M & S Food Halls

Mark’s and Spencer’s (Marks & Sparks) is an established brand in British clothing and over the last decade or so, this institution of value for price, has made a big splash on the food industry in the British Isles. I’ve reviewed their fair trade chocolates and now I’d like to share a few thoughts on their house brand products in general. They are the excellent!

Take for example the “biscuits” represented in these photos. They are made of all organic ingredients and the recipes are clearly unique. Once, while on vacation in London, I decided to buy a small snack and ended up buying 8 boxes of cookies to take home, once I had tasted my snack of Scottish shortbread, where the butter did all but drip from the box. I have never had better. Luckily, I have twice had friends buy more for me while visiting both England and Ireland. This Pear and Ginger cookie was in the first purchase I made, and it’s still one of  my very favorites.

But seeing as I prefer milk chocolate, this next biscuit is my absolute favorite, so far.

Sublimely Delicious Chocolate

I can’t seem to get away from buying and testing candy bars, while on vacation for two very good reasons.  Firstly, my walking increases and stimulates the appetite, while I’m  burning infinitely more calories than I do at home, so I can afford the fat calories I’m certain to ingest.  Secondly, they make nice little gifts to bring back home and share with friends. Friends, who at this very moment are wondering if they ever received a chocolate from me, and why not. Okay, you caught me, unless I buy multiples, they just never seem to make it home.

This Sublime bar caught my attention in a low end grocery store somewhere near the foot of Rue Cler in Paris and it was so very good with toasted coconut and almonds, that I’m certain to look for it again, and furthermore, if I manage to find it, I’m going to bring many bars home, really.

Pricey But in a Class All Its Own

Yes, after tasting a true and aged Balsamic from Modena, I finally succumbed and bought a bottle. It is the ultimate taste test to understand why this product is so highly prized in culinary circles. Being thrifty by nature, I could only make the purchase by selecting the 12 year balsamic (in the white box), but in reality, I liked it better than the 25 year version that was offered for me to taste. At the time of purchase, this bottle was $74.00, but with a stronger dollar it could be 30 % less at this time. The same bottle was selling in California for about $125.00, so it was a nice savings to purchase it in Italy. True to a traditional Modena aged balsamic, this product is sweet with a syrupy mouth feel. When compared to the Kirkland 15 year balsamic, it is much heavier and richer. It is ambrosia when drizzled over a good crumbly Parmigiano.

Artisan Cask

Calling Scotch whiskey a food product only works if you believe alcohol is a nutritional building block. The cornerstone for many a lifestyle, it is quite a stretch to call it food, but it might be food for the soul, since it cheers us and lightens our burdens, if only for a short period of time. Not one to imbibe on a regular basis, and not one who generally likes hard liquor at all, it is no small wonder why I include this entry at all. While on a trip to Edinburgh it seemed only proper to try a few Scotch samples to see what all the fuss was about. The description of Artisan cask intrigued me when I saw the word caramel. This single malt is light and on the sweet side, but nothing like candy. It is not imported to the U.S. because of it's limited availability, so if you spot it on your travels, give it a try. Its distinctive oval shaped bottle is easy to spot.

Magnum for Lunch Bunch

The one bright star in the firmament of Portuguese food options on our recent trip to Portugal was the Magnum Bar. We've seen Magnums in other European countries but the Double Caramel will for us, forever be associated with Portugal. When the bar melts slightly, the caramel becomes gooey and luscious and becomes the perfect, sweet foil for the dark chocolate.

I had grown up thinking that my Portuguese side of the family just didn't know how to cook, but it turns out that my grandmother and aunts cooked Portuguese fare perfectly by boiling the life out of all vegetables and failing to use spices for punctuation, along with overcooking any and all meats and poultry. As a result of this culinary failing, we decided to skip all lunches and simply eat a Magnum. It was the meal we looked forward to the most. When an aquaintance asked my husband what he thought of the food in Portugal, he smiled and told the man that he especially liked the lunches...it's our little joke.

Cooleeney...Cool

It is very lucky to be able to travel and see and taste what other cultures produce, but some of us don't have that luxury. KerryGold Butter and Dubliner Cheddar cheese have made a favorable impression in America and we are fortunate to be able to find them in more and more stores. They are a clear indication of the quality of Irish dairy products. I have wished for many years that we could import their milk, since it has been the very best I have ever tasted. Now after a trip to Ireland last year, I can add Cooleeney cheese to that wish list. It must be the Irish answer to brie or camembert as it is creamy, rich and unctuous, so very buttery on the tongue.

www.cooleeney.com

The Spice Shop

This British culinary institution started because the woman who owns it was looking for extra income to complete grad school. Her weekend spice stall turned into an international business, the shop now sells its products all over Great Britain and Ireland and exports all over the world. This photo was taken in a small gourmet grocery store in Westport Ireland, but more about that later. Upon entering the small, postage stamp sized store in London just blocks from the Portobello Road antiques market, I was stunned at the amount and variety of spices that lined the tall shelving. With insufficient time to really shop I grabbed a few packages and made my way back to the hotel, with plans for a more thorough visit the next time I go to London. I would highly recommend a visit to the store or a purchase over the Internet.

www.thespiceshop.co.uk

1 Blenheim Crescent
London, W11,
United Kingdom
+44 20 7221 4448

I Hate To Keep Talking About Chocolate.....

Yes, I'd much prefer to be eating it, but alas, my stash from our last trip is long gone and but a memory. The Swiss really do excel at making chocolate and there are many more vendors than we are exposed to here in the U.S. While it would not have been impossible to consume chocolate every day of our 1 1/2 week trip to Switzerland, I did manage to limit myself to less than 11 bars. My two favorites are shown in the photograph. While looking for a website for Suchard, it became apparent that the company may no longer exist, although the name is still being used. It was originally a Swiss company and seems to have been sold to Tobler, then got picked up by Kraft Foods and in many cases is being identified with Belgian chocolates rather than Swiss. Since it is my habit to only try regional food items on vacation I'm sure the milk chocolate bar I ate was at the very least made in Switzerland. It, like so many other milk chocolates was rich and sweet and easy to savor.

The Camille Bloch filled chocolate bar was outstanding and like no other chocolate bar I have eaten. The caramel mousse was light as a feather and not overly sweet; the sweetness was left to the chocolate enveloping it. Most certainly I will try more of this fine chocolate whenever I'm lucky enough to find it again. The website informs me that it may be as close as Quebec!

http://www.camillebloch.ch/index.php/en

Switzerland..Dairy Good

It must be clear to most people who travel that Switzerland is a great country for chocolates and cheese, both utilizing milk from cows grazing on alpine pastures. I knew that going in, bit it never occurred to me that the Swiss also make phenomenal yogurt. As is evidenced by the above photo, the flavors are exotic and very imaginative. The chocolate and coconut combination is a natural, but I've never seen that at home, nor have I ever seen or tasted a citrus/exotic fruit blend like the Lychee/Pomelo blend. Both of these flavors were fresh and delicious. The Mango/Guava would please the entire southern hemisphere. Since Hirz brand is a Nestle product, one can only hope they might consider distributing it in the States. Our tastes have become more sophisticated than to settle for only Swiss Miss Cocoa, Quick, and Nestle Crunch bars, especially since we now know about Banana Split yogurt!

A New Meaning for "Hot Chocolate"

Lindt, the international Swiss chocolate manufacturer is selling this semi sweet chocolate in Italy. I've tasted chocolate with chili peppers in Italy before and have liked it. That heat hitting the back of one's throat is remarkable, slightly surprising, and just enough of a kick to allow the flavors to linger in your mouth for a few seconds more. If you get a chance try one of these products, please do. I may have to try to make a hybrid version at home, since I can't seem to find this product in stores locally. At the very least I am hoping to recreate a chocolate torte with chili that I ate at Al Mascaron in Venice. The Vosges brand of chocolate that is available locally has a few bars with chili peppers included, but their heat is mild in comparison to the European chocolates. Still, no one can compete with their bacon chocolate.

Speaking of European Products...

Every time when visiting a new country, I beeline to an outdoor market or grocery store to get a feel for what products the locals are consuming. Most often they are using things you might find in an American market, only the products are produced locally. Case in point, Santa fruit juices produced in Italy. On a recent trip to Italy I photographed Santa juices because they are one of my favorites in the world. These commercially produced juices are made with 40% juice as compared to our 10-15%. What a difference the higher percentage of juice makes in the intensity of taste, and as a side benefit less sugar is required to make it. I bought some of the albicoca in Venice and it was delicious on its own, but made a fine addition to the Prosecco our hotelier comped us on the day my husband rejoined me after a hiking trip in Switzerland. I only wish I could buy this locally.

Another Favorite Italian Drink

When I was a child sitting at my grandparents' dining table, I would often wonder why my grandfather was adding water to his wine. He would often offer each grandchild a small glass of water laced with red wine, to drink along with their dinner, but we recognized that pure wine was for the adults. So why did he add water to his glass? If the question was ever put to him, he most likely would have responded that he liked it that way and that would have been answer enough for a child.

On my first trip to Italy, I discovered Lambrusco in Rome. I loved it as much as any American teenager would love Ripple (even though I was of legal drinking age), a fruity, sweet, red wine with a big plus, it fizzed! But I made no connection with that and my grandfather's preference. Then a few years ago I tasted Gutternio, a wine from Emilia Romagna that was a robust, dry, frizzante (sparkling), red wine. Bingo!!! Everything fell into place as I remembered that the water Papa had used was a sparkling water. He most certainly was trying to mimic an Italian wine that was not imported into the U.S. This wine is the one that I look for when dining in Italy, since it is still not available locally. Prior to all the hoopla about carrying liquids on planes, I used to carry back a few bottles in my purse.

No Shortage on Chocolates in the British Isles

Butler's has to be the best chocolate in Ireland. After our visit in May, I have been rationing out the few pieces of it that managed to make it back home with me. The idea of using some for small gifts didn't even occur to me once we left the Emerald Isle and my ease of purchasing it was over. The few milk chocolate bars I tried were luscious and silky on the tongue, some had caramel or ganache as fillings, but the best by far for me was this, the white chocolate and raspberry.


It compared favorably with the organic fair trade chocolates that are being marketed by the Marks and Spencer Food Halls all over Great Britain and Ireland. Of the two M&S flavors tasted, I thought the rose infused one was exotic and flavorful, but as a novelty taste, not a classic chocolate. The milk chocolate was distinct from most other good quality chocolates and excellent in flavor. You can bet I will purchase that one again, when I get the chance.