Have a Favorite Food Blog ? Or Want to Take a class from a Famous Blogger ?

Fellow food bloggers -head over to Saveur Magazine site and vote for your favorite food blog !  Voting is for their First Annual Food Blog Awards in categories ranging from Desserts to Wine.  Someday I'll be asking you to vote for me ! I'm sure some of your favorite bloggers have been nominated-so get out there and support them !  You will need to register but you don't have to buy anything .

Click to vote

I am very excited today-besides the sunshine and blue skies out my office window I have enrolled in a writing class called " How to Write Like I Do - How To Use A Tomato To Tell Your Life Story" conducted by none other than-drum roll please-da da da da-Molly Wizenberg of Orangette and author of "A Homemade Life" along with ,another drum roll please -da da da da- Matthew Amster-Burton of Roots and Grubs and author of "Hungry Monkey" fame !

   A HOMEMADE LIFE     HUNGRY MONKEY

The class is being sponsored by 826Seattle. What you ask is 826Seattle ??  Well I'm glad that you asked -they are a fabulous-incredible organization for children. Their website says it all : " 826 Seattle is a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Our services are structured around our belief that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success."

I just stumbled on this place through aimless blog wandering late yesterday and enrolled immediately. If you are reading this today you still have time to PURCHASE TICKETS HERE and take a look at the upcoming class schedule .

Happy Ground Hog Day

Well Phil didn't see his shadow but I did see mine so I'm celebrating the coming of Spring ! But just in case we really do have 6 more weeks of winter I think I need something fabulous to get me through those 6 weeks and I know just the thing. Chocolate Caramel Tarts with sea salt. I discovered them on the blog There's a Newf in My Soup and found the original recipe at Saveur. So heading out to the grocery store for some fresh eggs and the most decadent dark chocolate I can find at my Thriftway ! You can find the recipe here: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Chocolate-Caramel-Tart

I adapted the recipe a bit by using mini muffin tins. After mixing the dough I formed it into a loose ball and refrigerated it for 15 minutes. I then took a cookie scoop and scooped the dough into little mounds. I took each mound and cut it in half. I took those halves and quickly rounded them into small balls with my hands and gently flattened them like tiny pizzas,placing them into each muffin tin. I then pressed them into the muffin mold. These were then refrigerated for 30 minutes.

This resulted in even sized tart shells for the creamy caramel filling with ganache! I used Green & Black's Organic Cocoa Powder and their dark chocolate for the ganache. The picture was taken just before I sprinkled them with my secret stash of sea salt brought back from Paris. These definitely took the chill off the rain and grey skies this morning ! Enjoy