Valentine's Day Incites Passion For...Chocolate!

by Paige Donner

This Valentine's Day why not indulge in a bit of self-love?  Yes, I mean CHOCOLATE!

The good thing about eating chocolate is that it's actually included in the grouping of Nature's Super Foods. 

Gotta love nature! 

If you happen to be in Paris, you can pick up some fancy sweet chocolate treats at the most gourmet of gourmet shops that Parisians like to keep all to themselves: Méert.

These photo below are just a couple of examples of what you can find there. 

Méert Valentine's Day Gift Box - Chocolate!

Méert Valentine's Day Gift Box - Chocolate!

This sweet treat is the specialty on offer at the picturesque, lovely, and very traditional Café de la Paix, just in the shadows of the Palais Garnier, the Opéra de Paris. 

©T.CARON- Café de la Paix Saint Valentin

And if you read French (or use an online translate app)  and want to try out a fabulous recipe for making your own holiday chocolate bonbons full of taste and passion, this comes courtesy of Le Cordon Bleu, the wonderful cooking school in Paris that once welcomed even Julia Child. 

Happy Valentine's Day - photo courtesy Le Cordon Bleu

La Saint-Valentin approche ! Voici une bonne occasion de préparer soi-même ses chocolats pour les offrir à l'être aimé et de tester la technique du tempérage du chocolat, clé de la réussite de vos bonbons.

Pour 40 bonbons Dans cette recette : chocolat de couverture 70 % beurre de cacao coloré pulpe de fruit de la Passion poudre d'or alimentaire Trimoline®

Ingrédients

Caramel passion 50 ml d'eau 90 g de sucre 15 g de Trimoline® (sucre inverti) 30 g de beurre 45 ml de crème liquide 50 g de sucre 30 g de pulpe de fruit de la Passion Moules et enrobage 20 g de beurre de cacao coloré (facultatif) poudre d'or alimentaire 400 g de chocolat de couverture 70 % Note: 2 moules à chocolat en polycarbonate de 20 empreintes

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♥Chérie Du Vin

Episode 2 GOODfood+wine aka Paris GOODfood+wine Airs February 15th

Episode 2 GOODfood+wine aka Paris GOODfood+wine Airs February 15th 2015

by Paige Donner

If you read French and keep on top of French culinary news, you may already have bookmarked several of these articles that buzzed around the social media waves these past weeks, namely how France is mounting a campaign of Gastro-Diplomacy. 

Well, we here at GOODfood+wine (aka Paris GOODfood+wine) applaud these efforts. In fact, I wholeheartedly embrace the synergy of the first episode airing the very same month that the French government officially launched the spearheading of their formal worldwide communications campaign about the abiding merits of French cuisine.

EPISODE 2 AIRING ON WRP Sunday, February 15th, 2015

The second episode of Paris GOODfood+wine (aka GOODfood+wine) airs this Sunday on World Radio Paris.  If you live outside Paris and don't get the station on your radio dial,not to worry. You can catch the episode on replay, along with Episode 1 as well, at WRP/ListenAgain.

Chef Yannick Alléno Paris/ Pavillon Ledoyen 3 Etoiles Michelin/ Février 2015

By the way, Chef Yannick Alléno is the Paris chef who was just awarded a third Michelin star for the restaurant he bought last year, Pavillon Ledoyen. You will hear more about it, plus an interview I did with him about his love of wine, in this episode, Episode 2 of Paris GOODfood+wine. 

EPISODE 2 - The show lineup:

In this Episode of Paris GOOD food+wine, we'll be hearing from Alec Lobrano, our featured guest restaurant reviewer and author of Hungry for Paris. He'll give us the scoop about Chef Yannick Alleno's re-envisioned Pavillon Ledoyen. The Pavillon Ledoyen is an iconic Parisian restaurant that this supertstar chef recently installed himself in as Executive Chef and owner.

Next you'll hear an interview I did with Chef Alléno himself about his love of wine and his winemaking collaboration with Côtes du Rhône organic wine champion, Michel Chapoutier.

Frédéric Lalos, Master Baker

Then you'll get to hear an interview our contributor and pâtisserie specialist, Gabrielle Mondesire, did with Frédéric Lalos, a baker whose praises are sung throughout Paris and even throughout France.

Krug Sounds

Lastly, if music be the food of love, then Krug has a corner on it. At least that's the sense you get when you listen to Krug's President, Margareth Henriquez, who explains to us why men prefer tannins and women tend to naturally take to the sing-song of champagne.

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♥Chérie Du Vin