Valentine’s Day is only a couple days away. If you go out to celebrate, WhyCLE has Cleveland Valentine’s events for every sense and Bite Buff has some delicious dining options for you.

Me? Scott and I keep it quiet on Valentine’s Day because we celebrate our anniversary the following week.

This year, we’ll be checking out the new Die Hard movie and then picking up a dinner for home. After last week’s Ohio Blogging Meetup at Whole Foods Cedar Center, we have some inspiration.

Whole Foods Market Wine Buyer Audree Sinnett and Sweet Designs’ Ines Rehner

This was Ohio Blogging’s 3rd annual trip to Whole Foods. And as last year demonstrated with a pizza making contest, they always have something delicious up their sleeve.

This time around the theme was “Chocolate Three-Way” featuring a selection of chocolate-infused tastings.

Chef Sarah Schoenberger’s Chicken Enchiladas and Mole Sauce at Ohio Blogging Whole Foods Meetup

First up, a chicken enchilada with traditional mole sauce. Whole Foods Chef Sarah Schoenberger hit this right on the nose. While the enchiladas were excellent, the slight burn of the mole with a hint of chocolate was what won me over.

And the corn and black bean salad they paired with the dish was so great I snagged a to-go box for lunch the next day.

Then it was time for something sweet. Whole Foods brought in Ines Rehner from Lakewood’s Sweet Designs.

At Lakewood’s Sweet Designs, Ines Rehner creates delicious tasting and looking treats like chocolate shoes and handbags

After moving from Croatia to pursue her dream of opening a chocolate store, Ines taught herself how to make chocolate blends in her kitchen at night.

Since opening Sweet Designs’ doors in 1995, she has expanded to her current location on Detroit Ave. There she makes more than 100 different artisanal chocolates. truffles, hand-dipped fruits, nut clusters, and caramels.

A selection of Signature Chocolate Bars from Lakewood’s Sweet Designs

At the meetup, we tried a variety of selections including chocolate covered strawberries, truffle-stuffed chocolate figs, and a few of her signature chocolate bars. My favorite was the pumpkin-seed-covered chocolate bar.

Ines even shared a bit of professional advice on how to eat chocolate-covered strawberries: After dipping the strawberry, cut off the stems, than halve the strawberries long-ways. Useful knowledge in time for Valentine’s Day!

Whole Foods’ Market Wine Buyer Audree Sinnett played matchmaker with wine and beer pairings. We enjoyed a selection of Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee, Sam Smith Chocolate Stout, Sexual Chocolate and a bonus chocolate liqueur.

Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee, Sexual Chocolate Wine, and Sam Smith Chocolate Stout

Honestly, I couldn’t pick a favorite from Audree’s choices. The Iron Horse was a delicious sparkling Blanc de Noirs. The Chocolate Stout when mixed with Framboise resulted in a rich fruity combination I need to keep on hand at home. And the chocolate liquer proved a very unique treat – chocolate melted in vodka, aged in oak barrels. Thick, creamy and luxurious.

While I couldn’t try the Sexual Chocolate because of my red wine allergy, Scott did grab a bottle for its awesome label:

SLO Down Wines’ handcrafted label for their Sexual Chocolate wine tells the blend’s backstory.

This excellent evening was put together by Whole Foods Community Manager Lisa who plans  events and outreach efforts like these:

Every Thursday from 4-6pm, the Cedar Center Whole Foods hosts a Whole Deal with Morag! cooking demo. Tomorrow is a wine pairings dinner featuring Argentinian wines. And on Feb. 27, stop by for an Italian Cheese class at 7pm.

More events can be found on the Whole Foods Cedar Center calendar.

Elizabeth and Steve from Lake County Visitors Bureau with Kimberly, Chris and Hans

While the food was a nice bonus, the real reason I enjoy going to the Blogger Meetup each month is to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. At this month’s Meetup:

• Always JAM in CLE – Jessica’s Recap
• @BeautyNewzFlash (+ husband)
• @CharitUrbanista
• Clue Into Cleveland (That’s me! + Scott)
• Cooker Girl
• Eat*Drink*Cleveland
• It’s a Hero (+ husband Chad and baby Ari)
• Lake County Visitors Bureau (+ boyfriend Steve)
• Lane Baldwin Photography
• Life Lyn Style (safe travels in Seattle, Lyn!)
• Our Journey
• Poise in Parma (+ Hans and Aunt Kathy) – Alicia’s Recap
• Rust Belt Runner – Holly’s Recap
• Smitten in Cleveland (+ Mr. Smitten, aka Chris)
• Wearing Mascara
• WhyCLE – Jen’s Recap

If you’re a blogger, want to start a blog, or a blog supporter, check out one of the Ohio Blogging Association’s upcoming events.

In March, we’re volunteering at MedWish. If you read my recent post about MedWish International, you know I’m really hoping to make it on March 19.

***

Thanks to the Ohio Blogging and #TeamSawyer meetups, I learned last week that social media + food is a recipe for some kickass evenings out with friends:

This month's Ohio Blogging Meetup at Whole Foods Market (Photo from poiseinparma.com)

Since moving from Shaker Heights to Avon Lake, one of the places I’ve missed is the Whole Foods at Cedar Center.  Since graduating from college, I haven’t lived more than a few miles from a Whole Foods.

While Scott and I don’t get there as often as we used to, I am now frequently trying to find reasons to make the 50 minute drive. Thankfully for the Ohio Blogging Association, I didn’t need to make up a reason to go last week.

To celebrate one year of Cleveland blogger meetups, we returned to Whole Foods Market where the first official meetup was held in January 2011.

And we packed the house! I not only got to see some of my favorite people, but meet a lot of new bloggers as well:

• Alice from Reiki Awakening
• Alicia from Poise in Parma and her husband Hans (Alicia’s recap)
• Andy from the Ohio Beef Council
• Crystal from Eat Drink Cleveland (Crystal’s recap)
• Dave from Health Insurance Issues with Dave and Again? Really?
• Jeff from My Future Past
• Jen from Why CLE? (Jen’s recap)
• Jill from Thrifty Volunteer
• Julie from ROJ Running (Julie’s recap)
• Julie from Wearing Mascara (Julie’s recap)
• Kristian from Adventures of a trapped 300 pound man and Ohio Festivals (Kristian’s recap)
• Kimberly from SMITTEN…in cleveland (Kimberly’s recap)
• Lane from Lane Baldwin Photography
• Nidhi from NIDHIZZLE
• Raizel from OmStone Aromas
• Reanna from Big Shot Dot The I (Reanna’s recap)
• Sarah from Cooker Girl
• Scott from The Chubby Cook
• Stephanie from Hungry in Cleveland
• Stuart from @sos_jr
• Tony from tonyramos.com

Scott joined me that evening (blog supporters are always welcome!) and I don’t think he regretted that decision because it was Pizza and Beer Night.

Alicia (Poise in Parma) kicks things off at the Blogger Meetup

Lisa and the team at Whole Foods Market passed around a Pizza Throwdown form – each of us could pick whichever cheese, sauce (including hummus), and meat or vegetable toppings we wanted. Although the form came with a lot of options to choose from, we were invited to write down items that weren’t listed (with the exception of things like lobster and truffles — now that I write this, I’m jonesing for a lobster pizza).

As everyone turned in their orders, the chefs at Whole Foods would bake our pizzas in the brick ovens and bring them out to the group a short while later to dig in.  Besides how fresh everything tasted, I have to applaud Whole Foods for putting all of the pizzas together so quickly. There were a lot of orders placed that night.

In my opinion, Kristian’s pizza with eggplant, honey, apples and ham was the most delicious. I was not so inspired in my creation, which included spinach, tomatoes, squash and bacon. However, while I don’t get points for creativity, it wase very delicious (you can never go wrong with bacon).

The delicious carnage that occurs when you put a bunch of hungry people in a room of made-to-order gourmet pizzas.

As always, while it was nice to catch up with friends, it was even better to also finally meet bloggers I follow – like Kristian, Kimberly and Tony – in real life and find new blogs to read.

The most pleasant surprise of the evening, though, was being able to go home with a Whole Foods growler and $1 off our first growler fill up.  Scott was particularly excited because he’s been wanting a second growler to go along with our other one from Fat Head’s.

Being somewhat new to the wonderful world of growlers, I took a moment to chat with their Beer and Wine Department about keeping my beer fresh and picked up a few tips.

Again, much blogger love to Lisa and everyone at Whole Foods Cedar Center for hosting a wonderful evening and reminding me how much I miss their store (and thanks to Alicia for organizing)! For next month’s blogger meetup, we’ll go from beer to wine as MissWine OH hosts a wine tasting at Tremont’s Wine and Design on Feb. 21.

Chef Sawyer's mint fritter and chevre salad at the Battle Mint Tweetup

Last week’s social media food party didn’t stop there as a few days later was the Battle Mint Tweetup at Greenhouse Tavern.  Chef Jonathon Sawyer took on Iron Chef Zakarian for the season premiere of Iron Chef America, and instead of watching from home, Scott and I decided to enjoy the episode at the #TeamSawyer tweetup.

Chef Sawyer and Chef’s Widow are some of the most gracious hosts you’ll meet – down to earth, humble, and hilarious. Scott and I got there early enough to snag some seats next to @TweetmeSlow and his wife; we were then joined by @WhyCLE and @TheRealCLEGuy, @EatDrinkClev and her boyfriend, and @TLColson and @FrankZupan.

While I don’t think anyone at our table guessed the secret ingredient of mint, we all enjoyed watching Chef Sawyer demonstrate his prowess with the herb on tv and were surprised with samplings of a few of the dishes he had prepared for the judges.

As much as I loved the Mint Fritters and Chevre Salad (the fresh chevre cheese complementing the lamb sausage and lamb confit was particularly good), my favorite tasting was hands down the Stoner Sandwich. The
shamrock semifreddo, sicilian pistacio and chocolate dirt sandwiched between two fresh waffles gives their Pot de Creme (my other favorite dessert) a run for its money.

If you weren’t at Greenhouse on Sunday and are dying to try the Stoner, you’re in luck.  According to Joe Crea’s wrapup on the evening, it can currently be found on the menu.

Yes, the Stoner Sandwich is as good as it looks.

Scott and I also ordered a few other things from the menu.  Scott, of course, could not pass on another opportunity to enjoy their Beef Tartar and I tried the Pork n’ Pumpkin Pasta.

@Tweetmeslow’s wife had ordered the pasta first and when they brought it out to her it looked too delicious for me not to order. Rich, creamy and salty — a much-needed, hearty combination for the middle of winter.

Paired with a glass of Viognier and some Caramel Popcorn Pot de Cremes, the dinner was amazing – on par with what we’ve come to expect from Greenhouse.

While we loved our food, I think my favorite part of the evening came at the end.  Even though Chef Zakarian brought home the win in Kitchen Stadium that night, the mood in Greenhouse Tavern was celebratory:

Cleveland is lucky to have a lot of chefs who are not just rockstars in the kitchen but also personable, approachable and excited to be here. And Chef Sawyer is one of the best out of this group. Many thanks to him, Chef’s Widow, and everyone at Greenhouse Tavern that night that made the evening so enjoyable. I hope everyone in the kitchen enjoyed Scott’s and my Kitchen Coffee – it was well-deserved.