Choco (not I) Pods

Hi Gang! I hope you're all hanging in there with this recession. It took me forever to admit we were in it and now I'm totally over it. Tomorrow I'm going to give some motivation tips because I need a pep talk!



Okay, let's talk Choco Pods:







The first one here is Banana - and after the god-awful banana Tootsie Pop, I was a bit gun shy. This is 41% milk chocolate and banana brown sugar caramel. After my first tenuous bite, I loved it. The milk chocolate was smooth and creamy and I hardly tasted the banana at all. The caramel was awesome. Very decadent and sensuous. A++



Next is Firecracker - a solid. 60% dark chocolate, chipotle, salt and popping candy. I'm biased here - I freakin' HATE Pop Rocks. I don't want anything I eat to fight back and that's how this feels. I would like this much better without the popping, but that's the whole point. If you like interactive candy, you'll like this. I prefer my food go gently into the night.



Passion is the next one - 60% dark chocolate and passion fruit caramel. I've actually reviewed this one before and while not as opposed to it as I was, it's still not my favorite. I must just not like Passion fruit. It has a strong taste I'm just not into.

Modena is the last one - 60% dark chocolate, strawberry and balsamic caramel. Doesn't that just sound AWESOME?? And it is! Love it!

These are all complicated, gourmet offerings - I think they are great for anyone who wants to try some of the the crazy flavor pairings being made with chocolate. I also think there are a good way to develop your palate without going way off the reservation. (For me that was Vosges cheese truffle. I still have nightmares.)

I also think chocolate is a great and relatively cheap way to pamper yourself during these challenging times. You deserve it!! (And remember - there are no bonus points in heaven for those who suffer the most. After all, God made the cacao tree and it was good. Dig in!)

Of Pods and Pants

One of the best things about Candy Expo was the people. One of my favorites was Master Chef Michael Antonorsi of Chuao Chocolatier. He made me a cup of the most fantastic hot chocolate I have ever had and actually took the time to sit down and talk with me while I drank it! You may think this is no big deal, but these guys were there to talk with buyers, not random bloggers. But he was the best!!

Here's their website:

www.chuaochocolatier.com

The company's mission is:

To arouse your senses with unusual, unexpected and delicious chocolate confections. Venezuelan born Master Chef and Chocolatier Michael Antonorsi lives and breathes the creative culinary process. I saw that - he is so excited and passionate about food and chocolate - it was awesome! (I have a secret crush on him.)

The samples they had at Candy Expo were their ChocoPods:

These are wafer thin chocolates shaped like cacao pods. Some are filled and some are solid. Each has only 60 calories!! They gave me one of each flavor - there are 8. I'll review 4 tonight (hey, I can only eat so much and keep my girlish figure!).

Picante - 60% dark chocolate and spicy Cabernet caramel. This had a liquid caramel filling and I didn't think I would like it - I usually don't like spicy chocolate. But this one was great - delicious. Subtle spiciness balanced by the sweetness of the chocolate and the Cabernet.

Chinita Nibs - 60% dark chocolate caramelized cacao nibs and nutmeg. This one is a solid. I loved the texture of the nibs - nice and crunchy and the nutmeg really comes through. Very unique taste. I usually think nibs are too bitter, but this balance was perfect. For some the nutmeg might be too strong, but I really enjoyed getting to taste it.

Spicy Maya - 60% dark chocolate, pasilla chile, cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Another solid. Love the cinnamon and the chocolate - the peppers give it heat, but are not overpowering. They kick in a bit after you eat the Pod. This might be my favorite of all the spicy chocolate combos. It's the cinnamon I like so much.

Candela - 60% dark chocolate and spicy macadamia nut. Okay - I am in love with this one!!! It's nutty, but not too nutty. The interior is a crunchy praline filling - YUM!!! I think what makes these so great is the balance of flavors. There is a hint of spice, but not too much. And the flavors kind of hit you in waves. Delish!!

These are fun to eat because they are like chocolate cookies, but with very complicated ingredients and flavors. I think they are perfect when you just want a really great taste of chocolate, but don't want to go crazy. I mean, we all have to keep fitting into our jeans, right?

Well, all of us except John Daly - he's got glue.

Tootsie Pops and Glue

I am so sorry I haven't been blogging! The past few weeks have been nuts! After Candy Expo in Chicago I went to Birmingham, Alabama. Then I was in DC for the American Society of Training and Development Conference. The next weekend was a conference in Asheville. When I got back from that, I had to go to Atlanta. I flew in that day, spoke and tried to fly out. I say tried because the flight was over two hours late. By the time I got home, I was able to get a whopping three hours of sleep and had to drive out to the western part of NC to give a training program. Then to Charlotte for an event with the boyfriend (still seems to be going well).

It's great to be busy in this economy, so I am not complaining. Well, maybe about the flight, but overall I'm damn lucky. There is some white space on my calendar coming up, so you all may be sick of me soon!

I do, however, have a serious blogging backlog. So much to share with you all!!

First I have to share with you my favorite recent completely random chocolate quote. It was said by CBS golf analyst David Feherty in reference to John Daly's golf clothing (which was God awful and WAY colorful):

"...looks like he put glue on his body and ran through Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory."

They PAY this man for this??? I'm a little scared he was thinking about John Daly putting glue on his body and running through anything, but we all have our fantasies.

Here's another new product from Candy Expo:

These are good. Are they extraordinary? Nah. I like regular Raisinets better. The raisins just taste better with chocolate than the cranberries. And these bother me. Why are they called Raisinets? They are not raisins, they are cranberries. I mean the whole point of RAISINets is that they are RAISINS. Right? At least they could have done Craisinets.

A trendy tip of the hat to the cranberry. I predict these will not stand the test of time.

When I went by the Tootsie Roll booth and asked what was new, they gave me these:

Now, these really aren't new. I found some in Cracker Barrel well before Candy Expo and I remember having them as a kid. Maybe the blue raspberry is a new flavor, but these are just a re-release. I'd rather have regular ol' Tootsie Rolls. There isn't enough Tootsie Roll here - too much boring hard candy. ZZZZZZZ...........

Now this was really new for me - a new flavor of Tootsie Pop - banana:

GLAACK! I thought this was awful. The banana flavor was no good. A waste of a Tootsie Roll center. But, hey, finding a dog every once in a while makes things exciting! Bow Wow!

And here's a tip - all that cool chocolate stuff Cracker Barrel had is on sale for half price!! It's great stuff, so you might want to run in. Just don't cover your body with glue first.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2-½ cups blanched almond flour *
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup agave nectar
1 cup dark chocolate 73%

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Stir together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl.
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry.
4. Form 1-inch balls and press onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes.
6. Cool and serve.

Makes 24 cookies

Vegan and Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2-½ cups blanched almond flour *
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup agave nectar
1 cup dark chocolate 73%

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Stir together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl.
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry.
4. Form ½ inch balls and press onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes.
6. Cool and serve.

Makes 24 cookies

* Please note: Bob's Red Mill almond flour does not yield successful results when used in these recipes because of the coarseness of the flour. Other brands: Honeyville or Lucy's Kitchen Shop.

Source: Elana's Pantry - Gluten Free Recipes

I am Still Alive!!!

Oh my friends - thanks so much for hanging in here!! I was in DC last week, Asheville all weekend for a conference, and I leave for Atlanta in the morning. (Giving my Leadership Lessons of the Kings of Chocolate for a group of students in a leadership program - should be fun!) I've been too busy to do anything much less blog! My house is a mess and I am a bit overwhelmed. But things slow down a lot after this so I should be back full speed next week - don't give up on me!!

Also - get this - remember I told you the man I'm dating went to the CPA Awards Banquet with me? Well, a picture of us there ran in the CPA Magazine distributed to all the CPAs across the state! Toby Page - loyal friend and blog reader - sent me an e-mail immediately when she opened her copy. So the cat is out of the bag. I'm heaving a BIG sigh over this because I'm so afraid things will go bad.

But - all I can do is my best, right? And don't worry - I'll post the picture here soon. When I get braver.

Back to regular posting next week, I promise!!! And more chocolate!

Chocolate Chip Bars - Two Recipes

Chocolate Chip Bar Recipe
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
   
2. Cream together sugar and butter. Beat in egg.
   
3. Stir in dry ingredients.
   
4. Mix in vanilla.
   
5. Fold in chocolate and nuts.
   
6. Spread in greased 15x10-inch pan (batter will be a thin layer).
   
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
   
8. Cool slightly, then cut into 48 chocolate chip bars.

Chocolate Chip Bars #21 stick butter1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs1 cup flaked coconut (optional)12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk1 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
   
2. Melt butter in oven in 13x9-inch baking pan. Remove from oven.
   
3. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over butter.
   
4. Sprinkle with coconut and chocolate morsels.
   
5. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over mixture.
   
6. Top with pecans; press down.
   
7. Bake for 22-27 minutes or until golden brown around edges.
   
8. Cool completely in pan on rack. Cut into chocolate chip bars.

Technology is Not Chocolate

Hi Readers! I know - SLACK!! But I have what I consider a good excuse. I am currently in DC attending a American Society of Training and Development conference with 8000 other people (good God!). And before I came up here, I decided I should finally cave in and get a PDA. Yeah, yeah, I'm behind the times, whatever.

So I spent several hours Saturday securing one and struggling to set it up. Not that it's that hard - it's just different. The buttons seem really small to me. The track ball is a pain in the butt. I know I'll get used to it, but.....ugh.

I already see how people get addicted to these things and it is a little scary. When there's a second of downtime, instead of making small talk with the living humans sitting next to me, I whip out my new Blackberry. (Why no IPhone? I tried one in the store and it was way too hard to hit the right "keys". I have giant hands and that thing was a trip straight to hell.)

So I'm losing interaction with the people around me for the sake of checking my e-mail. Is this a good trade-off? I have to say I don't think so - it's not like every e-mail I get is someone wanting to hire me for a speaking engagement. Most of them are not important. Hell, most of them aren't trying to buy from me, they are trying to sell me something. But it's the way of the world, isn't it? I got the darn Blackberry so I would stay connected - to Tweet more (like the world really needs more Tweets) and to be more responsive to clients.

BUT I also got it so I could receive pictures from my hot new boyfriend! I could send him pics on my old phone, but I couldn't receive his. Well, guess what? I still can't get his pictures and now he can't get mine. GRRR! So that will be yet another time waster trying to figure that out. Ah - I long for the day when all this technology stuff will be seamless. I'll probably be dead by then, but I'll be smiling from beyond the grave.

No big chocolate news, although in the giant Expo here (nothing like Candy Expo, by the way - this is all training stuff - zzzzzzz) most of the vendors are using chocolate to lure attendees in. They aren't even bothering with other types of candy - well, a few are, but by and large the others have seen the light! Chocolate is irresistible. People will even endure the attentions of a sales person for free chocolate.

I also saw a session by Mars about how they are changing their corporate culture. It was lead by one of their high corporate HR people and an outside consultant and I felt like I was trapped in a Dilbert cartoon. No real world examples, but loads of jargon. I have an MBA and it totally hurt my brain. There was no free chocolate. I asked.

I'm off to sessions, but don't worry - I'll be back home and back to chocolate soon!! Keep the faith!