Chocolate Apprentice

Really Good Ice Cream and Gelato in Vancouver

When I was a kid, in the “olden days”, I knew of no-one who had a home ice cream maker. Perhaps, growing up in Canada, it seemed ridiculous to actually own a machine to churn ice, when there was so much of it lying around on the ground!

So, for many of us, myself included, “going out for ice cream” was a big treat, reminiscent of hot summer family drives, in very large cars.  I have fond memories of Saturdays when my Dad was “Parent on Duty” while Mum was at work.  [Read more…]

Saucy Chocolate

I still remember my first taste of Hot Fudge Sauce.  It was in a Tin Roof Sundae at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour, in the Lougheed Mall – the same mall where my mother sold shoes at the Hudson’s Bay Company.

I had never tasted anything so rich and exotic.  It was a warm sauce on cold ice cream!  And salty red skinned peanuts to top it all off!

After that first taste, it became a weekly ritual for me to go with my Dad to pick my Mum up from work on Friday nights, at 9pm.  [Read more…]

A Very Special Birthday Cake

My big boy is going to be seventeen.

I cannot believe how quickly these years have gone by.

Every July, I find myself with a sappy smile on my face, as I remember the heat and heaviness of the final days of pregnancy.

In what I would later come to appreciate as part of his laid back personality, our boy was in no hurry to rush his appearance.

My partner and I walked around for days after our due date, my swollen fingers and toes feeling like a bunch of bananas, seeking shelter in the cool of Capilano Canyon.  [Read more…]

War of the Roses

Another Opening, another show … and another excuse to play about with “theme” chocolate.

Although technically, they will have opened by the time I see it, I am thrilled to be going, this weekend, to see a whole bunch of friends perform at the wonderful summer Shakespeare festival, here in Vancouver, Bard on the Beach.

The show I will be attending involves all three parts of Henry VI, contracted down and collectively known as The Wars of the Roses, directed by Christopher Weddell. [Read more…]

Learning to Love Chocolate Ice Cream

Even though I have been both a chocolate lover and an ice cream lover my entire life, I never used to like chocolate ice cream.

Insipid chocolate flavour, sugary sweet, melting in an unattractive greyish puddle, there was no way I was going to eat that.

I preferred almost any other flavour, and would pass it up entirely if it was the only thing available.

Have I mentioned I was a picky eater, as a child? [Read more…]