The end of an (advent calendar) the end of an era

Happy New Year Chocolate Lovers!

The advent calendar ended with a chocolate gnome and my chocolate adventures in New York have come to a bittersweet end.  My blog is called Adventures of A Chocolate lover in New York.  And now I’ve moved to LA.  So I wonder if it’s time to pack up this blog.  New York was good to me especially when it came to having access to a variety of amazing chocolatiers and chocolate shops.  New York City was home to some of the best chocolate the world has to offer, and I feel like it is a city that is particularly friendly to chocolate lovers. 

All that being said, I love chocolate anywhere and one of my favorite chocolate stores is Cacao in Portland Oregon.  So this is just to say that this isn’t goodbye forever.  Chocolate speaks to people all over the world and this is just the beginning of some new adventures! Now it’s time to enjoy chocolate in Los Angeles! 

A whole week of chocolate, chocolate party, chocolate tour, and the end of year chocolate coma: part 1.

So since I’ve last blogged, I’ve had a chocolate tasting party (complete with a stack of leftover chocolate), gone on a chocolate tour and had a whole week’s worth of advent calendar chocolate.  So I’ve been needing a chocolate hiatus.  Unfortunately, while there’s never really too much chocolate, there is such a thing as too much chocolate all at once.  So now that I’ve emerged from my chocolate-induced coma, I’m back to blog about chocolate!

I won’t go into too much detail about the advent calendar, but I will pick out a few favorites.  First of all, the Bapchi’s Toffee Mini Chocolate Bar was a great blend of caramel crunch and deep milk chocolate.  I actually enjoyed the bar more than the actual Bapchi toffee. 

The Verde Caramel was also wonderful and the spice did not overpower the chocolate.  Less successful was the bacon caramel toffee.  There wasn’t much keeping the chocolate on he toffee and the chocolate fell apart quickly.  

There was also the mini Mo’s Dar Chocolate, which is even more overpowering than the milk bar, and pink Himalayan Crystal Caramels which were subtle and yummy. 

Friday the 13th and I can't taste all the salts!

Day 11 was a blush caramel. 

This is another one of  the subtle caramels that I find don’t taste all that different from the wink of the rabbit.  There is a slight citrus flavor but not as strong as the Tarte caramel.  I enjoyed the taste of these very much

Day 12 was a sad sad day.

I knew one sad day this would happen:  I finally found a Vosges chocolate that I really don’t like.  As I’ve mentioned in the past, Vosges can be very aggressive with their flavor profiles and sometimes they just don’t work.  I found that the Smoke and Stout chocolates were just way too much for me.  The combination of stout and burnt sugar caramel just made everything taste burnt.  It was bitter and sour and just didn’t work for me.

 Day 13 was the fantastic peanut butter bonbon from the third day.  I wonder though, is there really any difference between Maldon salt and pink Himalayan salt?  Through extensive Google research, (by which I mean I googled Himalayan salt and found the first entry), Himalayan pink crystal salt is supposed to have more mineral elements than other salts.  This is also supposed to make it healthier for you.  (Though if you think about it, ingesting large amounts of any kind of sodium isn’t too great for your health…)  

I went and looked up Maldon salt because this is also in the bonbon.  And they have a special page on what salt it.  Just in case you don’t know what it is or does.  Also according to Wikipedia salts can elicit “all five basic tastes” so that complicates things a bit.  Though the salt that we think of is just plain ol’ sodium.  The truth is that salts should taste different because they come from different sources with different mineral compositions.  But hey, if you can’t taste the subtle differences than salt is salt.  And at this point, who cares, because my chocolates are already gone and I’m looking forward to the next treats!

http://www.maldonsalt.co.uk/About-Salt-What-is-Salt.html

Days 9 and 10: more caramels and an ol' standard.

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I’ve been lucky enough to have my birthday and Christmas in the same month.  This month was overwhelmingly chocolaty.  Nothing wrong with that.  As I grow up and move along in my life, I’d like to think that I’ve grown in my love of chocolate.  Every day I learn more and more about flavors and what I like.

Needless to say this advent calendar is helping with that. 

Tarte Caramels

Ok so you know how I just said all Vosges caramels taste the same.  Well color me bad and I stand corrected.  I will admit that orange and chocolate is not my favorite flavor combination, but the mix of orange and this caramel are very delightful.  I’ll admit to licking the hibiscus flower powder off the top.  Hey! It’s my chocolate and I’ll eat it the way that I want to! 

The Ol’ Standard: Mo’s Bacon and Chocolate Bar (version Milk). 

The Mo’s Bacon bar is a bar that everyone should take seriously.  I can never manage to eat more than one little piece at a time.  I don’t think this is a chocolate bar for just anyone, but adventurous eaters should try it at least once  I always say that Vosges Chocolate has the most wonderfully wacky flavor profiles, and this one takes the cake.  Smoky, salty, chocolaty.  I think it’s probably best to try this in the small size (as they have in the calendar) but if you’re ready to share then the full sized bar might be the way for you to go. 

Days seven and eight!

Black Sea Salt Caramel

On day seven I had my first liquid caramel from Vosges.  The gooey liquid caramel is locked away inside a deep dark delicious square of thick chocolate.  There wasn’t much salt to taste until the very end and it was very subtle.  I’m the kind of girl who loves an actually salty salted caramel, but I can understand why most people wouldn’t want the salt to overpower the chocolate. 

What was not subtle was the Red Fire Bar for the eighth day.

One of my favorite things Vosges does is mix fire with chocolate, and this bar is the prime example of what can happen when you pair the right amount of heat with a base of solid delicious chocolate.  Vosges chocolate bars often begins with a basic chocolate canvas and then their chocolatiers paint on additional flavors that blend in with the base.  The naga bar was warm and tropical and this bar packs a warm punch as well.  Now I’m going to go make some Aztec hot chocolate and settle in for a warm winter’s nap. 

Sixth day: omnom Naga bar

Vosges is great for having a variety of what I like to call “weird flavors,” flavor combinations that you don’t think will work, but somehow do.  Their oyster and white chocolate truffle comes to mind.  The Naga bar is a sweet curry bar which brings to mind warm hints of summer and desert heat.  Which is lovely for a rainy day like today where all you want to do is curl up on the sofa and relax with some tea. 

On the fifth day: caramels

Today I had the sunshine caramel with honey and bee pollen and enjoyed it very much!  I'm a sucker for good caramels and this ranks up there with the best, but I have to admit I have a hard time telling the difference between the different styles of caramel that Vosges offers.  Don’t get me wrong, they’re all delicious.  The caramel is always just the right thickness, smooth but not hard to bite into and not too soft that it oozes out of the chocolate.  And some of the caramels have different nuts or flavors on top, but the caramel itself is usually the same.  

I'm looking forward to more of the caramels to come.  (And I'm actually starting to like that there is a big list of all the chocolates to refer back to, I stand corrected :D )

On the fourth day Vosges gave us Toffee

and it was good! 

When I was growing up one of the best things about Christmas were the great gifts we received after throwing our yearly Christmas bash.  This usually included a little chinese take out box of toffee.  Toffee, along with fruitcake and candy canes, really brings back holiday memories. 

There wasn’t anything particularly special about this toffee, but it was very good and sometimes that’s all you need!

Day two and three

The second day was Vosges signature Wink of the Rabbit Caramels. which I've posted about here before  Nutty and rich, these have always been a favorite.  What’s nice is that the box had two caramels we could share.  Sharing is always nice around the holidays, right?

The third day also had two chocolates; organic peanut butter bonbons.  I had never had these before. As a huge fan of peanut butter and chocolate my first thought as I bit into the bonbon was “omgodthatissoyummyomnomnom” and my second thought was that I felt a little mad about having already shared the second one with my husband. (so much for that holiday spirit). The smattering of salt on the top added to the refined taste and the blend of peanut butter and chocolate was divine.

I'm getting more and more excited about the rest of this calendar and I can't wait to meet more new favorites over these 22 more days.  Until tomorrow, chocolate fans!

 

On the first day of Christmas Vosges Chocolate Gave to Me….

 Happy Holidays Chocolate Lovers!

I was very excited to see a Vosges Chocolate advent calendar.  I haven’t done an advent calendar since I was really young and that was the kind with the little pop out windows and tiny pieces of chocolate that tasted only a little better than the cardboard they were hidden behind.  But what did I care?  I was a kid.  Chocolate was chocolate! Those were more innocent times. 

Luckily this isn’t your average kiddy advent calendar!  The box is huge and has 25 different compartments for each day before Christmas. Twas the Night Before Christmas is written on the sides of the door panels and everything is purple in honor of Vosges’ signature color. 

As soon as I opened the doors to the box I was a little disappointed to find an entire list of all the chocolate contained in each box.  For me, the point of an advent calendar is to be surprised by what you get each day.  In the future it might be better to have the label inside the box for after you open it to save some of the surprise. 

But surprises aside, I was very excited to see what I got for the first day.  

Vosges' peppermint candy cane bar is one of my favorites of theirs and finding a mini bar in the box was a great way to start off the season!  The peppermint and chocolate are very well balanced and are perfect for the holidays. 

(By the way, if you're still interested, the Vosges store in SoHo is still selling their advent calendar boxes  and at a discount.  I'm sure you won't be sad that you have to catch up.)

 

RAWWWSOME

So for the most part I have woefully neglected this blog.  I now have a new puppy in the house who eats any scrap on the floor she can find, so having chocolate in the house is much more precarious than when it just used to go to my hips.  And since I only wish I could be a professional blogger, that means I can post whenever I want. 

And now that I’m finished with excuses, we can get on to the real reason you read this blog: amazing chocolate. 

I’m not always impressed by local New York “bean to bar” gourmet chocolates.  I’ll be the first to admit that I have been taken in by pretty packaging and a good slogan only to find that the chocolate inside is stale and not very appetizing.  So I was skeptical when I heard about Fine & Raw sea salt and Raaka’s bourbon cask aged chocolate bars.

Both companies are based out of Brooklyn and are equipped with that artistic wrapping paper that always makes me wonder about what's underneath.    But thankfully, I tried them at the most recent New Amsterdam Market and they reminded me of why I started a chocolate blog in the first place. 

Both Raaka and Fine & Raw are advertised as “raw chocolate” which means chocolate made in as close to a raw state as possible.  This means no refined sugars, and the resulting bars are about as far away from Hershey’s as you can possibly get. 

Fine &Raw’s 70% sea salt bar was deep and refreshing with a saltiness that you can actually taste, but doesn’t overwhelm the chocolate. 

Raaka’s bar was prepared by aging the cacao nibs in bourbon casks.   The bar is slightly thicker than most and has a warm cherry flavor with a strong berry aftertaste.  The bar tastes like the whiskey of chocolate, smooth and hits you with a punch. 

The bars are small and a little pricey, but completely worth it because a little bit goes a long way.  You won’t want to eat these in one sitting, but savor them with a glass of wine or cheese.   

Check out their websites here:

http://www.fineandraw.com/

http://www.raakachocolate.com/

Sweet Silk Chocolates- gluten free, stupid good.

My first instinct is to say Sweet Silk chocolates are weird.  In fact, I almost didn’t even try them.  The first time I was at the New Amsterdam Market and saw their gluten-free chocolates, I was more nervous about the flavor combinations than impressed, but thank goodness I had a change of heart.  These chocolates are what I like to call “stupid good” and are odd in the best possible way. 

Sweet Silk offered two different kinds of chocolates.  They have a selection of truffles which are all natural and gluten-free, and their sweets which are are more like candy bars and are cut into small squares like fudge with a small square of chocolate on top. Their truffles are unique in that they have chewy centers made of fruits and nuts that pack quite a wallop! Both the truffles and the treats are grainy and earthy and remind me of the texture of good marzipan. The cherry dark chocolate truffle sample which probably amounted to ¼ of the full truffle, was rich and full of very powerful fruit flavors.  Sweet Silk is not afraid of flavors that leave you more than satisfied after one taste.  Which is good for a girl like me who is on a diet.  You don’t have to eat more than one to feel like you’ve treated yourself for the day.  (Though I did find it in my heart to..um..oversample the samples). 

On the whole, the combination of middle eastern fruits and nuts really make for interesting chocolates.  My favorite chocolate from Sweet Silk was the rose and white chocolate sweet treat.  The rose flavor is blended perfectly with the chocolate and doesn’t overpower or seem unbalanced.  I think it would be the perfect treat for Valentine’s Day.  I mean who could resist combining the chocolate and the rose into one gift!

Check out Sweet Silk chocolates at the New Amsterdam Market this coming Sunday at the South Street Seaport or check out their website here at https://www.savorsweetsilk.com/

Fika Chocolates or how I met one of my favorite chocolatiers.

I’ve always been a fan of FIKA.  FIKA is a Swedish coffee shop that has three stores in New York so far (though big plans are in the works for a fourth store).  The word fika, according to the website, roughly translates to taking a coffee break, so the store itself is mostly known for its high quality coffee. 

Which is sad because their chocolate is fantastic aswell.  

Håkan Mårtensson,a chocolatier who has, among other things, won a gold medal at the  2008 culinary Olympics, has a very playfu lside as well as a strong mastery of what you can do with chocolate.  In the kitchen there is a foot tall Yoda made of chocolate, and a dragon draped around a mountain, which I found out he actually made live in front of an audience at a chocolate expo. And you get the feeling from the flavors of his truffles that he is always experimenting and pushing the limits of what you can do with chocolate. 

I had always wanted to meet Håkan since I heard from one of the staff that he often comes tothe shop to check in and do work there in their impossibly small kitchen.  My fiance and I often go there on the weekends for chocolate and coffee, but today we decided to get coffee there on a weekday morning, and as soon as we entered the stylish shop I saw him. 

I turned to myfiance. ”That’s him! Oh my gosh that’s him!”  I was so excited, I got hisattention and gestured ”I <3 U" making a heart shape with my fingers. Yes excitement turns me into a crazyfangirl.  He smiled and went back to his work.  I really wanted to meet him and tell him how much of a fan I am.

But then Ihesitated.  I didn’t want to bother him while he was at work.  Who knows what kind of masterpiece he was about to make. The creative genius can not be stopped for just a fan!   

Michael brought me down to earth. 

           

”You’ll never know unless you ask, right?”  He convinced me to ask one of the baristas if I could take a picture with him, hoping that he would take just a minute to come and say hello. The man went back and I saw the two of them talking through the glass window where you could see the pastry chefs at work. 

Then he came outand saw me waiting for him, (possibly jumping up and down a little because Icouldn’t help myself).  He smiled and I smiled.  I didn’t expect a long conversation but we ended up talking for a good five minutes about chocolate. 

I told him how much I loved his flavor profiles of his truffles and how his chocolate is art.  He told me he was a fan of Star Wars, hence Yoda, and has spent over 20,000 hours of his life working with chocolate.  A fact I can believe, especially after he told me how much work he does without chocolate equipmentsuch as a tempering machine.  Everything they do comes out of that small kitchen including chocolate that he supplies toWhole Foods and the Gansevoort Hotels.

We also talked about how he recently worked with Valrhona chocolates to make a coveture that is specifically for his chocolates and also how he stays so thin (he says henever takes his work home with him).  Wetalked about some of his future projects which are in the works, and I can’twait to see how things develop for this talented chocolatier in the future. 

After we talkedand I came down from cloud nine I drank my coffee and thought about what just happened.  I think people who are good atwhat they do like to know that someone out there is a fan of their work.  I’m glad that I got a chance to meet him andeven more excited that I have a six piece box of Fika truffles waiting for me!

Cheers! 

http://www.fikanyc.com/chocolate

Domori Javablond chocolate.

ZOMG Chocolate!

As soon as I get pictures off my camera I will tell you about all of my adventures in Portland (ironic that I blog about New York chocolate specifically and my new favorite chocolate store is in downtown Portland...go fig).

Anyhow I am on a chocolate mission. When I was in Portland a wise chocolate store worker let me taste a sample of Domori Javablond chocolate...and I flipped out. The taste is deep rich, berry and musky. My new favorite chocolate. It's made with the highest quality cacao beans (criollo). To Domori's credit they have almost single handedly revived the population of these trees in the world.

My chocolate mission is to find where to buy Domori chocolate here in New York. So far I haven't seen it, but I'm sure I will figure it out.

Oyster Truffles

So hi again. I am not a person who can update the bloggy-mc blog consistently. I am currently clearing out my backlog of posts so more shall happen in the near future. We shall see how this goes. In any case on to more important things! The chocolate.

Back in February my friends and I had a chocolate party. I wanted to find some really weird chocolates and found that Vosges Chocolates had aphrodisiac chocolate boxes just in time for Valentine's Day. I was hooked on the idea. And then I found out that they had kumamoto oyster truffles. Yes you heard me, truffles with shell-fish. Double intrigued.

For some reason they refused to sell it to me by the piece. You had to get an expensive heart shaped box with only two truffles. Going into it I thought the truffles would be really salty and weird. Oyster truffles?! But it was worth it. My friend Beth and I not only lived to tell the tale, but it was one of the most interesting, delicious truffles I have ever had.

The chocolate itself was white chocolate with the oyster mixed right into the white chocolate ganache. The ganache was a bit grainy in texture, and they said they made it slightly differently than usual. The sweet white chocolate had just a touch of oyster in it. It was creamy rich and subtle as well as flavorful. The oyster didn't come out and bite but stayed comfortably in the center. It tasted like vanilla ice cream actually!

If when Valentine's rolls around next year, you too decide to get adventurous, this is the way to go. Hopefully, Vosges will get their act together and sell them by the piece, but until then the Aphrodisiac Box is the way to go. ( The absinthe truffle was also worthwhile so getting the box isn't half bad.) Here's to more adventures in the land of chocolate

Recee's Pieces!
-Jeni

An evening of chocolate

Chocolate at the Waltz-Astoria.

I just had a night full of chocolate. I'm getting ready for my performance on Saturday, an instrumental night, and went out to the Waltz open mic. They were advertising their new frozen hot chocolates, my favorite contradiction in terms. I had that and everyone started asking me about it. It doesn't make any sense. Frozen hot chocolate you say? Why yes, it is delicious.

I had a great time tonight (though my songs need work). To top it off, a chocolate cheesecake.

I've been avoiding chocolate these days. How could I? Because chocolate and my waistline don't get along, but chocolate and my soul do. I'll split the difference.

Anyhow that is to say that more is coming. I have more chocolate adventures to come. Old backed up stuff but good stuff.

Later.

Adieu

I don’t think people realize how much chocolate can effect the emotions. I love chocolate because it provides me a quick visceral pleasure. I get the best rush from eating my favorite pieces of chocolate. Every time, it’s like returning to a familiar friend, someone who can comfort you in your time of need. I know it can seem weird to some who don’t have a passion for chocolate like I do, to imagine crying over lost chocolate, knowing that you may never get the chance to meet one of your long lost friends, knowing that for some reason the people you used to depend on for your chocolate have let you down. But that’s’ how I feel about losing Pierre Marcolini’s amazing chocolate.

I went into the Bourne Confections store (which actually used to just be the “Pierre Marcolini” store) on 59th st and Park Avenue. I was there looking for chocolate for my valentine's day chocolate party. I asked them were the Pierre Marcolini truffles were, and found out that they were not going to be selling them anymore.

Gone. I couldn't believe it. I think I went through the entire mourning process right there in front of the counter.

This store and the chocolate inside was one of the first places I fell in love with in New York. The chocolate and the decor were understated and the chocolate stood on it’s own without any fancy packaging or gimmicks. The tasting boxes were a great hit at my chocolate party, and I used them as discussion pieces to talk about how chocolate really works.

I discovered my favorite chocolate there, little raspberry hearts with soft white and milk chocolate centers. As soon as you bit into them the raspberry melted out onto your tongue and left it’s soft sting. I normally don’t like fruit and chocolate together, but this combination was amazing. I came back to this chocolate again and again. Every chocolate party I’ve had featured these hearts and some other kind of Pierre Marcolini chocolate. Because it has always been my favorite chocolate in the city.

This was the place I would tell everyone to go. The place I would always go to for tea and chocolate when the mood struck me. It’s a testament to what I thought would be it’s longitivtiy that I haven’t actually written much about it on my blog. You never believe that one day things will end. You never believe that one day your friend might not be there.

What happened is Nestle has a controlling amount of stock in the Pierre Marcolini brand. Effectively they own the company. After they installed a new CEO, the CEO pulled Pierre Marcolini’s chocolates from the Bourne Confections store (which always owned the store on 59th st). As the cashier explained it to me “they decided to go in a different direction.” And now Pierre Marcolini chocolates are no longer sold in the US. There will be a way to buy it online, but I have issues with buying online chocolate so I probably won’t be buying from them any time soon.

It’s funny, I’ve actually teared up and cried over this. People might think that’s strange. I mean it isn’t like anyone died right? But in a way this represents the end of an era. Other things are ending for me in my life too right now, so that might also be having some effect on my soul. But for me this is a really sad day in chocolate. I have what’s left of their last shipment. But when that’s gone, it’s gone forever.

All of this is to say, don’t take anything for granted.

Salutations Pierre, you’ll be missed!

A video from the site

Filipino Hot Chocolate

So I stayed over at a friend's house a couple of nights ago. He lives in the part of Queens that is essentially Long Island so rather than going home on the train at 3am I simply spent the night. And was happily surprised in the morning.

My friend's mom is wonderfully caring and made us a Filipino breakfast. We had eggs, rice and sausage and the best part was the hot chocolate. Mama Violago gets special chocolate wafers from a Filipino grocery store and uses this to make the hot chocolate with.

The chocolate is thick and grainy like the stone ground chocolate you can get in Mexico. It makes sense that Filipino hot chocolate would be like Mexican hot chocolate since they were both influenced by Spanish cusine. The hot chocolate was thick and Mama Violago suggested I add a lot of milk. I'm glad I got a chance to try some hot chocolate from another country.

Tea and Chocolate: La Maison Du Chocolat

So my family was in town this past week and they know I'm a chocoloholic. Usually I find yummy places to take my sister to eat. We were walking through Rockefeller Center and decided that we must have a cup of tea! So we walked past NBC studios and around the corner to find, tucked away on a side street a La Maison Du Chocolat!

My sister got creative and got a hot chocolate with a shot of espresso. (Really really rich and dark) I got jasmine tea and a small little truffle that they paired with it. The truffle was milk chocolate with a praline crunch. The floral notes of the chocolate and the floral notes of the tea blended well together. The chocolate gave off a lemon essence that was perfect for the tea.

La Maison also has chocolate tastings for around $70 dollars. As far as tastings go, this is a steal. For the chocolate you get to eat and learn about it's really worth it...I plan on going to one in the near future and reporting back. For now, go and have a spot of tea and chocolate. The Maison has great parings and you won't be disappointed.

cultural chocolate connection

Here's another great blog about chocolate. These guys are based out of London so they have a good perspective on international chocolate. This article is a tasting of the Milo bar which, like Milky Way and other chocolates taste a bit different all over the world. I've never had a Milo bar but it looks good!


Chocoblog reviews the Milo Bar