Bite-size cookies in a keepsake tin.
Photo courtesy Byron Bay.
This week’s sweet prize from Byron Bay Cookie Company comes in a festive keepsake tin, perfect for holiday entertaining. The tin is filled with Shortbread, Triple Chocolate Fudge and White Chocolate Chunk & Macadamia Nut cookies.
Three lucky winners will enjoy a box.
Made in Australia, Byron Bay’s bite-sized treats are all-natural. The company uses locally sourced ingredients and employs environmental sensitive practices wherever possible.
To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Cookie Section and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing.
A large bowl of soup can be a filling first course at dinner. A shot glass of soup gives a satisfying two sips and leaves room for other dishes.
It’s also a perky way to start off a meal. Simply fill shot glasses or small juice glasses with soup and add a garnish or two.
Here, the first garnish on the tomato soup is a dab of crème fraîche (substitute nonfat Greek yogurt or sour cream). It’s followed by a julienne of vegetables—carrot, turnip and zucchini—fresh or lightly steamed, which make a beautiful pattern. Microgreens add the final touch.
Today is our first really chilly day: Time to think of hot chocolate! Pick up a few pointers from Mr. Chocolate himself, Jacques Torres, on how to make a perfect cup.
Torres uses his own brand of hot chocolate mix made from ground chocolate, not cocoa powder (ground chocolate mix is also known as drinking chocolate). But you can use any mix and still benefit from Jacques’ double boiled technique.
Check out THE NIBBLE’s 25 tips and tricks for glamorizing hot chocolate.
What’s the difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate? Find out!.
We’ve tried more than 65 brands of hot chocolate. If you want the best, read the reviews.
Our favorite hot chocolate: Aztec-style, flavored with allspice, cinnamon and ground chiles.
The Jack o’ Lantern evolved from a turnip. Photo by Rawkus | SXC.
Halloween Trivia To Share
Bring these fun trivia facts to work, to school, to a Halloween party:
Halloween has its origins in the festival of Samhain (sah-WEEN), celebrated by ancient Celts at the end of the harvest.
The Celts believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc.
To avoid the spirits and ghosts that roamed the countryside, they began to wear masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.
Samhain marked the end of the “lighter half” of the year and beginning of the “darker half.” The Halloween colors of orange and black represent the lighter side (fall harvest) and the darker side.
Jack o’ Lanterns were not originally pumpkins. To keep away spirits and ghosts on Samhain, people placed candles in their windows, using hollowed-out turnips and other vegetables as the holder.
Around 600 C.E., Christian missionaries replaced the pagan festival of Samhain with All Saints Day, also called All Hallows Even (even means evening).
The name Halloween is first found in 16th-century Scotland, evolving from All Hallows Eve.
Afraid of Halloween? That’s called Samhainophobia.
