Changes all around

When I couldn't sleep Sunday night I made changes to my website (and business!) and last night I made changes to this blog. Trying to get in early on those New Year's resolutions.

L'Atelier du Joel Robuchon

The only trouble with eating is that eventually you get full and then, sometimes, you have to wait a while before you eat again.

I went to L'Atelier du Joel Robuchon for the pre-theatre dinner this evening (though, clearly, didn't go to the theatre afterwards this time). It was my first, long awaited visit there. For £19 for 2 courses or £25 for 3 (plus service) this was a fabulous taste of what they can do. There are only two options for each course and desserts are either a sweet dessert or single cheese with crackers.

My friend and I exchanged gifts after we finished our meal and the waitress enquired as to whether we were celebrating Christmas and we told them birthdays as well. A few minutes later they brought out this plate:


Isn't that pretty?! And so thoughtful. It was also the most divine tarte au citron I may ever have eaten. Mouth wateringly tart and delicate. Given we were full already (we couln't resist the Opera accompanied by lime and vodka sorbet) this mini portion shared between two was perfect. Incidentally, while the two components of the dessert I just mentioned were delicious, they had to be enjoyed separately as they were not remotely complementary.

It was quite interesting they brought this birthday plate as I was lamenting that my birthday was passing with less and less fanfare with every year (mainly notable by fewer celebrations that included candles). I know this should be expected, and probably welcomed really. I am not complaining - I did have a wonderful extended Sunday lunch in a cosy pub with half of my closest friends which was actually pretty close to a perfect way to mark another year.

I still feel so full. Tonight was the third of three (or more!) course meals this week. A fabulous, but oh-so-full week. Italian, Chinese and French. And I still have to post pictures of Guatemala!! Not to mention the fascinating shopping I did last week... I should probably fit a run into all of this eating somewhere as well.

I made this chocolate cake today

The intention was to take it to the lunch I had today to mark another birthday, unfortunately I realised that it wasn't going to be baked in time to do so so I abandoned it mid-project, leaving three bowls on the counter, covered in tea towels. It didn't seem to do any harm though because it's one of the nicest cakes I've eaten in a while. 300 grams of chocolate will help with that! Melted with 200g butter, 50g caster sugar, 50g brown sugar and some cinnamon. Cooled pureed apples mixed with 3 egg yolks. Mix these two then add 100g of sifted self-raising flour. Finally fold in three beaten egg whites. I sprinkled a bit more chocolate on top (white and dark) Cooked in a fan oven at 170 C for one hour and cooled in the pan. So gooey and chocolatey. The apple and cinnamon added an interesting twist that was subtly different and far too moreish. Lucky I only ate steamed vegetables for my dinner.

Chocolatier in Antigua, Guatemala

OK, apologies again for the lack of updates. I was away for a much needed holiday in Guatemala and Belize for two weeks. So needed that I was in bed with a feverish flu for most of the week, right up until I dragged myself onto the plane. It was actually quite pleasant to be on the plane and have water brought to me at my whim. A day or two more rest in sunnier climes and I was fine again. Until, that is, I got food poisoning or some such thing that also brought a fever with it about halfway through. But you don't want to hear about that!

Anyway, I have much to update about my adventures in Central America but for now here is just the beginning of what I found on Day 2:

CHOCOTENANGO



I was totally shocked to stumble across a real chocolatier in Antigua in Guatemala (our first stop after a night near the airport). I was under the impression Guatemala only produced the rough chocolate for drinking in Guatemala so far (more about this in another post, maybe tomorrow!). Apparently this chocolatier, hidden inside a deli, is a Belgian ex-pat. They were good quality chocolates and a pleasant surprise to find as I was finally well enough to want to eat chocolate again (see, I was properly sick, I never not want to eat chocolate). His range even included a wasabi chocolate! The caramels were the nicest though.

Off to see chocolate plantations!

I've been in bed most of the week. :-(

Still not feeling fabulous but off to Guatemala today for 2 weeks!

Will take pictures!!

La Salon du Chocolat in Paris

Finally. I have been wanting to go to La Salon du Chocolat since I first heard about it three, maybe four, years ago. It is absolutely heaven for me – for most women and a lot of men too, I’m sure. While we were welcomed at the entrance by Ovaltine and M&Ms the quality from there stepped up into artisanal producers. There were sections split out dedicated to different countries, from the bean growers to the chocolate (couverture) makers to the bon bon (praline, filled chocolate) makers.

We arrived at 12 on Friday and didn’t leave until they were sweeping us out at 7pm. In that time I think we managed to see every single stand, though we didn’t stop at all of them. Unfortunately all of the talks were in French so we skipped these too. The chocolate fashion show at 5pm was an incredible spectacle, couture creations modeled on stage, some by circus performers and dancers. By this stage my camera battery had sadly given up.

Most of the chocolatiers I visited last time I was in Paris were here at the show, and some I had missed, plus ones from Japan, Switzerland, Sweden.






Apparently it was incredibly crowded on Saturday - no surprise really. I met tons on interesting people and probably ate my body weight in chocolate over the next two days.

I highly recommend going to the next one! Although, from all I saw, I do think the chocolatiers in the UK are at least as good and many better, than anything I saw (or tasted!) at the show. Hooray!

End of Chocolate Week but Salon du Chocolat to come

I had such a nice time on the Full Day Chocolate Tour on Saturday. It was a really lovely group of people (people who love chocolate are always lovely!) which made it all the more fun.

I've booked my tickets for Salon du Chocolat in two weeks time and I've just been reading up about it. It looks intense!

I was thinking about organising a dinner for people going over from London to meet up. Anyone interested?

Chocolate Open Evening at Paul A Young

I have a camera I haven't used much and I really should use it more because I am not taking great pictures with it so unfortunately have no clear pictures of truffles from last night :-(. I went by Paul's shop in Bank for his open evening. We have a private audience with him on Saturday morning with the full day tour though. Not sure if I will take any pictures then but there are still a few places on the tour if you want to sign up! www.chocolateecstasytours.com/fulldaytour.htm

Chocolate Week starts today!

www.chocolate-week.co.uk

An apology

I rarely post here anymore. I hope I will again more regularly, one day not too far away. I still reflect and ponder too many things in my head but it rarely reaches the screen because, although I am thrilled at how my life has expanded with more work and more friendships, it means that when I am at the keyboard these days (and that is about 12 hours or more most days) there is so much work to do, or people to respond to via email.

So, I just wanted to say that I am thinking of you all, maybe some of you more than you would think I am from the lack of contact.

And, I'm still eating lots of chocolate. We had a lovely day yesterday with dear friends. It poured with rain but it was so nice to be in the countryside in a real house that it didn't matter we stayed indoors. We had a yummy lunch and divine brownies. Carol is such a great baker. She'd make a fortune if she chose to set up shop. Though, maybe not, I guess baking is not the most profitable business. It would be fun though! I think I would probably end up eating all my profits if I tried it.

Chocolate Week starts next Monday. So quickly it's upon us! And so many exciting events. I'm really excited about the Full Day tour I have on the 18th.

OK, a few more things to do before I sleep. I'll be back soon!

Go and see Danny Bhoy

Showing at Soho theatre until Saturday. Around the world more in the next year.

Nothing to do with chocolate but really funny! Let me know what you think if you go!

2 chocolatiers I forgot to mention

In my rush to mention the fine food fair on Sunday in time for Londoners to get down there to see for themselves I totally forgot to mention two other very interesting chocolatiers I encountered: Booja Booja and Zotter.

Booja Booja have been making vegan truffles for years now (I don't know how long exactly, but a while). You wouldn't know they were vegan at all when you eat them. Most excitingly they have a new range of super-fresh truffles coming out that must be kept chilled and these are made using agave syrup/nectar instead of sugar. So they are incredibly good for you. Kudos to them. You can get them in all good department stores in the UK, and some smaller food retailers as well.

Zotter I was alerted to early this year by Will of the market stall in Cabbages and Frocks. I am told they have been making chocolate for years, which would explain why they have such an enormous range. It is very experimental - chocolate and bacon bits, peanut and ketchup. Not all of the flavours are quite so wacky though! One of the really interesting flavours available to taste was a white chocolate bar where instead of using milk powder the chocolatier subsitituted raspberry powder. So it was intensely raspberry-flavoured, and dairy-free to boot. Awesome. You can buy them in Harvey Nichols and some delis around London.

Mr Zotter (a little scary, no?:

Speciality Fine Food Fair at Olympia in London

I spent five hours here today with my friend from work. It's on for the next two days. If you're in the food industry in the UK it's worth getting down there. Quite a few chocolate happenings of interest, notably:
Lauden Chocolatier of Leeds - no shop yet but making superb fruit chocolates with Valrhona and some Amedei, though all Valrhona at the show.
Valrhona and their new bars and fabulous new packaging.
Ooh la la Chocolatiers - two fun girls making chocolates and cupcakes with a variety of couvetures. I didn't taste their chocolates but they looked interesting!
And some of the old favourites:
Cocoa Loco and their yummy brownies and more
Demarquette
and Vanini were back too.
The Chocolate Empire looked good too but they were busy when I walked past and I forgot to go back. (I was a bit weary by the end!)

http://www.specialityandfinefoodfairs.co.uk/ Enjoy!

Surprisingly Vegan Chocolate truffles at Wholefoods

Yesterday I went by Melt and Wholefoods. I bought only 4 chocolates in Melt: Kalamansi, Sea Salt Praline, Passionfruit and a Passionfruit and Mango cube. They were all divine but I had barely left the shop by the time I had finished them all so as the bus home went past Wholefoods I thought I would go in and perhaps get another chocolate. In the collection downstairs there are some of Melt's chocolates, amongst others. There was a coconut ganache I hadn't seen in the Notting Hill store so I asked the woman behind the counter if I could try it. She cut one in half for me and waited for my reaction. It was very mildly coconuty. She suggested I also try the vegan chocolate truffles (rolled in coconut) which she told me she made with coconut cream instead of regular cream. I asked her what chocolate she used and as soon as she told me Valrhona Manjari I asked to buy four. She then offered for me to try one first. Smart move as then I decided to get a few more. You would never have known they were vegan, or made with coconut cream. You couldn't tell at all because the fruitiness of the Manjari was stronger. Knowing how much better for you coconut oil is than dairy (in fact recommended as part of a weight-loss diet!) I think I might have to have these more often when I want truffles! They were really well made, and cheaper than any other chocolate truffles made with Valrhona in London. All the other house made chocolates were made with Callebaut. We had a further chat about chocolate and discussed other possiblities. I might have to pop in again to see what she's come up with. Quite a cool perk to the job to be able to play around with flavours and then get them straight to such a wide market. It made me want to go home and play with chocolate, but knowing I'd eat them all straight away,as well as the ones I'd just bought, I thought I might wait for now.

Oh, Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory is back on TV again. I think this is the episode I'm in.

I ate everything at Acorn House

OK, not everything in the whole restaurant but I did sample every one of the meals, all of the salads and each of the desserts except the strawberry and cream. Every dish was spectacular. The arrabiata on the trout, the succulence of the pork belly and tenderness of the lamb and lots of fresh vegetables and leaves in the salads, the pasta dishes, especially the infamous prawn caramelline and the pasta with pancetta and cherry tomatoes - a lighter version of carbonara.

It was made all the better knowing how ecological the restaurant is, yet nothing is sacrificed for flavour of the dishes. In desserts the stand outs were black pepper chocolate cake with ginger ice cream was fabulous and the cherry eton mess a perfect melding of vanilla-flecked cream and part-crispy, part-chewy meringue and sharp fruit.

Jamie was on duty and sensing our enthusiasm (perhaps because we gushed to him so) he offered to show us the roof garden and waste room. The latter not normally somewhere you would want to see in such an establishment but relieving to see the order and lack of any odour!



Acorn House Roof Garden

Chocolate Beer

At university beer and chocolate were my two favourite things. Well, certainly the two most frequently consumed. So I always assumed Belgium would be the best place ever, home of beer and chocolate. I can't believe it took me 3 1/2 years of living full time in London to get there this February and I can't believe it took me until tonight to drink this beer I brought back with me:



Chocolate beer! It was good. Strange. The sweet smell of milky chocolate in what is a slightly hoppy fizzy drink, like alcoholic creamy soda! (Does this exist in the UK?) This picture was taken on our brand new table and chairs in our tiny garden. It's so nice to have somewhere to sit outside and it looks so much prettier outside the window now too. Even nicer that we finally have a warm evening! Bring on Summer.

the bath is my sanctuary

Lately (always?) I seem to be either at work, working on the business, visiting my family, or something else comes up that I can't seem to say no to. I love all those areas of my life. They all have frustrating and boring moments but I wish I had more time in every area because there is always more I would like to achieve or more time I'd like to spend with people or more people I'd like to spend time with. I'm not the greatest at saying no so I guess this doesn't help with the current overfill of my calendar. Granted, this is not a great trait in my job, but it is much easier to say at work and the repetition of saying no during work hours has made it much easier to say elsewhere. The trouble is I don't usually want to say no, there are so many things I want to say yes to.

So right now, my best escape is to light candles and lay in the bath. Today it's better than chocolate (although I have had chocolate too!).

Chocolate @ Taste of London

I couldn't resist buying both of these chocolate desserts yesterday. Both restaurants mentioned the Valrhona chocolate they had used by the specific type so I figured they knew their chocolate and could not just be looked at. I got the One-o-One offering first. We had savoury dishes from here last year and they were sensational. I also love salted caramel.


Coupe Liegoise of dark Manjari brownie chocolate, coffee and salt caramel ice cream.

The coffee mousse was delicious and the honeycomb crumbled at the bottom was fabulous. Despite the addition of the icecream it didn't really taste "puddingy" enough to be satisfying. The chocolate could have almost been anything, there was none of Manjari's trademark fruitiness coming through.

After another lap of the grounds and another savoury interruption (parmesan custard with anchovy toasts - super salty, but interesting) we joined the throngs at L'Atelier du Robuchon for this:



Chocolate sensation au chocolat Araguani, sorbet au cacao amer et biscuit Oreo - Creamy Araguani chocolate, bitter chocolate sorbet and Oreo cookie crumbs.

Now this was a dessert that filled a gap. A little too well. The little balls of crunch hidden amongst the mousse and sorbet were a welcome textural change for what was otherwise almost too rich after all the other food we had consumed.

I was much more restrained overall this year. I don't know if it wasn't as good as last year or if I just remembered how insanely full I was last year and therefore held back a little.

It was great also to see Gorvett & Stone, Paul A Young and Cocoa Loco showing off their delicious chocolate creations. I had thought I would buy some to take away but I was so chocolate-ed out (yep, even me) from the two chocolate desserts that I couldn't face the thought of taking some home.

a summary of the last few weeks

I’m not sure what happened to Sunday either, or the rest of the week for that matter. Except for returning Wednesday night (after Yo Sushi with friends) to a sparkling kitchen. Best £34 I have ever spent.

Where to start? Although I might protest otherwise I do enjoy being busy. Last minute madness at work adds to the excitement and I am obviously thrilled to be doing so many chocolate tours. Even more thrilled to have my second guide in full swing now. I love getting emails back with rave reviews. I may actually have accomplished what every business book tells you to do and hired people better than myself. I guess we all have different personalities but I know I have two truly excellent chocolate guides which is very nice indeed.

We are already planning the next trip to Paris. Not just because it took less than a week to demolish the bounty, but because there was still so much more to see. Next time we will organise a proper restaurant for Saturday night because although we read a sample menu for the one we did go to we were falsely seduced by oyster icecream and other molecular gastronomy-sounding dishes (really, who thought up that word, does that really sound appetising?) it was mostly a lot of fluff. Expensive fluff too. Delicious sounding dishes that just didn’t deliver, especially not at the cost. The maitre’d was excellent but the waitresses looked like they were lost. Cest la vie.

There has been a chocolate event at least one evening a week for the last few weeks and then tours on the weekends. I attended another Seventypercent tasting with special guest Alex Rast explaining the matrix by which all fine chocolate will fall into – in the four corners: earthy, spicy, fruity and creamy (if I remember correctly? Please remind me if I’ve got it wrong!).

Paul Young hosted an Ecuadorian chocolate and jewellery event at his store in Camden Passage. When we arrived he poured us glasses of his special chocolate brew, informing us “you only need two”. One and a half was where I stopped! Delicious, rich and managing to be both refreshing and – because of the alcohol – warming. I want the recipe.

Last Friday Beth Dunn hosted a chocolate party in St Paul’s. Truffles, biscuits, cakes, shortbread and chunks of chocolate brought in by her and Chrstine (who runs cooking classes). Somehow I was still there when they turned the lights on. It was a fun evening catching up with friends from a variety of areas in my life and introducing them all to each other.

Then earlier this week I got myself along to the first open Academy of Chocolate event. Chantal Coady who is celebrating 25 years of Rococo Chocolates gave a talk and offered us a variety of chocolate to sample. Bill McCarrick (Sir Hans Sloane Chocolates), William Curley, Paul Young and Sevetypercent where all there with chocolates to taste too. It’s definitely worth getting yourself along to the next one (I’ll give you notice, I promise!). I have heard Chantal talk at least once before but most of what she said tonight was new to me, a new insight into chocolate production and also into her business history. From everyone I speak to, and my own limited experience, having your own business is both one of the most rewarding experiences and the most stressful. Especially when everything is on the line for it. I like how my business supports these other chocolate businesses – by bringing chocolate lovers for their best chocolate experience.

In other news, my mum arrives from Australia tonight. I will be sharing her with the rest of her family after tonight but I am so excited to see her!

Apologies that this has fallen into the blog curse of listing events but there was so many chocolate things to share with you all!

Tomorrow I'm off to Taste of London. I will be saying hi to Paul Young and Cocoa Loco brownie and truffle makers! And, no doubt, eating and drinking myself silly. I'll be the one accompanied by the motherly-looking identical twins, on their induction to fine food. It should be entertaining.

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate

I have had a very intense few weeks and it isn't over yet. I need to go to bed now but it's been so long since I blogged!

Work has been super busy and every spare minute outside of that has been filled with chocolate, with the exception of a very peaceful weekend in the country with friends last weekend - though it feels so long ago now.

I have to say though that even though I may be running on adrenalin I am so happy. I love it when my life is filled with chocolate. Work's been really interesting too. I've been to two chocolate events in the last week, visited so many chocolate boutiques, been sent chocolate brownies and tomorrow night am off to a chocolate party and have the new Chelsea Chocolate tour on Saturday (so tomorrow won't be a late one!) plus organising a last minute hen tour to run simultaneously on Saturday. What fun!

I promise to post more details about all of these choc-adventures on Sunday (or at least start to!) when I finally stop. Though I really should clean the flat first. I'm so pleased we finally hired a cleaner - I just wish they were able to start this week!