Recently, I attended a chocolate tasting at Michel Cluizel, a chocolate store in ABC Carpet and Home. I've gone to cheese tasting and wine tastings, but a chocolate one? This was new territory.

The evening was led by Dina Cheney, the author of Tasting Club, a playful, instructional guide that teaches people how to host a tasting. In the book, Dina encourages readers to try both traditional tastings featuring cheese, wine and chocolate, and more experimental ones with things like honey, balsamic vinegar and apples.

I was seated with a group of women I'd never met before. Within minutes, we were oohing and ahhing over the different types of chocolate, while Dina instructed us to snap, smell and savor our way through each one. Together we called out the different flavors we were tasting (grassy, peppery and earthy were common responses), and before deciding if we liked a piece, we assessed how it melted in our mouths and if it left a particular aftertaste. By the time we reached our final piece, I wanted to start at the beginning and try each one again.

As someone who loves to entertain, the tasting concept is liberating. When preparing to host a dinner party, I spend hours poring through cookbooks and back issues of food magazines searching for the perfect multi-course meal. The day of the event, I run around my Brooklyn neighborhood picking up one ingredient here, another there and after hours in my teeny tiny kitchen, I'm just about ready to pull out my hair.

Luckily, I moved to an apartment with a brand-spanking new kitchen a few weeks ago. As eager as I am to start some serious cooking, this warm summer weather has kept me far from the stove. Perhaps a small, intimate gathering starring a plate of apples or some pots of honey is just what I need?