Kaluha chocolate

So, I'm in Westchester, NY meeting the wedding photographer. Nicole's (my fiance) friend Megan is with us and recommends an Italian restaurant after the meeting. We go in, we sit down and Nicole goes to the restroom. She comes back and says, "Guess who's here?" I figured it was some schlub from work. She says, "Trey Anastasio." As if the last name was needed. I immediately scan the room and he's sitting at a table facing me about 12 feet away. He must have noticed Nicole telling me because as soon as I spotted him, he was looking in my direction and smiled. I awkwardly waved and he awkwardly waived back. A hush seemed to come over the restaurant for a moment and I used that opportunity to break the ice. I pointed to Nicole and told Trey, "She didn't go to the Baker's Dozen." He was like, "She didn't miss much." Nicole said jokingly, "I don't even like donuts!" Him, his wife, and daughter were finishing up dinner so I seized the opportunity and went up and introduced myself and asked if I could take a picture with him and he was totally willing. I was lucky to be able to chat with him for a few minutes and we talked about the upcoming TAB tour and where they are with it, where he was flying to today, some potential Phish plans for NYE, and even made a song request and he seemed to act like it was a possibility. I also joked during the picture to my friend Megan who took it, "Don't cut our heads off" and he definitely laughed at the Bittersweet Motel reference. After the picture was taken, I sat back down. Feeling all jacked up, I decided a glass of Montepulciano was in order. If you've ever been to Tuscany, you would have agreed with me at that moment. Having told the waiter minutes before that we needed a few minutes before ordering since we were stalking Trey, we were finally ready to order. An appetizer order for the breaded artichokes proved to be a good opener. It paired well with the delicious red that we were enjoying. I wouldn't say they were deep fried, but there definitely was some breading on it, and the juice was superb. I'm glad I decided to not be bashful and eat the last one before the waiter took the plate away. A few minutes pass as I'm still on Cloud 9, and our entrees arrive. I ordered one of the chicken specials. It was a pair of thinly sliced chicken breasts, topped perfectly with ripened roasted tomatoes, a well salted pancetta, some finely melted parmigiana reggiano, and wading in a delicate sage butter sauce, and I want to say there was some white wine in it as well. This sauce was the kind you want to dunk the whole bread basket in. Thankfully, watching my carb intake, I passed on the daily overdose of grains. The first bite of my meal, I realized it was on. From then on, I carefully navigated my way through the dish, trying to get some juicy tomato and chicken, with the delicious cheese, as well as the right amount of meat and salt from the pancetta, in every bite. Nicole also ordered a special. It was the cavatelli tossed with some fresh vegetables, olive oil, and sausage. I must admit, it was pretty awesome. It wasn't more than 10 seconds after I tasted Nicole's pasta that I decided I needed to try Megan's as well. She had the pappardelle. I've made fresh pasta a few times in my life, and this lived up to the billing. It was a little slippery to get the noodle on my fork, being that it was generously coated in a light tomato cream sauce. But, it was worth the fight. Overall, all three dishes were fantastic. You couldn't pick a loser in the bunch. I'm glad I ordered another glass of wine. It just flowed perfectly with the meal. Oh, how could I forget? The potato croquette that came on the side was like no other I've had in my life. For the point of emphasis, I must reiterate, it was like no other I've had in my life. Being able to mix that with the sauce from the chicken was a culinary delight. The steamed to perfection broccoli on the side also fared well under the drenching of the sage butter. I have to back up this story a little bit. When you walk into this restaurant, you not only smell wonderful aromas, but you see the pizza and gelato counter immediately. Having the hot tip from Megan that the gelato was amazing, I knew I was going to try my hand at desert. The menu came out and I have to say I was quite overwhelmed. I knew I was going to get something with gelato, so I didn’t have to worry about choosing the cheesecake or tiramisu. The gelato flavors seemed awesome. From what I recall, they had hazelnut, mint chocolate chip (my favorite), pistachio, vanilla with chocolate chips, possibly a tiramisu (I can’t remember), and several other great ones. Underneath these array of flavors, there were two more sections, each including the famed gelato. One were coffee drinks with gelato, the others were gelto cocktails. The waiter came over and asked what I wanted. I was so torn. I was going to get just the Menta (chocolate chip mint) gelato. No wait, the cocktail with coconut rum, a bunch of other booze, and a scoop of the frozen delight sounded too good to pass up. Alas, I went with the one thing that caught my eye from the get go, the Affogato e Ubriacco (Drowned & Drunk). It was hot espresso and Kaluha poured over hazlenut gelato, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. When the waiter brought out the dessert, he set down the martini glass which housed the frozen gelatinous cream. He then poured the alcohol infused coffee drink into the martini glass, and the perfect union of cold and hot was born. A group of women who were sitting at the table next to the table that Trey sat at not more than 45 minutes before, were literally oohing and ahhing over this performance. Even though the girls declined dessert, the waiter was kind enough to bring three spoons anyway. I would never let them leave without trying some. What was great was that you were able to get some good bites of gelato before it melted into what I consider to be the world’s greatest cocktail, or milkshake, depending on how you look at it. When I took the last sip, I was eager for more, but still was the perfect end to the perfect night. It doesn’t get much better than that boys and girls. I will always remember the night I met Trey Anastasio.

The drink I like making is Bailey's, Kaluha, peppermint schnapps, and chocolate almond milk. I wanted to just try something different with the creme and didn't realize until now it might be too different to mix properly. Am I going to ruin this drink?

the B-52, one of my favorites is like a chocolate or caramel truffle in liquid form. A layered drink in a shot glass or a shooter. I learned it with Kaluha, then Baileys, and finally Grand Marnier. I've seen recipes that say all are equal parts, but I learned the first two equal and a float of the last. Maybe this was occasioned by the relative expense of the ingredients. Layered carefully with a spoon, it takes some practice but is always a treat. : D

the B-52, one of my favorites. A layered drink in a shot glass or a shooter. I learned it with Kaluha, then Baileys, then Grand Marnier. I've seen recipes that say all are equal parts, but I learned the first two equal and a float of the last. Maybe this was occasioned by the relative expense of the ingredients. Layered carefully with a spoon, it takes some practice but is always a treat, like a chocolate or caramel truffle in liquid form.

I'm something of a foodie, and I love to tinker with flavor. I get that a lot of this undermines the whole point of Soylent (et al.). I also understand that this may well destroy a lot of the nutrients contained in the powder. This is just pure epicurean experimentation.
Here are some of my favorite soylent blends. All it takes is a ninja, or magic bullet. or whatever blender you prefer:
The Mayan - Nescafé, cacao powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and a touch of nutmeg.
The Diwali - rip open a tea bag of black chai tea and just pour it into the mix, then add cinnamon.
The Sickly Pink - Greens mix of baby kale, spinach, chard, and mizuna, with mixed frozen berries. A hint of nutmeg is also a nice touch here.
Blueberry Crunch - Frozen or fresh blueberries blended in, then add your granola of choice (preferably shaken rather than blended in). Great if you're craving some texture.
The Elvis - Banana and peanut butter.
Death by Choc-lent - Cacao powder, chocolate syrup, devil's food mix (very little), Nutella, and optionally cinnamon.
The Paula Deen - (use warm water) Butter, sugar, and bacon.
The Valentine - Strawberries and cacao nibs (or chocolate chips). Add the chocolate after blending the mix for texture.
The 'Murican Apple Pie - Fry some apples (I use coconut oil) with some brown sugar. Then pour into the mix. Add cinnamon. (I prefer warm water for this one).
The Green Master: A packet of straight up green tea.
The POG: Passionfruit, Orange, and Guava (Pineapple fills in nicely for passionfruit if you can't find it).
_21 and over_
The White Russian - Vodka and Kaluha
The Tahitian - Rum and Vanilla extract
Feedback is welcome!
EDIT: Formatting for easier reading.

Dr. Neil proclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started.
So I looked around my house to see things I started and hadn't finished; and, before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Pinot Noir, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bottle of Baileys, a bottle of Kaluha, a packet of Penguins, the remainder of bottle of Xanax, Valium prescriptions, the rest of the Cheesecake, and a box of chocolates.
You have no idea how good I feel.

I just had to use my daughter's doc mcstuffins spoon to make a kaluha and hot chocolate for myself. All the spoons where dirty and in the dishwasher I had just started.

Got thirsty and bored, made a pot of coffee. Mixed a shot of Bailey's, a shot of Kaluha, coffee, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and caramel syrup drizzld on tip. This is pretty darn good. I'm on number 3 of these. Does this drink have a name or have I created somethin new?

Since our esteemed AOTM has brought drink pairings to the forefront this month, I decided to start a discussion on what we drink while we smoke. I am humbly submitting this chart to act as a simple guide for what to drink with your cigars to help enhance particular flavours. I tried to keep it simple, using classic cocktails and wines most people will be familiar with. This table is by no means exhaustive or perfect, so please feel encouraged to add your suggestions below. This chart is merely a reflection of my own palate and meant to offer assistance in selecting a suitable beverage for your cigar. What I'm saying is, look at this, then get creative!
Who am I to offer such information? Nobody really. I trained as a chef in my younger days and pride myself on my abilities to match flavours in cooking, and am pretty decent at picking out flavours in wine. Cigars, well, I'm too new to really say yet, so take this for what it is worth. Hope some of you, particularly the noobs, will find this useful!

• Edit, at the end of this, I'll adjust the chart according to the comments so it remains useful in the future.

Cigar Flavour to be Highlighted	Spirit	Cocktail	Beer	Wine	Non-Alcoholic
Coffee	Kaluha	Mudslide, Irish Coffee or White Russian	Porter, Stout or Doppelbock	Pinot Noir or Merlot	Coffee Drink or Chocolate Milk
Chocolate	Speyside Scotch	Hot chocolate with rum or White Russian	Porter, Stout or Doppelbock	Pinot Noir or Port	Cappuccino, hot chocolate, or Chocolate Milk
Nut	Lowland Scotch, Rye Whisky or Amaretto	Manhattan Amaretto	Brown Ale	Chardonnay	Iced Tea
Bread	Bourbon	Martini	Hefeweizen	Riesling or Prosecco	Iced Tea
Grass	Irish or Rye Whisky	Mojito	Hefeweizen	Sauvignon Blanc	Citrus Soda
Floral	Aged Rum or Bourbon	Mojito or Gin & Tonic	Hefeweizen	Riesling or Prosecco	Iced Tea
Fruit	Aged Rum or Cognac	Caipirinha or Rum Punch	Belgian ale or Dubbel	Sangria	Dr. Pepper or Iced Tea
Rich Tobacco	Aged Rum or Cognac	Old Fashioned	Porter or Smoked Beer	Merlot	Cola, tea or root beer
Leather	Highland Scotch	Manhattan or Americano	Snoked Beer or Malty Cask Ale	Merlot	Cola, tea
Wood	Speyside Scotch	Old Fashioned	Brown or Trappist Ale	Merlot	Cola, tea, root beer
Earth	Islay Scotch	Rob Roy	Brown or Trappist Ale	Chianti	Cola, root beer
Pepper	Islay Scotch	Bloody Mary or Manhattan	Porter	Shiraz	Cola, Dr. Pepper
Baking Spice	Aged Rum	Old Fashioned	Pumpkin Spice Ale or Belgian Witbier	Chateauneuf du Pape or Merlot	Cola, Dr. Pepper, Tea