Final Vegetable Harvest of 2008

After weeks of cold weather, snow and ice, the ground has thawed enough for me to get my final harvest of carrots out of my raised bed garden. If you recall from my May 12, 2008 blog article titled "New Herb & Vegetable Garden Beds" I planted the carrot seeds on April 15th, harvesting most of the vegetables throughout the summer, and left a few patches of carrots to mature in the ground until yesterday (December 10, 2008.) With numb fingers, I returned to the kitchen and washed the dirt from the carrots. They were sweet and delicious. I have a carrot soup on the menu this Sunday, December 14, 2008 and they will be the star attraction. Watch for the carrot soup recipe in an upcoming blog.

I had a great deal of fun with my gardens this summer and with expert assistance from Shelley (my vegetable garden guru), I had the best yield of home grown fruits and vegetables ever to use in the restaurant. With my last crop harvested and my fingers thawed, it is time to sit down and start planning next year's gardens. Below I have included a few pictures from my 2008 harvest.

Chocolate Cooking Class a Great Success

This past weekend the Hartstone Inn featured a chocolate cooking class with Kate Shaffer of Black Dinah Chocolatiers. Both Saturday's and Sunday's classes were sold out and the response was very positive. Kate started the class with an introduction of herself and her business. She then discussed the basics of chocolate from the difference between types of chocolates (bittersweet, semisweet, milk and white chocolate) to the proper way to melt chocolate.

Next, we made two ganache fillings, perfectly selected for the upcoming holidays. First came a Gingerbread-Dark Chocolate Ganache, followed by a White Chocolate-Eggnog Ganache, my personal favorite. We then formed and cut the ganache and coated them with everything from walnuts and cocoa powder to dark chocolate and decorative transfer paper. Kate then showed the class how to dress strawberries with chocolate tuxedos and we made bark with various types of chocolates, nuts and dried fruits.

Finally, Kate discussed packaging options, we tasted the results and packaged up some samples for the students to take home with them. Thank you Kate! We look forward to your follow up class (title and class description to follow) on April 25th and 26th, 2009.