The Celebration of Celebrations

I know I've been posting about milestones and celebrations lately -- because you know what? Sometimes things are a big deal. And when a big deal comes along -- and we all know they don't come that often -- things have to be special. I hinted a couple of weeks back about being covered in chocolate. Well, there's a good reason.

When special occasions come along that merit not one, but multiple celebrations, the one that ends things off should be a great one. The timing of our celebration was a bit coincidental -- St. Patrick's Day evening -- but the theme was much better than green beer and Catholicism. There was beer, but not much talk of the Irish Saint. Instead, we paired the beer with chocolate. Not fancy wine pairings and tastings here. No wine and cheese platters and fancy muscat grapes. Chocolate treats washed down with beer -- now that's a celebration.




I first heard of this party idea on CBC radio last Valentine's day, when they suggested this as a unique way to celebrate the day. Their version involved getting different bars of quality chocolate, and sampling a square or two with different beers. Each type of chocolate went with a certain type of beer. CBC's special guest beerologist Mirella Amato recommends the following pairings:

white chocolate: English Ales
milk chocolate: dark beers like Guinness, stouts and porters
dark chocolate: fruity beers, high alcohol beers (hello fancy Quebec bottles!)




The first time we tried this chocolate beer idea was in the summer. I'm not a beer person, so I couldn't tell you the names of the beers we tried -- but some were delicious. Coffee and chocolate porters, a really dark Guinness-like stout, those fruity berrylicious intense Quebec beers -- I remember this really yummy dark cheery one! The English ales I couldn't handle at all -- way too bitey. And the chocolate treats? Well, let's see .. Nigella's chocolate cloud cake, milk chocolate chip cookies, whole wheat brown sugar chocolate cookies, white chocolate and fresh raspberry blondies, and truffles! The dark ones rolled in coconut, the milk ones in cocoa powder, and the white ones with added chopped sour cherries. This recipe really helped -- you don't need the margarine. So did this one. And this one...yeah, there was tofu in the blondies!



This time around, we went easy on the white chocolate because it wasn't everyone's favourite, and I played with a silicone chocolate mold that my love bought me for Christmas. We used three different types of dark chocolate: regular semi sweet buttons, Callebaut bitter sweet chips and Lindt 90% chocolate bar (which melted like a dream and poured oh so smoothly!). We filled them with pistachos and honey, cashews and coconut. I think those were the most fun to make. This recipe really helped. Pistachios are ground and then mixed with honey -- so sweet and nutty. The cashews were ground up with the coconut -- no sweetener this time, but it came together with the help of a splash of almond milk. You simply melt chocolate, fill the molds half way and put them in the freezer for a few minutes. Then, pull them out, put your filling in and add more melted chocolate. So easy and fun!




What else? Milk chocolate brownies with cocoa nibs -- crunchy and so chocolately! A repeat of Nigella's cloud cake because that's everyone's favourite. White chocolate chips oatmeal cookies with dried sour cherries and coconut -- a surprising favourite! It's a spin off of this recipe -- the one that made me love butterscotch, and now, white chocolate. A fun and easy treat -- milk chocolate covered pretzel twists. And my personal favourite -- dark chocolate popsicles. If you make anything, make these. Recipe here. I replaced half the water with strong brewed coffee and didn't bother with the whisking for ice cream -- popsicles or rather fudgesicles were much easier.



I urge you have this chocolate beer party. I don't even like beer and it was a blast. It's rainy and cold outside -- what better way to spend the day than plan a party. You don't even need a reason. Good friends are enough. Get chocolated!

Letting Summer Go ...

I know, I know. I've lamented about the loss of summer more than once. But .. but .. it's just that I'm so relaxed in the summer, and there seems to be so much more time to just be. Like every other summer, this once seemed to fly by. It was like all of July, I spent anticipating our trip to Moncton, and then once we got back, all I could do was think about school starting and counting the days till the end of freedom. Well, my friends, September has finally arrived and summer, for me at least, has come to an end.

But I'm not crying, because this summer has been one of the best and most exciting. I have one last summer story post for you coming up next week, but for now, I'll keep it short and sweet and present to you ... some beer bread. But this is not just ANY beer bread -- it's fruity, summery, memory-inducing beer bread, made first with Pump House Blueberry Ale that my best friend brought over one weekend as a funny surprise. Her and my partner drank quite a few of these when we were in Moncton. Over there, it was the specialty, brewed in downtown Moncton. It even had a little restaurant attached to the brewery called The Pump House.

A little research brought me to this wonderful blog, Farmgirl Fare, where I saw her recipe for whole wheat beer bread. I used the blueberry ale and added in a handful of fresh Ontario blueberries for good measure. It smelled wonderful in the oven, and even better when it came out. The blueberries had exploded and turned jammy and beautiful and I could definitely taste that slightly bitter tang from the beer. The texture was hearty and dense, as expected from a beer bread, but a little bit too moist and sticky. The next time I tried it, I used KLB Raspberry Wheat Beer and, you guessed it, fresh local raspberries provided by my sister's CSA. This time, I baked it a little longer and the texture was definitely better.

Don't be scared of bread. Go ahead and bake some. Use a fancy beer and throw in some fruit. Hey .. you could even try chocolate beer bread and use chocolate stout .. oh my ...

Fruity Beer Bread
adapted from Farmgirl Fare

1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon of baking powder
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons of honey
7 ounces of fruity beer (that's about 3/4 of the bottle)
a handful of berries to match the beer, washed and patted dry

1. Sift together the flours, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Pour the honey on top of the dry ingredients.

2. Open a bottle of fruity beer. Take a biiiig gulp. Pour the rest of the bottle into the other ingredients and stir gently until everything comes together in a sticky, thick batter. Add the berries and mix them in.

4. Pour in a prepared loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean, and the top has browned every so slightly. Best served warm with a cup of coffee.