Chocolate Month Celebration Events

Posted on February 10, 2012 by andy

hs-choc-co Saturday, Feb 11th CMB we will be hosting H.S. Chocolate Co.  You might think that stands for High School Chocolate Co. since the flavors of candy bars and filled chocolates are based on the classic flavors of childhood, but it’s actually the last initials of creator and lifelong “chocophile” MaryAnne Hoekstra Shekar! Stop by between 12 and 4pm to try her grown up takes on nostalgic treats.

kusmi-tea-sweet-love Also on Saturday  mid-morning, we’ll acknowledge the big Valentine’s Day holiday with a demo of Kusmi Tea’s Sweet Love.  This Paris-based tea is luxurious and warmly spicy, and the hot pink packaging is perfect for any sweet loves!

 

comptoir-d-cacau Sunday, Feb 12th from 1-5pm, taste a new discovery from the recent New York Chocolate Show: Comptoir du Cacao and their unusual “flaky pralines.” Trust us, you’ve never had anything like this before!

 

tea-forte-dolce-vita-collection And on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday 2/14, Tea Forte will demo their Dolce Vita, “Sweet Life,” dessert tea collection during lunchtime, from 12:30 to 2:30pm.

 

 

pr21-openbox It is a sweet life at CMB: as a special offering for Valentine’s Day, we have special Bequet Caramel Boxes in for a non-chocolate treat, and the Prestat Heart-box Truffle Collection will be available through the evening of the 14th!

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The Newlywed Cookbook and Sarah Copeland Signing Event

Posted on February 7, 2012 by elizabeth

The Newlywed Cookbook “There’s a moment in a marriage, whether two days or two hundred and twenty-two days into it, where you’re standing side by side in the morning barefoot on the cool kitchen floor. Everything is quiet but the hum of him making you coffee just the way you like it, with all that frothy milk and sugar.  You’re stirring together his favorite pancakes, sprinkling a few blueberries in the batter and then it hits you: these simple moments are somehow the best in life.

This could happen over a fork fight for the last peach in the jar, or playing rock paper scissors for whose turn it is to do dishes.  It can happen, and will happen over and over again if you let it. That is the essence of this book.” And so begins the newest addition to our Chelsea Market Baskets library, The Newlywed Cookbook by Sarah Copeland (click here for a quick visual into Sarah’s life as a newlywed in The Newlywed Cookbook video).

Through anecdotes and recipes of her marriage, Sarah’s inspiring writing makes The Newlywed Cookbook indispensable to newlyweds, oldlyweds, and almost-weds!  After working for the Food Network, Sarah has the know-how to keep your pantry stocked for any occasion- whether you’re hosting a party, brunching at home on a lazy weekend, or making a quick weeknight dinner, and also offers advice on getting the most from your local market in any season. 130 recipes and pages of gorgeous photography make this a wonderful book to peruse or cook through cover-to-cover!

CMB is fortunate to have known Sarah when she was working in the building, and we are thrilled to be hosting a book signing and recipe tasting party in the store this Thursday, Feb 9th from 6:30 to 8:30pm.  We will have plenty of copies of The Newlywed Cookbook on hand for you to have personalized- this is the easiest wedding or shower gift you have ever given!

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February is Chocolate Month

Posted on February 2, 2012 by elizabeth

It’s February, and you know what that means: time for sweethearts, red roses, and chocolate! Yes, February is Chocolate Month at Chelsea Market Baskets, and we are excited to showcase delicious classics and introduce new favorites.  We’re always looking for local vendors as well as the best products from all over the world, and our chocolate selection is no exception.  Whether your looking for milk or dark chocolate, unusually filled truffles or solid bars, we have got the perfect sweet for you (and your sweetie)!

Brand new to the store are the nostalgic creations from H.S. Chocolate Co, each confection is hand-crafted in small batches in Brooklyn, and the flavors are reminiscent of childhood’s favorite sweets, but dressed up a bit for grown-up tastebuds.  Take the Fluffernutter: whipped marshmallow cream, peanut butter and roasted peanuts enrobed in chocolate- there is no kidding around with those sweet flavors! Or the Bourbon Brown Sugar Pecan dipped in milk chocolate that evokes a decadent, intoxicating pecan pie! In a surprising savory foray, CMB would encourage you to try a candy bar close to our cheese-loving hearts: the Figgy Blue is comprised of layers of fig ganache, soft nougat with toasted walnuts, and Bayley Hazen Blue cheese from Jasper Hill Farms (where we source our best-selling aged cheddar). The candy bars (Figgy Blue, Raspberry Ragtime, and Troop 652) are each $5.95, and the filled chocolates (Fluffernutter, Peanut Butter Pretzel, and Bourbon Brown Sugar Pecan) are each $3.25. Look forward to an H.S. Chocolate Co Demo- and meet the chocophile behind the brand, MaryAnne Hoekstra-Shekar- at CMB on February 11 from 12-4pm.

If you read David’s recent blog post, you saw that he’s headed to Paris, the home of our recent Chocolate Show discovery:  Comptoir du Cacao and the palate pleasing flaky praline.  It’s the heart of the brand and you haven’t tried anything like it!  Toasted flakes add crunch to a soft chocolate base with a hint of classic raspberry, hazelnut, hazelnut-salted butter caramel, or hazelnut-pistachio pieces, then a single layer of chocolate seals in the flakes and is cut into bite-sized squares. At the recent Paris Chocolate show, the hazelnut and butter-salted caramel flavors won 1st and 2ndplace respectively.  A box of each flavor at Chelsea Market Baskets is $21.95, but if you really want to make a grand gesture this Valentine’s Day, you can get the large assortment of flavors for $42.95.  We also are carrying the Comptoir du Cacao truffle assortment ($34.95) and solid flavored chocolate bars ($8.95). There is a rusticity in the wooden packaging that belies the sophisticated flavors, but the sealed top that allows you to see the chocolates inside takes any guess work out of gift giving!It’s a great time to be a chocoholic- you could pick-up a piece of chocolate every day and still not have tasted your way through our whole selection!  CMB is pleased that our customers have come to depend on us as a destination for great chocolate no matter what their mood or tastes are dictating.  Whether it’s Leonidas, Akesson’s, Mast Brothers, Fran’s, Askinosie, or Tumbador, we’ve got what you’re looking for so stop in and celebrate chocolate month with CMB! Also, keep checking in with us on Facebook and now on Twitter (@cmbstore) for updates regarding chocolate tastings and demos throughout the month.

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On My Way to International Confection Market (ISM) in Cologne

Posted on January 28, 2012 by david
ism

Things are very busy at Chelsea Market Baskets now… I am traveling to ISM or the International Confection Market in Cologne, Germany to see and visit with people we do business with and see if there are new “sweets” which is very broadly inclusive, that we can import to CMB and expand our assortment of inspired foods.  I find this show to be one of the best ones in that it is a worldwide show of anything related to sugar and food and beyond, so it has very good implications for our business.

In addition I hope to be in Paris for a few days, where I have not been in many, many years, experiencing one of the better “food towns” of the world.  I look forward to reporting back on my travels.  Also we have a shipment coming in on Monday which includes Prestat Chocolate from London, England, that we will be selling at Henri Bendels on 5th Ave, starting on Tuesday.

comptoirducacau We also have an exciting chocolate line that we discovered at the Chocolate Show called Comptoir du Cacao (www.comptoircacao.fr) from outside Paris coming in… more to come and to taste.

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Toast the New Year with Green Tea for Health

Posted on January 12, 2012 by andy

Most of us reach for a cup of coffee in the morning- it’s hard to go wrong with a delicious latte made with La Colombe- but consider swapping out one of your morning cups (or the midday recharge) with a cup of green tea. Green tea’s health benefits have been touted from staving off heart disease to lowering cholesterol and preventing diabetes, so it can only be good to introduce this product into your daily routine.  CMB has lots of green tea options- SerendipiTea, Tea Forte, and Harney & Sons all carry a version, but today we’d recommend Kusmi Tea’s Detox made with green tea and lemon grass.  It’s a pick-me up flavor first thing in the morning, but is light enough to be sipped all day long.

Kusmi-Green-Tea-Flavoured-Green-Tea-Detox-web.jpg

See Health Benefits of Green Tea

How about Green Tea Broth with Udon Noodles

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