— May 2009 —
 When I was a little tot growing up in Iowa, we had lilac bushes growing behind our garage. I don't know exactly when it happened — maybe when I was six or seven — but at some point I realized that the blooming of the lilac bushes in the spring indicated a fast-approaching, very important event: Mother's Day. Long before I was paying any attention to the actual calendar, the lilacs were my seasonal cue to start thinking about my Mom.
From about 1986 to 1999, we had a well-established Mother's Day routine at the Duffelmeyer house. My Dad would give my brother Andy and me a little money to walk down the block to explore the extensive garden section of the local grocery store. We would wander the outdoor aisles until we spotted the perfect gift — always a hanging plant! Then we would carry it home and watch with a mixture of pride and relief as Mom hung it on the back porch. This plant, coupled with the card our teachers allotted us time to draw in elementary school seemed to do the job: Mom was happy!
Things are different now. I live far away from my Mom, the lilacs, and the local garden store. The last few years, I've done a real crumby job of observing Mother's Day and I've really got no good excuse. After all, I am a.) Grown up with my own hanging plant money, b.) Able to read a calendar and c.) Watching the lilacs bloom right now in my neighborhood.
And so this year I'm going to do better. As soon as I finish writing this newsletter, I'm calling Zingerman's Mail Order and getting something in the mail to Iowa ASAP. If you don't share a city or state with your Mom, you might do well to do the same. But if you are close to the Mom in your life, and plan on celebrating Mother's Day with her, I invite you to stop by the Deli and pick up something sweet for her in person — something she might not get for herself, but something she absolutely deserves. Here are a few suggestions.
Happy May,
Chocolate Lady Duff
— Upcoming Chocolate Events —
Call 734-663-3400 to reserve your seat now!
All attendees receive a coupon for 20% off Deli purchases the evening of the event.
Milk Chocolate Rendez-Vous
Thursday, May 7th, Upstairs Next Door
$20/in advance and $25/at the door
This tasting was inspired by a guest request! With all the hype about dark chocolate lately, it is easy to forget about milk chocolate. Well I think it deserves a little attention! Why? Because great milk chocolate is a wonderful thing. At this tasting, you will sample blended, single-origin and single-estate milk chocolates that will surprise you with their depth and complexity. Even staunch dark-chocolate lovers will learn something new!
Proposed Tasting List: Pralus Mélissa, Amedei Toscano Brown, Cluizel Grand Lait, Scharffen Berger Milk, Valrhona Jivara Lait, Vosges Dominica Lait
Name that Chocolate!
Thursday, May 28th, 7-8 PM, Upstairs Next Door
$20/in advance and $25/at the door
We are going to put your taste buds to the test with a blind tasting of 6 different chocolates. Will you be able to guess the brand, the %, and describe the taste of the bar? At the end of the tasting we will reveal the tasting line up, compare notes and tally up the scores! Points will be awarded to individuals (or teams!) for accuracy and there will be prizes galore. For those of you who have been tasting and learning about chocolate for years, this will be the ultimate test. For those of you who are just starting out, this is a fun way to challenge your choco-assumptions! Warning: There might be blindfolds.
Proposed Tasting List: TOP SECRET!
— Five Ideas for Mother's Day (OK, actually seven) —
1) Michigan-made Pecan and Walnut Caramels
If you've been in the Next Door this past month, you've probably spotted two big jars of caramels on the counter. These are new treats from Jamie Alder, a self-trained candy maker from metro Detroit. I've known Jamie for over four years, and watched her work hard to perfect her caramel recipe. When Zingerman's asked her to create two custom caramels for us — a pecan and walnut — she said "Sure!" The caramels are smooth and buttery, with big brown-sugar flavor and great toasted nuts. The walnut is my favorite. Absolutely swoony.
2) A Custom Box of Fresh Truffles
You can take Mom to New York, California, Washington, Michigan and even France — all with a little box of chocolates from Zingerman's! We're currently stocking close to thirty carefully selected fresh chocolates from around the country (and the world!) Recent deliveries include: Lemon marzipan from Charles Chocolates, tahini and orange water truffles from Sweet Gem Confections, peanut butter bonbons from Vosges and beautiful passion fruit and white chocolate caramels from Chocolat Moderne. Don't be shy! Sample a couple chocolates yourself, then let us build a custom box for the mom in your life. Finished with a ribbon, a sticker and a Spring-y "Happy Mother's Day" tag, you'll have your Mother's Day shopping done in seven minutes or less.
3) All-Natural Fruit Gummies
For Mom's who buy their own Mother's Day presents, and try to kill two birds with one stone by getting something the kiddies will enjoy too, I've got the perfect thing. Seitenbacher gummies from Germany. Don't be suspicious when you see "Vegan, Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Fat Free" etc. on the package. These gummies, like everything else in the sweets corner at Zingerman's, have passed the full-flavor taste test. They are great, and we just brought in two new flavors! Blackberry Cats and Mirabelle Butterflies!*
*Mirabelle is a fruit in the plum family, cultivated primarily in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. About the size of an apricot, and similar in color, mirabelles are popular in jams and spirits.
4) Zingerman's + Askinosie Chocolate El Rústico Bar
This is one of the things I'm sending to my mom. It's a great chocolate bar with a great story, and we just got in a fresh batch last week from Askinosie. Ari wrote a nice piece about the making of the bar, which just appeared in The Atlantic online. Check it out here.
5) Bistro Bars from Chocolat Moderne in NYC
I like to think of Bistro Bars as candy bars in a different shape. Instead of being shaped like a bar, they are molded in a perfect square. The mold itself is beautiful — an antique art-deco design from the early 1900's — and very deep. Each Bistro Bar is filled to bursting with one of four French-style confections. You will have the tough choice of picking between Parlez Pistache (Dark chocolate and pistachio praliné), Hazelnut Hysterie (Dark chocolate and hazelnut praliné), Caramel Caresse (Dark chocolate and pear caramel) or The Lover (White chocolate and passion fruit caramel).
6) D. Barbero Nougat Tin
There are three reasons this classic Northern-Italian torrone (a.k.a. nougat) makes a great gift for Mom. One, it is fancy. Two, it is Italian. Three, it comes in a knock-out, keepsake tin that Minnie Driver described as "lovely" (she bought a couple of these for herself when she was in town last month). This nougat isn't the sticky stuff that glues American candy bars together. No sir. You can snap off a piece of this nougat, put it in your mouth and it will practically melt. It is light, dreamy and absolutely packed with toasted hazelnuts (51% of the recipe!)
7) Guido Gobino Hazelnut and Chocolate Creams
Possibly the best things ever to come in jars! Gobino's Chocolate Cream AND his Hazelnut Cream (a.k.a Gianduja) traveled all the way from Turin, Italy to reach our shelves. Mom can use these two creams as she would any jam, nut butter or chocolate sauce — on bread, on ice cream, as a filling in cakes and cookies, etc. But in my experience the best way to enjoy this stuff is plain. Simply spoon up a couple of bites for the perfect afternoon pick-me-up!
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