Eclectique|916

I’m still baking chocolate chip cookies from the Christmas batch. Great idea to scoop the cookie dough, plop the balls into a plastic bag, then toss them in the freezer. I bake as the craving hits me.

This year I hope I can indulge in the National Museum of the American Indian’s annual “Power of Chocolate“ Valentines Weekend (February 13 and 14). Let’s face it, the world would be a dull place if it weren’t for the Americas.

Here’s a little factoid blurb from the website:

Theobroma cacao was for the Maya and the Aztec peoples, as its Latin name indicates, a “food of the gods.” .

Here’s some video from last year:

REALITY RESTAURANT AUDITIONS
This was in the Slow Food DC newsletter (February). I sent it to my sister. We had this idea of opening a cafe featuring homemade cakes, desserts, with something savory on the side. We don’t do food fights.

24 Hour Restaurant Battle-OPEN CASTING CALL

Food Network’s new restaurant competition series from the producers of The Next Food Network Star is currently casting the very first season and is holding an open casting call
on Monday, February 22, 10am - 3pm
Zentan Restaurant/Donovan House Hotel
1155 14th Street NW, Washington, DC

They are looking for:
Two to five person teams with pre-existing relationships (brother and sister, mother and son, husband and wife, etc.) who would love the chance to prove that they can run a restaurant.
A dynamic front of house and back of house duo. One person on the team will run the front of the house and the other person on the team will be the chef and run the kitchen. All levels of experience (culinary school trained to home cook, little or no restaurant experience to a lifelong career in restaurants) will be considered.
Lots of energy and charisma, personalities that pop!
If you have any questions or need further information, please feel free to contact:
Alena Jemas, Casting Producer,24 Hour Restaurant Battle
Food Network/CBS News Productions
Office: 212-975-4125
Mobile: 201-415-8843
Email: jemasa@cbsnews.com
or visit www.24hourrestaurantbattle.com.

If most people have never heard of the brand of vodka or rum you drink, then you’d enjoy reading Dori Bryant’s The Polished Palate newsletter. Polished Palate readers are not amateurs when it comes to fine and refined spirits and cocktails. There’s a lot of history in a glass of rum as we learned at the January Food and Folklore event at Eatonville Restaurant (mentioned in the recent issue). Hat tip to Daphne Muse, our Zojito mixologist who hipped us to Dori’s newsletter. Polished Palate’s 5th Annual International Rum Festival in St. Petersburg, FL is March 27th.