food that inspires

i've decided to make it a point to document, in some fashion, my recent fantastic experiences with food and drink. i need to share but as it stands now the only person who really gets to enjoy all of it is my beloved ryan! so, here you (all?) are.

part of this is sudden feeling is due to my new job at vosges haut-chocolate (www.vosgeschocolate.com) as a seller and lover of chocolate. my mind has been blown and widened in the last few weeks, and continues to be as each day i try something new (or many somethings new!) and talk about it with my manager. it is so inspiring to have my tastes and my ideas challenged but supprted at the same time. apparently, i've shown so much enjoyment and interest in the flavors and textures that they've already decided to "promote" me (term used loosely) to ohare's first ever "food concierge." in exchange for the title i'd be involved in all of the extra foodie endeavors of the company, plan truffle/chocolate pairings with which to educate the staff, and possibly converse with katrina on conference calls about new products. has my day-job dream come true?!? i think so. speaking of katrina (as in markoff, the creator and ceo of vosges) , i've taken it upon myself to experience all of the recipes she comes up with and posts on her blog (www.peaceloveandchocolate.com). hence the need to express! so, here are my newest delights in the food world:

for the love of paninis:

three to be exact. the first i tried was made on a soft wheat bread (although the original recipe calls for bread like those below) with sliced organic bananas, a few squares of vosges organic peanut butter bon bon bar (deep milk chocolate, pink himalayan sea salt, maldon sea salt, and peanut butter- IDIE) and salted butter. i made this with my dinner with my first official chicago friend, lauren. (who may, for the record, love wine and cheese more than i. debatable, i know, but....)

i recognized after this first panini that i was going to be eating a lot of things between bread in the near future... so i proceeded to make my first ever classic tuscan loaf, out of the joy of cooking anniversary cookbook (thanks micah my dear!). this turned out fantastically, and i was armed for the next two, more savory, italian-style sandwiches.

enter bacon and chocolate, one of the best things ever in the history of all things that are the best things ever. this panini, made on newly baked bread, consisted of vosges deep milk chocolate and bacon bar, a slice of applewood smoked bacon, and my (perhaps brilliant) addition of red onions caramelized in a homemade vanilla sugar. (organic cane.) again, i'm dead, dead, dead and LOVING IT IN BACON+CHOCOLATE HEAVEN.

(speaking of which... pudding made of maple syrup, cream, vosges organic single origin milk chocolate scooped with a bacon spear... yeah. i made that last weekend.)

and the third, perhaps most bizarre but also fantastic panini idea from katrina: prosciutto (i found mine at the lovely local shop pastoral- www.pastoralartisan.com), buffalo mozzarella, nicoise olives, basil, and vosges organic single origin dark chocolate doused in extra-virgin olive oil. i've also made it with the mind-boggling organic enchanted mushroom bar from vosges (reishi mushroom powder + walnuts + dark chocolate) and have had it in some form for dinner the last three nights. a new love has surfaced, indeed. i enjoyed this one of the nights (or day, actually, with ryan!) with one of my new favorite spring wines, the vin-koru white table wine found at trader joe's for five bucks.

speaking of wine, i was introduced to colombelle (a fantastic french specimen) at tracy lett's party a few weeks ago. some lovely soul brought it, where i proceeded to consume two glasses of the stuff with my hip attached to the wine counter. no big deal. i believe it goes for nine bucks at whole foods, seven or eight at binny's if you're lucky enough to have one near you. very fruity and floral, as if you're drinking strawberry shortcake and smelling the spring outside. actually, so inspiring that ryan and i made his (grandmother's?) recipe for strawberry shortcake, which i don't know if i'd ever had before. and... wow. mmm, the warm shortcakes surrounded by a good vanilla bean ice cream matched with sugared strawberries... yes please. i wonder how it'd be if one soaked them in an aged balsamic vinegar? heavenly, perhaps. although i wonder if ryan would let me tamper so with a classic favorite of his.

and then there are these bacon-cheddar-chive biscuits that disappeared in record time (except for the few i've hidden in the freezer:) i had an abundance of chives growing on my windowsill and thought, what else? i have been on this bacon kick, after all. the recipe came from april's? bon appetit magazine. so pillowy, flavorful, warming... oooo.

that's all i can think of for the moment. oh, and i've just recently tasted taleggio cheese for the first time. soft, stinky, and packing a punch of flavor. vosges actually has a truffle-penned the rooster-that mixes the pungent stuff with walnuts, vanilla bean, and dark chocolate. woa. that was good. all of this will, i'm guessing, become more regular, as ryan and i have just signed up for our first csa. an abbreviation for "community shared agriculture," this basically means that we own a share of harvest moon farms in wisconsin, who once a week drive into chicago to drop off boxes of organic produce, cheese, and eggs (in our case) but can also include flowers and grass-fed, free-range chicken and beef (www.harvestmoonorganics.com). i was so proud and giddy to have finally signed up, i almost peed.

so, love to any and all out there! live and eat with a happiness and inquisition!