Vosges Exotic Caramels + Marshmallow

I thought my love affair with Vosges Haut-Chocolat was over, but clearly, it is not. On my way back from Memphis, I flew through the O'Hare airport, where I bumped into the very familiar Vosges Haut-Chocolat stand.

"I've got an hour and a half", I thought to myself. "Won't hurt to look. I've tried pretty much everything I wanted to."

Boy, was I wrong. Vosges has expanded its product line to offer so much more than chocolate bars, truffles, and hot chocolate mixes. I saw chocolate covered tortilla chips, peanut butter bonbons, chocolate covered mango, caramels, books, and more. I was in awe with all that was offered. I was like a little kid in a candy shop.

Of course, I had to buy something. I wasn't sure what I was going to buy, but I needed to buy something. After much contemplation, I finally decided on the exotic caramels.

I chose the 4-piece Exotic Caramels, which fit nicely into my carry on luggage. These were the 4 flavors + interesting tasting notes that came with the caramels:

Crema: Argentinean dulce de leche + Costa Rican cashews + milk chocolate.
Vosges recommends pairing this with Quilmes mild beer to allow the "sweet caramel flavors of dulce de leche echo through".

Sunshine: Tupelo honey + milk chocolate + bee pollen.This was a very soft caramel with a nice strong, sweet honey taste. If you are feeling adventurous, try eating this chocolate "with spice rubbed corn on the cob between bites."

Maple: Canadian maple sugar + maple syrup + walnuts + dark chocolate.
The walnuts in this semi-soft caramel provided mild hints of bitterness. Vosges recommends eating this one with "steaming Canadian maple-cured bacon."

Tarte: blood orange + Campari® + dark chocolate + hibiscus powder.
This was a refreshing citrusy caramel. Mirror the ingredients in this caramel with a "tall glass of fresh blood orange juice and Campari® on the rocks."

I skipped the recommended pairing notes, and ate these caramels on its own. My favorite of the four? The Bee Pollen + Honey Caramel. I loved the softness of this caramel, and the honey instantly warmed my soul (I work on emotions). With the cold we've been experiencing, it was much needed.

As I was paying for the caramels, I chatted with the clerk, where we then started to compare notes on our favorite Vosges products. She mentioned that her new go-to products were the peanut butter bonbons, and the caramel marshmallows. I instantly knew I had to try one of the two.

I opted for the marshmallow only because it was the most portable. They are sold individually, and it was the smallest of the two.

The marshmallow was a Madagascan vanilla marshmallow, topped with sweet caramel, coated with dark chocolate, and then sprinkled with caramel toffee bits and French Guérande grey sea salt.

Katrina Markoff, you have proven yourself to be a chocolate goddess.
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On a completely separate note, my good friend BB just delivered a healthy, beautiful baby daughter. Look how precious she looks...only 7 days old. Awww.

Check out my other Vosges Haut-Chocolat posts:
Vosges Boutique, Chicago O'Hare Airport
Vosges Haut-Chocolat: Black Pearl Bar and Red Fire Bar

Vosges Haut-Chocolat
O'Hare International Airport, across from Gate B6
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Telephone: 773-894-4613

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Vosges Boutique, Chicago O'Hare Airport

En route to San Diego, I had a 3 hr layover at the Chicago airport yesterday. Sick with a cold, I was antsy to get to my destination, and spent the entire time circling around and around the airport.

I was tired of the countless bookstores, and mediocre food joints I encountered, so when I saw this beautiful purple + white Vosges Boutique full of chocolate goodies, I got excited.

Vosges Boutique, O'Hare Airport

Vosges boutiques are steadily expanding across the States, and so is their line of sweets. They have boutiques located in Chicago, New York, and Las Vegas, and their product line has expanded to offer ice cream, chocolate marshmallows, cookies, and caramels.

I've been meaning to purchase a thank you gift for my friend who hosted the Cordon Bleu dinner night, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. She is a huge fan of truffles, so I got her a 4-pc truffle gift set, and two mini exotic chocolate bars (Woolloomooloo + Oaxaca bars).
For myself, I purchased a Mo's Bacon Bar as per Jenny T's suggestion a little while back.

Vosges Haut-Chocolat

The Woolloomooloo Bar is a deep milk chocolate bar with roasted & salted macadamia nuts, Indonesian coconut, and hemp seeds.

The Oaxaca Bar is Tanzanian bittersweet chocolate with Oaxacan guajillo y pasilla chillies.

And finally, Mo's Bacon Bar is a savory and sweet snack that contains applewood smoked bacon, and alderwood smoked salt.

I couldn't open the truffles, but the box listed a bunch of exotic ingredients such as ginger, wasabi, curry, candied violet flower, paprika, Chinese star anise, fennel, and ancho chili powder.
If you want to read about my past experience with the Black Pearl Bar, and Red Fire Bar, click here.

On a totally separate note, I spotted Wayne Newton yesterday. I only knew it was him because people kept going up to him, and asking to take a picture with him. He was on the same flight as I was, and it turns out, he is also staying at the same hotel as I am. Wish I could say I am a huge fan, but he's no Ferran Adria or Gordon Ramsey :-) I quickly snapped this photo while he was talking to a fan.

Wayne Newton at O'Hare Airport

Vosges Haut-Chocolat Boutique
O'Hare International Airport, across from Gate B6
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Telephone: 773-894-4613

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Chicago Style Hot Dog

While passing through Chicago O'Hare airport on my way home to Ottawa, I wanted to have a taste of Chicago...literally! There was only one way that it could have been done, and that was at the Chicago Style Hot Dog stand at gate C8. The fun part of travelling is that you get to indulge in fast food without feeling guilty.

I don't care for ketchup on my hot dogs and I love everything that goes into a Chicago style hot dog, so it almost seems as though it was created especially for me.

Here is my must-have list of ingredients for a Chicago style hot dog:

If you want more info on the Chicago style hot dog, check out this site: Hot Dog Chicago Style. It has everything you ever wanted to know about this dog: history, fun facts, ratings, and more!

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A Nice Little Surprise in My Mailbox

My mailbox is a community mailbox where I have to walk a block down the road to retrieve my mail. Unless it is time to pay the bills, I am very slow to retrieve my mail.

I got a call from CK this morning telling me to go get my mail. I said I would, but completely forgot about it because I got side tracked (googling food related topics). I got another call from him hours later to remind me to get my mail, so I finally got up, and ran like the wind to my mailbox. I was excited because I knew would be getting a gift package of some sort. CK would not have been so eager otherwise.

When I got home, I tore open the large box I brought home with me, and to my surprise, I found two giant cook books: Alineaby Grant Achatz and My China: A Feast for All the Sensesby Kylie Kwong.

Both these books are truly beasts in size. With Alinea being almost 400 pages and My China being almost 500 pages, it was an effort just carrying these books to my book shelf. Both of them contain an abundant amount of photos, allowing you to be carried away into another world.

Alinea is a book with over 100 recipes, and is divided into 4 sections: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Don't expect to just open up the book and start replicating these dishes. Most of the recipes require equipment and ingredients that you will not have handy in your kitchen such as a volcano vaporizer, immersion blender, methylcellulose, transglutaminase, and xanthan gum. The purchase of this book will also include free access to Alinea Mosaic, a website that hosts demo videos, bonus recipes, and interactive recipe annotations. Here are a few photos of the creations from Alinea restaurant (taken from their website):
 

And here are a some photos of dishes from My China (taken from the Kylie Kwong website):

In this book, the Australian born chef accounts her tour of modern-day China and Tibet. She provides many stories about her encounters with the people that made an impression on her, and she also provides snippets of chinese culture and traditions.

The most authentic regional foods are showcased, and this book containes over 80 carefully picked recipes. Most are very easy to make, and she has adapted many of the dishes so that they can be easily prepared in your kitchen.

Back in 2000, Kylie opened Billy Kwong restaurant in Sydney's trendy Surry Hills with Australia's beloved chef, Bill Granger. Kylie once headed the kitchen of Sydney's famous Bills and Bills2, which is where the two probably met. As you may have guessed, Bill Granger is the owner of Bills and Bills2.

This is completely off topic, but Bills serves the most delicious scrambled eggs you will ever taste. Upon ordering, you'll wonder to yourself why you would ever pay $12.80 for scrambled eggs alone, but you must taste it to understand. The recipe is on their website, but I'd rather be in denial as to what actually goes into those eggs. They are definitely not for the faint heart.

In 2005, Billy Kwong committed to serving only organic and biodynamic foods. I've walked by this place many times, and just couldn't bare to pay so much for chinese food. To me, chinese food equates to cheap food. However, I must credit them because Billy Kwong does pay very careful attention to quality in their food and cooking. I may just ditch all my pre-conceived notions of what chinese food should and shouldn't be, and try this place out the next time I am in the neighborhood.

Both these books will take a while to get through, but in the meantime, if I ever attempt to follow any of the recipes, I will be sure to share.

I'm off to San Diego this weekend...home of fish tacos! Hopefully, I'll be able to take some good pics to share.

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