ChocolateBet: Aug. 6, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 serving
Sahagun
Shards of De Vries - thin pieces of bark; Costa Rican 77% with bits of fueilletine
Very Good - crunchy, as billed
Wt: ~ .25 oz.
Calories: ~37 cals. (estim.)
Cost: $1.00 for this serving/pkg.
Purchased from: Sahagun, in Portland, OR

ChocolateBet: August 5, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 piece
Sahagun (Chocolate Shop)
Oregon Bark (with hazelnuts and sour cherries from Oregon) - made at Sahagun
Very Good - a bit uneven in terms of different tastes - but all but a few bitter spots are very good.
Wt: ~ 1 oz.
Calories: ~ 150 cals. (estim.)
Cost: $5.45
Purchased from: Sahagun (Chocolate Shop) in Portland, OR

Note: Only tiny flecks of chocolate left in empty wrapper (image at right/above).

ChocolateBet: August 4, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 bar
Cavalier
Moka Dark (bar)
Very Good + - This bar has a soft almost fudgy center; I liked the dark/mocha flavor balance. It's just a little sweet, but smooth; and you don't feel like you're eating coffee grounds.
Wt.: 42 grams (~ 1.4 oz.)
Calories:
Cost: $2.99 (Canadian)
Purchased from: Beniamo & Co., in Montreal, Quebec

This bar is the last of my chocolate stash from Quebec. The next few weeks I'll be eating a lot of chocolates from the Portland area. (See my Aug. 2, '08, blog entry for more on my chocolate city stumble (day-trip to Portland last Saturday) ).

ChocolateBet: August 3, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Caffarel
Olympo All' Arancia
Very Good
Weight: 0.8 oz. (24 grams)
Calories: 125 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $2.45 (Canadian)
Purchased from: Beniamo and Co., in Montreal, Quebec

I really enjoy dark chocolate and citrus flavors together when they're well balanced and natural tasting. Today's "Bitter Chocolate with Orange Flavour" bar from Caffarel (Italia) was quite nice.

ChocolateBet: August 2, 2008

Chocolate(s) of the Day:
Portland Day Trip - Chocolate City Stumble

1.) 1 piece
Sahagun
Single (Hazelnut) Caramel (no corn syrup)
Yum - This is a wonderful take on a caramel; it looks like a small dark chocolate cupcake topped with a toasted hazelnut; this chocolate has an almost liquid caramel center/filling.
Weight: ~.5 oz.
Calories: ~ 75 cals. (estim.)
Cost: $?
Purchased from: Sahagun, in Portland, OR

2.) 1 serving
Cacao Drink Chocolate
Special Spicy Dark Drinking Chocolate (shot) - Ingredients include: "70% Arriba dark chocolate, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, and ginger, blended with milk, cream, coconut cream."
Yum - just bliss in a tiny cup
Weight.: 2 oz. (estimate)
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1 shot
Cost: $2.00
Purchased from: Cacao drink chocolate, in Portland, OR

Today I flew up to Portland, OR, for the day, and did my first "chocolate city stumble" - for lack of a better description. The loose objective of this trip was to run around downtown Portland and see sights, and visit as many (local, unique) chocolate places/shops as possible in an afternoon.

 I spent a few minutes at Powell's books, and also had a nice lunch at Jake's Grill. And as I was walking along the Willamette river I even caught part of a "Flugtag 2008" contest where local teams "fly" their home-built crafts into the river. This event was sponsored by Red Bull (a drink that is marketed, appropriately enough, as the drink that "gives you wings") and was attended by many, many thousands of people. Even after a drop of 50+ feet off a ramp, participants emerged from the river relatively unscathed; however, their (primarily non-flying) machines did not appear to fare so well. This begs the question: Is anyone making a Red Bull Truffle yet?

So, back to chocolate hunting...It was worth the trip to visit Sahagun's - a tiny shop near the freeway, where they make all their chocolates on-premise from what I could tell.

I brought back a collection of chocolates from Sahagun's, Cacao drink chocolate and Moonstruck. I also bought a few Godiva chocolates for good measure, to try over the next few weeks.

My only regret...It was to hard to pick just one chocolate of the day today. I had two excellent chocolates today - 1.) Sahagun's caramel and 2.) a small shot of hot spicy dark drinking chocolate from Cocao drink chocolate. Both were outstanding. So, I'm listing both today. I'd like to go back to Portland again to try Cacao's cinnamon drink chocolate, and more chocolates from all these places.

ChocolateBet: August 1, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 serving
Maltby's Restaurant
Mini-Mousse - a tiny brandy snifter-style glass of homemade frozen chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream
Very Good - I really like the small serving
Wt: ~ 4 oz.
Calories: ~ 250 cals. (guesstimate)
Cost: $3.95
Purchased from Maltby's Restaurant in Los Altos, Calif.

This dessert followed a fun dinner at Maltby's with family members visiting from out-of-town.

ChocolateBet: July 31, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Cote d'Or
Puur Noten Fondant Noisettes (It's hard to go wrong with the combination of darkish milk chocolate with nuts, in any language.)
Very Good
Weight: 45 grams
Calories: ~ ?
Cost: $?
Purchased from Beniamo and Co., in Montreal, Quebec

I'm working my way through the last few chocolates from my Montreal trip earlier this month. Only two more bars to go after this one.

I'm excited about flying to Portland, for the day, this Saturday. I've already identified a few chocolate shops there. Love the yelp reviews for these places. One reviewer used the phrase "Wonka Crack"....to describe chocolates at one shop... Works for me.