Around here, everyone knows that The Brown Hotel has been a Louisville destination for romance for nearly a century, offering Louisvillians a place to fall in love and to hold their dream weddings. This February 14th will mark their 85th Valentine’s Day, and to commemorate the event, The Brown will be pulling out all the stops and offering a variety of romantic packages and menus with amorous amenities that include roses, gourmet dinner and luxurious accommodations for two. Reservations may be made by calling Neal Ward, English Grill Manager, at (502) 736-2998.

Here are some of the options, according to a recent press release:

♥   An Evening with Jack Jones and The Louisville Orchestra

This Valentine’s Day, you can cuddle up with your sweetie and enjoy the romantic styling of composer Jack Jones. Aside from being the musical genius who wrote the theme to The Love Boat, Jones gave us “Call Me Irresponsible” and “The Impossible Dream” as well. This special package includes two $60 tickets to see Jack Jones with The Louisville Orchestra on Saturday, February 14, a Luxury King room at The Brown Hotel, valet parking, a gourmet three-course dinner in The English Grill, a breakfast for two in J. Graham’s Cafe, and all taxes and gratuities for only $549. (If your spouse is the demanding kind, this is a steal!)

But, if you’re the stick-in-the-mud kind of person who doesn’t like to spend the night away or stay out too late, don’t worry, because executive chef Laurent Géroli and his culinary team have created a special meal sans room for $149 per person which includes the three-course dinner with wine pairings, gratuity, tax, self-parking, and tickets for the Jack Jones performance at 8:00 p.m. at The Palace. Dinner is also available on its own for $55 per person, excluding wine, tax and gratuity, but tables must be vacant by 7:30 p.m.

For the meal, guests will be offered a choice of Roasted Beet Salad with Capriole Farms Goat Cheese, micro basil and sherry vinaigrette or Serrano Ham-wrapped Shrimp with smoked tomato risotto and Manchego cheese for appetizers. Entrée choices include Roasted Farm Raised Scottish Salmon with green asparagus gratin, pomme étagère and Minus 8 vinaigrette glaze; Wild Mushroom Stuffed French Cut Chicken with fingerling potatoes, haricots verts and truffle cream sauce; or Cast Iron Roasted Angus Petit Filet Mignon of Beef with rösti potatoes and caramelized carrots in a peppercorn sauce. This romantic dinner will end with Chocolate Raspberry Dome with spun sugar and Chambord reduction.

There will also be a special Valentine’s Day menu available that includes five courses for $85 per person plus tax and gratuity, with seating available between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. The menu starts with a soup of Truffle Chanterelle Bisque with pistachio bourbon candies; a salad of White Asparagus Terrine with pumpkin seed oil and red grape emulsion; and an appetizer of Foie Gras on toasted brioche with seared scallop and Minus 8 vinegar reduction. After an intermezzo, entrée choices will include Poached Lobster in lavender honey butter, capellini pasta, morel mushrooms, and baby Brussels sprout hazelnut vinaigrette; Cast Iron Roasted Angus Filet Mignon of Beef with rösti potatoes and caramelized carrots with a peppercorn sauce; or Moroccan Seasoned Oven Roasted Rack of Lamb with sweet potato goat cheese gratin and orange scented saffron jus. A Chocolate Raspberry dome with spun sugar and Chambord reduction will provide a sweet ending to the evening.

More Ideas after the Jump…

Other room packages include:

♥   Be My Valentine

Treat your Valentine with an overnight stay in a Deluxe King room on a privately keyed club level floor. This allows access to the Club Lounge with continental breakfast, afternoon snacks during the day and complimentary hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer and soft drinks at night. The Be My Valentine package also includes the five-course gourmet dinner for two in The English Grill with seating between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m., complimentary valet parking, breakfast for two in J. Graham’s Café and all taxes and gratuities for just $458.

♥   Celebrate Our Love

Celebrate the love of your life in your choice of a Deluxe or Club Deluxe King room. This package includes complimentary valet parking, one dozen roses, a bottle of Gruet sparkling wine, a specially crafted chocolate chest filled with petit chocolates and breakfast for two in J. Graham’s Café. All taxes and gratuities are included. Deluxe will cost just $314; Club Deluxe will cost $351.

♥   Valentine Escape Package

Enjoy a romantic Valentine escape in a one-bedroom suite. A gourmet three-course dinner for two will be served in your suite, complete with a bottle of Moët et Chandon Imperial Rose and one dozen red roses. Breakfast will be served to you in your room the next morning! All taxes and gratuities are included for only $729.

For more information about The Brown Hotel, located at Fourth and Broadway, or to book a romantic package, you may also visit The Brown’s website or call 502-583-1234.

by David Dominé, The Bluegrass Peasant

Every year, I bake big batches of multi-sized gingerbread stars and hang them on the tree along with simple red-and-white striped candy canes. As result, the tree always has an informally festive, almost whimsical appearance, and the house smells great.

This year I put up a second tree, and instead of clear lights, I wrapped the Frazier fir with strands of multi-colored bulbs and hung ornaments in different shades of pink and gold. To finish it off, I took wax-paper wrapped pieces of homemade taffy and wired them to the ends of the branches. The tree appears elegant and playful at the same time, and guests are encouraged to help themselves to a piece of candy. It’ll also come in handy as bait when I invite people over to take down the tree on January 6th. But I find that hanging miniature bottles of bourbon from the branches really ensures that I have a crowd to help take down the tree.

I’ve heard some people say they don’t like putting edible things on their tree for fear of attracting ants or other sweet-toothed insects, but I’ve never had a problem with bugs in the many years I’ve been hanging cookies and candy on my trees.

Pets, on the other hand, are a different story.

Read the rest after the jump…

I remember one year I baked dozens of extra-large gingerbread boys and girls. After dusting them with confectioner’s sugar, I hung them all over the 12-footer in the front parlor. The tree looked spectacular and I was very proud of myself, but toward the end of the evening I noticed that some of the gingerbread men hanging from the bottom branches had mysteriously become double amputees. Thinking their legs had just succumbed to the laws of gravity and fallen down into the abyss of presents below, I didn’t think much of their tragic loss until I spied a trail of powdered-sugar foot prints leading into the next room. I followed the track and at its end I found our little schnauzer, Bess, with crumbs and confectioner’s sugar in her beard and a very large grin on her face.

I suppose I could always avoid hanging cookies from the bottom branches – the ones she can reach – but I don’t have the heart. Bess is 15 years old now and every year she looks forward to her Christmas tree. Such is her degree of shamelessness and entitlement now that she doesn’t even bother gently working the gingerbread ornaments off the branches when everyone else has left the room – instead, she brazenly walks up to the low-hanging temptations and snatches them off in full view of all assembled. I guess you could say she’s a little bitch.

Decorate your tree with cookies and your pets will love you. You can also hang doggie biscuits if you’re worried about Fido’s nutritional intake. Forget about the cat, though. Cats and Christmas trees don’t mix. I had to find out the hard way one year when I hung a pair of jingle bells stuffed with catnip from one of the branches. It took days to clean up that mess. Silly me.

Don’t forget about your outside trees, either. Birds love suet balls rolled in seed, but there’s any number of other goodies for winged creatures that you can find in the pet aisle.

Here are some things your human friends might like when you decorate your tree:

• Miniature popcorn balls
• Cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans tied to branches with a bit of gold ribbon
• Strings of cranberry and/or popcorn
• Hard candies wrapped in cellophane such as starlight mints, butterscotch discs or cinnamon lozenges
• Fresh red and green pears
• Clove-studded oranges and tangerines, or lemons and limes (pomander balls)
• Dried fruit such as prunes and apricots
• Whole, unshelled nuts like walnuts or pecans

Use your imagination and chances are, you’ll start hanging edible goodies on your tree for years to come. But don’t be too imaginative. I had a foodie friend who one year hung salamis and other hard sausages from his Christmas tree. Truth be told, it looked sort of gross, not to mention perverted. For that reason, I recommend hanging sweet treats from your holiday tree and no meat products.

Here’s a good website with some Scandinavian-inspired recipes for things to hang on your tree:

Merry Christmas from David Dominé, The Bluegrass Peasant

In the countries that observe it, the Feast Day of St. Nicholas is a time when the saint secretly delivers gifts to good children as they sleep at night on December 5th. Most often, shoes are left out and (hopefully) filled with sweets and small gifts the next morning. Bad kids might find a lump or two of coal, or an old potato or a bundle of sticks.

The story of St. Nicholas begins with his birth in what is now Turkey. After his parents died when he was still young, Nicholas sold his possessions and gave his inheritance to the needy. He became a bishop at a rather young age and gained renown for both his generosity to those in need and his kindness to children.

During this time, many priests and bishops suffered persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, and St. Nicholas was imprisoned. Although he was eventually released, he died later on December 6, 343 AD. The day of his death is celebrated each year in memory of his life and deeds.

Read the rest and peep the tasty recipe after the jump…

In addition to the giving of small gifts and treats, countries around the world celebrate this feast day in a variety of ways. Most involve the telling of tales encouraging children to behave and respect their elders. In France, for example, there is the wonderful and appetizing tale about the two children who wandered away from home and became lost. What happened to them? A butcher lured them to his shop and they ended up packed in a tub of salt. But, thankfully, St. Nicholas intervened and the boys returned home safe and sound in the end, no doubt cured of their wanderlust. Over time, the butcher has evolved as an evil sidekick to St. Nicholas. In France, he is Père Fouettard, who carries switches and threatens children as he follows St. Nicholas around. In Austria, where I used to live, he was known as the Grampus, a hairy, hunched-over, little devil creature who loved to accost passersby with his deadly little bundle of sticks. In Switzerland they call him the Schmutzli.

It was the Dutch who brought the celebration of St. Nicholas Day to America during the early days of the colonization of North America. The Dutch name for St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas, eventually morphed into Santa Claus and the 1822 poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clark Moore, established the time of St. Nicholas’ annual visit as being Christmas Eve in America. Soon thereafter St. Nicholas evolved into the Santa Claus that we all know and love today, complete with his sleigh drawn by eight tiny reindeer.

Given that St. Nicholas Day falls smack dab in the Christmas season, it can be celebrated as a part of the Christmas festivities for the children and adults alike. A visit from St. Nicholas on his horse – his original way of getting around – can give everyone a taste of the big visit from Santa Claus that’s right around the corner. It will also add to the mystery and magic of the season for the children. If you don’t have a horse and old-fashioned cardinal’s get-up, make some gingerbread for your friends and family instead. Here’s my favorite recipe:

CHOCOLATE BOURBON GINGERBREAD

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/4 cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup bourbon
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and continue mixing. Once the molasses has been incorporated, add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to the butter-and-egg mixture. Add the mustard, vanilla extract, buttemilk and bourbon and mix well. Be careful not to over mix as this will produce a tough cake with air tunnels. Pour the batter into miniature cake pans, a large charlotte or souffle pan that has been buttered and dusted with flour. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and turn the cake upside down and out of the pan onto a serving plate. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy.

by David Dominé, The Bluegrass Peasant

Schimpff’s has made a name for itself with its signature cinnamon redhots, hard candy fish and Modjeskas, but the shelves are teeming with dozens of varieties of sweets, including hand-dipped chocolates and creams. A recent favorite is the chocolate turtle with caramel and pecans. Old-fashioned treats include sour lemon drops and hard candies flavored with horehound, anise and clove.

If you’re not in the mood for candy, Schimpff’s, located in Jeffersonville’s downtown historic district, has a lunchroom complete with a 50′s soda fountain and original tin ceiling. Vintage candy jars, old-fashioned display cases, and turn-of-the century equipment transport the visitor back in time.

In the Candy Museum and Candy Demonstration Area, a rare glimpse can be had into the world of historic candy making, packaging and advertising. Candy-making demonstrations are given often and friendly employees are always available to answer questions and dole out free samples. Tours are offered and groups need only call in advance to schedule a free tours of the museum.

Schimpff’s Confectionery counts as one of the oldest, continuously operated, family-owned candy businesses in the United States, and the family has been making sweets in the Louisville area since the 1850s.

Bavarian immigrant Gustav Schimpff opened the present Jeffersonville location in 1891, and since then it has entrenched itself in the annals of Kentuckiana candy history. With the season for sweets upon us, plan on reading more about this local landmark. For more information, call (812) 283-8367.

To pass the attractive façade of the beautiful Victorian mansion at 1390 South Third Street in Old Louisville, the average passerby wouldn’t suspect that much of a culinary nature was afoot in the stately home known by locals as the Bishop’s Hat House. But were the little birdies perched on the sills of the third-story windows to fly down and share their secrets, candy lovers would be thrilled to learn what’s been going on in the sharply angled rooms tucked away under the soffits and gables of the roofline. For the last several years, Ron and Jane Harris – recent transplants from New York City – have been busy making the best bourbon balls the world has ever known in what they’ve dubbed the Old Louisville Candy Company.

Happy Balls! – the confectionery creation named in honor of Ron’s Aunt Happy, the Fairdale lady who passed on the original recipe – start off as a mixture of butter cream and nuts flavored with Knob Creek bourbon before they are hand rolled and dipped, one piece at a time, in Guittard Chocolate. A perfect pecan half then crowns each individual bonbon, sealing in the luscious nut-and-whiskey goodness that has come to define Louisville’s favorite bourbon ball. As it says on the campy box, there are “none better” when it comes to hand-made bourbon candies.

Okay, okay. One slight disclaimer: Ron and Jane Harris are friends of mine, so I’m a bit partial to their sweet concoction.

Nonetheless, I steadfastly stand by my initial proclamation that they are indeed “the best bourbon balls the world has ever known.” And, to substantiate my grandiose claim, I recently conducted a series of taste tests to prove this declaration.

To compete with Happy Balls!, I chose three well-known contenders: The first, an elegant-looking bonbon, is made in town using “the bourbon of Louisville.” The second, a nut-capped beauty from the heart of bourbon country, features a famous American whiskey known throughout the world for its signature red-wax cap. The third, a tasty treat from a venerable Kentucky sweet shop with almost 90 years of tradition, incorporates a spicy bronze-hued bourbon associated with a shaggy beast that once roamed the Great Plains in huge numbers. Although each on its own would satisfy the most discerning of bourbon-ball aficionados, they all had to bow down before the great Happy Ball in subservient humility.

In the most recent test, where participants were asked to rate the unlabeled candies on their appearance, Happy Balls! won hands down due to their generous size and impressive proportions. (In fact, one or two of the contenders appeared downright skimpy next to their Happy Ball neighbor. This – and the labor-intensive nature of their production and the high-end bourbon – accounts for the average price of $2.00 per ball.)

Ron and Jane’s bonbons came out on top in the blind taste test as well, the judges commenting most favorably on the creaminess of the nutty center and the nice contrast of the dark chocolate notes with the rich, buttery sweetness. Ergo: Happy Balls! are the best bourbon balls the world has ever known. I guess I should also point out that this was by no means what sticklers would call a ‘scientific’ taste test.

(On a side note, the panel of expert tasters consisted of five renowned chocoholics who happen to appreciate a nip of bourbon every now and then. One, my significant other, eats chocolate for breakfast and slurps bourbon at dinner. Another, a friend who shall remain anonymous since he works for the competition, consumes bourbon at both breakfast and dinner. The third, an acquaintance who teaches freshmen with me at a local university, drinks bourbon all day long. Numbers four and five are a married couple that recently stopped attending their AA meetings.)

Ron and Jane make Happy Balls! – “the official candy of Old Louisville” – in what they describe as a “mom-and-pop” operation. Ron, a native of Fairdale, handles the candy-dipping part of the operation, while Jane, a former press agent and Boston girl, manages the business-end of the enterprise. When not assembling and labeling boxes or preparing them for deliveries, she’s checking the computer or taking orders over the phone.

Before relocating to Louisville in 2004, both worked in New York City, where they had roles in numerous stage and screen productions including Law and Order: Criminal Intent. It was the parting gift of two cases of Knob Creek bourbon from star Vince D’Onofrio that would serve as the seed ingredient for the Old Louisville Candy Company. Although they had planned on retiring when they reached Louisville, the Harris’ soon discovered that the upkeep of a 114-year old house with more than 15 rooms can be somewhat costly. “We’ve got 37 windows to replace before the old girl is back to her original glory,” says Jane.

The sale of the world’s best bourbon balls help Ron and Jane keep the old Bishop’s Hat House in tip-top shape.

Happy Balls! are available at the Visitors Center in Historic Old Louisville at 218 West Oak Street, Liquor Barn, Paul’s Fruit, Party Mart, Kingsley Meats, the Downtown Visitors’ Center, and online at www.gethappyballs.com.