Drink of the Gods

Among the many things to be reacquainted with, coming back to Melbourne, is chocolate.  Shortly before I left Melbourne, a dear friend of mine gave me a packet of Haigh’s macadamia dark chocolates. mmmmmmmm delectable. Until then I had not been a fan of dark chocolate, always preferring milk chocolates. Now, I am a true convert. Another dear friend had also recently introduced me, to the also very delectable japanese Royce’s chocolates.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a box that had been given by a japanese friend, sitting in the fridge the day I arrived back in Melbourne.

Conscious Chocolate

Among other things that I like doing in Melbourne is to go to the library and see what cook book I stumble upon. I recently got one that is about the history of foods, (though technically not a cook book) and guess what, the first chapter is about chocolate! It says that Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus named the plant Theobroma cacao meaning drink of the gods, and that the ancient Mayan belief that the tree belonged to the gods. That is no surprise with something that taste so sinfully good, and benefits ranging from medicinal to being an aphrodisiac.

Close up of Conscious Chocolate

These 3 weeks have been many things but not short of many encounters with chocolates. Ranging from simple dessert bars, to chocolate lava, to the truly sinful hot chocolate that was so thick I am sure it could clog the kitchen sink.

Me and my cup of thick hot chocolate

Two nights ago, Kendall gave me a small packet of chocolate that had very interesting packaging. It so intrigued me that I didn’t open it until I could photograph it. It is Conscious Chocolate, it is raw, organic, handmade, Low GI, no dairy, no soy, gluten free and no added sugar!!!!!! Also written on the pack is raw cacao, I am not yet sure what this means, the book I got from the library says that cacao refers to the pod and once processed the powder is called cocoa. Googling has not turned up much to clear this intrigue. But I will persevere.

Fancy chocolates

Yum….. it does taste as good as it looks. I am still not sure how chocolate is made without dairy and soy. It did taste a little bit coconutty and has one of the ingredients being coconut oil.

Two years ago I had the idea of photographing m&m’s. I liked the colours. I wanted to buy all the different varieties and make a collection of photos. However, I did not get very far with my project. I only photographed once. Here is an old photo.

m&m’s

Chen bought 2 packets recently to make cookies …. or was it muffins. She has not embarked on that project yet. Today, I took a few more photos of her m&m’s. I still love the colours.

Treasure trove of chocolates!

I think the time is ripe to schedule an encounter with Chen’s “best chocolate cake ever!”, will have to try my convincing power to get my chef to bake us one. My own foray into baking this cake fell short of being “best”, not bad though, even if I say so myself. Hahahahahaha

My attempts at “best chocolate cake ever!”