Food For Thought

• Eye Candy: Chocolate Shots from the Foodnetwork.ca Flickr Pool

  Extreme food porn alert! This Foodnetwork.ca Flickr round-up is all about chocolate, so buckle up and get ready for some full-throttle taste temptations! And when you’ve wiped the drool off your chin (don’t be too proud, I’m not), you can make one (or more) of the treats pictured, since the majority of them come with recipes! OK, enough with the introductions, let’s do this, shall we? Above: A lot of days, I’d be tempted to stop right here. A soup bowl of melted chocolate like the one in ParsecTraveller’s pic is all you need to satisfy a chocolate craving. Some strawberries would be nice, but a spoon would work just as well (am I right or am I right?) Above: Here’s two "cups" of chocolate, Bitter-Sweet’s white chocolate mousse (with recipe) and chockylit’s Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Ganache. Wow, I think the name of that treat has all of my favourite words in the English language in it! Bonus: she also included the recipe. Above: t.sullivan’s cake and jen’s tart look mighty fine with their fruit garnish, and both (conveniently) come with forks. But what if there was only one fork? Which would you choose? Or, better question: which treat would you eat first? Both have recipes, so this is not just a rhetorical question, it’s serious. Above: Finally, it's a cookie and moresome foursome: Lyvvie’s Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies (with recipe!) GardenCityGirl’s Chocolate Macaroons, Gnuf’s Strawberry-Balsamic Chocolates (with recipe!) And Meeta’s Chocolate Mountains (with recipe!), all of which look scrumptious, don't you agree? Got your own mouth-watering photos to share? Upload them to Food Network Canada's Flickr pool and they could be featured in an upcoming Eye Candy post! Related: My Insider's Look at the Chocolate Ball Soma Chocolatemaker, Toronto Eye Candy: Latte Art Shots from the Foodnetwork.ca Flickr Pool - 10 days ago

• Rum Tasting 101

  One of the reasons I was invited to Jamaica was to learn (read drink) about world-famous Appleton Jamaica Rums, and drink, I mean learn I did. All kidding aside, one of the highlights of the trip was visiting Appleton Estate and Distillery where they’ve been making their rums since 1749. It’s located in the heart of the island's sugar cane belt (gorgeous!) and is Jamaica’s oldest distillery in continuous production. Let’s just say the folks at Appleton have been making rum for a long time. (Shades of differenty aged rums, rum tasting, the obligatory cheesy pic of the gang) Rum, made from sugar cane, is the world’s oldest and most versatile spirit which is probably why it’s Chef Michael Smith’s favourite cooking spirit. The type of sugar cane, spring water and yeast all contribute to uniqueness of Appleton Jamaica Rums. A trademark of Appleton rums is their orange peel top note. As the Master Blender Joy Spence (the world’s first female master blender I should add)  led us through a flight of rum tasting, she pointed out notes of banana, coconut and pineapple in their V/X, Reserve, 21 and 30-year-old rums. I confess I couldn’t detect all the flavours Joy mentioned but I can say that as we went up in age, the rums became incredibly smooth and dangerously easy on the palate. Other characteristics of fine rums are: 1. Olive green shadow, the older the rum, the greener the shadow. 2. As with wines: slow moving legs = full bodied; fast moving legs = light bodied. As a special treat, Joy opened a bottle of their 30-year-old, I'm told the world’s oldest rum. It’s not yet available in Canada but Appleton will release 3,000 of the existing 1440 bottles (now I guess 1399) in Canada early next year. It'll retail for around $500 a bottle. So all you rum fans go nab one before they sell out. Important thing to note is that not all rums are created equal. Unfortunately rum labeling is not regulated worldwide. In Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana and U.S. Virgin Island, the label refers to the minimum age but in Latin America, the label refers to the average age. That means rum made with 1 per cent 10 year old rum and 99 per cent one year old rum could technically have a five year old label in Latin America. At the end of the tour, I got a chance to blend my own rum in a friendly competition. I lost to a drinks expert but it was a lot of fun. Check out the photos below. You need to upgrade your Flash Player to 9 or greater   Related: Photo Gallery: Jamaican Breakfast and Lunch - 2 weeks ago

• Ask a Chef with Michael Smith: Why Don't You Use a Garlic Press?

  Today we bring you part 3 of our Ask a Chef series with Chef Michael Smith, host of Chef at Home and Chef at Abroad. I caught up with him when he was here promoting his new cookbook: The Best of Chef at Home. (Be sure to check out Elana's review). This question comes from Kim Cooper who wanted to know: Why don't you and other Food Network Canada chefs use a garlic press? Watch the video and find out. Ask a Chef is featured Tuesdays on Food for Thought. Disclaimer: This page and all comments are maintained and moderated by Foodtv.ca. We encourage your comments and opinions; however, please note that questions directed to Chuck Hughes will not be responded to by the Foodtv.ca team or Chuck Hughes himself. Please do not post personal information including email or home addresses and phone numbers. If you have questions relating to this feature, Food Network Canada or this website, please visit our Contact Us  page. Related: Last Week on Ask a Chef: Ask a Chef with Michael Smith: How Do You Discard Excess Fat? Video of the Week: Chef Michael Smith Talks Season 2 of Chef Abroad From our friends at slice.ca: Looking for advice? Slice.ca's experts are ready to help with your questions -- fitness, nutrition, wedding planning, dating, marriage and more. Ask the slice experts. - 2 weeks ago