I was delighted and a little nervous when Pam Williams of Ecole Chocolat, asked me to be a part of a chocolate testing panel, this week.
Yikes! I was sure I was not qualified, until Pam assured me that the chocolate was actually just “the vehicle” for the test.
This is all for the newly minted International Chocolate Awards 2012. [Read more…]
Big smiles broke out on my family’s faces when I mentioned I was going to have a go at making some of this.
Bacon and chocolate are two of their favorite taste sensations and as we had just finished listening to a radio interview with a woman who promotes eating bugs as part of a sustainable and protein-rich diet, I guess it is not surprising this combination raised nary an eyebrow.
Hmm. Chocolate bugs. Yep. Think I’ll save that one for another post. [Read more…]
“Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea…let us dream of evanescence and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.”
“The Book of Tea” by Okakura Kakuzo
I absolutely concur with this very wise author. There are few things in life more conducive to dreaming and lingering than a hot cup of tea. I don’t know whether it is the steam, the aroma of the infusion or the whole process of concocting a cup of it, but I do love the focus and commitment it takes to do it properly. [Read more…]
I was walking past Granville Island Brewing Company on Granville Island, on my way to a matinee performance of Snowman, on a chilly afternoon, appropriately enough. Pressing my nose against their big windows looking into a bustling “neighbourhood house”, I noticed they had put up a big sign, promoting their HOP CHOCOLATE event.
Aww, I get it. Even though I do not drink beer (it’s not an allergy, just body sense memory), I can appreciate the wit, and it gets me thinking about chocolate beer. [Read more…]
I love cocoa powder.
The “virtuous” half of chocolate, cocoa is the low-fat component: the part of chocolate rich in antioxidants, caffeine and theobromine. These exist in only very small quantities in chocolate’s other half – cocoa butter – which has its own glorious qualities, giving chocolate its richness, smoothness, creaminess, meltiness. Like a perfect partnership, the chocolate whole is greater than the sum of its parts … but the parts are pretty amazing.