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Loving Chantal

I love to cook.  If you have been a reader of this blog then you know how much I enjoy the process of cooking and how I feel it helps me connect with the other cooks in my family who have gone before me.  I find it both relaxing and rewarding to spend time in the kitchen creating things from recipes old and new.

I am not a chef.  And truthfully, the vast majority of my culinary experience has come to me vicariously through my family and the chefs with whom I have worked.  I have very little direct training, but I have been watching in kitchens, both at home and at work, all my life so I guess I have gleaned a thing or two.

In my growth as a cook I have come to the same understanding that all artisans know to be true.  That the quality of your work is greatly impacted by the quality of your materials and tools.  As my father, a master carpenter, used to say "The right tool makes a hard job easy.  The wrong tool makes an easy job hard."  The same holds true in the kitchen.

Chantal is the right tool.  Chantal cookware was founded in 1979 by Heida Thurlow, who has received 26 international patents for her line of kitchen tools.  Chantal cookware combines high-quality with dramatic color and state-of-the-art science to form a line of environmentally friendly cookware that is second-to-none.  

My first piece was a 4 Quart Dutch Oven that my Mother-In-Law gave me last year.  I had never really used a Dutch Oven, but it didn't take long for me to fall in love with it.  I have used it more than any other piece of cookware that I own.  As you can tell from the baked on stains.  (I like to think of them scars of love.)   I have made everything from roasts to soups and even bread.  From this fantastic recipe I found on the Amateur Gourmet.

With that in mind it is easy to understand the excitement I felt when I got the invitation to the Private Previewing Party at the Chantal Warehouse here in Houston.  The preview party was Thursday, November 4 and it featured everything from the new collections to a clearinghouse of odd and discontinued pieces.  I was like a kid in a candy store.

We picked up an enameled cast iron skillet from the Talavera Collection  for $29!  An 8-quart Talavera Dutch Oven for $69!  A set of Pure mixing bowls for $9!  Plus, we got a few Christmas gift, as well.

The party continues all through November as the Outlet Store opens Fridays through Sundays to the public.  The line of products available at the Outlet Sale includes the new Cast Iron Talavera Collection not yet available in most stores or online!  Plus, the discounts are up to 70% off retail prices and far, far below the Le Creuset collection featured at places like Sur La Table.  (Their 7.25 qt Dutch Oven goes for $270.)

If you have never used Chantal cookware you owe it to yourself to try it out.  It is quite simply the best cookware at the best price you will find.  I usually don't pimp products with such enthusiasm, especially for free, but in this case I am making an exception.  After all, I love my Chantal. 

And my Mother-In-Law got me hooked.

Penzey's Is The Spice Of Life In The Heights

In The Old World, spices were traded as commodities often as precious as gold.  Considered a luxury to the rich, the valuable spices brought a high price and were shipped round the globe from The New World back to Europe and from East to West. 

Today you can find that same reverence in a foodie treasure land called Penzey's Spices.

Penzey's Spices, located at 516 W. 19th Street (corner of Nicholson), even feels a bit like the hold of a cargo ship.  As you walk in, you see the spices cradled in wooden packing crates stacked on the floor and stored in simple glass jars.

But make no mistake.  Penzey's in the Heights, one of 42 locations nationwide, is no common spice shop.  The herbs and spices are truly showcased, usually in both whole and ground form, and the aroma of freshness is powerful and pleasantly intoxicating. (Herbs, by the way, are the leafy part of the plant, often dried but also fresh. Spices are the seeds, roots, fruits, bark or other vegetative plant substances harvested for the unique flavors they hold within.)

Walking around the store you can open lock-jars and inhale the true fragrances of the bounty within that are often lost or ruined in the versions sitting, sometimes for weeks, on the grocery store shelves.  I found myself giggling at the soft, supple, unexpectedly friendly nose of the whole cumin seed.  A spice I've often found to be overpowering in the store-bought ground variety.  The fennel, light and playful, reminded me of the black licorice my father used to eat, and the crystallized ginger smelled of sweet candy.  If you have ever tasted the difference between store-bought and fresh-ground pepper, I need say no more.

Founder Bill Penzey, an obvious foodie himself, has, with the help of a fine and very friendly local staff, built a playground for food lovers right in the Heights.  Not only does the store offer nearly every herb and spice conceivable at prices that are lower than your local grocer, but also an array of simple cookbooks, gift boxes, spice mixes and other tools and toys to tantalize the imagination of any gourmand.

I have lived in the Heights nearly two years and just today found myself venturing in for the first time.  Clearly it won't be the last.  Penzey's is a real chef's resource and a fun adventure for anyone who fancies themselves a devoted foodie.  Treat yourself to a visit.

(Of course, if you can't make it to the Heights to shop there is an on-line store available to satisfy your culinary and gifting needs.  Aromas not included.)