B.T.S. Ghiradelli Chocolates (Safe Set)

What a fun shoot to wrap the summer with. It was great to work virtually with the creative team at Ghiradelli Chocolates in California on some new packaging work promoting smores with their chocolates. You can’t beat that! A caramel filled Ghiradelli chocolate lightly melted with toasted marshmallow between two graham crackers, yummy! We worked on different concepts for that over 2 days as well as capturing some additional chocolate experimental shots across their portfolio. It was great to have the creative freedom and work with chocolate stylist Liz Duffy. Can’t wait to see the final concepts out.

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Felicia Perretti is a commercial food and beverage photographer and director based in New York City. She works nationally with food and beverage clients in advertising, packaging, editorial, and video. She has worked with food and drink in all shapes and knows how to craft the right team to get the job done! Her passion for food and beverage shine through on set as well as outside of work in her everyday life. Whether it’s trying new restaurants, traveling, or cooking with her husband Joe. Send her an email or give a call to discuss your next project, she would be more than happy to chat!

B.T.S. John and Kira's Chocolates (Safe Set Covid-19)

Always look forward to a chocolate shoot! When it’s John and Kira’s I know it’s not going to disappoint. They are a great client to collaborate on ideas and their vision for the brand. Lisa and myself really have creative freedom to elevate their chocolates every time. Always a great shoot! The difference this time was the limiting of people on location because of COVD-19. Following the previous precautions I’ve taken on other projects since the shut down and insight from ASMP, the leading industry photography organization I knew my clients were in good hands as well as my crew.

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Felicia Perretti is a commercial food and beverage photographer and director based in New York City. She works nationally with food and beverage clients in advertising, packaging, editorial, and video. She has worked with food and drink in all shapes and knows how to craft the right team to get the job done! Her passion for food and beverage shine through on set as well as outside of work in her everyday life. Whether it’s trying new restaurants, traveling, or cooking with her husband Joe. Send her an email or give a call to discuss your next project, she would be more than happy to chat!

Thank You for a great 2019!

Happy Holidays! Ending the year on a sweet note. 2019 was packed with amazing projects, new clients, returning clients, and travel. My dream as a business owner! Thank you again for trusting me with your creative concepts, working as a team to bring the vision to life. I look forward to this with every project and with every new year creates these new opportunities. See you in 2020!!

I will be starting the year off right with a trip to Australia end of February to early March. Any food or sight seeing recommendations please send them my way.

Sincerely,

Felicia

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Felicia Perretti is a commercial food and beverage photographer and director based in New York City. She works nationally with food and beverage clients in advertising, packaging, editorial, and video. She has worked with food and drink in all shapes and knows how to craft the right team to get the job done! Her passion for food and beverage shine through on set as well as outside of work in her everyday life. Whether it’s trying new restaurants, traveling, or cooking with her husband Joe. Send her an email or give a call to discuss your next project, she would be more than happy to chat!

B.T.S. Photo Shoot John and Kira's Gourmet Chocolate

A favorite and challenging thing to photograph is chocolate. My team and I are always up for the challenge and love the sweet shots we walk away with! John and Kira’s a gourmet chocolate client of mine wanted to create some new imagery for their catalogue and website. The look and feel for this project was to convey moodiness and drama using the chocolate. Telling their story through high end imagery and propping is always our goal. The chocolate itself is always the hero! Working with Lisa Russell and team we were able to capture a beautiful variety of their chocolates over 2 days. We had layouts to reference while we were shooting to make sure they fit within. Having the client and chocolatier on set is always a plus because they get to help bring the photo concepts to life and they know their product best. Of course we taste tested along the way and their chocolate never disappoints.

It was great to have them on set and I can’t wait to see our final shots out.

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Felicia Perretti is a commercial food and beverage photographer and director based in New York City. She works nationally with food and beverage clients in advertising, packaging, editorial, and video. She has worked with food and drink in all shapes and knows how to craft the right team to get the job done! Her passion for food and beverage shine through on set as well as outside of work in her everyday life. Whether it’s trying new restaurants, traveling, or cooking with her husband Joe. Send her an email or give a call to discuss your next project, she would be more than happy to chat!

Planete Chocolat- Belgium Chocolate

Some of the best chocolate in the world comes from a few places but a top choice for me is Belgium. A chocolate company in the heart of Brussels came across our blog and it was a great connection we had to try their chocolate. They were also testing having it shipped to the states so it was delivered (perfectly) to our NY office. Once opening the package we were greeted with a beautiful rich brown velvet bag slipped inside the box and greeting card. The presentation certainly had a wow factor.
The chocolate we decided to try was their Romeo and Juliet Praline Selection. The molding of the chocolate represented the faces of Romeo and Juliet each with their own story card and flavors. The ganache inside was very rich and packed with flavor. What a special treat for the weekend or just because. The passion and talent in Planete Chocolat’s chocolatiers is very prominent especially after having this chocolate. What is great about this company is they do so much more than just make chocolate. They provide tours, workshops, and chocolate demonstrations! If Joe and I are ever in Belgium we would certainly be stopping by.

Of course if your not in Belgium they deliver their chocolates worldwide!

Below are some helpful links to check out:
https://www.planetechocolat.com/en/content/1-chocolate-delivery

https://www.planetechocolat.com/en/content/241-chocolate-delivery-state-of-new-york

Photo Shoot New Jersey Monthly: Cave A Paleo Eatery

Just wanted to share a quick recap from a recent shoot for New Jersey Monthly! They asked me to shoot this charming restaurant near Asbury Park, New Jersey called Cave, A Paleo Eatery. I’m always interested in different diet plans people choose to live by and Paleo is certainly one many people know! It was great chatting with Chef Doug Stehle; chef and owner of the restaurant who eats a Paleo diet and runs his restaurant as one. The staff was super friendly and excited to see me there taking photos. The restaurant itself used to be owned by a antique dealer and when it was sold to Doug the previous owner still had some items there for sale. It gave the restaurant a unique feel. Also Doug is a surfer and being near the ocean there was appropriately placed surf boards he owned decorating the restaurant! All the items on his menu were dairy and gluten free. I tasted a couple things from the menu and I have to say their desserts were nothing like I had before. Their brownie was so rich and packed with chocolate it was the best thing I’ve ever had. There was also bacon on top! It probably took me 2 or 3 sittings to actually finish it. Also the chocolate chip cookies were stuffed with chocolate chips and the cookie itself was soft just like a homemade cookie. If you make a trip this way I would certainly stop in for lunch or dinner.

Top 10 Chocolatiers In North America

Yesterday was a great event held at ICE in New York City (Institute of Culinary Education) Big sponsor was Cacao Barry and hosted with Dessert Professional Magazine. This event showcased the top 10 chocolatiers in North America. The chocolates were so unique coming from all other the country hand made by each chocolatier.

Just to highlight a couple from the night, Oliver Kita was revealing a new experimental chocolate he had put together that had seaweed on top of the chocolate. It was a take on the salty and sweet combinations that are very popular with chocolate. This version was a little healthier and the saltiness was a little more mellow. Anette Righi DeFendi had a great spread of chocolate reminiscing for Valentine’s Day! The chocolates were beautiful and jewel shaped. Her signature chocolate of the night was her chocolate turtle that consists of chocolate, caramel, and pecans. Simple but the flavor really jumped out. Santosh Tiptur’s chocolate table had an amazing presentation. The tiers of chocolate and the vessels he served them in were almost too good to touch. His popular chocolate of the night was his chocolate parfait that was layered with chocolate mousse, cake, caramel, and chocolate balls on top. The last to arrive but stole the show was the ever popular chocolatier from Savannah, Georgia Adam Turoni. His featured chocolate of the night was a creme brulee bite sized treat. He was blow torching the chocolate as it was served. It had the perfect crystallized crunchy exterior and the inside just melted with chocolate. Norman Love was the first inductee of the chocolatier hall of fame that night as well.

Norman Love and Johnny Iuzzini

List of top 10:

Susanna Yoon- Stick With Me
Adam Turoni- Chocolat By Adam Turoni
Christophe Toury- Voila Chocolat
Santosh Tiptur- Co Co Sala
Daniel Sklaar- Fine & Raw
Slawomir Piot Korczak- Polska European Bakery & Chocolate
Oliver Kita- Oliver Kita Chocolates
Elaine Hsieh & Catherine Sweeney- EHChocolatier
Anette Righi DeFendi- Kohler Original Recipe Chocolates
Michael Antonorsi- Chuao Chocolatier

Holiday Recipe: Hot Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

12 ounces dark chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

TOPPINGS: Crushed candy canes or Hershey's cocoa powder

Directions

 Place all ingredients in a double boiler and stir until chocolate is melted. Whisk works well.
    Allow the mixture to cool. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerator for about 2-3 hours until firm.
    Using a cookie scoop, scoop the chocolate mixture ( approx. 1 inch scoops) and roll into a ball. Then with your choice of topping roll in that. Immediately place each ball onto a square of plastic wrap.

For Gifting: Wrap up each ball with plastic wrap to seal.  Place balls in a freezer bag and freeze until ready to use.

To Make Hot Chocolate: 1 cup of milk into a microwave-safe mug (or in saucepan to heat). Carefully drop two unwrapped hot chocolate truffles into the milk. Stir for 30 seconds to 1 minute until the truffles dissolve into the milk. Serve warm!

Wine Choice: Merlot

Dessert Professional 22nd Annual Top 10 Pastry Chefs In America

Last night was a great event by Dessert Professional with big name sponsors such as Kitchen Aid. The event was held at La Venue on W. 28th Street. The event honored the top 10 pastry chefs in America! You can imagine how many amazing sweets there was to try. It was great to see pastry chef Jimmy Leclerc of Laduree USA showing off his amazing macaroons. Also among the group was Lisa Bailey of D Bar in Denver/San Diego, Miroslav Uskokovic of Gramercy Tavern in New York, and William Werner of Craftsman & Wolves in San Fransisco. All the winners served amazing sweets so I certainly had to pace myself going from table to table.

Here is the list of winners:

Lisa Bailey- D Bar

Michelle Gayer- Salty Tart

Jimmy Leclerc- Laduree USA

Salvatore Martone- Atelier Joel Robuchon

Maura Metheny- Norman Love Confections

Thomas Raquel- Le Bernardin

Thiago Silva- EMM Group

Miroslav Uskokovic- Gramercy Tavern

William Werner- Craftsman & Wolves

Zac Young- David Burke Group

Photo Shoot: La Colombe - Todd Carmichael

I’m a huge coffee drinker. Don’t start my day without a cup! When I was asked to photograph Todd Carmichael for Imbibe I was thrilled. Not only is he the CEO of La Colombe but he is a world explorer. He holds the world speed record for crossing the Antarctic on foot in 39 days, 7 hours, and 49 minutes. He is seen on the Travel Channel and a author. Needless to say he was a interesting guy. Photographing him in his element while sipping on the various brews of coffee he has produced and their newly released coffee rum was an experience.

La Colombe cafes can be found in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, D.C., and Seoul.

To top off the trip I got some of his La Colombe roasts, their cold brewed coffee, and their signature chocolate made with Eclat in West Chester!

http://www.lacolombe.com/