I am so happy to share some of my favorite summer recipes with you. I especially love Chilled Watermelon-Mint Soup. I’m pretty sure it will rock your world. Serve it in a half-watermelon shell at your next outdoor party and wow your guests. It has worked for me several times.

Chilled Watermelon-Mint Soup ( serves 8 )

12 c. seeded watermelon, chopped into 1-inch pieces (~7 lbs.)
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 c. Johannisberg Riesling wine
1/3 c. sugar
2 c. fresh mint leaves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 c. watermelon cubes for garnish
1/2 c. crème fraiche
Fresh mint sprigs

Puree the watermelon, working in batches, in a food processor until smooth. Strain puree into a large bowl. Transfer one cup of puree into small bowl. Cover and chill. Whisk cornstarch into remaining puree. Bring wine and 1/3 cup sugar to simmer in large pot, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer three minutes. Add watermelon cornstarch mixture; whisk while bringing to boil. Transfer soup to a bowl and stir in two cups of mint. Cool to room temperature, whisking occasionally, for about one hour.

Strain soup into another bowl, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the strained mint. Stir in salt and cayenne. Add more sugar if desired. Chill until cold, at least 4 hours or up to one day.

Whisk reserved cup of watermelon puree into soup. Ladle soup into bowls. Mound two tablespoons of cubed watermelon in center of each bowl. Drizzle soup with crème fraiche. Garnish with mint sprigs.

Fresh Pesto

Basil
Olive oil
Garlic
Walnuts or toasted pine nuts
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Freshly grated Parmesan
Coarse sea salt

Start with big handfuls of fresh basil.

With this recipe, the amounts vary depending on your equipment. If you have a food processor or a small food chopper with an immersion blender attachment, fill the bowl halfway with torn basil leaves. Chop the basil, then drizzle in olive oil and some chopped garlic to taste. Zip it again until blended.

Then, depending on your taste and budget, add walnuts or toasted pine nuts to taste. This amount can vary, but I use a good handful. Process again until blended.

Now add one tablespoon of lemon juice and some finely grated Parmesan cheese. Zip, take a look and taste, and if it is dry drizzle in more olive oil. If you like salt, add some coarse sea salt. Zip and taste it, and add more of what ever suits you.

When you have achieved the blend you like, toss over fresh-cooked pasta or store in small freezer bags for a great treat during the cold time of the year. Pull the bag out to thaw in the fridge or in a water bath if you’re in a hurry. Use the same as you would fresh pesto –over pasta, on toasted pita chips, pizza or your own creations.

Very Easy Cucumber Salad

1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. vinegar
2-3 sliced cucumbers
1 red onion, sliced thinly
Freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt
1 Tbsp. fresh, chopped dill (optional)

This is something my mother would put together after we came in from the garden with our bounty.

Dissolve 1/4 cup sugar into 1/2 cup vinegar. Add two or three sliced cucumbers and one thinly sliced fresh red onion. I like lots of freshly ground black pepper and some sea salt. A tablespoon of fresh, chopped dill is a great addition, too.

Chill in the fridge for a few hours. Make a bigger batch and enjoy for a few days. The cucumbers will get really crisp and crunchy as they chill.

Hanging out on my deck with my friend Alison.

Can you believe July is already underway? Why does my favorite time of the year seem to go by so quickly? I don’t have the answers, but here is what I do to savor every moment:  

First, I get outside as much as I can. If you can, take a walk at lunchtime to get some fresh air and sunshine. If you can’t take a walk, pull out a chair and enjoy your lunch outside. After work, I find a bike ride or walk around the neighborhood is a great way to unwind from my day and relax into the evening. I also love spending time in my garden. For me, there is nothing more therapeutic and Zen than weeding or tending flowers and vegetables.

Karina serves the treats at La Fête de Marquette.

A few years back, I rebuilt my back deck with the tremendous help and expertise of a good friend. Now it serves as my summer dining room and a place to relax with the newspaper or the company of a good book. If I am lucky enough to have friends drop by, it’s a great spot for sharing conversation and a cold beverage.

Those of us who live on the East Side are grateful for our fabulous summer festivals.  Each month holds a special event to benefit our neighborhood. June kicks off the summer with the Waterfront Festival. There is always great free music from around the world and good food and drinks. 

My garden, a great place to unwind.

July has my favorite festival, La Fête de Marquette, which will be held Thursday, July 8, through Sunday, July 11, at the intersection of East Washington Avenue and South Dickinson Street. We will be at the festival selling our delicious sorbets, monkey tails and chocolates, of course! It’s a great chance to get out and visit with your friends and neighbors and make new friends.

In August, Orton Park is the site for the Orton Park Festival and September winds down the festival season with the mother of them all, Willy Street Fair. 

So get out and shake your bones to some great music, share a cold one with a friend, and have some good old summer fun. I’ll see you there!

First Arrondissement

This district, which is home to the Louvre and Tuileries Gardens, has some amazing shops. Angelina’s at 226, rue de Rivoli, is one of my favorites. Near the Louvre, it’s a beautiful Belle Époque patisserie where you can stop in the midday to have some of the best hot chocolate on the planet. It is called L’Africain Chaud. Marcel Proust once said the madelines they make could transport him back to his childhood. Amazing.

Angelina’s has decadent hot chocolate.

La Maison du Chocolat has many locations throughout the city, including one on 99, rue de Rivoli. It would be wise to stop in at least to one or two of their shops. In my opinion Robert Linxe really took gourmet chocolate to a new level with La Maison. Still great to this day.

Fifth Arrondissement

This left bank district is also known as the Quartier Latin. There’s an Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger at 8, rue Monge with great baguettes and pastries. If you don’t get to this one, you can find his bakeries scattered throughout practically every arrondissement in the city.

La Patiserrie Viennoise at 8, rue de L’ecole de Medecine serves delicious, bittersweet hot chocolate topped with a huge mound of homemade whipped cream and traditional Viennese pastries. Stop in to sip on a cup with the students during the week. It’s closed on weekends.

Sixth Arrondissement

This is where you find the mother-load of chocolates!

The park in front of Saint Sulpice, with it’s grand fountain, is a great spot for eating Pierre Herme treats.

Pierre Herme at 72, rue Bonaparte is not to be missed. The macarons are the best in the city for my palate. The chocolates are divine and they always have a fresh basket of pastries opposite the cash register. The shop is very near Saint Sulpice, so I would take my pastry and sit in the square by the fountain to enjoy the morning.

Jean-Charles Rochoux at 16, rue d’Assas makes small, exquisite chocolate sculptures and bonbons. Writer David Lebovitz is a big fan. When I visited his lovely shop, Jean-Charles was very friendly. He helped me himself and I got a photo with him!

Patisserie Gerard Mulot, on the corner at 76, rue de Seine, has wonderful macarons, chocolates, chacuterie and breads: it’s the French version of the gourmet deli you wish was around the corner. Just across the street at 89, rue de Siene, is Pierre Marcolini, an innovative Brussels-based chocolatier with “chocolate salons” in London, Moscow, New York City and Tokyo as well as Paris.

Seventh Arrondissement

The awning of one of the nicest chocolatiers in Paris.

Chocolatier Michel Chaudun is a sweet man who has been doing great things with chocolate. His shop is on a corner at 149, rue de l’Universite. Just how sweet a guy is he? Read this article about him by Lebovitz.

Checking out the creative chocolates of Christian Constant.

Christian Constant’s shop at 37, rue d’Assas, features his beautiful chocolates and pastries with a little tea salon that seats about 12. He also has sorbets, teas and wine. And, much like Michel Chaudun, Christian is a really nice guy.

Sweet dreams

There are dozens more, but these are my top picks. What I love about Paris is that it’s such a great place just to wander. I always stumble upon a shop that I had read about and hoped to find. Ah, Paris! I hope you get a chance to try these shops someday. In the meantime, I’ll keep trying to bring some of that wonderful Parisian artistry to you.

A sixth-floor view of Haussmann’s Paris.

For eight days, I had the pleasure of breathing in all Paris has to offer. What a treat to enjoy a city so full of life. How do you begin to describe it? History, art, architecture, fashion, food, chocolate, joie de vivre … j’aime Paris!

I rented a sixth floor apartment that had views of the rooftops along Haussmann’s wide, tree-lined boulevards—complete with a view of the Tour Eiffel. The street below was lively with the bustle of a café and street market. My apartment was in the middle of two patisseries on opposite ends of the block. Every morning, I planned my day over coffee and pastries. And in the evening, after a long day of wandering, I enjoyed wine, cheese and chocolates before climbing the many flights of stairs to my temporary home. By the way, if you’re staying in Paris for more than a week, I highly recommend renting an apartment.

The six-floor climb to my apartment.

There’s a reason people write songs about Paris in the spring. It’s indescribably lovely and bursting with fresh life. The horse-chestnut trees that line the streets were covered in white blooms. In one of the little parks near Place Saint-Sulpice, I sat and ate pastry from Pierre Herme under a violet drape of wisteria. Tulips and lilacs created a riot of scent and color around the city. It was magical.

I walked and walked, exploring each neighborhood and sampling the fine shops that seemed to be at every turn. Strolling down the boulevards, admiring the many monuments and squares, is awe-inspiring. Getting lost meandering down small streets feeds the soul.

The first Sunday of the month is Museum Day, when you can enter most museums for free. My trip coincided with Museum Day, so I spent a Sunday visiting two of my favorites—the Musée D’Orsay and the Louvre. I also visited the Musée National du Moyen Age, which is famous for its Lady and the Unicorn tapestry series, and the nearby Thermes de Cluny, the ruins of a Gallo-Roman bath constructed around the 3rd century. It was great to see so many people enjoying the museums—locals as well as tourists from all over the world.

Food, glorious food!

Place Saint-Sulpice, a great spot to eat Pierre Herme.

Not surprisingly, the food was incredible. Lunch tended to be my meal of the day. It was a wonderful, leisurely break from my exploring and a great value. At many restaurants, you can basically get the same three-course meal you would in the evening for half the price.

And the pastries! I could fall in love with Paris for the pastries alone. This trip, I scheduled three pastry and baking classes in the vibrant, artsy Montmartre district. The half-day classes, taught in English, had a maximum of six students and were extremely hands on. I became very familiar with laminating dough and butter to make flaky croissants and pastries.

When I wasn’t in class, I was visiting chocolatiers and patisseries. There were shops everywhere. It was heaven. I visited 26 chocolate shops and there were another 20 that I did not get to (this time). On this trip, one of my goals was to make a map of chocolate shops. I got GPS coordinates of the shops with a nifty app on my iPhone. With 26 shops mapped, I have a good start. This will make a fun project in my free time (free time? ha!).

There’s no place like home

Just to be in Paris is inspiring. It felt great just to soak in it. Paris gave me new energy and sparked my creativity. It’s also gave me a huge sense of appreciation for what we have right here in Madison–a friendly city with much to offer. Enjoy the lovely spring surroundings of Madison. Stop and smell the lilacs. It’s great to be home.

The Medici Fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Throughout the spring, the thought of returning to Paris has motivated and excited me. It’s a city that holds special meaning for me. It was there, as a teenager, that my lifelong passion for chocolate truly began. Now, after weeks of reading various guidebooks and daydreaming, it’s time to start packing. Luckily, the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano has shifted, allowing air travel to resume. For a while there I was a bit concerned my flight might be canceled. That would have been tragic!

I am thrilled to be returning to Paris! I have rented an apartment in my favorite neighborhood, Saint Germain or the sixth arrondissement, which is on the left bank of the River Seine and home to the spectacular Jardin du Luxembourg, many cafés and galleries . My flat is on the fifth floor (which is really means the sixth floor in France), so I will have a view of the rooftops of Paris.

Le Tour Eiffel is always a spectacular sight.

Paris is a great place to find inspiration and to get your creative juices flowing. There are so many adventures awaiting me, including pastry and baking classes in Montmartre. My biggest joy, however, will be visiting as many of the chocolateries and patisseries as possible. I have already targeted more than 50 on the map I am creating of Chocolat de Paris. Fortunately, a visit to Paris means a lot of walking, which will burn off all those delicious extra calories. I plan to take lots of pictures to post on Facebook of my excursions. If I can squeeze it in, I hope to take a train to Bruges, Belgium, for a day to check out its chocolate scene.

The Louvre Pyramid, designed by I.M. Pei.

Of course, the dining will be splendid. The offerings are dizzying. One of the books I have been devouring is Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City’s 102 Best Restaurants by Alec Lobrano. It’s given me lots of ideas.

Fortunately, some friends of mine in the chocolate world just happen to be in Paris at the same time. So reservations have been made to share a great meal with them, catching up and comparing notes. It was hard to choose a restaurant. The dining opportunities are mind boggling. With guidance from two renowned Paris-based food bloggers and authors, Clotilde Dusoulier and David Lebovitz, I have done my homework and am well prepared to find some of the most delicious food in the world.

So time to get back to my packing and gathering my guidebooks and maps together. Au revoir et a bientôt!

Aboard the Regent Seven Seas.

What in the world am I doing at sea? Good question. It started in December, on the day of our first big snowstorm. You know the day–the University closed, we got 18 or more inches of snow. I walked into work and thought, “Great, I can have a catch-up day in preparation for Christmas holidays.” It wasn’t to be …

That snowy day, I received an e-mail asking if I would like to be a guest on a cruise whose theme is “Spotlight on Chocolate.” Of course, I thought it was too good to be true. I ignored the email until I got a phone call later in the day from one of the organizers of the cruise. After talking for almost an hour, I was convinced it was legitimate. Looking out the window at the blizzard swirling around me I said, “Yes! I would love to be your guest at the end of March and tour the Caribbean.”

A few months later, I’m onboard the cruise ship Regent Seven Seas Navigator and having a fantastic time. I’ve never been on a cruise before and didn’t know what to expect. The ship has 290 rooms for guests and an incredible staff that is so friendly and accommodating. They make you feel like royalty.

I’m writing this on Day Six at sea. I have given three presentations about chocolate with one more to go. I have met people from around the world—each with a unique story to tell. One new friend is Adam Seger from Chicago, who is doing presentations on spirits. One of his creations is Hum–an amazing spirit with a rum base that’s infused with hibiscus, cardamom, ginger, kefir lime and sugarcane. People onboard the ships have been enjoying my chocolates and Adam’s amazing drink creations.

It’s been fun sharing my passion for chocolate with the guests.

We are all living on a floating oasis relaxing and enjoying the sights and sounds of the sea. I’ve enjoyed the many excursions, including a hike on the island of Roatan, Honduras; exploring Mayan ruins in Costa Maya, Mexico; traveling by boat up the River Dulce in Santo Tomas, Guatemala; a visit to Q’Eqchi, an indigenous Mayan community; and snorkeling with stingrays in George Town, Cayman Islands.

By the time you read this, I’ll be back at the shop and full of travel stories to share. A big thank you to my staff for taking good care of everything while I’ve been away. I am grateful for your hard work. You are fantastic and I have no worries while gone.

While I love traveling, I love sharing the stories with my employees and customers when I return home.

I feel very grateful to have been offered this opportunity. It is incredible to share my passion with people and in exchange be able to see these fantastic sights and meet wonderful people wherever we go. So here is to saying yes to opportunities and taking new adventures!

When I visit the Upala Organic Cacao Growers Cooperative in Costa Rica, chocolate tasting and lots of discussion are usually on the itinerary.

After the rush of the winter holidays, it’s fun to be able to focus once again on our monthly chocolate tastings.

You’ve probably heard of wine tastings, but chocolate? Well, first off, it’s a lot of fun. Our chocolate tastings are held in my shop’s kitchen after hours. We begin by talking about where chocolate comes from – how it starts as a bitter bean in a colorful cacao pod and is painstakingly processed into fine chocolate. I share photos I’ve taken on trips to cacao-growing regions.

After the brief educational portion, the real adventure begins. We taste six chocolates from six countries in South and Central America. With each country’s chocolate, we talk about what we taste. We discuss how to taste chocolate using all of your senses for a fuller experience. As people taste the chocolates, we share any flavor memories along with likes and dislikes. It’s always a lively conversation. Finally, we taste two finished truffles and see if people can guess which country’s chocolate I used in the ganache. By then, most folks are pretty well sated and the tasting winds down.

There’s the look of chocolate happiness. It’s one of my favorite expressions!

Part of a good tasting experience is understanding how the tongue works. Moving chocolate around in your mouth as you enjoy it will enhance the experience. There are different flavor zones on the tongue:

• The tip tastes sweetness
• The sides toward the front detect salty
• The sides toward the back taste sour
• The back middle, near your throat, tastes bitter
• The center middle detects the umami, or savory, sensation. My shiitake mushroom truffle was created to excite this recently identified taste zone.

You don’t have to come to one of my chocolate tastings to have a flavor adventure. Try pairing chocolate with a favorite beverage (beer, wine and scotch are good choices) or another food like cheese. This is when true magic can happen.

When you taste, look for flavors that complement each other or that contrast and really play off of each other. It may take a few tries to find the right match, but experimenting sure is fun! Isn’t that what it’s really all about anyway?

So have fun, enjoy yourself and your company, relax and don’t take yourself too seriously. Go ahead and experiment boldly! Pair your favorite foods and beverages with chocolate. Some combinations will be not so great, but when you get that winner it’s like a symphony in your mouth. A smile will spread across your face as you smack your lips in delight at your discovery. As an experienced chocolate adventurer, I can tell you that’s one of the most beautiful expressions I’ve ever seen!

We did our standing-room-only show with Furthermore Beer. People seemed to love our pairings. We talked about complementing and contrasting flavors. Beer can tease out more flavor from chocolate and chocolate can enhance or liven-up beer. It’s always fun to try new artisan beers and imagine the possibilities. There are some amazing brewers all around the state that are worth exploring.

The favorite Furthermore pairing was the Pepitas Bonbon with Make Weight, a triple pale ale. The beer brought out the nuttiness of the pepitas. The ale’s sweetness was also a prefect complement for the Caramel Sprinkled with Grey Salt – enveloping the caramel as its salt and spices bought out the best flavors in the beer. Really great!

Our Blueberry truffle and the Three Feet Deep, dry Irish-style stout, was also a winner. They just played so well together, like two kids holding hands, running down a hill and building up an exhilarating momentum. The flavors just built off of each other: the earthiness of the berries calmed down the beer’s smokiness and the smoky beer really pumped up the blueberry.

As for the cheese, you can find my thoughts on some great cheese and chocolate pairings on the Cheese Cupid site.

Whitcap Abby Single (Lighter Belgian)

Regal de Bourgogne aux Raison (Milk Fresh French cheese encrusted with raisons soaked in brandy)

Domain du Page, French style ale

Carmel and Sea Salt truffle
Dante from the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Coop

Pranksters Beer (Belgian)

Moody Blue (smoked blue cheese, Ader Kase produced by Seymour Dairy, smoked and marketed by Roth Kase)

Gulden Draak (Darker Belgian-style beer)

Sour Cherry Truffle

Lindeman’s Pomme (Sweet Apple “lambic”-style)

Cinnamon/Cayenne Truffle

Samiclaus (14% ABV Lager brewed once-a-year by Austrian monks, on St. Nicholas day… said to be the strongest lager in the world)

Extra Aged Gouda
Cognac Ginger Truffle

Espresso Amber beer

Fromage a Trois (Bourbon-chocolate chevre, heart shaped, from Capriole Farm, Indiana)
Gail’s Espresso Chocolate Bar

Finish with Mascarpone – it’s like the cream in your coffee!