Alaina, Author at The Chocolate Website

Jun06 Comments Off

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.)

Jun02 0

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.

May30 0

My favorite sister’s name is Gwen. Before you go and get all huffy about me picking favorites, please note she’s also my only sister. (It’s a joke we have.) We’re twins. We certainly don’t look identical and we were born in different years, but we’re twins. We say the exact same things at the exact same time, we know exactly what the other is thinking (most of the time), and our own parents can’t tell our voices apart when they’re speaking to one of us on the phone.

Gwen hates coffee. (This is a phenomenon that does occur in a very small percentage of the world’s population. It is also a revelation that rather bewilders coffee lovers. “How could anyone not like coffee?”) I, on the other hand, can take or leave coffee. After reading the laughter-inducing “It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity,” (quote by Dave Barry) it has come to my attention that my coffee drinking habits are, well…recreational. I’m not quite sure I would go so far as to say they’re inhumane.

No Coffee Allowed - Kakao Coffee Chocolate Still Life Photo (See what she’s missing out on?)

This aversion to coffee does not just apply to the liquid form. There are also issues with the smell (which further astounds the coffee lovers) and extends to coffee being added to absolutely anything. This, of course, brings me to chocolate with coffee in it. I can remember at least two occasions when I very innocently ended up feeding her coffee by way of chocolate.

May26 0

Last Friday (May 20th) was Endangered Species Day. To some, it meant a welcome spotlight on the efforts of organizations and individuals who work tirelessly to save endangered animals. To others, Endangered Species Day was a reminder to eat more chocolate. You see, there’s one chocolate company so passionate about
helping out that it is reflected in the name of their company, Endangered Species Chocolate. 10% of their net profits are donated to non-profit partners that protect and preserve wildlife.

(Eating a chocolate bar is definitely more my cup of tea than standing outside out on a street corner waving a sign “Save The Whales!” I’m actually shy. Believe it or not.)

I’ve tasted quite a few flavors of Endangered Species chocolate over the years; the latest was Lemon Poppyseed.

Endangered Species Chocolate - Lemon Poppyseed

May23 0

I’m not shy about the fact that one of my favorite chocolate quotes is “Nuts take up space where chocolate ought to be”. As a general rule, I say “nay” to nuts in chocolate. When a brownie recipe calls for walnuts, my policy is to omit them. When I have the opportunity to have a chocolate containing peanuts that haven’t been ground to paste (otherwise known as peanut butter), I pass. (Notable exception: Coco-nuts. Coconut and chocolate were made for each other. Examples range from Mounds bars to Dick Taylor Maple Coconut to Lake Champlain Creamy Coconut.)

Many people say “anything is good when covered in chocolate”. I dispute this. (After having tasted chocolate containing cilantro, chocolate studded with ants, and chocolate festooned with mushrooms…to name a few…I am definitely of the opinion that not everything is good with chocolate.) Covering nuts (or covering anything, for that matter) with chocolate doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re instantly turned into a tasty treat.

Then, just a week or so ago, a gift arrived in the form of milk chocolate covered almonds.
Nuts in Chocolate - La Marcona Chocolate Covered Almonds

May19 0

It’s one of those days. I can’t seem to get interested in a specific chocolate to tell you about (although I’m sure I’ll snap out of it…there were some milk chocolate covered almonds recently that were so good they made me forget I don’t like nuts in my chocolate). Nor is there any great chocolate baking or making or purchasing to recount. So, the blank screen keeps starting at me, and it’s all I can do to resist the temptation to publish something ridiculously short and leave it at that. “Something Witty Goes Here” – The End

On a normal week, I would be writing about pictures like these (or at least taking pictures like these).

Something Witty Goes Here Photo - Taza Chocolate with Crocheted Doily & Candle

Why is this not a normal week?

May16 0

Where has TCHO chocolate been all my life? (Or, rather, since I’ve been around much longer than TCHO, let me rephrase: Where have I been all of TCHO’s life?)

Seriously, one bite of TCHO’s lush, creamy SeriousMilk Milk Chocolate “Cacao” was enough to make me realize that TCHO has done their homework on how to pair the few standard ingredients that make up milk chocolate, in order to come up with such an extraordinary bar. I have been eating milk chocolate wrong all my life; THIS is how it’s done. Seriously TCHO Milk Chocolate Still Life Gallery Photo

Curiosity aroused, I discovered:

May12 0

Saturday, it occurred to me that the Whatever Floats Your Boat Brownies recipe still doesn’t include a photo for the lemon frosting version. Something really had to be done to remedy that.

Additionally, Mother’s Day was less than twenty-four hours away, and baking something (especially something so melt-in-your-melt-delicious) might score some brownie points. (Pun intended.)

Excuses excuses. In reality, I was craving brownies. It’s hard not to crave these brownies. These brownies are amazing. And since I did have a few ~~excuses~~ reasons to make them, make them I did:

Excuses, Excuses - Brownies with Lemon Frosting

May09 1

I love lilies (the flowers). I’m also pretty fond of Lily, the family dog. Now I’ve just added another type of Lily to the collection of Lilys I like: Lily’s Crispy Rice Stevia Chocolate

gallery_photo_lilys_crispy_rice_stevia_chocolate

Stevia and I are old acquaintances . If my memory serves me correctly, we first met in the 90’s. While we don’t hang out every day, we get along fine when we do have a chance to spend time together.

On the other hand, Lily’s Chocolate and I just met for the first time.

May05 2

If you want to open a can of worms, start asking around: “Is White Chocolate Actually Chocolate?”

Inevitably, the white chocolate lovers will be quick to assure anyone who asks that of course white chocolate is chocolate (“what else would it be?!”), while the non-white chocolate lovers will be just as quick to denounce it as “not being the real thing”.

Is White Chocolate Actually Chocolate - Combination Photo Pictured: Sinfonia White Chocolate Mandarin, Divine White Chocolate with Strawberries, & El Rey Icoa.

I’ve taken some informal polls (as in, straight out asking multiple sources what they think) and reactions are mixed. Nobody said it in exactly these words, but if you will allow me to liberally paraphrase:

May02 0

Last December, while doing chocolate-related research, I stumbled across a whole new world of chocolate.

Craft chocolate. Bean to bar chocolate. Artisanal chocolate. Small batch chocolate. There are a lot of names for it, but, suffice it to say, it’s not the mass-produced chocolate commonly found on the shelves of grocery stores and convenience stores. Instead, it is chocolate meticulously made by companies that are so small they sometimes consist of only one to two people, whose mission is not just to provide high-quality chocolate, but also an incredible chocolate experience. (I could definitely make a hobby out of trying different flavors and collecting packaging…)

A Whole New World of Chocolate - Dick Taylor Maple Coconut

One of the first craft chocolates I happened to run across (online) was Dick Taylor. The geographical distance between us didn’t stop me from admiring the high-quality packaging and the stunning design on the chocolate bars themselves. The glowing reviews cemented my decision that someday, if the opportunity arose, I was going to make one of those bars mine.

Fast forward to April: There was a little extra room in a package headed my way. I picked Dick Taylor Maple Coconut.

Apr28 0

What did I do last Saturday? It seems to me something unusual happened. It’s coming back to me… Ah. Yes. Saturday involved chocolate royalty and making my very first chocolates. 🙂

(Disclaimer: If melting down existing chocolate to make other chocolates is cheating, then I cheated. Because it’s simply not possible to grow my own cacao, roast it, grind it, conch it, AND mold it within the space of a few hours, which is all the time I had.)

I’d be happy to recount my day with El Rey, which totally involved cool photo ops like this one:
My Day with El Rey Partially Chopped Chocolate

Author: Alaina

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Broadcast

Peeling an Appealing Pacari Bar

No Coffee Allowed

Endangered Species Chocolate

Nuts in Chocolate – Yay or Nay?

Something Witty Goes Here

Seriously (TCHO Milk Chocolate)

Excuses, Excuses

Lily’s Crispy Rice Stevia Chocolate

Is White Chocolate Actually Chocolate?

A Whole New World of Chocolate

My Day with El Rey