http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/dining/caviar-at-cabaret-doughnuts-and-thanksgiving-balloons-and-more-food-news.html 2014-11-24 23:47:52 Caviar at ‘Cabaret’, Doughnuts and Thanksgiving Balloons, and More Food News During the preparations for the Macy’s parade, Dovetail is offering treats at the bar, and seasonal chocolate treats abound. === To Indulge: At the Kit Kat Klub, Caviar and Sparklers The Kit Kat Klub of pre-World War II Berlin has become more decadent than ever at the Roundabout Theater’s “Cabaret” show. They’re now offering caviar and sparkling wine for the audience seated at little nightclub tables. Waiters dressed like the performers serve a full bottle of fruity pink German sekt and an ounce of fine American white sturgeon caviar with crème fraîche, blini and strawberries before the show and during intermission, enough for two, for $150. Other food and drink choices are available: To Fortify: A Treat for Grown-Ups Before the Balloons On Thanksgiving eve, while the Macy’s parade balloons are being inflated across the avenue and down the block, viewers of this holiday ritual can stop in at Dovetail for free spiced doughnuts and $5 mulled wine and cider at the bar from 6 to 10 p.m.: To Marvel: Handcrafted Trees Made of Chocolate The magicians at La Maison du Chocolat are hand-crafting splendid chocolate Christmas trees that would make stunning centerpieces or adornments for a buffet. They stand about two feet high and are kissed with gold leaf. Each one is hung with chocolate disks and beads, ornaments embedded with nuts and 130 chocolate pine cones: Only 75 are available (no delivery): To Adorn: Bouquets of Flowers, Designed by You A new nationwide flower delivery service gives you more design control over your arrangements than other online floral services. The online company has more than 3,000 florists in its inventory who list their bouquets according to color, season and occasion. You start by entering your ZIP code. You’ll then get a list of local florists — the other services don’t do that — and their proposed arrangements, with descriptions of the store and contact information so you can call directly for custom details: To Use: Casserole Made of Stainless Steel I received a classic Dansk Kobenstyle enameled casserole with crisscross handles on the lid as a wedding gift many years ago. It was turquoise and very midcentury. My daughter has it now. Dansk has just introduced the same vessel in shiny stainless steel to go from stove to a sleek 21st-century table: To Toast: Rum-Based Punch With Holiday Flavor Hub Punch, a spirit with holiday flavor that was popular in the 1800s, has been revived by a Boston distiller. It was originally concocted by the Hub House Hotel in the Thousand Islands in upstate New York. The ruby-red drink is strong but sweet, and has a raspberry bouquet with hints of orange. Rum-based, it is infused with citrus peels, raspberries and herbs. It’s excellent topped off with sparkling wine or used in a gin cocktail: To Munch: An Indulgent Cookie for Any Season Before all those pretty little Christmas cookies have their day, here is an imposing, seriously indulgent new cookie that’s big enough to share any time of the year. It’s from Maman, a cozy corner of France in SoHo that offers informal breakfast, lunch and late-afternoon fare and serves occasional set dinners at its farmhouse table monthly. The cookie is $3.75 and laden with hunks of chocolate and nuts. Take it home or eat it on the spot with some of “grandmaman’s hot chocolate.” The baker, Elisa Marshall, is Canadian, and the head chef, Armand Arnal, is French: To Learn: Classes for Home Cooks From Local Pastry Chefs A professional pastry and chocolate school that opened a few months ago in Brooklyn by Valrhona, the French chocolate company, has scheduled classes for home cooks. The instructors will teach techniques for perfecting glazes, ganaches, mousses and éclairs, with students using the same equipment as professionals in the state-of-the-art kitchen with eight stations. The first class was held last week. Sarah Kosikowski, a corporate pastry chef at Valrhona, teaches some of the hands-on classes; local pastry chefs will teach others. Hervé Poussot of Almondine Bakery will teach a class in Christmas sweets Dec. 13: To Beware: New York Hot Sauce May Inspire Tears Serrano peppers grown in some of the city’s community gardens and at a farm upstate have been turned into a new hot sauce, an Army-green condiment with serious firepower. A Bronx company called Small Axe Peppers worked with GrowNYC, which runs the Greenmarket program, to develop and bottle the sauce: