A rich, velvety soup, cocoa brown butter with crunchy cacao nibs (you can strain them out if you don’t like crunch) and a heart-shaped crouton flavored with smoky paprika. What’s not to love? This recipe was developed by Woodhouse Chocolate, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week (and a great choice for Valentine chocolate).
Is your Valentine a god or goddess? Show your admiration with a chocolate representation of the deity he/she most resembles: Venus of Willendorf, the Venus of Laussel (Earth Mother) or Divine Mother for the ladies; Buddha, Krishna or the Indian god Ganesh for the gents. There are 30 choices overall; head over to ChocolateDeities.com to see them all.
If your guy or gal would rather have a good beer than a box of chocolates, here’s a special Valentine creation from the folks at O’Hara’s Irish Stout (named the World’s Number One Stout above 74 competing products at the world’s most prestigious beer competition, the Millennium Brewing Industry’s International Awards).
For your Valentine quaffing pleasure, mixologists combined O’Hara’s with Früli Strawberry Beer, a gold medal winner at the International Beer Competition in 2004. Made with high quality Belgian white beer and natural strawberry juice, Früli Strawberry Beer is a new, easy-drinking style of premium fruit beer, more “accessible” than traditional lambic fruit beers. It has sweet, rather than sour, beer characteristics.
Preparation
Combine 3 Parts O’Hara’s Irish Stout and 1 Part Früli Strawberry Beer in a handsome glass.
Garnish with a fresh strawberry.
Serve with a kiss.
Optional side dish: chocolate-covered strawberries.
– Learn more about the different types of beers in our Beer Glossary.
Is your man (or woman) a Master Of The Universe? Give him/her Alexander the Great, sculpted in 78% cacao chocolate. This gourmet chocolate gift includes two busts encased in a handsome volume that includes a map of Alexander the Great’s empire, a brief history of this great leader, and a guide called “How to Taste Chocolate Like a Connoisseur.” Aside from all of the hyperbole written on this website, we’d love to take a bite out of Alexander The Great—a personal hero of ours, as well.
Celebrate The Cheesecake Factory’s 30th anniversary by choosing the next cheesecake flavor. Through February 28, you can create your fantasy cheesecake flavor online and watch it be virtually “baked.” Submissions can be accompanied by a video, song, poem or photo, and the most creative submission could win a trip for two to the original Cheesecake Factory location in Beverly Hills, Calif., to sample the winning creation—which will be added to the menu.
You also can:
– Send an “e-slice” of cheesecake to a friend
– Take the “Flavor Match” survey to learn the cheesecake flavor that best fits your personality
Five finalists will be chosen on March 15 and their entries will be posted on the company’s website for a public vote. The winner will be announced April 1. The company plans to donate 25 cents from the sale of every slice of the winning cheesecake to Feeding America, a national food bank network.
Through February 14, or while supplies last, diners can earn a guest card good for a free slice of cheesecake for every $30 spent on their next visit. The cards can be redeemed from February 18 through March 31, Sundays through Thursdays. Guests will receive a complimentary slice of cheesecake and receive a second guest card to share with a friend.
