In the Cupboard

Next Monday is Valentine’s Day!

The Meadow has everything you need to shower your loved one with affection and deliciousness. Our Portland, New York, and online shops are offering plenty of new arrivals, as well as some romantic gift sets curated to make your Valentine’s Day bright and lovely.

• Classes: A few spots still open for the next three Portland classes:
  • Tonight! Introduction to Artisan Salts – $20
  • Feb 10, Artisan Chocolate from Bean to Bar (including Moonstruck’s Fortunato #4 bar written up in the New York Times!) – $30
  • Feb 17, Himalayan Salt Block Class – $30
• Heart-shaped salt cellars by the Portland-based ceramic artist, Chayo
• Alaskan sea salt – crunchy, clear and fresh – a dazzling new American salt
• Sparkling wines and Champagnes aplenty (Portland shop only)
• Cocktail bitters selection is growing – and Cherry Bark Vanilla by Bittercube is back in stock!
• Stylish chocolate and caramel boxes from the inventive mind of Michael Recchiuti
• Artisan du Chocolat – just off the boat, a huge spread of wild new chocolate bars, from a lustrous Tobacco-infused bar to the silky-deep Costa Rica dark bar
• Olive & Sinclair – try the beautifully wrapped Salt & Pepper chocolate bar by this new chocolate maker out of Nashville
• A variety of gift sets orchestrated from choice chocolates, salts, wines, bitters, and flowers

Featured Chocolate: The beautifully boxed bars by Cacao Atlanta are not to be missed. This bean-to-bar chocolate maker from the South takes a laudably personal approach to chocolate. Kristen Kard, founder and chocolatier, meets the growers of the beans she selects and takes great care in producing each bar to create a chocolate she calls “dreamy, delicate and like nothing ever tasted before in the world of chocolate.” We love them. Both of her “Straight Up” dark bars and the Hispaniola bar with dried cherries have stunningly rich profiles, with deep notes of cherries, tobacco and exotic spices. You can tell that these bars are made with immense love.

Valentine’s Day Cocktail Set: Letting our mixological minds run wild, we’ve concocted a Valentine’s Day Chocolate Manhattan that upholds all the ideas of the classic cocktail, but with complex chocolaty twist. This set is ideal for cocktail enthusiasts or anyone whose perfect Valentine’s Day involves wooing their loved one with a top-notch cocktail at home. we’ve assembled everything you’ll need to make Valentine’s Day Chocolate Manhattans, except your bourbon or rye of choice. The set includes a bottle of the fabulously herbaceous Vya Sweet Vermouth, Robert Lambert’s Dark Cherries soaked in Merlot, the Fee Brother’s Aztec Chocolate Bitters, and a jar of Mark’s very own Chocolate Fleur de Sel. (To stay on the right side of New York’s liquor laws, The New York shop offers a tasty variation, substituting Bittermens’ legendary Xocolatl Mole Bitters for the vermouth and Fee Brother’s.)

Ingredients for one serving:
2 oz Bourbon or Rye (approximately one shot)
1 oz Vya Sweet Vermouth
3 dashes Chocolate Bitters
1 Robert Lambert Dark Cherry soaked in Merlot, plus a few drops of the cherry
juice
Bitterman’s Chocolate Fleur de Sel for the rim

To prepare the glasses:
Chill each glass
Moisten the rim with vermouth and coat with chocolate salt

To mix the drink:
Mix the bourbon, vermouth, bitters and cherry juice. Stir, then immediately pour. Garnish with a cherry and serve. Be sure to breathe in deeply, savoring the chocolate-spice aroma before imbibing. Prepare for an outbreak of adoration.

Happy Valentine’s!

XOX – Mark & Jennifer

markbitterman :: Feb.07.2011 :: Newsletter Archive :: No Comments »