Month: June 2016

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My Lizards are Very Respectful

Vaguely, in the back of my mind, I heard a familiar sound.  It was the door of the refrigerator, followed by a container being opened, followed by the unmistakable sound of a piece (or two) of hard chocolate being plunked on a plate.  (You may not keep yours in the fridge and therefore the sound of getting out chocolate may be a little foreign to you, but ’round here it is a familiar sound.)  Also somewhat vaguely, I saw the plate being trotted across the room.  The back door opened and closed.  Then opened and closed again.  I snapped to attention.

“Are you feeding your chocolate to the lizards again?!” My question was half in fun and half somewhat reproachful.  Chocolate ought not to be wasted on lizards.

“No!” My mom’s answer was half in fun and half somewhat sheepish at being caught.  “My lizards are very respectful.”

You see, her favorite way to melt chocolate is to set it out on the plate on a hot rock in the sun for a few minutes.  I’m still in awe of the fact the lizards (or the iguanas or other wildlife, for that matter) haven’t staked out the place every afternoon just waiting for her to bring them their snack. They do seem to know to leave her chocolate alone.  She must have trained them well.

Now that I think about it, our chocolate has to put up with a lot. Not only does it risk being discovered by lizards, it sometimes gets imposed upon to do silly things… like pose in a sea of pink.

my-lizards-are-very-respectful-the-chocolate-website-post-pretty-in-pink-still-life-photo
And that’s not all.

My Raaka Smoked Chai also got the hot rock treatment (albeit only for a couple of seconds).  In my defense, it WANTED to pose there because it thought it would be pretty.  It TOLD me so.  (Either I’m crazy or I’m kidding.  You pick.)

My Paria bar had to precariously balance itself in a flowering bush while braving ants and small spiders.  (Photos pending.)

And the Brasstown Peppermint that just arrived is a little indignant because somebody (it wasn’t me!) called it a candy bar.  More than once.

It’s not easy being chocolate at my house.

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A Neat Thing About Iceland

If you would have asked me in the past (pre-2016) what Iceland was known for, I would have said, “Ice, naturally. Oh, and volcanoes.” (Such a contrast!) “And chess masters. Also, beautiful landscapes. Unless I’m mixing it up with Ireland. No, I’m pretty sure they’re both known for stunning landscapes.” Ask me now, and I’ll tell you a neat thing about Iceland: Omnom Chocolate

A Neat Thing About Iceland - Omnom Dark Milk Burned Sugar Chocolate

Intrigued by a number of factors (the novelty of bean-to-bar chocolate being made in Iceland, the reports of Omnom’s creative packaging, and the flavor “Dark Milk”, Omnom ended up very high on my list of must-try craft chocolates.

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Today Involves Fudge

Happy (Inter)National Fudge Day! (It’s technically “National” Fudge Day but I’m not going to let Hawaii and Alaska and the “lower ’48” have all the fun.)  So, today involves fudge.

You’re welcome to get in on the fun.  The recipe is so easy it could probably fit into one tweet.  In fact, it *does* fit into one tweet: “Fav #chocolate #fudge #recipe: 1 can sw. condensed milk, 2c chocolate.  Heat milk, stir in choc, melt completely. Stir. Refrigerate.  Done.”

Today Involves Fudge - The Chocolate Website Photo

Well, sort of.  There wasn’t exactly room to clarify that 1 can = 14oz, or that you can use whatever chocolate you want.  (The fudge pictured used two types of chocolate because that’s what was on hand.  One type was El Rey Milk Chocolate and the other shall remain nameless because there are those who would not even consider it chocolate.  I consider it chocolate 99% of the time when I’m on a budget and the other 1% of the time I like to expand my horizons and refine my palate and….fudge recipe.  Right.  Sorry.  Moving on:

Unless you have a fancy double boiler, the process goes more or less like this: Condensed milk goes in the glass bowl. Glass bowl goes in a saucepan half full of water. It gets heated up but not boiled.  Add the chocolate and stir until it is completely melted and mixed. Be vigilant and make sure siblings (or offspring or whoever you happen to have around) don’t stick spoons in when you’re not looking, because they’ll inevitably show up once they start smelling it.  Pour the mixture into a 9×9 pan lined with wax paper and stick it in the fridge for a few hours. It’s amazing that just two ingredients can create such a creamy, rich, decadent treat.

(Did you know that there are some fudge recipes that don’t even call for chocolate?  Shocking.  Isn’t “fudge” short for “chocolate fudge”?!  Kidding.)

I realized on June 12th that (Inter) National Fudge Day was coming up and thought it really was a shame I didn’t have any new fudge pictures to share. Fast forward to June 15th at 6:00pm (as in, yesterday evening), I thought it REALLY was a shame there weren’t any new fudge pictures and it was pointed out to me that it was also REALLY a shame that there wasn’t any fudge around either.  Oh, and that it would likely be sunny enough to take a picture or two in the morning before leaving for work, if some fudge materialized by then.  Sold.

Today Involves Fudge - The Chocolate Website Photo 2

There was momentary disappointment last night when I put my foot down and said there would be no premature fudge tasting and that it had to stay intact until picture-taking time. Besides, I didn’t want to fudge the amount of time the recipe says to keep it in the refrigerator.  (C’mon, surely you didn’t think I’d be able to manage this entire story without a single fudge joke, did you?)

Enjoy today; I’m going to enjoy mine.  The fudge in the photo is NOT going to last long.

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A Bright and Cheerful Chocolate Photo

I have a picture I want to show you.  It’s a bright and cheerful chocolate photo and every time I look at it, it makes me happy. Not because I was the one who took this photo. And not just because the picture contains chocolate.  Oh, and certainly not because it contains a lot of orange.  (I’m not the biggest fan of the color orange.) But pair a bright orange with a bright pink and a cheerful chocolate wrapper and ooooooooo I just get HAPPY. Happy happy happy happy happy.  Ok. I’ll stop.

Just in case you’re either a fan of orange or pink or bright or cheerful or happy, I’d like to share it with you:

A Bright and Cheerful Chocolate - Chocolates Paria(Chocolates Paria, 60% Dark, Made in Venezuela)

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There Will Be a Test Afterwards

New chocolate bars fascinate me.  The anticipation of the taste is a big part of the fascination, but there’s more to it than that.  Many chocolate companies are outdoing themselves in the packaging department, so the wrappers are quite a treat to inspect. Part of the intrigue are the names that the different chocolate makers have chosen (both for their company and for their chocolate), and the stories behind those names.

The fascination does not end when the chocolate that comes home with me (or home to me) is carefully inspected from front to back, photographed from every angle (remind me to tell you about my 154 GIGS of chocolate photos sometime) and sampled. The packaging is never thrown away.  Instead, it goes into my collection of wrappers to reference later, to use for other photo-ops, or to be re-purposed.  (A plastic insert with shallow indentations that had originally held pralines in place makes a perfect mold for dark chocolate mint thins!  And I really ought to look into decoupage. Only I’d need something big in order to use up the quantity of wrappers that just had to be rehoused because they were outgrowing their drawer.  Anyone ever decoupaged an entire wall of their house with chocolate wrappers?) (Disclaimer: I don’t have enough wrappers for a whole wall…yet.)

There Will Be a Test Afterwards - Craft Chocolate Photo

Pictured: Andean Lemon Verbena by Pacari, Milk Chocolate by TCHO, Smoked Chai by Raaka, and Maple Coconut by Dick Taylor. (I’m making them sound like perfumes. Come to think of it, all of those would likely make nice scents!)

The taste, the wrappers, the packaging, re-purposing the packing…even after all of that, there’s at least one more thing that is fascinating, and that is: What will other people think of each chocolate?  There are usually a few squares leftover to share with this friend or that friend. I know, I know.  Leftover chocolate; is that even possible?  Trust me, it takes great restraint to keep my hands off the whole bar, box, or bag.  Sometimes it’s impossible; there is almost never any milk chocolate left to share (my apologies to my milk-chocolate loving friends)!

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We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Broadcast

Originally, the plan for today was either to tell you about what I put everyone through when sharing my chocolate
(bring a notebook!) or a bright and cheerful chocolate photo I can’t wait to share ’cause it makes me HAPPY. But we  interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast: There was a brazen chocolate thief at my house Saturday.  Or should I say a brazen chocolate chomper?

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Broadcast - Mantuano Granola Chocolate(Mantuano Granola – Artisanal Chocolate made in Venezuela)

It is not very hard to leave chocolate unattended on Saturdays.  (Any other day of the week chocolate is safely secured in MY chocolate drawer, which doesn’t even need a KEEP OUT sign because everybody is already well trained to leave it alone.)  (Right now I’m hoarding things like Alter Eco Dark Twist (chocolate with crystallized orange peel) in there.)  On Saturdays, chocolate is strewn on multiple fridge shelves, on the table, and all across the house as I ferry it back and forth to my studio*, either snapping photos or dictating which shots should be snapped if Sam happens to be available. (Sam is my brother, my sometimes-photographer, and, when chocolate disappears, he is generally considered the primary suspect. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten chocolate out, turned my back for two seconds, and find he has somehow managed to carry it off already.  On the plus side, he usually brings it back intact.)

Chocolate was everywhere and the photo-shoot was well underway, resulting in photos like the one above. I unwrapped this bar, temporarily set it aside for additional photos, and…all of the sudden there was a bite out of it.  A big bite out of it. A somebody-was-not-messing-around, definitely-wanted-me-to-notice-there-was-a-bite-out-of-it, bite out of it.  (For the record, I probably would have noticed if someone had even touched it.)

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Peeling an Appealing Pacari Bar

How’s THAT for a title? It’s not likely you read about peeling an appealing Pacari bar every day. It’s not every day I get to do it. It may be a once-in-a-life-time-experience. Who knows.

The first step in the entire process was to actually obtain a Pacari bar, which is no small feat. They’re not available locally; budgeting and shipping are involved.  That, and deciding exactly *which* Pacari bar. Finally, I decided on Andean Lemon Verbena.

Pacari Andean Lemon Verbena Chocolate Still Life Photo

Upon arrival, I was a little alarmed to find a big round sticker smack dab on the front of the chocolate wrapper (stuck there by the third party seller, not by Amazon or Pacari), announcing some sort of discount. It was effectively ruining most photoshoot opportunities (aside from ones involving cover-ups or bizarre camera angles).  And it wasn’t one of those stickers that would just peel off with a little coaxing.  AND it was blocking the pretty little stamp announcing this bar to be an International Chocolate Awards 2014 World Gold Winner.

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