Valentine's Day - Part III: Tiki Drinks and Chocolate
Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 13:00 After Saturday's Bavarian-Cuban fusion concert and Sunday's trip to the World Cup Women's Downhill Skiing event, Herr J wrapped up the Valentine's weekend with a delightful dinner at Davvero, the restaurant at the Charles Hotel.
We arrived early and had a drink in the bar. This guy was fun - he reminds me of the Brady Bunch episode where they go to Hawaii.
The dinner itself was wonderful - very light and delicate, but flavorful. We started with a seared scallop in a light beet sauce, followed by a sort of deconstructed ceviche with mango. The pasta course was black truffle-topped ravioli filled with quail, followed by a main of dover sole.
Given that everything was delicious and light, we were shocked by what followed for dessert. In addition to a sampler plate of little deserts, came this wonderful monstrosity. A very large flourless chocolate cake, topped with berries, chunks of white chocolate, a truffle, and a white chocolate heart. WOW! We did our best, but were not able to finish it all. But it was a wonderful end to a great meal. And I love their philosophy of serving a relatively light dinner, saving the power for dessert.
In good German style, we topped off the meal with a glass of schnapps. We tried something new, a Hazelnut schnapps. It tasted good (though strong), but let me just say that the smell of is like crack for your sense of smell. This stuff smells amazing. intoxicating, actually. One one hand, it reminds me of the good smells of a sawmill - very woody. On the other, it's the smell of hazelnut, which is the smell of nutella and other good things. It's not so much that I want to drink it, but that I want to carry around a vial of it and just smell it. It's the Gansloser Haselnussgeist from the Swabian distillery Gansloser. I guess it's not so surprising, now that I learn one of their main focuses is on having the true aroma of the fruit (though through natural methods, not artificial). I'm interested in trying their other flavors!
For my part, I decided to make a homemade Valentine's card. I'll let Herr J discuss his gift another time and tell you the story behind it.
;)
It was a wonderful weekend of unique activities. I'm wondering what unusual event he comes up with next year!
Frau A ... 4 Comments Food, Cooking, & Dining tagged Valentine's Day, chocolate ... Print Article Email Article Share Article 
Reader Comments (4)
My mother-in-law's favorite kind of schnapps is hazelnut. You are so brave for drinking the stuff after meals, even when it was a chocolate explosion like that one! :) I'll drink a lot of different kinds of alcohol, but schnapps is just brutal. But I guess it still does alright for the digestion process in the end.
Ha! The Hawaii episode(s) (I think that was a two-parter)! I love Greg trying to get Peter and Bobby to buzz off while he's pretending to be a local and greasing up some beach teen girl with lotion.
I hope the idol brings you better luck than that tarantula in Jan's beach bag.
Strangely the schnapps did help with digestion, as did some frischer Luft.... The hazenut tasted fairly good, but the aroma was what was so wonderful. For drinking, I'm not a big schnapps person, but Andechs' Honey Schnapps are fantastic!
Tiffany: you really need to try the Andechs Honey schnapps. It is completely different than anything else I've had: smoother, a little sweet, not brutal at all. CHeers - Herr J