Chocolate Fest 2010

The Toronto Chocolate Festival has just announced their line-up for their 5th annual events.
This years festivities will be kicked off early with The Inaugural Spring Gala Event: Coco Motion, on Wednesday, May 5, 2010, at Eagles Nest Golf Club in Vaughan. Chocolate lovers will spring into summer by experiencing one of the most elegant and lavish events held in Vaughan, to benefit Vaughan in Motion To Cure Cancer. The distinct aroma of chocolate from every direction will permeate through this famous country golf club. If it was good enough for the Masters, it's more than enough reason to choose this fabulous location to host the first Spring Chocolate Ball Gala. Special price $50.00, Limited Tickets now available http://www.thechocolateball.ca/vaughan/index.htm.

Following this, the main Chocolate Festival events are going to be much bigger with many new things to experience. Here is what is in store for you...

NEW Toronto International LUXURY CHOCOLATE SHOW
November 7, 2010 from 11am to 9 pm
Roy Thomson Hall
This is where you will meet top chocolatiers and pastry chefs under one roof. Approximately 60 exhibitors will occupy more than 50,000 square feet of the north and south lobbies at the luxuriously appointed Roy Thomson Hall.

NEW HOT CHA-CHA-CHOCOLATE NIGHTS
(Two dates to be announced)
Babalu'us, Yorkville Avenue
This will be one of the hottest tickets in town during the Toronto Chocolate Festival. This famous Latin dance locale will host a full course latin-flavoured chocolate infused dinner followed by Latin dance lessons and a floor show.

NEW CHOCOLATE HIGH TEA
October 22 - November 6
(Various Locations - Times and Locations to be announced)
Take a decadent afternoon break and relax on any given afternoon during the Toronto Chocolate Festival at one of the participating hotels or restaurants offering up high tea complimented with chocolates and chocolate pastries.

Dine with the Choc-elite!
October 26 - November 6, 2010

THE FIFTH ANNUAL CHOCOLATE BALL
"OPENING" GALA"DISCO DECADENCE & ELEGANCE"
Come as you were .... back in the 70's dressed in Disco Elegance
October 22, 2010
http://www.thechocolateball.com/


For additional details visit:
http://www.chocolatefestivalweek.com/main.htm

Looking forward to seeing you there..

Wine and Chocolate?

Two of my favourite indulgences – wine and of course, chocolate.

Many chefs and food enthusiasts study the perfect pairings as there are some exquisite matches to be experienced, while others debate if they should be paired at all. Through my studies and chocolatier training at George Brown College, I have come to the realization that fine chocolate is so full of its own individual flavours, you shouldn’t dare mask them by pairing it with a wine. Instead, it should be enjoyed strictly on its own to get it full impact and flavour.

Then, last week I attended a wine tasting party hosted by Sara d’Amato – wine consultant and sommelier. Here I was able to inquire into her thoughts of pairing wine and chocolate. Sara, being very open to the idea of pairing wine with chocolate, recommended one of her favourite pairings with a fine dark chocolate;

BONTERRA SYRAH 2006

VINTAGES 573709

Price: $ 19.95

Mendocino, California, United States

(organic)

As I further investigated the pairings, I have come up with some of the following recommendations;

WHITE CHOCOLATE
Muscat

Riesling

Gewurztraminer

Demi-Sec

Champagne

Mas Amiel

MILK CHOCOLATE

Riesling

Muscat

Brachetto

Mas Amiel

Banyuls Port

Tokaji

DARK CHOCOLATE
Banyuls

Tawny Port

Muscat

Mas Amiel

Riesling

Tokaji

Cabernet Sauvignon

Zinfandel

Shiraz

FLAVORED CHOCOLATE (Nuts, Caramel)
Vin Santo

Banyuls

Riesling

Tokaji

Muscat

Tawny Port

Sherry

Madeira

FLAVORED CHOCOLATE (Spices)

Madeira

Tawny Port

Zinfandel

Jurancon

Mas Amiel

In the end, I guess the final answer is left up to the individual’s personal preference!

Savour & Enjoy

Random Acts of Chocolate!

When watching TSN’s Off the Record last week, I caught Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons promoting a new campaign by Mars chocolate ‘Random Acts of Chocolate’. He says he is thrilled to be a part of a campaign that brings happiness to Canadians, “What a great feeling” says Clemons.

Any act of kindness, big or small, can bring joy to someone's day. To help get you started, Mars Canada Inc. is giving away 100,000 coupons to be redeemed for free chocolate products & inviting you to start spreading a little kindness. Twenty thousand coupons will be released on April 1, 2010 and then on every Saturday between April 3, 2010 and April 24, 2010. Each coupon is valid for one FREE Chocolate Single. Sure you could use the coupon to get a Mars bar for yourself, but isn't there someone in your life that could use a bag of M&M’s Chocolate candies? After all, a small gesture can create big smiles. Give a Chocolate Single to someone who deserves it, and put a smile on their face.

A random act of kindness is such a beautiful selfless act by a person wishing to cheer up an individual. There is generally no reason other than to make people smile! Is there anything better than a spontaneous random act of kindness to enlighten someone’s moment?

http://www.marsacts.ca

Raise the bar on kindness!
Savour & Enjoy

I Love Chocolate

Simple statement, and a simple title of a delightful book from Tundra Books. I Love Chocolate is a children’s book written by Davide Cali and illustrated by Evelyn Daviddi.
The story is about a boy’s love of chocolate and he tells us just how much. He enjoys eating chocolate whether he’s happy or sad, bored or scared, any day of the week. Sound familiar? He questions the reader asking what type of chocolate eater you are - nibbler or monster muncher?

All around it’s a fun, humorous book full of excuses why you should eat chocolate. I sympathize with him when he realizes the hardest part about loving chocolate is eating too much. I know the feeling. I found myself following along his chocolate journey relating to his observations and love of chocolate. When you are reading this book with your child (or, like me, to your classroom of grade 3 students) you must have chocolate nearby.
It would have been fun to include a scratch and sniff chocolate patch in one or two places to spark that sense of smell. What child wouldn’t want to read a book about chocolate SMELLING like chocolate? The book is beautifully illustrated. The boy is brought to life on the pages and you immediately take a liking to him. The colours throughout only enhance the chocolate and there’s so much to discover on every page.

The marketer in me thinks it’s a book that would do well in a chocolate shop as an accompaniment to a chocolate purchase or gift basket. Every time the book was read with their little one, they would be reminded that they must stop off at your chocolate shop again :)

Savour & Enjoy

How Do You Make a Hollow Chocolate Easter Bunny?

Every Easter you can buy all sorts of hollow chocolates like; chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies, and so on. The funny thing is that the hollowness seem­s to actually give them a different taste or texture somehow. A hollow rabbit is definitely a different eating experience than a solid one!

­There are two common ways to make a hollow egg or rabbit:

1) If you are using a mold that is open at one end - Fill a mold full with melted chocolate, let it sit for a moment or two and then pour the liquid chocolate out. Some of the chocolate will have solidified on the inside of the mold. This is also a common technique for making filled chocolates (chocolate covered cherries or cremes). It works well if there can be a hole in the figure (usually on the bottom) when you get done.


2) If you are using a complete mold - open the mold, fill it with some melted chocolate, close the mold and turn it so that the liquid chocolate coats the entire inside of the mold. Then open the mold after the chocolate has solidified.
You can try the second approach if you have some chocolate and a plastic Easter egg that opens at the middle. Melt the chocolate and pour some into the plastic egg. Close the egg and rotate it in all directions to coat the interior evenly. Open the plastic egg and remove the chocolate. If you find it sticks, coat the inside of the plastic egg with a bit of oil or butter first­.­

Easter Chocolate Truffles

Easter chocolate truffles are not only another delicious way to enjoy chocolate this Easter but they also make the perfect Easter chocolate gifts.

These dark chocolate hot cross buns are fun and more than generous in their size - one is definitely enough.

The chocolate centre is lightly spiced and has plump raisins just like a real Easter bun!

Happy Easter,
Pam

Look before you taste!

When you are tasting a new wine, something you may look at is the colour and consistency of the wine in your glass. With chocolate, although we are looking at different attributes, it is surprisingly not that different. The more beautiful the piece of chocolate, the more pleasure you will probably receive from eating it. Visual appearance can tell you a lot about the quality of the chocolate and what to expect when you taste it. The surface appearance provides indicators of proper tempering (pre-crystallization), handling and storage.
Three main indicators are listed below;

The white, powdery looking coating on chocolate is an indication of ‘cocoa butter bloom’ (meaning the chocolate has been improperly stored). Depending on how extensive the bloom is, and how long the bloom has been on the chocolate, the taste and texture can both be affected.

Secondly, an irregular white coating (that resembles remnants of sugar crystals) is an indication of ‘sugar bloom’. This means moisture has condensed on the surface of the chocolate, drawing sugar crystals from the chocolate toward it. When this occurs, the texture of the chocolate has been compromised, and you should have no expectations of a high quality tasting chocolate.

Finally, look for pinholes in the chocolate surface. When chocolate is poured into a mold, air bubbles will sometimes form. Molds should be shaken or placed onto a vibration table to remove all the air bubbles before the chocolate hardens. If this is not done properly, air bubbles will remain resulting in pinholes on the surface. Usually they are tiny and do not affect the quality of the chocolate, but it does indicate the molding process was rushed – something you would not expect from an experienced chocolatier.

The next time you purchase your favourite truffle or chocolate bar take a closer look…

Savour & Enjoy