Gevalia Kaffe Starts a Morning off Right #Review #Rafflecopter #Giveaway #MyBlogSpark

I don't know about you but I am not me without a cup of coffee in the morning.
Just ask the hubby.
Just don't ask him until HE'S had his coffee.
heh


We both like our coffee S.T.R.O.N.G.
Were we diverge is how we take it - I like mine black. My mother said if I was going to drink it I was going to drink it black or not at all. I suspect she was trying to deter me. 


It didn't work.


Now the hubby, he has this complicated process to his coffee. I think it takes him half an hour to make "the perfect" cup of mocha/espresso whatever. Meh, I couldn't be bothered. Just give me my caffeine. 

Aaaaaah, that is better.
Now this post will make much more sense.


I am drinking some of the newly available in Safeway stores Gevalia Kaffe French Roast. Isn't that cool? You can now get delicious Gevalia Coffee in your neighborhood grocery store!


Mmmm, coffee.
My Blog Spark sent me a lovely gift pack with a bag of the Gevalia French Roast and the Gevalia House Blend. Since I like strong coffee I went for the French Roast. It was bold and to me, at least, a teensy bit sweet. I liked it but it was not as strong as my hubby's blend. The mug is porcelain and holds a LOT of delicious coffee.


Gevalia is a Swedish company that has been in business for a long time. Here is some info about them and some their coffees:


  

• Gevalia has been refining the art of luxurious coffee since 1853 and has a deep history of finding and blending the finest Arabica coffee beans from locations around the world.
• Gevalia is expertly made with carefully selected beans, ground extra fine, to produce a rich coffee experience.
• Previously available online only, Gevalia is now offering its top-ten varieties in U.S. coffee supermarket aisles nationwide in 10 varieties, including roast and ground, whole bean, flavored and decaffeinated varieties:
  
• Gevalia Traditional Roast (ground and whole bean):
  Gevalia Traditional Roast provides a perfectly balanced taste every time. Our most beloved blend – made of choice, mountain-grown Arabica beans – this coffee has a distinctive body and flavor with a lighter intensity. (Medium Roast).
  
• Gevalia House Blend:
  A Gevalia favorite, House Blend is a robust yet never bitter coffee. This roast has a captivating aroma that is only matched by its exceptional flavor. (Medium/Dark Roast).
  
• Gevalia House Blend Decaf :
  Delivering the same rich, never bitter flavor, House Blend Decaf has the same robust taste without all the caffeine. (Medium/Dark Roast).
  
• Gevalia French Roast (ground and whole bean):
  Gevalia French Roast is a coffee of impressive richness and dimension, expertly crafted from prized Arabica beans grown in Colombia and Brazil. Hints of aromatic smoke give this dark-roasted French Roast blend an intense, yet uniquely satisfying flavor. (Dark Roast).

Pretty cool, huh?
There are others and you can learn about them at the Gevalia site. I have the link below. The espresso roast is the one I would like to try next. It's even stronger! I like coffee that can take the paint off of a car. How about you? Do you like your coffee flavored, black, weak, strong? I admit to a cast iron stomach; probably from all the years of the hubby's coffee. Hahahahaha!


Well, thanks to Kraft Foods and the very lovely folks at My Blog Spark one lucky reader will get to experience a morning with the delicious aroma of Gevalia Kaffe brewing in their coffee maker. He/she will win a prize pack just like I received to review. It will include:

One bag of Gevalia Kaffe French Roast, one bag of Gevalia Kaffe House Blend and a lovely mug in which to enjoy your fresh, hot coffee! It does not include the mess shown on my countertop unless you WANT me to pack it up and send it to you. I would not really object as I remove it often and yet it constantly reappears.


I blame my husband.


But back to the giveaway!
How do you win? It's easy!
Just click on "read more" jump on the Rafflecopter....if you are here by direct link the 'copter is waiting! Good luck everyone.

You can visit Gevalia.com
You can find Gevalia on Facebook
You can find Gevalia on Twitter
You can find Gevalia on YouTube

Pork in San-J Orange Sauce with Spicy Caramelized Walnuts #Review #Recipe

I wrote previously of my delight with San-J's Asian BBQ Sauce. Today I bring you their Orange Sauce. This sauce is typically used with chicken but I like to be different. OK - you can all stop laughing now.


I decided to use it with pork. Pork is a treat around this household and the freezer is usually full of goat or chicken, chicken or goat so when I get anything else I am thrilled. I, like most people, love pork.

 I had some lovely home grown pork (about 1/2 a pound) from a friend and so I cut it up into little pieces. (At this point I must apologize for some of the photos in this post. Somehusband - and I am not naming names except to say I only HAVE one husband - decided to play with the settings on my camera and even though he claims my photos should be better.....they suck. That's all I will detail from our "discussions." )


While the meat was marinating and the rice was cooking my little brain decided I wanted something crunchy on top of the pork. But what? Hmmm, I got to thinking and thinking and thinking and an idea popped into my head. I grabbed some walnuts and gave them a light toasting.

Then I put:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp 5 spice powder
1/2 tsp salt


into my pan. I let it melt into a caramel. You need to watch this so it doesn't burn. I used med high heat. Once the sugar starts to melt it happens fast.

I turned off the heat and I added the walnuts. 

I got them well coated and turned them onto my cutting board to cool. I then chopped them into smaller pieces. Always remember that melted sugar is HOT, HOT,HOT!!!!

Cooking the meat was super easy. I just heated a pan and poured the marinated pork in with the sauce. It took about 6 minutes. I let it rest off the heat for two minutes. I added in a bit more of the San-J Orange Sauce during cooking so I would have enough to coat the rice during dinner.

To serve I put the pork and some sauce on the rice and topped it with the caramelized, spicy walnuts. 

The hubby had snow peas on the side and I had - all together now - green beans.

The pork was moist and delicious. The Orange Sauce added a delightful citrus taste that was mildly sweet, mildly spicy and the walnuts on top were a perfect contrast with their spicy crunch.
I think I will probably use the San-J Orange Sauce with shrimp next and I will eventually work my way to chicken.


You can learn about San-J
You can find out where to purchase San-J
You can shop for San-J online

Disclosure:  I received San-J products gratis. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free products. I received no monetary compensation for this post.

Paris My Sweet by Amy Thomas #Review

About the Book:

Forever a girl obsessed with all things French, sweet freak Amy Thomas landed a gig as rich as the purest dark chocolate: leave Manhattan for Paris to write ad copy for Louis Vuitton. Working on the Champs-Élysées, strolling the charming streets, and exploring the best patisseries and boulangeries, Amy marveled at the magnificence of the City of Light.

But does falling in love with one city mean turning your back on another? As much as Amy adored Paris, there was part of her that felt like a humble chocolate chip cookie in a sea of pristine macarons. PARIS, MY SWEET explores how the search for happiness can be as fleeting as a salted caramel souffle's rise, as intensely satisfying as molten chocolate cake, and about how the life you're meant to live doesn't always taste like the one you envisioned.

Part love letter to Paris, part love letter to New York, and total devotion to all things sweet, PARIS, MY SWEET is a treasure map for anyone with a hunger for life.

About the Author:


Amy Thomas is a New York–based writer who, for two lucky years, got to call Paris home. In addition to working as a copywriter in advertising, she writes about food, travel, design, and fashion for various publications such as the New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, Town & Country, and Every Day with Rachael Ray. She is slightly obsessed with sweets.


My Opinion:


This is a light, frothy memoir about one woman's divided love for two great cities and decided passion for anything sweet. I was expecting it to be a younger woman's tale and was somewhat surprised to find it the story of a woman in her mid-thirties. Maybe I am just old but her seeming so lost at that age did not resonate with me; I had been married for 14 years by this age and well settled into my career although about to get the health shock that would alter my life in unimaginable ways. 


The stories were very personal and I do commend Ms. Thomas for putting herself out there like that. I, too, love Paris and would love to return some day. I also love sweets but prefer to make them myself but I have found myself struck dumb by the beauty of the creations in a fine patisserie. But looks can be deceiving and sometimes this book fails to deliver - at least it did for me. It became a bit repetitious and seemed to be a series of essays loosely strung together with an overlay of spun sugar binding them together. Each chapter is written around a specific treat and her observations of her life and trials at that time are tied to that treat. It gets old after the first few treats - as too much sugar will.


Perhaps this is a book best read a snippet at a time so each cookie, cake or cup of hot chocolate can be savored for itself rather than gorging on every sugary sweet under the sun. Ms. Thomas' writing is engaging and her way of describing a cake can make your mouth water. 




You can purchase Paris My Sweet at Sourcebooks
You can purchase Paris My Sweet at Amazon.com


Disclosure:  I received an e-copy of Paris My Sweet gratis. Any opinons expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free e-book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.