Vegas, baby.

{ All Extravagance, All the Time }

Photo: Jean-Philippe Patisserie, Bellagio, Las Vegas

Guinness World Record Largest Chocolate Fountain

Created by Jean-Philippe Maury, World Pastry Champion and Mellieur Ouvrier de France (Best pastry chef in France)

I am just home from a five day meeting in Las Vegas at the Bellagio. Yesterday on my way to the airport I was actually looking forward to airport junk food and paying $3 for a bottle of water versus $7!

I took this photo of the chocolate fountain while walking back to my room from a night out at Surrender (club gorgeously bedecked in red, having water elements dotted with beautiful girls in bikinis flanked by less than eye-catching male watchers). The photo of the fountain, sans ladder, came out nicely for a iPhone pic, given that it was about 4am and I was indeed teetering on 4inch Sergio Rossi heels by this point of the evening.

Perhaps not surprisingly given the Bellagio venue, the pastry shop here is practically mobbed at midnight before they close with people ordering freshly made crepes, whereas in the morning you stand leisurely in a line of half-awake people hoping their ensuing cups of cafe americano are the key to a brand new day, Vegas style.

The DQ Kid

{ Frozen Bananas Covered in Chocolate }

My playpen was in the back of my parents' Dairy Queen, so I grew up regularly consuming their frozen confections. This was pre-Blizzard days, and pre-pre-packaged goods. Now everything comes to the stores pre-made, wrapped, and labeled. What's the fun in that?

I remember watching my mom hand-make Dilly Bars. Drawing out just the perfect amount of soft-serve ice cream onto a flat surface so that it made a neat circle with a perfect curl on top, the shape of a squatty Hershey's Kiss. Insert popsicle stick, freeze again. Then the magic happened, the dipping of the treat into the super fabulous chocolate "dip", drip off the excess, and then back to the freezer before being wrapped. We also made the other "ready-made" ice cream treats like DQ Sandwiches, and Buster Bars. And writing this now is making me ABSOLUTELY want to try my hand at a homemade Buster Bar (peanuts, hot fudge, layered with ice cream, all covered in a chocolate shell). Mmmmm.

This week I made frozen bananas covered in chocolate. I think back in my DQ days we might have actually sold these, too, along with the other noted goodies. Why no more? I wonder. I guess a banana just doesn't sound as appealing as the 3000 other variations of frozen treats. So how about it DQ? How about chocolate-covered frozen bananas on a stick? Non-dairy fans would still be able to join in the craving for something sweet, creamy, and cold. Gets my vote!

Here's how I made mine. I used a bunch of gorgeous and small organic bananas purchased at HEB.

Unpeel 6 small bananas (if large, cut in half). Didn't have sticks so used long wooden skewers driven long way through each banana. Place on parchment on a cookie sheet and put in freezer for 15 minutes or so. While these are chilling, melt your chocolate. I chose a large bar of Green and Black's 70% in my stash labeled "cooking chocolate". Chop and melt 3/4 of it using a double boiler, or you can do what you like, even microwave, just be sure to melt over very low heat. Throw in about 2 tablespoons of salted butter. When evenly mixed and melted, take off the heat.

I used a ladle to spoon chocolate all over one side of the bananas while holding them over the pot to catch excess chocolate. You can twist and turn the bananas to coat (adding more butter would've made it more viscous). Since the chocolate is cooling rapidly as it coats the banana, you can continue to add layers of chocolate. Chocolate lover I am, but even two layers with this intensity of chocolate was thick enough.

Place bananas back on parchment/cookie sheet and back into the freezer. Done!

So yummy, so easy, so quick. Enjoy the summer.

note: DQ Kid, Dilly Bar, DQ Sandwich, DQ Blizzard and Buster Bar are all registered trademarks of Dairy Queen Corp.

P A R I S 2010

{ Paris, je t'aime. }

Paris 2010 has been a mantra for me since 2005. In that year I turned 35 (yes, the big 4-0 is merely a few days away), and although I hadn't yet been given the book "5", I challenged myself to think - "where will I be 5 years from today?" And as I sat at my desk my two biggest fascinations of chocolate and travel surrounded me in the form of books, postcards, maps on the wall, design, boxes of research, trinkets, photographs - an immediate answer came to me, P A R I S . I didn't really know how or why I would be there in 2010, but the idea resonated deeply within me. I told my friends and family. I got a call from my best friend - do you KNOW how much apartments COST in Paris????

No, I didn't.

And I really didn't care.

All that mattered was having this idea. And it stuck. And life just happened. And Paris 2010 turned into a reality for me, although in a way I couldn't of imagined it would. I didn't sit down and make spreadsheets, calculating and planning every step of the way. On the contrary, I just lived my life. I tried to do things that felt right to me, decisions about how I spent my time and my money, who I was with, and what interest I was focused on. Making a strict plan wouldn't have worked for me. I'm just not that way. Instead what happened I could not have planned for. A little wine with girlfriends last August turned into 5 girls with the determination to run the Paris Marathon in April 2010. Never been mentioned before, never had the inclination to do it, and at the time my life was totally up in the air. But it clicked, it clicked big time. And the meaning of Paris 2010 that I held in my mind all that time became something real and happy and good.

I just got the book Click, the magic of instant connections, by Ori and Rom Brafman. Recommend it if you are interested in how these "click" moments happen, and in grasping just how little we can predict what path our life will take because of them (I'd also say try reading The Black Swan for more on that).

Do what you love.

Do what feels right.

Trust yourself.

Be happy.

Have patience.

Things will fall into place.

(I'm a d-e-s-t-i-n-o sort of gal, if any of you remember one of the opening scenes from the greatest Robert Downey Jr/ Marisa Tomei movie Only You?)

For me things fell into place (coincidentally?) while in Paris for the marathon - I got the job offer that would allow me to move back to Austin, and be in a role at a fabulous company totally suited to my life and the way I live it. Click.

SO WHAT'S YOUR XXXX 2015??? I've decided on mine, but I'm not sure I'll tell - yet.....

PS - Thank you Stephie, for being my greatest supporter and friend. And to my other best girls - Rebecca the non-marathoner, and my partners in making it through the 6-7 months of training, the race, and all the emotional life before that - Brett, Heather, and Erin. Love you all.

photo: French macaron version of la tour eiffel in the window of Stohrer in Paris on the Rue Montorgueil. Taken April 10, 2010, the day before the marathon.

Falling Down { In Mexico and other places }

{ Runn-ing, runn-ing, we all -- fall -- down! }

Since my last post about my Paris marathon training buddy taking a spill during a run, I found out that 2 of the other 3 girls have fallen during their training as well...

B: within minutes of the start of a 14 miler, tripped over a railroad crossing, and did, as she calls it, a "sweet stunt woman type roll".

H: her words "a dang dog ran me down, and my girlfriend said she had never seen anyone fly up in the air like I did".

And although my sister hasn't yet fallen down while training, she did the Wii Fit fitness test over the holidays and it asked her if she often tripped when walking due to her balance. Hahahaha!

I love being able to laugh at ourselves with my girls! Our latest marathon safety motto: Beware of road gremlins.

Although I haven't fallen during my training, here is a short story I wrote this summer.

****************************

FALLING DOWN IN MEXICO

Trips to the grocery store are something I honesty love to do, and if it’s a foreign country where I’m in need of groceries I treat it as a full-on cultural highlight of the location. I was in Playa del Carmen the day before my birthday, and planned to stay a week. That first day was occupied with settling in, drinks by the pool, checking out the beach and my surroundings. Day 2 was my birthday, and I needed supplies in the form of snacks, water, alcohol for my room, and sunscreen. The front desk directed me to the neighborhood Wal-mart -- only a few blocks away, she said. I told her I preferred to shop somewhere local, and she gave me a frown and a tisk-tisk, saying it had the biggest selection and the best prices. Well, who’s to argue.

I had been out to the beach that birthday morning, welcomed with a breakfast amuse-bouche chocolate cake, fruit platter, tea, and a mimosa.

The days were sweltering hot, so I left for my walk to the store about mid-morning, hastily pulling on a sundress over my swimsuit. So what, it’s a beach town, sure.

The walk took me a few blocks the opposite direction of the beach and 5th Avenue, the bustling center of all things tourist. Not surprisingly, the further you get from the beach the more you encounter real people who live there - baking bread just inside their windows, taking kids to school, hauling bricks, whatever. I found the smells coming from the little doors amazing. I imagined empanadas, and drippy meaty tacos on tender tortillas with fresh cheese, cilantro, and jalapenos.

Oh well, on to the big box super store.

What happened next I remember as a quick succession of frozen visual moments. Coming to the corner of a street that seemed perhaps to be a four-way stop, I made eye-contact with a young local man who came quickly around the corner of the building. Startled a bit, I kept walking, noticing there was a substantial curb drop-off onto the street right in front of me. Perception told me it was a large step but easy enough, and there were no cars coming - just a few people milling about around the intersection. I didn’t hesitate and stepped out - sandal to the pavement ok, next sandal to the pavement not ok, SLIP! and the next thing I know I’m on my ass in the intersection. First thought? Glad I’ve got a swimsuit on under this sundress. I’ve somehow scraped my leg and my knee, which I don’t even notice until later because of my express need to GET UP and get out of the street. The weirdness to it was, with all the locals around, how no one acted startled, moved to help, angled to get a better view, or otherwise paid any attention to me whatsoever. Funny to think, we are the center of our own world.

I dusted myself off, and went to Wal-mart.

Wal-mart in Playa was divine, with aisles and aisles of fun foods, liquor, wine, beach-going necessities, packaged cookies and sweets of endlessly entertaining marketing spin, and produce. What I liked best was that by paying with a credit card there was no need for me to engage or otherwise interact with cashiers as I try hopelessly to interpret Spanish numbers and fumble with pesos for which I have no idea how much they are worth.

I called my mom from Wal-mart to tell her about my street incident and have her wish me a happy birthday. We laughed and laughed - as much for my fall as we did that somehow, in a foreign country, even a trip to Wal-mart can be a memorable time.

Bastille Day, The Marquis de Sade, and Chocolate?

Two days ago I was scouring for some chocolate tidbit in my copy of Sophie and Michael Coe's "The True History of Chocolate", and came across a timely story. 

Tomorrow is Bastille Day, the 14th of July, a day that France celebrates the 1789 storming of this fortress-prison in Paris as the beginning of the French Revolution. 

So what do chocolate and the man who gave us the name for pain as pleasure (sadism) have to do with this story?

A little background. The Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat whose fictional (?) writings on the pursuit of pleasure, typically through sex and cruelty, were so scandalous that he spent 30 years of his 75 year life imprisoned in either prisons or lunatic asylums. Ten of these years were spent in the Bastille. 

de Sade is memorialized as great lover of chocolate, for there are stories, many possibly invented, that involve his lust for the food. One episode from 1772 is repeated here as the probable elaborated description of a ball given by the marquis: 

"Into the dessert he slipped chocolate pastilles so good that a number of people devoured them. There were lots of them, and no one failed to eat some, but he had mixed in some Spanish fly. The virtue of the medication is well known. It proved to be so potent that those who ate the pastilles began to burn with unchaste ardor and to carry on as if in the grip of the most amorous frenzy. The ball degenerated into one of those licentious orgies for which the Romans were renowned..."

Whenever he found himself imprisoned, writings to his loyal wife list such requests as this:

Boxes of ground chocolate and of mocha coffee

Cacao butter suppositories

Creme au chocolat

Half-pound boxes of chocolate pastilles

Large chocolate biscuits

Vanilla pastilles au chocolat

Chocolat en tablettes a l'ordinaire (chocolate bars)

While it is a questionable fact that the Marquis de Sade played a direct role in the instigation of the destruction of the Bastille, the story goes as such: On July 2, 1789, de Sade addressed the working class crowd gathered around the prison from his cell high up in the Bastille, telling them that the guards were about to kill all (7!) prisoners, and urged them to attack the fortress. On July 14 they did just that, and although this event was not of strategic or military importance, it signified the beginning of the destruction of the absolute monarchy, and therefore this day lives on as a symbol of the changes brought on in the French Revolution.

Liberte, Egalite, Fraterinite! In chocolate!

Round Top

I'm talking about the place, not the photo.

I spent yesterday in Round Top, Texas, population 77, for the Spring 09 Antique Weekend. Two friends, both long-time attendees of the event, asked me to join them for the day. "The day?", I questioned. Hmmm, feeling a bit guilty making the decision because a) no job which means b) should be spending lovely spring day looking for job. But hey, I won't be shopping for anything, right? It took all of 30 seconds for me to convince myself I deserved a day in the country.

Thousands of dealers from around the country and thousands of buyers converge on this tiny town twice a year, and my first experience tells me I will be back next fall. Lots of junk, yes. Lots of time wading through all of the tents, barns, and traffic, yes. But many magnificent items are there to be found. Here are two of my favorite finds:

Takaan hand carved wood molds from the Ridgefield Gallery. Through a 400-year Philippine carving tradition, these molds were used as sculptural tools for the production of paper mache art objects. The detail in these woodcarvings shows not only the original skill of the carver, but also unique wear on the surface from repeated use.  I was told by Ken that the takaan shown in the photo above was part of a series made for a designer in Milan.... Lovely.

My other favorite is this antique print of a cacao pod I found at Nostalgia Fine Art. This print comes from an early 19th century German medicinal plants book, and is hand-colored. The yellow pod is the "fruit" of the Theobroma Cacao tree, and it is the source of the beans that are made into chocolate. 

Pumped up on Starbucks triple americano, we made it to three of the primary areas including Marburger, the Big Red Barn, and Warrenton, working our way through the huge collection of vendors. 

At Marburger Brett found the right piece of antique Swedish furniture. At the Big Red Barn I found other Swedish temptations. And at Warrenton Heather found the tent giving away margaritas. And when we began to lag from all the walking, carnival food kept us going (in my case a corn dog, spiral potato chips, and a chocolate chip cookie), as did a late afternoon stop at the Bubble Lounge for some Veuve Clicquot. 

Sipping Veuve Clicquot and tromping around farmland in the middle of Texas seems  incongruous???

Hardly. 

Visit Round Top this weekend and see what it's all about. Go to my Flickr page to see more photos from the event, and checkout the antiques weekend link at the top of this post for all the details on directions, parking, and exhibitors.   

Painted in Chocolate

Painted in chocolate
Originally uploaded by madame cocoa

Last night, students from the Texas Culinary Academy painted models in chocolate for the spring fashion show event at The Domain here in Austin. These girls had so much fun! My friend Melissa Adams at Viva Chocolato organized this part of the event called Cocoa Couture for the Cure benefitting the local Susan G. Komen.

Local chocolate artists created and donated items for the benefit -- quite a crowd gathered to see the lacy, flowery undergarment cake at Betsey Johnson...ooohlala! My favorite auction item was the couture handbag cake by Irene Selby and her team at Cakes, Chocolates, and More. Amazing work by all!!