My Return to Costa Rica
Packing up chocolates and sharing a laugh with the Amazillia ladies
On March 16, I left for my seventh trip to Costa Rica! It had been a year since I last saw my cacao growing friends. The first night I met with Hugo and Hubertien Hemerlink, and Julio and George of Sibu Chocolates, as well as [...]
Our weekend at the Great Taste of the Midwest
Aran and I at our booth
This past Saturday was the 25th anniversary of the Great Taste of the Midwest! This wonderful event has been graciously sponsored by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild since 1983. It isn’t always easy to remember with an event like this, but I believe this was my 10th year volunteering [...]
The trip of a lifetime to Peru
The clouds lift at Machu Picchu
Wow, where to begin? I am fresh from my first trip to Peru. For nearly three weeks in May, I witnessed amazing scenery and met wonderful people.
The main purpose of my trip was to volunteer with the Becky Fund. The foundation raises money to buy and deliver school [...]
Keeping the faith in Costa Rica
Cuddling with a sloth
I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica. It was pura vida! This is the latest of several trips to the country. My first trip was in 2008, through an Ecole Chocolat tour that included visits to CATIE (a tropical agriculture research center), an organic cacao farm, and several smaller cacao [...]
Brewing beer and spreading chocolate love
I add the spice to our Chocolate City Saison.
Recently, I had the pleasure of presenting at a beer and chocolate tasting at the Marina Grand Resort in New Buffalo, Michigan. The event was in conjunction with a local chocolate festival.
My friends at New Holland Brewing invited me to pair up with them again. New Holland’s [...]
Fancy Food and Fun
A vendor displays his bottles at the Winter Fancy Food Show. There was everything a foodie could imagine.
I just got back from a visit to San Francisco, a place that is like a second home to me. I got to reconnect with a dear friend there who I haven’t seen in two years. We had [...]
Happy New Beer (and Chocolate)!
Gail with friend Russ Carter, who hosts an annual beer/chocolate pairing at the shop.
A couple of weeks ago, we had our third annual Holiday Beer & Chocolate Pairing at Ale Asylum. I always have a blast working with brewer Otto Dilba. We’re lucky to have so many craft brewers in our area. They put the [...]
Sweet, Salty, Smokey and Scotch
Our new Pecan Smokies go great with scotch.
A lot of people like the bacon-chocolate combination. To me, it’s not about the bacon. It’s the tantalizing combination of sweet, salt, smoke and crunch that’s so delicious. So while I’m not jumping on the bacon bandwagon, I recently introduced our answer to this taste combination–Pecan Smokies.
And when [...]
Put the Season on Your Thanksgiving Table
Wow, it is really Thanksgiving week?
How did this happen?
I just saw one of the last signs of warm weather—the final pink rose in bloom on my neighbor’s rosebush that straddles our backyards. It gives me a pang for the lost green of summer. I’m trying to embrace the new season, but I have to [...]
Finding inspiration in the First Lady
Here I am, sitting down next to Isaac after meeting Michelle Obama. Just a bit excited!
Ah, election season. It’s hard to tune out all the ads, rhetoric and bickering. It can make you feel disillusioned. It can make you tempted to sit this one out. But the other day, I got a chance to [...]
