Monthly Archives: March 2008

No-Bake Chocolate Pots De Crème

March 13, 2008 | by Ben 1

After tasting them at a recent visit to Lolita, I thought I’d try my hand at making Chocolate Pots De Crème.

Pot De Crème is essentially chocolate ganache made into a custard. It’s extremely rich, and you don’t need a lot for a good dessert. I’ve topped it with fresh whipped cream, caramel (from Malley’s), and sea salt just as they do at Lolita, but you could serve these any way you like.

Pots De Crème are traditionally baked, but I decided to skip the whole water bath / ramekin procedure and heat the custard right in the saucepan. It cooks more evenly this way, plus you have more versatility in service.

No-Bake Chocolate Pots De Crème

2 cups heavy cream1 t. instant espresso powder (or instant coffee)4 oz. chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (or a combination, or chocolate chips)6 egg yolks3 Tb. sugar1/4 t. salt (preferably sea salt)

Heat the cream, espresso powder and chocolate in a medium saucepan over medium heat, … continue reading

Cleveland Blizzard ’08 at Lolita

March 9, 2008 | by Sarah 2

My brother generously watched our little one all weekend long so Ben and I could have a chance to spend some time alone together. We had planned on doing some shopping at some kid unfriendly stores like Crate & Barrel and Williams Sonoma, but the weather did not coöperate. We found that stores were closing early, and were concerned whether or not Lolita would stay open. But we were in luck–they were open on Saturday night. After a treacherous drive through the unplowed streets of Tremont we arrived about 40 minutes later than our reservation, but they were understanding and we were seated right away. This was our first visit to the restaurant, but after reading so many positive reviews on other blogs and from friends we were very excited about the dinner. The restaurant was surprisingly full at 6:00pm, so we were not the only ones who braved the weather to enjoy the … continue reading

Fun game for foodies

March 7, 2008 | by Sarah 1

Ben and I received the “What’s Cookin’” game as a Christmas present this year, and just recently got around to playing it. It was really a lot of fun, and we thought anyone who considers themselves a foodie or gourmet would really enjoy this game. It consists of food trivia in 5 categories, with questions like:
here’s a list of ingredients, what is this a recipe for?
what city , A, B, or C is restaurant X in?
in 30 seconds (a timer is included) who can write the most desserts with chocolate in the name?
what is the country of origin for spaghetti?

The box says it’s for 4 players, but we had a lot of fun just playing it by ourselves. The trivia cards were a lot of fun, but the included wipe away boards and markers didn’t seem to work that well so we resorted to ordinary pens and paper, which worked fine. So if you are looking for a unique gift … continue reading