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.
If your Valentine is artistic, or simply likes a good animal print, there’s a wealth of riches here. Painter Girl makes chocolate palettes, paint tubes and a tablet of the great Mexican painter Frieda Kahlo (in Mexican-spiced chocolate). For generalists, there’s a box of fuschia-wrapped bonbons with dried cherry centers and wild, wild animal print chocolate bars. How can anyone say no? Visit http://paintergirlchocolates.com.
This week’s cheese recommendation is from guest blogger Dana Romero, proprietor of La Fromagerie D’Acadiana in Lafayette, Louisiana.
With Valentine’s Day upon us, bottles of bubbly will be popped all over the world. Our cheese of the week pairs well with Champagne, and hails from the same area where real bubbly is made, the Champagne-Ardenne region of France (in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium). Langres dates back to the 18th century; its name and origin come from the main market town of the time, Langres, in the French départment (similar to a county) of the Haute Marne. While its origins are old, it did not gain A.O.C. status until May 1991. The cheese can only be made in the three regions: Cote-d’Or, Haute Marne and Vosges.
Langres (pronounced LAHNG-gruh) is a cow’s milk cheese, cylindrical in shape, weighing about 180g (6.3 ounces). It is a vigorous cheese with a pronounced odor, although it is a less pungent cheese than Époisses de Bourgogne, its neighbor and the local competition. (It’s from the same cheese family as Epoisses and Muenster.)
The taste of salt is present, making the flavor of the cheese distinct without being aggressive, and an aftertaste some have described as soaked in honey and truffles. The rind of the cheese is sticky and shiny, showing off a magnificent natural orange color. The paste is soft, creamy in color and slightly crumbly; it has a bloomy white penicillium candidum rind.
During the maturing period, the cheeses are placed in humid cellars, where ripening usually takes 5 to 6 weeks. The cheeses are regularly rubbed with brine, either by hand or with a damp cloth. A red dye extracted from annatto seeds is also applied, which gives the cheese an orange color. The form of the cheese is a cylinder with a well on the top, which is called the fontaine or cuvette in French (think of the depression on the top of a mini cheesecake). This depression is intentional; you can pour Champagne or Marc de Champagne in it to further flavor the cheese. Enjoy it on the cheese board or with a salad; if you don’t like Champagne, a red Burgundy will do nicely.
