Posts Tagged ‘chocolate’

A Gift of Chocolate

It wouldn’t be Christmas without chocolate, though, let’s be frank.  It wouldn’t be daylight without chocolate in some households, including my own. And it sure wouldn’t be evening without chocolate, because there’s no sense in the sun setting without a piece of chocolate on hand to sweeten the coming night.

But too much of a good thing almost always turns into a bad thing, and so it was that once I set off to learn how to make chocolate, I discovered I was popping it into my mouth like a newborn seeking the nearest nipple.  Ten minutes without it and I started to wail.  And, like a newborn, I began to grow exponentially until in less than a year I soared from an emaciated size sub-zero to a healthy size ten which pretty much feels like being trapped in someone else’s body.  Which would be perfectly fine with me if this someone else had come complete with her own wardrobe, and not just presumed that I would take her out to buy a new one. Read More…

One Less Skinny Bitch

In Botero's World
Dear Readers: I’m up to my neck in writing right now, and will have a fresh new chocolate post out in a day or two.  In the meantime, here’s one of my favorites brought to you once more.

Even skinny people get fat.  This bewildering fact is slowly getting through to me.  After years of being so bone thin I had to shop for jeans in the toy department, I knew my chocolate consumption was out of hand when my daughter referred to my new size 10 jeans as “plus size.”  It’s true I’ve put on weight eating all this chocolate.  But it is also true that according to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, I am one pound over the “ideal weight” for my height.  Yes, that’s right.  One pound.  And I’m sure that pound is pure muscle. Read More…

Chocolate Secrets from Christopher Elbow

Lauren Adler, owner of Chocolopolis and Christopher Elbow

Lauren Adler, owner of Chocolopolis and Christopher Elbow

The following post was published in Foodista, the online cooking encyclopedia July 17, 2011

As readers of my previous posts on chocolate may know, my favorite all time chocolate maker is Christopher Elbow, whose chocolates are so stunning they could accessorize a Chanel suit.  (And taste so good I’ve already decided that if I should ever find myself on death row, my last meal will be five pounds of his assorted chocolates.)  So you can imagine how thrilled I was to hear that he’d left his Kansas kitchen and was in Seattle last Saturday to help celebrate the third anniversary of Chocolopolis, the designer chocolate shop that also ranks high on my grooviest things in this world list
(largely because they stock Elbow chocolates). Read More…

The Problem with Passion

the kiss

I’m back.  There’s a reason you haven’t heard from me lately, and it’s all because of chocolate.  I don’t know what I was thinking when I named this blog The Chocolate Covered Kitchen.  Starting a blog about making chocolate means having something to say about making chocolate which means making a habit of making chocolate, which, as I’ve mentioned in One Less Skinny Bitch, turns out to be a fattening habit, what with all those anti-oxidants attacking all my oxidants.  I would have been much better off naming the blog The Dust Covered Apartment and then I could have written about things like decorating with gym equipment and how to make the most of a bad carpet day.  Read More…

It’s Not So Funny

There’s nothing funny about not eating chocolate.  Despite my previous declaration that it’s quite alright to gain weight, at a certain point it goes from insight to insanity.  I’d finally reached that point last week when nothing I tried on fit me and I had to face the cold, hard truth – making chocolate means eating chocolate and eating chocolate every day is not a sustainable diet unless all other foods are taken away.  Unwilling to relinquish my carnivorous bounty of dead birds, sea life and doe-eyed farm animals, and even more unwilling to give up pasta, I had to reassess this chocolate thing and devise the perfect chocolate diet. Read More…

Can’t Beat the Competition

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Never leave a thirteen year old alone in the house; you’re liable to come home to find you’ve been put out of business before you even went into business.  At least that’s what happened to me when I told Mira I was heading up to the Farmer’s Market to pick up some nettles for dinner, kissed her and left alone with the chocolate.  After picking up a few organic edible weeds and some strange smelling oils made from cold-pressed exotic tree bark, I went back home, confident that my obedient daughter remained hypnotically glued to her computer where all good children belong.  Instead, I discovered an adolescent Martha Stewart boxing up a package of chocolate covered strawberries to fill a pre-order she’d promised her client she’d have ready by one.

Read More…

Going, Going, Gone

atomic bomb leads to trouble

The world is supposed to end today and I have no idea what to fix for supper, much less who to invite.  The prospect of having to prepare my last meal on earth is entirely too overwhelming.  All I can say is, just about the time Doomsday hits, no matter how grand the plans or big the roast I’ve marinated, I just know I’m  going to decide that we’d might as well order pizza.  Making chocolates is pretty much like that.  I sketch out half a dozen varieties in my head that I know I can whip out in an afternoon, and by the time the ganaches are made and the first couple of pounds of chocolate are tempered, I realize I need a bigger kitchen and another day to get it all done. Read More…

Chocolate Attacks Woman and Daughter, Neighbors Fear They Are Next

Chocolopolis Serious Chocolate Contest

I’d never entered a contest before, unless you count the lottery where all I’m judged on is my ability to select random numbers (a skill, by the way, I appear to be miserable at), but when I heard that my favorite chocolate boutique, Chocolopolis, was having its first Serious Chocolate Contest, I thought I’d try something daring and throw my bonbons into the hat to see what happened. Read More…

My Trip to Wonkaland

cocoa beans being roasted

When you start a blog about chocolate, all sorts of good things start to happen.  And one of those good things was the opportunity to get  private tour of a chocolate factory and an interview with Debra Music, VP of Sales and Marketing at Theo Chocolates.  Now if you’ve been reading this blog you know that anything requiring the ability to use technology, which is to say, demonstrating that I am an advanced primate and capable of using tools, is a challenge.  So I’m quite impressed with myself that I managed to record the interview (once my interview subject pointed out that my voice recorder was on pause), but less than impressed with all the blurry photos I took after reassuring her that I can use a camera.  Apparently, I remain a lower order of primate because I had it on the wrong setting all along.  But no matter.  I’m thrilled that I got the chance to tour Theo’s, interview Deb Music, and come home with a big bag of treats that made Halloween look like a rip off.

cocoa nibs at Theo Chocolates

The first part of my interview was posted on Foodista, but I’m going to reprint it here for your entertainment pleasure, while I finish up transcribing the interview, write up the next two parts, write a cookbook review, attend the Chocolopolis chocolate contest, make a box of chocolates to donate to a local charity, find a job and figure out what to make for dinner now that Mira’s turned to healthy eating habits and demands proper nutrition and a flesh-free meal each night.  Kids today . . .  At any rate, click here for Part One of my enteretaining interview with Deb Music of Theo Chocolates: Read More…

Kiss and Makeup

Chocolate facial mask

Do you remember Mira, my 13 year old daughter who takes the photographs (or not) for this site?  Me too.  In fact, just last week I got to thinking about my little girl and wondered what ever had happened to her.  You know how it goes when you lose touch with someone and life goes on and then something reminds you of them and you suddenly realize you haven’t seen them in ages?  Well it’s like that with teenagers.  One day they’re under foot and you’re kicking them out of the way, the next day you’re looking in the closets, behind the curtains, under the bed all the while mumbling to yourself, “I know they’re here somewhere, I saw them just the other day.” Read More…