ChocolateBet: February 15, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Bumble Bar Inc.
Bumble Bar (Chocolate Crisp); Organic, gluten-free, vegan
Good + - Very Good
Wt.: 1 bar = 1.6 oz. (45 grams)
Calories: 200 calories for 1 bar
Cost: $ $1.79
Purchased from: Whole Foods Market, in Cupertino, CA

Note: entries this week were posted after they actually occurred this week - after I returned to the U.S. from a trip. I ate this bar near the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica. What a beautiful country.

ChocolateBet: February 14, 2009

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

1.)
1/4 package
Saxon Chocolates
Belgian Chocolate Dipped Australian Ginger
Very Good
Wt.: ~.7 oz. (20 g.)/2.8 oz. (80g.) in total pkg.
Calories: 115 calories in 1 20-gram serving
Cost: $0 (gift from Megan - Thank you Megan!)
Purchased from: Loehmanns store, in Sunnyvale, CA
How wonderful to have eaten/shared these at the Nectandra Cloud Forest garden/reserve in Costa Rica. Thank you Evelyne for the great tour and lunch.

2.)
(El) Gallito (Kraft Foods)
2 hearts/pieces
Corazones (little red foil-wrapped milk chocolate hearts)
Cost: 685 Costa Rica colones (CRC) = (~$1.25 USD)
Purchased from: El Sesteo store in Heredia, Costa Rica

This was a "2 chocolate day" in honor of Valentines Day

Note: Entries this week were posted after they occurred, due to my traveling outside the U.S. and not having Internet access.

ChocolateBet: February 13, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

2 pieces/clusters
Madi K's/Madison's Grand Avenue Chocolates
Dark Choc Almond Clusters - California Roasted Nonpareil Almonds (52% cacao)
Wt.: ~1.29 oz. (~37 g.) for 2 clusters/1.95 oz. (56 g.) total box of 3 clusters
Very Good
Calories: 200 cals. in 2 clusters (2/3 box)
Cost: $2.99 for total package
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, in Palo Alto, CA

I packed up these almond clusters to eat on a trip down to Costa Rica. As noted before, I almost never need this chocolate stash (as there is usually plenty of local chocolates to try). However, because my goal is to eat a different kind of chocolate each day, for at least 1,000 days, I travel with some extra chocolates that are on my list to eat, just in case.

I ate these at the Hotel Bougainvillea near San Jose, Costa Rica, which has a large, beautiful garden in back of the hotel. In this garden there are a few little cacao trees, coffee bushes, gardenias, and many other beautiful plants, trees, flowers, ponds, and statues. Seeing cacao trees on this trip (and a few days later trying the white fruit that surrounds the cacao beans) was a major highlight.

ChocolateBet: February 12, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

2 servings
Whole Foods
Truffled Roasted Walnuts
(ate with salad plate - sliced orange, avocado, beet, carrot, with lemon vinagrette dressing)
Very Good +; I enjoyed the bright colors and flavors together
Wt.: ~ 2 oz. (~56.5 g.)/7 oz. (200 g.) in box of choc walnuts (~8 oz. for total salad plate)
Calories: 340 cals. for choc. walnuts; ~ 650 for total salad plate + walnuts
Cost: $7.99 for total package of choc. walnuts
Purchased from: Whole Foods, in Los Altos, CA

Day #7 of chocolate and vegetable theme week. This colorful salad plate was my favorite of the week. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it to post here. Yes, I realize that many of you are relieved to see the back of chocolate and veggie week.

Note: I will continue to eat chocolates every day or the next week or two, but I'll be out and will have to retroactively post entries when I have Internet access again later this month. Apologies for what looks like missed entries for the next week or so.

ChocolateBet: February 11, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 pouch/packet of sauce
Les Desserts Chocolate Sauce
(used as "fondue" for dried green peas from Japan)
Very Good - better than you'd think!
Wt.: 1 pouch (1.75 oz.(50 g.)/4 pouches (7 oz. (200g.) in box
Calories: 120 calories in 1 pouch chocolate sauce (+100 cals for peas)
Cost: $? (Alas, the receipt for the sauce is missing.)
Purchased from: ? (Green Peas were purchased from Daiso store in Mountain View, CA)

Yes, this is Day #6 of Chocolate and Vegetable week. Think of chocolate-covered nuts. They're good, right? I realize the veggie theme week is not as popular as, say, chocolate and brandy week, or chocolate and coffee or tea theme week. Once again, we're doing strange things in the name of chocolate; some work, others don't. I'd definitely make the chocolate carrot and zucchini cake again. And this combination of velvety chocolate and crunchy nut-like peas wasn't bad either.

ChocolateBet: February 10, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 individual serving packet
Jay Robb Enterprises Inc.
Chocolate Whey Protein (powder)
(blended with frozen broccoli, green beans, green peas, water, to make a green veggie shake)
Good + - Very Good - this tasted nice and healthy
Wt.: 1.06 oz. (30 grams) in packet of chocolate whey protein powder (plus veggies)
Calories: 110 calories in 1 packet chocolate whey powder (plus another 90 cals for veggies)
Cost: $2.99 for 1 packet chocolate whey protein powder
Purchased from: Whole Foods, in Los Altos, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of chocolate and vegetable theme week. I know I lost some of you here. Just in case you all thought I ate nothing but unhealthy sugar-filled chocolate 24 x 7, I make vanilla versions of these veggie blender shakes once or twice a week.

My apologies to Jay Robb for the reflections on the scanned image of your package. This happens when packaging and labels are shiny.

Digression: My two cats love the vanilla frozen vegetable shakes. (I don't feed them the chocolate version of this shake as dogs and cats apparently are not able to handle/metabolize chocolate well.) The cats used to sprint out of the kitchen when I turned on the blender, due to the loud noise. But, now that they know what I'm making, they run into the kitchen, to beg for a little taste of green shake in their food dish. Who knew?

ChocolateBet: February 9, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
~ 1 Tablespoon
Whole Foods - El Rey
Venezuelan Cocoa Nibs
(with mixed greens - salad)
1.) The nibs were Very Good by themselves; 2.) They were Good with salad - the combination was a bit bitter, but this could have been due to the salad greens.
Wt.: ~ .5 oz. (14 g.)/4.16 oz. (117.7g.) ttl container
Calories: ~ 50 calories for nibs; ~ 300 calories for whole salad.
Cost: $3.38 for whole container
Purchased from: Whole Foods in Los Altos, CA

Today is Day #4 of chocolate and vegetables theme week. Well, I think an avocado and citrus fruit salad with cocoa nibs would have been more tasty than just semi-bitter salad greens with semi-bitter nibs. I'll try that next time. Now I'm going to try the nibs in a hot cocoa/latte drink for dessert.