I was just perusing the Ferry Market Building, looking for some good eats, and there it was McEvoy Ranch a very neat shop with an interesting line of products from their ranch.  They start with their fantastic organic, sustainable olive oil.  This then translates into a host of beautiful products including food and body care, and their family story is just wonderful.  They pride themselves on good stewardship of the land and being a farm girl I like that.

But what really interested me was their 80 Acres Body Care Line.  Created in small batches, recycled packaging, trying as best to use organic sustainable materials, yadda, yadda, yadda.  But the products were just amazing.  As a lavender fiend, the lavender scent was really lavender, not a blend or fake lavender smell.  The other scents were fresh and very vibrant.

Their Body Balm is an incredible product. I adored it from the second I sampled it in the store.  This is a blend of olive and jojoba oils, beeswax and vitamin E is rich in natural antioxidants.  The thing is it absorbs into the skin well, leaving your skin soft, but not oily.  The moisture and fantastic scents last throughout the day and I just adored it.  If I make it to heaven, Geisha’s will give me a bath and coat me in this daily.  It is that good.  They have a whole line of products in either traditional, orange blossom or lavender:

The hand and body lotion was lighter, but it did absorb quickly and wasn’t oily and the scent again, oh that scent.  Not as moisturizing, but not as heavy as the body balm.  It would be better in the hot humid summers here when you don’t want anything heavy on you at all.  I also really thought their candles were fantastic.  You could smell the scent against all the competing scents of the building, and they were just fresh without being sweet or vanillay or just not real.  Being someone who loves to garden and loves real plants and flowers, I like very natural, real to earth scents.  These just make me feel like I am smelling the lovely things growing in my garden, or at the market.  I am so happy to have discovered this place and even happier that THEY SHIP. WOOHOOOOO.  And my birthday is less than a month away (nudge nudge wink wink).  My shipping address is….

And while your at it, try their Mille Fleur Honey too.  I love different honeys, they are so varied country to country, region to region.  It is so neat to smell and taste all the differences.

As my obsession with lavender continues I continue to seek out the best lavender products of all types.  While perusing the Palisades Market one day I came upon a booth with a myriad of lavender products.  Lavender for cooking, lavender tea, lavender cookies, lavender skin soother, lavender cleaning and laundry products.

I was delighted to find out the source of all these goodies is the Welsh Garden in Warrenton Virginia.

A sustainable lavender farm.  I am big on supporting local small business and micro-enterprise and I am thrilled to get my lavender fix from Virginia and nearby Virginia too.  They are at the Thursday White House Market, Saturday Silver Spring Market and Sunday Palisades Market.  They have an online Order Form for their products here, but now they have one up-ed themselves by opening a store in the main hall of Union Station, so go check them out and you can sample their products too.

I particularly like the lavender shortbread cookies, which are great tea dunking cookies.

Photos courtesy of their website.

So if you don’t know by now I am a little obsessed with all things Penguin.  It started as my sorority mascot, but then as I watched the little guys on TV and in films I loved their quirky personalities.  Then I saw them in person in Australia and the love deepened all that much more, especially after I got to touch a poor little guy after being rescued on the beach, with wounds from an encounter with a shark (don’t worry he made it).

But this Penguin by Soda Stream USA is not being posted for my obsession, but for that of a friend.  My friend Warren loves sparkling water.  And this little guy turns regular water into sparkling water pronto!  He can also make sodas.

The great thing is he does all this without batteries or electricity.  So my friend Warren could even take it on his sailboat.  You can add flavors or juices and you can control the level of fizz.  So on a hot day you could add a twist of lemon or lime without any cutting.

And the reusable glass bottles save you from buying plastic bottle after plastic bottle.  I tend to drink more water if there is a splash of flavor or some fizz, don’t you?

Available at many places like William Sonoma, Amazon.com and etc.  And no, Warren, this isn’t your wedding gift from me, but you should register for it.

So I thawed another large chunk of ham and sliced it down for sandwiches.  A couple where so tasty I thought I would share:

Ham and Brie on Pretzel Roll- to be fair this sandwich is totally stolen from Draper’s Cafe at the Greenbrier, although they do it better than me, although I try.

Buy some fresh pretzel rolls from Heidelberg Bakery, Whole Foods or Wegmans.  Note they don’t last very long so don’t get too many extra.

Slice roll in half.   Spread a nice spicy brown or stout mustard on the bottom roll.  Add a generous amount of ham- the stack should be at least 1 3/4″ thick, add a couple slices of plain brie.  Put in a grill pan or under the broiler for about 3-5 minutes until bread is just a little crispy and the cheese melts.

Apple Cheddar Ham Panini

Use a nice grainy bread.  I like a sliced loaf of multigrain myself.  On one slice of bread put a little mayo, on the other side (I opt for mayo on the bottom slice) put a generous amount of apple butter.  Slice some ham, I like mine as thin as I can cut it.  Put in on the bottom.  Top with some white cheddar (I like a medium sharpness).  And then slice some apples thinly and straight and top.

Put a little olive oil on the bottom of a grill pan or griddle once the pan is about medium heat, place the sandwich baste a little oil on the top side of the bread.  I like to use a meat press for my panini’s and grill them for about 3 minutes on each side.

I should have taken pictures they were pretty.  Unfortunately they were so tasty the thought didn’t cross my mind.

Griddle idea- here.  The Le Crueset Griddle is a little pricier than the Crate and Barrel one I featured in registry ideas on a previous Wedding Wednesday earlier, but it also heats very evenly and cleans easy.  I like mine, but I think over time this one would wear and cook better. $165.  I like the large surface of these griddles and that they can easily slide in with your baking sheets and don’t take up much room.  Grill grooves on one side, smooth on the other for a griddle.

Meat Press- here.  I know this says it is for bacon, and it is, but it can be used for so much more.  I like it because the size makes it easy to fit in most pans and it is only $12!

My very generous Husband decided to share his cold with me, so today I am stuck in the house, again.  In this condition there is no way I would subject anyone (except my generous Husband, of course) to my grossness, so I have been perusing and I found something helpful for you frantic gift buyers:

Williams Sonoma can still guarantee standard shipping in time for Christmas if you order by 9am on Tuesday.

They even have some good deals still like this:

I know so many people who could use a decent knife in their kitchen.  So many people have knives that just don’t cut it, literally.  Wusthof knives are classics that stand the test of time.  And a sanotoku knife is really a handy knife.  I prefer chopping a lot of my veggies with a sanatoku over a chef’s knife.

Or EVEN better: Cutlery and More has FREE delivery until midnight on many wonderful items, like these:

I love Chef’s Choice, it is the knife sharpener that I have and use for everything, but my Shun and Global knives.  It keeps your knives nice and sharp.  This one not only comes FREE, but it comes with a free 7″ sanaktoku knife, as well.  That is 2 gifts with free delivery for $150, not bad.

Or not one, but two Calaphalon skillets for $50.  I have this skillet in a smaller size and can attest that it works very well.

Last, but not least the mini-keg dispenser.  My husband would have really liked this, and at $100 it is a real steal, since it originally listed for $400, but alas Honey, sorry I already ordered your gifts.  I don’t know many men that would be disappointed to open this gift.  Again with FREE shipping guaranteed by Christmas from Cutlery and More.  They have lots of other great gifts like an electric water kettle, or stove top smoker, so if you are still looking for that great gift and like me hate paying for shipping, give this place a browse.  I have always found their prices to be the most competitive for really great products.

With all the hoopla involved at the State Dinner, you like I, might have missed that they served a sparkling wine from Virginia with dessert.  However, my Father-In-Law bought a couple bottles for us to enjoy for our Thanksgiving and introduced me to the wine and it’s history:

Thibaut-Janisson, Cuvee SparklingChardonnay

Claude Thibaut and Manuel Janisson have had years of noteworthy experience with Champagne, Thibaut comes from a family of champagne makers.  You can find their history and where to purchase their wine here on their website, but it can be found locally quite easily, including Best Cellers, Daily Planet Wine, Rick’s Wine and Gourmet and the Georgetown Dean & Deluca.   The Cuvee, is made of 100% Chardonnay from the Monticello Appellation, the grapes are grown in Ivy, right by where we dined for Thanksgiving- isn’t growing local great.  Then they are fermented right down the road at Veritas Vineyards.  It was a very crisp and refreshing sparkling wine that was balanced nicely between being fruity and dry with definite notes of pear.

As an interesting note, I learned from the below article  Thibaut is also an instructor at Piedmont Virginia Community College.  I just adore people that are not only passionate about what they do, but imparting that knowledge to others. Thibaut says the grapes in the Charlottesville area yield sparkling wines that give Thibaut’s hometown of Champagne, France a run for its money.

An article with more information can be found here.

We really enjoyed this wine and I hope you do too.  I am a really big fan of sparkling wine, champagne, cava and etc, I think it pairs nicely with so many types of food.  Plus, I think serving sparkling wine really shows dinner guests you are celebrating their company.

Right now is the time of year where people inevitably attend fall festivities or host their own parties celebrating the reaping of the harvest.

I once again missed what may be the best celebration of Fall, culture and community support: The Pleasant Valley Harvest Sale in Garrett County, Maryland.  An auction is held in a beautiful little Amish community each Fall to support the school in their district the Swan Meadow Elementary School.  The auction has gargantuan mushrooms and produce, breads and baked goods and other auction items, the big ticket item being the Black Forest Cake.

During the sale you can wander over to the counter to buy homemade caramels, no bake cookies, fresh yeast glazed doughnuts and coffee and cider to satiate you during the sale.  Also for sale is a collection of recipes from the community made into a cookbook.  This cookbook is a big deal, as it normally has the heavy hitting favorites from each family.

But I will make up for it by attending what MSN rates as one of the top Fall Festivals: The Autumn Glory festival.  Also located in Garrett County, Maryland (an area that happens to be where I am from).  This festival begins this week and events continue until Sunday.  A sampling of the events:

Fireman’s Parade- Thursday night a parade of mostly fire trucks and engines, with the occasional truck of football players and cheerleaders rolls down Second Street and up Route 219 to the firehouse.

Oktoberfest- Thursday night after the Fireman’s parade at the fire hall an Oktoberfest dinner complete with Polca music, dancing and lots of beer takes place, an event that is mainly attended by locals, but any person who attends will be feeling the love.

Grand Feature Parade- Saturday is the main parade a video of a past parade I found on YouTube! (Not the most professional screening, but you get the picture)

Also during this weekend there is an Amish breakfast at the Pleasant Valley Community Center, a 5k run/walk, craft shows, antique shows, classic car shows, the Maryland State Fiddle and Banjo contest, The Liars Festival, No-hands ice cream eating contest at Lakeside Creamery and so much more!  You can see a few of my photos here, I will post more after next weekend.

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And while I have family that lives in the area, we tend to overload our capacity so we normally rent a house from Railey Mountain Vacations, who right now has a buy two get a third night for free special (very handy since Monday is Columbus Day).

Now if you are lucky enough to be invited to a Fall celebration, or just need a taste of Germany,  look no further than Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe in Arlington, Virginia (Their site seems to be temporarily down).  A big box of soft pretzels, a Black Forest Cake or wursts would get you an invite back to any party.

No invites?  Well check out the Washingtonian’s list of Oktoberfests. You could also join Rustico on October 10 from noon to six for Oktoberfest where they will have nearly 25 different beers on tap, with live musicand dishes prepared by Rustico, Buzz The Evening Star Cafe, Vermilion, Tallula, EatBar, Columbia Firehouse & Star Catering.Admission is free and tickets will be sold for beer, food, activities and a mighty raffle featuring a beautiful 1997 Harley Davidson Softail – along with three other fantastic prizes. The proceeds from this year’s raffle will be given to DC Central Kitchen to help combat hunger and create opportunity right here in our own backyard.  If this doesn’t get you there,

then this might:

Although please note- kids are absolutely welcome. In fact, there will be many activities just for the kids throughout the day – including a moon bounce, face painting, pumpkin tossing and more.  So choose your reason to go.

Or hop on over to Heidelberg for a delicious grilled wurst prepared on their outside grill.  They have brautwurst, knauckwurst, weisswurst and others for you to try before ordering.  If you need some carb loading before all those tasty German brews order the ultimate combo which comes with a soft pretzel, warm German potato salad, drink and apple strudel.

You can also get your Fall on at Buzz Bakery in Alexandria, VA.  They are selling  Steamed Cider and Pumpkin Lattes. The cider is local and they use a homemade spiced pumpkin puree for the pumpkin goodies. Tempting me most has to be the Candy Apple Martini, made with housemade caramel sauce, apple schnapps and Stoli. They are also stocking seasonal beers, including Dogfish Head Punkin’ and Epheremere.

Order a batch of cupcakes, including out classic Guinness Cupcake, the Caramel Apple Cupcake and the Pumpkin Cupcake with Candied Pepitas and you will surely be a hit.

Fall is glorious, isn’t it?

I am lucky enough to have in laws who live in Charlottesville.  I am even luckier that my in laws who live in Charlottesville love food and wine, especially that grown from the earth in Virginia.

So I have spent the past few years exploring the wineries in Charlottesville and other parts of Virginia. So here is my advice of what is worth a stop and sip.

Flying Fox-

A quaint little country store front located in Afton, Virginia.  With Veritas and Pollack wineries nearby you might pass right by this little shop and think it isn’t worth a stop, but you would be wrong.  The red and whites presented here offer a good variety of tastes and very well blended wines.  The Petit Verdot is the perfect porch sipping red, while the 2006 Cab Franc presents an excellent crisp red, that will only get better with a little age.  The chardonnay wasn’t too oaky or fruity, but a nice balance.  The staff are also personable and knowledgable about their wines.  I went here with a group of ladies and we all expressed the opinion that Flying Fox was much better than Pollack and Veritas, which are pretty wineries, but not the best in terms of taste.

White Hall Vineyards and the Greenwood Gourmet Grocery

I was at White Hall quite recently and was really impressed.  The location is really beautiful.  Located on the slopes of Break Heart Mountain it is nestled into its location, not overbearing the landscape.  It is nicely landscaped with grassy areas and picnic tables, a beautiful arbor in front and nicely manicured gardens.

It would be a lovely place to pack a picnic for, they don’t sell any food on sight, but you could certainly pick up something in Crozet, in fact if you take the Crozet exit off 64 there is a little grocery called the Greenwood Gourmet and Grocery, pictured above, that stocks local products and produce including fresh bread.  They also have sandwiches and prepared items.

White Hall had whites and reds that were really good.  The highlights were the 2006 Chardonnay Reserve which was crisp, refreshing and fruity with a nice rounded flavor of oak, the Break Heart Red is a steal at $10, it can be sipped like a white, but has the rounded flavor of a red we bought extra bottles to take as presents to people, the Touriga is also very good another lighter red wine, but if you like a full bodied rich red wine the Cuvee de Champs is your wine.  This is the answer from White Hall to Barboursville’s Octagon, but at $10-15 dollars less without the discount.  Even the 2006 Soliterre a sweet dessert wine shows refinement, it is not overly sweet and sappy, but has a crispness that makes it lovely and delicate.  It would be great drizzled over some peaches and fresh ice cream.  All in all this is perhaps one of the best wineries to visit as they really have a nice varied selection.

Barboursville Vineyards-

I haven’t gotten to go to this winery yet, but it is high on my list after having a few bottles of their lovely Octagon and their chardonnay.  Octagon is very full bodied, yet it has a crispness to it that makes it refreshing, as well.  This wine was served at a Inaguration Conservation Gala.  They have Palladio restaurant, which I am eager to check out, as well.

The last winery I am going to feature in this post is the King Family Vineyards-

This winery is in a lovely location overlooking their vines and fields.  They have polo matches and outdoor seating.  Inside not only do they have wine they also offer a variety of meats, cheeses, crackers and other accompaniments so you could have a nice meal outside.  Their wines are not as good as Barboursville or White Hall, but they are still much better than Veritas and Pollack and some other wineries in the area.  And they really are nice wonderful people.  My favorites were the Meritage 2006 a nice blend to make this a full bodied red with a smooth finish it can also be aged until 2012 to let the flavors age.  The Pedit Verdot was another nice sipping red, but it is a little spicier than your typical Petit Verdot.  They also have a nice Chardonney and Brut sparkling wine.  They have sold out of the Cab Franc so I won’t tell you about it as they should have a new vintage out this fall.

So go explore!  And after all that wine go to Three Notch’d Grill in Crozet.  It has a nice variety of entrees and each come with a salad.  After our last visit I highly recommend the shrimp penne with cream sauce, sundried tomato, pancetta and spinach.  Both the shrimp and spinach were very fresh and had great flavor.  The dish was so rich you won’t want dessert, but the entree is good enough to not care.  The lasagna was also particularly good made with fresh pasta.

I would say a little birdie told me this, but then I would really seem to talk to birds a lot, so let’s just say I heard by word of mouth that a lot of you really adored the snacks sets.  Really what isn’t to love about them?  They are adorable.  But then I heard another truth, many of you are cabinet challenged.

Trust me I may not seem like I understand this, what with my love of anything for entertaining, but until mid-June when I have my counter-top extended slightly so new cabinets can be installed in the unused space where they put an area for a bar (we don’t use a bar we eat at a table like civilized people), I do have only moderate cabinet space.

I don’t want to give up chic for function, it really isn’t my thing but a girl can only have so much china that will fit in her small apartment.  So I have brought you a compromise.  I found this when I was strolling through a wonderful little kitchen shop in Sonoma called Sign of the Bear.  It is a lot like a William Sonoma or Sur La Table, but in cute country general store format.  Anyway if you are in Sonoma it is a must stop little place.  Conveniently enough they ship too, so I have a nice little box of goodies that they shipped home to me being held hostage in the package room downstairs.  Anyway without further ado:

The Wine Glass Plate Clip.

So these really aren’t as cute, but with my China pattern that is white and silver they wouldn’t look THAT bad, nor would they on plain white plates or black plates.  They are small enough to throw in a drawer with your wine tags, bottle stopper and cork screw (which I know you have a drawer for).  And really their functionality is so great, I think the fact that they aren’t as cute as the snack set may be able to be overlooked until you get more cabinets.  See girls, there are always solutions.  Always.

Now they can’t be used with flimsy plastic plates, which in all honesty you shouldn’t use unless you have a very large group size and in that case you shouldn’t have enough of these to go around so it should all work out.  You can get these in multiple places, The Container Store has a pack of six stainless steel ones for $14.99 which seems to be a pretty good deal.

These from WineOpeners.com are a bit cheaper, but are not as nice in quality.  I mention them because you can buy in bulk and get them printed with a logo or picture.  I know many of you in the DC/Arlington area throw big corporate functions so I thought I would mention them as a reference.  How nice would it be to receive this at a big function?  I promise I would take mine and hubbies home to use.  You could also get them printed with a cool picture to make them a nice present.  Even better might be a wedding favor if you are having a reception that doesn’t have a sit down dinner.  (Sorry I love weddings, I could spend my whole life planning weddings if only it paid as well as my current profession)