“Cassie speared one of the fried balls and placed it on her plate, along with a scoop of the dark brown paste. They looked simple enough, like any bar food. When she cut it open, though, it erupted with steam, gooey Gruyère cheese, and shredded duck meat. She cut it into quarters, rationed out the fig butter for each piece, and took a bite. Salty and crunchy, the meat sweet and savory--- and Ben was right. That fig butter--- the creative addition of fat and sweet jammy fruit, punctuated with large crystals of crunchy sea salt--- made the dish sing. "It's the holy trinity of sugar, fat, and salt," Ben said, and took a drink of champagne. The pizza arrived just as the group polished off the last croquette, filling the air with wafts of nutty truffles. "Some say that truffles taste like the forest floor, but some say they taste like the human body," said Kelly, as she stabbed an egg yolk, releasing a thick yellow goo all over the pizza. She pulled a piece onto her plate. "Oh yeah, I wrote a story on this," said Ben. "Feet, body odor... sex. Truffles have a particular form of stink that attracts people in an animalistic way--- it's what explains why people will pay so much money for even the slightest hint of truffle." Cassie pulled a slice of truffle from the pie and put it on her tongue. Certainly nutty, cool, crunchy... but sex? She didn't get it. She shrugged and took another bite.” PizzaDuckFlavorsButterAphrodisiacTrufflesFigCroquettes Book:Eat Post Like Source: Eat Post Like
“Cassie perused the offerings, her mouth watering with excitement. Lemon cream, raspberry ricotta and meringue, Parmesan, creamed corn, cassis, persimmon, summer fig, bergamot, tiramisu, creamed coffee, watermelon cream... the list went on and on. "Oh my god, how do you even decide?" Her head was spinning. "Well, I like to do a combination. One fruit, one nut, one cream--- or chocolate, depending on my mood. So tonight I'm going to have wild strawberry, pistachio, and salted caramel. Pistachio is my constant. I always order it. It's my litmus test to judge the gelateria." "Excellent strategy." She nodded and perused the case while Eamon ordered. She decided on Parmesan, fig, and blue honey with walnuts. "I'm going for the cheese plate combo," she joked.” ItalianIce CreamFlavorsNumerousFlavor CombosGelatoWhen In Rome Book:Eat Post Like Source: Eat Post Like
“She took a sip of Armagnac and savored the caramel, cherry, dark chocolate, and lavender flavors. "How do they make this?" she asked. "It's basically brandy, distilled wine, but made in a more rustic, artisanal way.” FrenchFlavorsBrandyWine TastingDistilledArmagnac Book:Eat Post Like Source: Eat Post Like