While I'd like to say that these chocolates are for me, they are actually in celebration of my cousin Yvonne and her husband, Griff's visit to Saint Louie last weekend. 
If I have guests coming in to visit, the first place my mind goes to is "what can I make for dessert"? Thanks to Cook's Illustrated (which has earned my undying devotion, by the way) I found an recipe for a Chocolate and Caramel Walnut tart. I love tarts. I love chocolate and hey, why not try my hand at making caramel?! Pictured above, we have the suagr water boiling away. Below, the finished caramel coating freshly roasted walnuts. Yum.
For double the yum, the bottom layer of the tart is caramel and coarsly chopped walnuts....
covered with about 16 ounces of chocolate ganache. DELICIOUS! Also, the tart keeps in the refrigerator very well - I made it Friday night and we didn't eat it until Sunday. So if you're in need of a make ahead dessert, you're in luck.
For double the yum, the bottom layer of the tart is caramel and coarsly chopped walnuts.... covered with about 16 ounces of chocolate ganache. DELICIOUS! Also, the tart keeps in the refrigerator very well - I made it Friday night and we didn't eat it until Sunday. So if you're in need of a make ahead dessert, you're in luck.
Yvonne is one of my favorite cousins. We had a blast a couple of years ago when we went to Costa Rica together to hang out on the beach and then spent time with relatives. She is the funniest, sweetest and most loving person I have ever met. Fitting then, that she also married the funniest, sweetest most loving husband I have ever met!
We spent the afternoon window shopping at the loop.
Griffin then treated us to a surprise dinner at home. I told you he was sweet, right?!
That evening we met up with friends at Sasha's on Shaw, a lovely wine bar in Tower Grove. My sister Aili and her husband Mike were able to make it out, so the evening was perfect!
Sunday, as usual was spent with the family. We enjoyed Chicago style deep dish pizzas (again, delicious and courtesy of Cook's Illustrated) and yummy chocolate cake. What a weekend! Yvonne and Griff, you are welcome here any day of the week!
Leanne is our baby sister. We look for opportunities whenever we can to reinforce this idea.
This is just one of the many rolls that were handed to us. No throwing at our table. My family suffers from performance anxiety and every time the roll throwing guy came around we averted our eyes. You know, like in high school when you didn't want your name called!
The next morning we woke up bright and early to make our way to the historic Elmwood Cemetery.
And full of Crape Murtles, which is our favorite tree (our childhood home was chock full of them). 
After our cemetery tour, we made our way to the 
After the museum, we had lunch and then made our way toward Beal street - meh. We aren't a drinking and carousing sort of folk, so we opted for a trolley tour of the riverfront to walking around with huge plastic beer containers. 
After taking in the sights we were ready for dinner and tried to go to Rendezvous Ribs, a place the Travel Channel had assured us was the best place in town for BBQ. Apparently they told a bunch of other people too because the wait was over an hour to be seated.
So we ended up at 
As you can see we were super sad about it.
The next morning we caught the Peabody Ducks - it's quite the quirkey Memphis tradition and we had a ton of fun shopping in the lobby. Because that's what sister trips are about, you know.
Our next and last stop was the Victorian Village and the 
On a side note, you too could have your name placed on the back of this wreath! All you have to do is donate some of your hair. Yes, it is made ENTIRELY OF HAIR.
