Mmmm, Chocolate

Well, I haven't read much more of the book, maybe a couple of chapters. Apparently if I want to be a real chocolate taster, I had better increase my consumption quite a bit. Chloe, the taster in the book I am reading, eats close to a pound a day of dark chocolate. I generally savor one really good chocolate bar for a few days. This week, I am working on 3 chocolate bars. One is already gone, but it was really small and really good. It was from Guittard. Wow, they use a blend of all three types of cocao beans, and the bar was tempered to a perfect thin crisp that melted luxuriously after about 3 seconds on my tongue. Warning: these will all be "naked" photos.

The next one up to bat was a Fran's bittersweet chocolate bar. 70 percent cocoa. I didn't like it as much, as it has kind of a brassy overtone to it - sort of acidic - which is something that irks me about many of the dark chocolates. It is still good, and don't worry, I'll still finish it. I will keep it on hand for later comparisons. I had a Dilletante bar I really loved a few weeks ago, and I would like to compare them side by side.

The third bar I am working on is from Blanxart. Dark chocolate of course. This has been a long time favorite of mine. It has a mellow cocoey buttery flavor with kind of a powdery texture as it melts. It comes from Spain, but I only used to be able to find it in Italian specialty stores. According to the book I'm reading, the Spanish are responsible for bringing chocolate over to Europe. They tried to keep it a secret, but as royalty married into other nations, they couldn't live without it. I will post a photo soon.

no snow for me.

I had wished and wished for snow over the weekend, but it never came to my house. It was really cold and it rained quite a bit. I had hoped to read more of the Chocolate book, but actually spent more time on my San Andreas game. The first chapters of the book are good, and I may just run away to France to become a chocolate taster like one woman in the book. It pretty much covers the history of chocolate, the chocolate tree (plant?) and the story of it as it is discovered by early explorers, the Spanish, the French, Swiss, Belgians etc. all in the first chapter. So, I can't imagine what the rest of the book is about. It is very engaging, and I like hearing about all of the social politics and stuff. I have tasted quite a bit of chocolate. I will list some of my favorites soon, as I will need some if I continue to read that book.

Yeah! friday

Looking forward to the weekend today. I plan to read the new book we got in the mail called "Chocolate, a Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light". I had better be prepared and buy some good quality chocolate before I start. It might snow tonight. In Seattle, this results in a total shut-down of the city.

On to a new year.

Well no resolutions are really emerging for me as of yet. I am still gloating of my accomplishments of the past year, and hitting my goal of editing over 1000 recipes. Also expanding our green bean casserole collective by 13 recipes over the holidays. I will now try to focus more attention on cheese balls. My current favorite recipe that I haven't tried yet but hope to is: Dukkah Maybe this weekend.