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!

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!

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.

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!

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 9^th 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!

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 1^st and 2^ndplace 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.

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.

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.

See Health Benefits of Green Tea

How about Green Tea Broth with Udon Noodles

• On the first day of Christmas – Cucina “Risotto Bag” gift pack, available in three fragrances and less than $20!

• On the second day of Christmas – Aromatherapy Candles the can inspire, stimulate and relax with completely natural fragrances.

• On the third day of Christmas – A New York City dish towels that includes some hand stitching and highlights New York Cities greatest attractions!

• On the forth day of Christmas – Take time for tea with Tea Forte’s Dolce Vita sweet pyramid tea bags, beautifully packaged and creating a true tea experience.

• On the fifth day of Christmas – our friends from Seattle created caramels with a touch of smoked or fleur de sel, salt, now everybody is doing it but they did first and better! Fran’s Chocolates is an original!

• On the Sixth day of Christmas – our friend from Southhampton, New York – Kathleen with her legendary crispy cookie recipe now available with dark chocolate, walnuts, wholewheat floor and glutton free – all from Tate’s Bake Shop.

• On the seventh day of Christmas – Anne Taintor, whose graphics and phrases have humored us for a decade now has a brand new recipe book to be even happier, a cocktail happy hour book.

• On the eighth day of Christmas – from war time England in the early forties comes the phrase, Keep Calm and Carry On, which has many, many applications in our times, and is the perfect complement to a good cup of tea.

• On the ninth day of Christmas – make time for a beer and although you will need a little time to brew it but it sure tastes good home-made – kits from Brooklyn Brew Shop!

• On the tenth day of Christmas – While you are waiting for the beer to brew, our favorite NYC snack from the East Village Red Head Restaurant is Bacon Peanut Brittle, spicy, slightly sweet and smokey – you can not stop.

On the eleventh day of Christmas - Imported from the Aisle of anglesey in northern Wales,  Halon Mon Salt, in original, smoked and with celery, with its clear sea flavor and delicate texture, it is the perfect finishing salt.

• On the twelfth day of Christmas – Butter, sugar and floor with some tweaking, makes for the perfect bit of crunchy sweetness – Shortbread House of Edinburgh is why Scotland is famous for shortbread!

Now it is time to rest and think about next year!

We all at CMB wish you and your family a happy, healthy and of course tasty holiday and New Year.

I thought I would share a little of the behind the scenes process of creating the catalog.

Creating our yearly catalog helps us define and grow our business. We are always on the look out for new and different products – from down the street, to the other side of the world. Creating the catalog forces us to make many decisions about our assortment-what new items to buy and what items to discontinue.

We look to evolve our gifts over time, slight modifications to selected baskets are made each year. This allows us to share our most recent findings with our current customers as well as new customers.   We also have fun developing a new crop of gift each year, this year we have many gifts that feature foods from different geographic regions- such as Brooklyn, New England and California.

Once we decide on the assortment and components in the gifts, we photograph the items. Taking a photo of a gift that includes many components is not always easy – it takes both art and science to get a shot that best represent the item.

The same team has worked together for many years now adding their piece of the puzzle: David the owner traveling to different parts of the world to find food, Mickey Mathis the photographer, and Amy Ashford our graphic designer and myself as the “stage director” making sure all the pieces come together.

Once the photographs are taken, the images are carefully cleaned-up and we go to work on the layout of the catalog, once all the proofs and edits are made the final product is sent to the printing house.

In the below picture, David (owner) and I are setting up the Chelsea Market Bounty basket during one of our photo-shoots.

Some new items we are excited about this are year:

NYC Hot Chocolate- All the best NYC hot chocolate mixes and drinks in one basket.

Brooklyn Boys- Handmade foods all made in the trendy borough of Brooklyn.

Edible New England- Sweet and Savory products all made in New England and boxed in our “new” New England boxes.

California Dreamin- A gift that highlights California and their diverse food culture.

British Tea and Biscuits- From across the Atlantic we have selected the best biscuits, aka cookies for this gift, all boxed up in our modern British box.

Here is a link to our full catalog:
CMB Holiday Catalog 2011 (pdf)

A few of the seasonal items include:

The Madeleine Chocolate Company- A 60 year-old chocolate company that follows a special Swiss formula to create their quality chocolates, CMB carries caramel filled apples, peanut butter covered chocolate pumpkins, Deuets, Double filled chocolate Truffles, which are a unique blend of double filled truffles including, peanut butter & caramel, Milk Truffle & White Truffle, Raspberry & White Truffle and Halloween balls; dark, crisp and milk.   (Ranges between $2.00 to $6.00)

Meri Meri Cupcake Kits- The Meri Meri Halloween Cupcake Kit is a fresh and innovated cupcake decorating kit; including 24-cupcake liners in black and orange, and toppers are designed in Ghost, witch, vampire and skull.   They are cute and will make cupcake decorating fast and easy. ( $11.95)

Farmer’s Popcorn Cob- Craving a little something outside of the Halloween chocolate norm?  This is a fun wholesome straight from the farm treat.   Kids will love watching the corn pop fresh off the cob in the microwave.  ($3.75)

American Spoon Pumpkin Butter- Sweetened with maple sugar and spiced like pumpkin pie, this incredibly popular butter is great on English muffins or toast. American Spoon suggests that you warm the pumpkin butter and service it over ice cream.  ($7.50)

Bi-Rite is run by Sam Monagnnnam. He grew up in the store which was owned by his father and uncle. In the 1980′s Bi-Rite was a working man’s grocery store that sold some food and a good deal cheap wine. After college,  Sam had a variety of food related jobs, including working in Europe, where Sam experienced how food is primarily sold in smaller stores and shoppers had fewer choices than in the US. But the products offered in those small European stores had more quality and integrity.

Back home in San Francisco, Sam bought out his father and uncle, and transformed Bi-Rite into one of the most influential community markets in the nation. Now, when I visit San Francisco for the Winter Fancy Food, I always make it a point to stop there and see the business. And as I browse this great little store, I always recognize a few other food professionals sniffing around.

Sam will be in our store October 29 starting at 2 pm to sign his just published book Bi-Rite Market’s EAT GOOD FOOD. Come meet Sam, learn about his business that includes a farm and an adjoining ice cream business and pick up a copy of this Californian original’s passionate words about food and what we should eat.

In NYC the weather has changed and harvest is here. CMB celebrates the new season with bold autumn tastes.

One of the items that we are excited about is Süss – Sweets that make you smile.

Homemade in New Hampshire, these caramels came about because friends and family encouraged Tammy Fahey to take her caramels to a local farmers market. After her debut at the farmers market she knew she has something special (We think so too!).

The Süss (Means sweet in German) caramels are made with all natural ingredients; each batch is made by hand, including the pouring, cutting and wrapping. The ¼ lb rolls can be sliced to share or easily kept for your own enjoyment.

They are soft & chewy, but not sticky, so your teeth will be fine… The favors include, pumpkin caramel with sea salt, vanilla & pecan, and cinnamon apple. $8.95 

Doin’ the Pickleña is another hot and cool company from Westport, CT!!!

Coke Anne and Jarvis Wilcox started their pickle company because they would receive delicious jalapeno pickles from a friend every year but always thought there was something missing! They finally realized they weren’t Texan enough.  As a result, they gave their restaurant chef a challenge, to make a Jalapeno Pickle that screamed Texas, and they finally figured it out!

Doin’ the Pickleña is their vision of  perfect pickles, robust combination of sliced pickled Kirby cucumbers with jalapeno, red peppers, and onions.  At CMB we carry both the hot and cool versions; either of these can be used to liven up things, like tuna salad, egg salad, hamburger or a cheese platter.  $9.00 a jar