After returning to DC, I looked forward to getting back in the swing of chocolate tasting.  My sister joined me to sample the chocolate artist, Fleurir. These beautiful delicacies are stellar, but one unique element stood out to me which was the wonderfully pure, fresh flavor of each piece. The minted chocolate tasted of a real mint leaf. Orange had the same flare with orange zest. One of the best goodies was the truffle lined with a top layer of marzipan.

These are my top four favs.

Delicate ribbon of marzipan.

So, I’m having no luck finding single-bean dark chocolate here in Amman, Jordan. I have found some other interesting chocolate in the meantime, though. Below is a bar we found in a shop down the street from our apartment. I love seeing how the English language is represented here, especially in official signs and food labels. You’ll notice that this bar, the humble “Candy Bar,” contains peanuts, cream, and biscuits (cookies); it is also chocolate “covared.”

I knew when we went abroad to the Middle East it would likely be more difficult to find single-bean dark chocolate bars. I thought I’d still take a chocolate adventure or two while here, though. I was elated to find a beautiful chocolatier in Cairo. When we entered the shop, it was actually warmer than outside, which is rare for chocolate shops. They often keep a very specific temperature to avoid damaging their chocolate. The displays were beautiful but there were several flies buzzing around. Also, when Robert asked in Arabic whether they make they’re own chocolate or not, they said that they order the chocolates from Belguim and then wrap them in their own packaging. Not a surprise. The chocolate was tasty all the same. This gold square had a metal edge, which was a nice touch. It had a sesame honey filling, which was tasty with good texture. The other two pieces were raspberry chocolate and strawberry chocolate–a little sweet.

I was so glad that we sampled the new Valrhona bars at our recent intermediate chocolate course. I kind of signed Valrhona off a bit ago until tasting their newly designed bars. They are magnificent and have stepped up their game on all levels: complexity, roast, even presentation.

My friend Laura and I had the opportunity to attend an intermediate fine chocolate class at Tony Caputo’s in SLC. We missed the intro class but were allowed to “test” into the intermediate one after a small briefing. I truly enjoyed myself, which makes it that much more disappointing that I won’t be able to attend the advanced class as I’ll be out of town! If one attends the final class, s/he receives a Chuao T-shirt. Quel dommage!

Inspiration

On my wish list

Laura chatting with other chocophiles

Inspiration II

We brake for d. chocolate. Thanks so much, Laura, for joining me. I had a blast!!

Matt Caputo (Tony’s son) conducted the class and tasting in front of their huge selection of incredible cheeses–right next to their impressive cheese cave. Laura and I kept hoping that he’d recommend we chase down our d. chocolate with a cheese pairing. No luck.

After-hours tour of Caputo’s. The blur comes from mushroomy condensation on the plastic wrap. Yum!

More nonchocolate

These last two images come from a cheese and d. chocolate pairing of our own when Robert and I visited Laura and Steve’s new house. Thanks for a most wonderful weekend!

During my recent trip to Seattle, Robs and I went to the fish market. Among the many treats we found, dark chocolate linguine was right up my alley. This vendor was pretty awesome and welcomed sampling.

You can read more about this shop on Yelp too.

My Seattle bff sent these delights for my bday. Theo is Seattle chocolate and it is fantastic. The presentation was absolutely stellar; see for yourself. The pure d. chocolate bars had wonderfully cozy tones. The particularly interesting bar was the Fig Fennel and Almond–a wonderful picnic of flavors. Thanks, girl! You are the best!

I was honored to receive a sampler package from the Cholive Company. As always, chocolates in the mail are among my favorite things. The package arrived with stir sticks and an adorable magnetic case to store these edible treasures. Cocktail chocolates? Very charming and decadent. As soon as I opened the gorgeous package with frilly black and gold crinckly shredded paper, all I could think was warm, toasted marshmallows and wintry hot chocolate. I know Cholives are supposed to go in a sexy dessert cocktail, but I got these treats when when it was a snow globe outside.

Cholives are olive-shaped dark chocolates that have a rich whole cream ganache inside.  Not only did I get a taste of their signature product, I also received Chruffles—a recently released series of truffles. They are filled with mint ganache, caramel, and other flavors. As usual, my preferred duo is the raspberry chocolate. Thank you, Cholive Company, for introducing me to your tasty creations!

I love getting chocolate in the mail. I received these two bars with a note from the makers of Patric micro-batch chocolate. The 67% really is in my all-time top three–Amano Madagascar, Cluizel Maralumi, and Patric Sambirano 67%. I include these three in every one of the chocolate tastings I host and they are consistently among the top of my guests’ picks. Such was the case for the tasting Robert and I held with my family over Thanksgiving, which proved to be the beginning of a wonderful new holiday tradition.

I was delighted to take a tour of Amano Chocolate on Halloween. Art Pollard was extremely gracious in allowing us see to how his award-winning chocolate is made. His facility was certainly impressive and had the air of a classic European operation. We saw his beautiful new labels and Jembrana bar (with beans from Bali) among his standard classics. I am excited to see new creations from his shop in the future.