Dear Food Diary:
A couple weeks ago Scharffen Berger invited us to a wine & chocolate tasting cruise along the Hudson River.  The Statue of liberty and a glorious sunset in the background, wine and chocolate at hand, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend an early Saturday evening. You can replicate this experience yourself with Manhattan by Sail . They offers these 2 hour trips daily, plus you can bring your own wine, chocolate and cheese!

This is a great idea if you want to impress that special someone…
 

We set sail on the Shearwater at 7 pm from the North Cove Marina at the World Financial Center. Large plates of Scharffen Berger chocolates were being served all night, while my wine glass was always full… I ain’t complaining… some days, the life of a blogger can be tough *wink*.

CHOCOLATE & WINE PAIRING TIPS
 
My personal favorite was the 82% paired with Shiraz. I preferred the dark chocolate with red wine pairings. Smooth and rich flavors bring out the best in each other.
Their 41% milk chocolate actually has a lower sugar content than most and paired nicely with the light Sauvignon Blanc.

C & I are addicted to their 41% milk chocolate with sea salted almonds, we’ve eaten a whole bar each in just one day! And I’m usually a dark chocolate fan.
For the sake of clean pairing they only included plain chocolate, but were nice enough to send us some home.

They say chocolate makes you happy, I’d say chocolate and wine makes you even happier!

Thanks Scharffen Berger for a great event. I highly recommend planning a little sail this summer with Manhattan by Sail, it was such a lovely experience.

After all that sweet, we had to stop by  Shake Shack (around the corner at Battery Park City) and grab our “crack” aka  Shack Stack. Definitely the cherry on top of an amazing night! Deep fried portabella mushroom, oozing cheese and that all natural angus beef. I was so satisfied and content afterwards, I walked all the way to 50th st!!!