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Spotlight on
Fort Worth, TX |
Nancy & Jerry McBrayer
Nancy & Jerry were frequent customers in our St. Augustine store for a year when they heard about the possibility of having their own TSTE store. They moved to Jerry's hometown of Ft. Worth and opened in The Stockyards, a historic area that pays homage to Texas cowboy culture with a twice daily herd of long-horn cattle down main street. TSTE Stockyards celebrates their second anniversary on Feb. 9th and looks forward to spending more time with customers.
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| Boo Box Gifts |
Surprize your love with a Boo Box Gift Set, with seven different Lover's choices, you're certain to find just the right one!
Curry Lovers
Grilling Lovers
Salt Lovers
Spicy Lovers
Tea Lovers |
| Rosebuds & Petals |
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Add romance to your intimate dinner for two by sprinkling a generous mound of our rosebuds & petals around the base of candle holders and the edges of your elegantly set table. Freeze in ice cubes to put in beverages, or fill a trinket box to display that special gift in. |
Wanted: Traditional
Irish Recipes |
| Submit a Recipe |
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St. Patrick's Day is coming! Do you have a traditional Irish recipe to share? Send it in, and you may be featured in our next newsletter!
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| New Stores |
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New Owner |
TARPON SPRINGS, FL
Cathy Paul
Opening Spring 2010
ALEXANDRIA, VA
Joy Quinn & Taruna Reddy
WASHINGTON, DC
Keith Campbell-Rosen
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| More About Our Stores |
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TSTE St
Augustine featured in
TSTE Boca Raton featured in
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| Quick Links |
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Come In and Smell the Spices! |
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Greetings!
We're excited to share more recipes, products and news about our stores with you, our customers. Are you planning a Valentine's Day Dinner for your special someone? We've prepared a menu just for you, read on for more!
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February's Exchange
'White Chicken Chili' from Nancy McBrayer of Stockyards, TX
Time: under an hour Serves: 12
4 chicken breasts
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 med. onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
 2 (4oz.) cans mild green chilis, chopped
3 (16oz.) cans of white beans
5 cups chicken broth, defatted
3 cups (12oz.) Monterey Jack shredded cheese
sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
Place chicken in heavy saucepan or pot. Add cold water to cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer. Cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool, then shred. Heat oil in same pot over high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent(about 10 minutes) Stir in garlic, chilies, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Saute 2 min, add undrained beans and broth, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add chicken and cheese. Serve as soon as cheese melts and garnish with sour cream.
February 25 is National American Chili Day! |
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Express your love with this Valentine's at-home menu
Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed with Bacon
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1/8 cup mayonnaise
1/8 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (not packaged)
TSTE Garlic Powder to taste
1/8 teaspoon TSTE Basil leaves
1/4 of a 16 oz. pkg. bacon, crisply cooked, drained and crumbled
Cut the top off each cherry tomato, and using a melon baller or a sharp knife, carefully scoop out the seeds and pulp. Place each tomato upside down on paper towel to drain. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl. Stuff each cherry tomato with the bacon mixture. Chill in fridge for at least 2 hours to blend flavors. Use curly parsley for decoration.
Sweet Salad
4 cups baby salad greens
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
2 green onions, chopped
6 strawberries, hulled and sliced
12 fresh raspberries
1 teaspoon TSTE minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup seasoned almond slices
1/4 cup dried currants
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup seasoned croutons
1/2 cup vinaigrette salad dressing, or to taste
In a large bowl, toss the salad greens, carrot, green onions, strawberries, raspberries, garlic, walnuts, almond slices, currants and feta cheese. Divide between two salad bowls. Top each bowl with croutons and serve with vinaigrette dressing.
Steak Diane for Two
2 6-ounce filet mignon
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon TSTE chopped onion
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
Lemon juice to taste, optional
Chopped fresh chives or parsley leaves for garnish
Flatten fillets a bit with the back of a skillet or a small mallet until about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In small skillet combine oil and tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat. When butter foam melts, sear steaks on both sides, just until browned, no more than 2 minutes a side. Remove to platter. Wipe pan clean with towel; add remaining butter, and heat over medium, with shallot or onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in mustard, Worcestershire and cream. Add some salt and a fair amount of pepper. Stir once or twice, then taste and adjust seasoning. Keeping mixture at a steady simmer, return meat and accumulated juices to pan. Cook, turning two or three times, until meat is done to preference, just 1 or 2 minutes a side for medium-rare. Remove to a plate, and add lemon juice, salt and pepper to the sauce as needed. Spoon sauce over meat, garnish with chives or parsley, and serve.
Molten Chocolate Cake
1 cup unsalted butter or unsalted margarine
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, or bars, cut into bite-size chunks
5 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
4 teaspoons flour
8 extra-large paper muffin cups (or use regular paper muffin cups, which will make 12 cakes)
1 (6 ounce) container raspberries, barely moistened and rolled in about
1/2 cup TSTE Raspberry sugar right before serving
Melt butter and chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and remove from heat. Beat eggs, sugar and salt until sugar dissolves in a medium bowl. Beat egg mixture into chocolate until smooth. Beat in flour until just combined. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a standard-size muffin tin (1/2 cup capacity) with 8 extra-large muffin papers (papers should extend above cups to facilitate removal). Spray muffin papers with vegetable cooking spray and divide batter among muffin cups. Bake until batter puffs but center is not set, 8 to 10 minutes. Lift cakes from tin and set on a work surface. Pull papers away from cakes and transfer cakes to dessert plates. Top each with sugared raspberries and serve immediately. |
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Store Grand Openings 
Gordon and Paulette Callender opened their second store in Boca Raton, FL in November, but celebrated their Grand Opening January 16th with a fabulous tastings menu of chicken flavored with Greek Seasoning, Jamaican Jerk and Tandoori Seasoning, Zahtar Blend over hummus, peach tea with Strawberry Sugar and mulled wine. View the video here.
Rob Linger and Ivy O'Brien of Portland held their Grand Opening Jan 30th and report that it was a huge success! They are very excited to be the newest members of the TSTE family. Congratulations to Rob and Ivy!
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History of Chocolate
The Olmec Indians are believed to be the first to grow cocoa beans, and they gave much of their culture to the Mayan civilization, whose cocoa bean consumption was restricted to the society's elite, as an unsweetened drink made from the ground beans. The Mayans began trade with the Aztecs, who came into contact with Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez in 1519. Cortez brought it back to Spain, where it was heavily taxed and only the rich could afford it. Spain held a Spanish cocoa monopoly that lasted two centuries, slowly sharing with the rest of Europe. After the 1700s, chocolate drinking expands worldwide, and chocolate returns to the Americas. The Industrial Revolution saw the emergence of innovations that changed the future of chocolate and these innovations set the stage for solid chocolate candy to become the globally favored sweet it is today. New machinery made it posssible to create solid chocolate and mass produce it at a fraction of the orginal cost. Inventions may have made improvements in taste, texture and mass production, but advertising made chocolate something people craved. The 1800s saw an explosion of chocolate products, and companies such as Ghiradelli and Cadbury, who began mass marketing chocolate candies. In fact, Richard Cadbury is who you can blame for the first heart-shaped candy box for Valentine's Day. Milton Hershey created an entire town dedicated to the production of chocolate in 1900, and in 1925 The New York Cocoa Exchange began in New York City. Nestle's, Godiva and other producers of chocolate became household names. Expensive hand-made chocolate gave way to affordable mass-produced sweets. Chocolate began to appear not just as a candy bar, but as a popular ingredient in sweets such as cakes, pastries, and sorbets. Today, annual world consumption of cocoa beans averages approximately 600,000 tons.
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Black Chocolate Tea
Naturally, our February's Tea recommendation is Black Chocolate Tea. Pair it with a fresh Gingered Cinnamon Cresent Moon and a peice of fruit for breakfast. Jeffrey & Bryan, of TSTE Winter Park, serve a fabulous Chocolate Mint Tea in their store. To make 3 quarts in a Mr. Tea: Combine 2 Tbsp. Black Chocolate Tea and 1 Tbsp. Marakesh Mint, serve hot or cold. If you prefer traditional methods, steep no more than 4 mins. Prefer a lower caffeine content? Try Berry Melange with this Chocolate Sandwich for an afternoon pick-me-up with friends.
Chocolate Tea Sandwich
12 slices thinly sliced white bread
1 3 oz. pkg of cream cheese (room temperature)
Spread half of bread slices with cream cheese. Sprinkle with brown sugar, then with chocolate. Top with rest of bread. Use cookie cutters to cut into halves, thirds or shapes and discard crusts. Makes 6.
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"Come in and smell the spices!"
Sincerely,
TSTE Managing Partners and TSTE Franchise Owners |
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