Souper aux Abats

The Montréal association of food journalists held a Souper aux abats last Monday and I was the guest of honour. This is the best way to attend a dinner as you get credit for the food, but it's the chef who does all the work, a big thank you to Patrick. The menu was loosely based on recipes in my book Odd Bitsafter a discussion with Chef Patrick Plouffe of Chez Bouffe, Gildas Meneu,  Mario Hinse from L'Epicerie. The matching wines were chosen by Guénaël Revel, don't ask, all I remember is a zinfandel that I liked because I usually don't.

Saint Valentine

In honour of Saint Valentine's day I'm posting a chocolate bar. Of course I know you'll all be eating heart either as tartare or Peruvian heart kebab, what better way to declare true love? However, as I've already posted heart it's chocolate for today, but not just any chocolate. 

This is blood chocolate, that's right chocolate with blood in it, a health bar. So you can see I'm not the only one who combines chocolate and blood in a pudding or ice cream, they do it in the Baltic countries and Russia.

Alas this chocolate bar is not made with the highest quality chocolate. So I am challenging all chocolate makers, how about a high quality blood chocolate bar or a truffle for next Valentines?

Group of 7 Odd Bits Dinner

I've been looking forward to this night, since Scott from Beast and Matty from Parts and Labour first suggested it. As members of the Group of 7 Chefs they thought an Odd Bits dinner would be fun and a way to help them raise money for their trip to New York to cook at the James Beard House later this year. Importantly it would be a way for offal lovers and neophytes to try a range of dishes not often found on restaurant menus. All seven chefs picked an odd bit and created a dish. The list was bone and tendon, lamb kidneys, lamb tripe, tongue and testicles, pork heart, veal brain and pork blood.

Christmas Chocolate

This photo was taken by my friend Robyn in Brugges, en route to visit me in Paris and I couldn't resist taking a copy of it. These goodies are to be found in Verheecke Chocolate store. Brugges bills itself as the world capital of chocolate, a bold claim but with over 49 chocolate stores and a museum of chocolate it might be justified. So if you don't know what to get the man in your life for Christmas and happen to be anywhere near the charming town of Brugges you might consider one these chocolates.

Food Stamps

What's happened to post offices? I remember getting a choice of stamps or having a first day cover stamped. Now if you can find the post office tucked into the back of some totally unrelated store usually a pharmacy, you are lucky to even see a stamp. We all just accept the printed sticker indicating the postage paid. I say, "bring back stamps" if we are paying that much to send a letter at least we can have a stamp. Some countries still have interesting stamps and pictured is a wonderful effort from the French post office. Each stamp depicts a square of chocolate and together the sheet of ten stamps represents a block of chocolate sitting in its wrapper. Best of all the sheet is impregnated with the scent of chocolate. No scratch and sniff, the smell of chocolate, admittedly a chocolate one associates with cheap Easter eggs, wafts out all by itself.
Maybe these stamps are too interesting to stick on an envelope?