ChocolateBet: July 3, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1/2 bar
Patisserie Chocolaterie Pralus s.a.s.
Cuba Trinitario 75% cacao
Very Good +
Weight: 1.75 oz. (50 grams)/3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 260 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for total bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, in San Francisco, CA

Nice, smooth flavors, especially if you have the discipline to warm the chocolate a bit first. Once again, I am traveling vicariously through chocolate...eating chocolate from more places than I have actually visited in this world. Maybe I'll catch up one of these days. Until now, I feel fortunate to be able to sample such a great variety of chocolate near where I live.

ChocolateBet: July 2, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

2 bars
Jer's Handmade Chocolates
Jer's Dark Toffee Break Peanut Butter Bars
Very Good
Weight: 3.5 oz. (100 grams) in 2 bars
Calories: 420 calories in 2 bars
Cost: $7.00 for box/package of 2 bars
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, in San Francisco, CA

Sweet, soft and crunchy, these Peanut Butter Bars from Jer's (Solana Beach, CA) packed a nice texture contrast. Jer's packaging says they use U.S. grown organic Valencia peanuts.

The company makes a line of bars and confections. It sounded like these peanut butter bars were created after (and as a possible follow-up to) Jer's peanut butter and chocolate balls.

Much as I love summer, and especially summer evenings, hot weather + chocolate can induce a temporary sloth-like, pre-nap-state. OK, I don't know how a sloth thinks. But if you've ever seen one crawling along the ground in a warm climate, you'll get the idea. This morning, I ate these two peanut butter chocolate bars for breakfast/lunch, and slumped into a pleasant, food-induced semi-coma: eyes fixed, staring out at the wall of bright light that is currently my patio. Fortunately, the thought of all the work I have to do snapped me right back into a productive state.

There should be a siesta warning on larger sized boxes of chocolate. Or, God forbid, I could limit my chocolate consumption to my normal level of ~1 oz. per day.

ChocolateBet: July 1, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Dolfin
Dark Lavender from Haute Provence
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: 1.058 oz. (30 grams)
Calories: 153 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $3.00
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, in San Francisco, CA

Thank you to the folks at Chocolate Covered in San Francisco, for helping me find several items during my chocolate bar shopping spree last weekend. As I told them, I've now eaten chocolates from more countries than I've actually visited in person. Seeing the world through chocolate is one way to go if you've run out of time/money to travel.

Fortunately, I live in an area where lavender grows wildly well in my own yard. So, I don't necessarily need to travel to France to stick my nose in a big lavender bush. However, I wouldn't mind traveling to Haute Provence, to visit the source of lovely floral flavor in this bar. No, I would not mind at all.

ChocolateBet: June 30, 2009

Chocolate(s) of the Day:
6 cookies + 1 wedge of cake
Natasha's Sweet Temptations

1.) Vanilla-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Weight: ~ 6 oz. (170 grams) in 6 cookies
Calories: ~840 calories in 6 cookies
Cost: $?
Purchased from: Natasha's/Sweet Temptations booth, at Mountain View (CA) Farmer's Market

2.) Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate! Torte
Weight: ~ 4.6 oz. (120 grams) in one wedge/piece
Calories: ~552 calories (estimate)
Cost: $5.00
Purchased from: Natasha's/Sweet Temptations booth, Mountain View (CA) Farmer's Market

It's fun to find locally made chocolate items at the Farmer's Market. I enjoyed these gluten-free "health nut" cookies a lot. They are made with almond meal, and they don't have much sugar in them; yet they are very satisfying. The chocolate torte was dense, rich and tasty - just like you'd expect a flourless chocolate hunk of love to be.

ChocolateBet: June 29, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 cookie
Edna's
Chocolate Chip Macaroon
Good +
Weight: ~ 2.5 oz. (70.75 grams)
Calories: ~250 calories (estimate)
Cost: $1.33
Purchased from: Edna's booth at Mountain View (CA) Farmer's Market

I like finding baked goods, with chocolate, that are gluten-free. Since macaroons are one of the few cookies that often have little or no flour in them, it's no surprise that you'll see several macaroon and chocolate variations on this blog. I would have liked a few more chocolate chips in this macaroon, but it is otherwise good.

ChocolateBet: June 28, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 cookie
Edna's
Chocolate Macaroon (gluten-free)
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 2.5 oz. (70.75 grams)
Calories: ~ 250 calories (estimate)
Cost: $1.33
Purchased from: Edna's booth, at Mountain View, CA)

Last year I enjoyed tasting an Edna's gluten-free peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. So, I bought one of those and two different Edna's macaroons with chocolate in them: an all-chocolate macaroon (today's choice) and a chocolate chip macaroon.

Oh, did I mention that I am on on a "modified" South Beach Diet this week? Bottom line: I eat more vegetables and protein; I stopped eating potato chips; and I still get to eat chocolate every day. Sounds reasonable to me.

ChocolateBet: June 27, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

2 pieces
Mars - fling chocolate
Hazelnut
Good + - Very Good
Weight: ~1.1 oz. (31.2 grams)/5.5 oz. (156 g.) in total 10-piece package
Calories: 160 calories for 2 pieces
Cost: $?
Purchased from: ?

Nice combination of textures with the light crunchy layer inside.