ChocolateBet: October 29, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 regular serving (cup)
Fosters Freeze LLC
Soft serve ice cream - 1/2 vanilla + 1/2 chocolate
Good + - Very Good
Weight: ~ 5 oz. (estimate)
Calories: ~ 180 calories (estimate)
Cost: $1.91 (includes $0.16 tax)
Purchased from: Fosters Freeze, in Menlo Park, CA

Fosters Freeze, is a California-based fast food chain that is famous for their soft serve ice cream, burgers, fries and other frozen dessert treats. There is a nostalgic fondness for this ~60-year old chain. Apparently in 2006, local residents signed a petition to prevent the demolition of the Menlo Park Fosters Freeze location that I visited this evening. I certainly enjoyed my vanilla and chocolate soft serve ice cream swirled together in a cup - a lower calorie option than most ice creams.

ChocolateBet: October 28, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 serving (glass)
PortoFino restaurant
Hot chocolate with Sambuca, brandy, whipped cream
(hot chocolate version of their Caffe Portofino coffee drink)
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: ~ 8 fluid oz. (237 mL)
Calories: ~ 430 calories (estimate)
Cost: $7.75
Purchased from: PortoFino restaurant, in Carmel, CA

There was something extra transporting about sipping a licorice*-laced hot chocolate in a cottage near the sea. Actually, PortoFino (translation: beautiful door) restaurant was a great restaurant disguised as a cottage, in true Carmel style. Wonderful hot soup + this drink was enough to take the chill off a cool, breezy afternoon.

*Sambuca is an Italian anise-flavored liqueur

ChocolateBet: October 27, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
4 servings
General Mills
Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Very Good
Weight: ~5 oz. (141 g.) in 4 prepared brownies/16 oz. (454 g.) total box of mix
Calories: 600 calories in 4 servings
Cost: $3.79 (on sale)
Purchased from: Safeway, in Palo Alto, CA

Why yes, you might say, 1/4 pan of brownies is a lot. However, I practice a gluten free diet, not a glutton free diet....I'm hoping the 4 servings of broccoli I'm about to eat will make up for this brownie binge.

ChocolateBet: October 26, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 egg
Imported by Ferrero Canada Ltd.
Kinder Surprise (egg shaped milk chocolate)
Good +
Weight: .7 oz. (20 grams)
Calories: 105 calories (estimate)
Cost: $3.00
Purchased from: Jeffreys Toys, 685 Market St., in San Francisco, CA

Who wouldn't want to break open a chocolate egg for a surprise inside? I dutifully gobbled through the milk chocolate shell to free the prize; and I found that it was wrapped inside a protective, yellow, yolk-like plastic sac.

For those wondering what I found inside the yolk sac, it was filled with tiny plastic body parts - a torso, detachable arms, legs and head/helmet. I couldn't seem to get the arms and legs to stay put; so I may have to glue them in place. I suppose I could also read the directions.

ChocolateBet: October 25, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 small package
Brehmer's Handmade Candies
English Toffee
Very Good
Weight: ~ 1.1 oz. (31.13 g.)(estimate)
Calories: ~ 160 calories
Cost: $?
Purchased from: Confetti - Le Chocolatier, in San Francisco, CA

I always enjoy trying local (to San Francisco Bay Area) chocolates. (Does that make me a chocolate + locovore = chocovore?) Maybe. Brehmer's is located in Brisbane, CA.

ChocolateBet: October 24, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
2 cupcakes
General Mills
Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix - Devil's Food
Very Good
Weight: ~ 4.6 oz. (130 grams) 2 cupcakes/15 oz. (425 g.) in total box of dry mix
Calories: 433 calories for 2 cupcakes
Cost: $3.79 for 1 box of mix
Purchased from: Safeway, in Palo Alto, CA

Cupcakes have enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years. However, not being able to eat wheat/gluten reduced me to a mere observer, my nose figuratively pressed against the glass at most cupcake outlets. One kind friend took me to Kara's Cupcakes recently, and scraped off some of her frosting for me to try. So, I was happy to discover that Betty Crocker (that sweet, fictional 88-year old year old*), began offering gluten free cake mixes this year.

Eating warm chocolate cake right out of the oven is lovely. I did that last night during a "test run," when I used this Betty Crocker gluten free mix to bake Devil's Food cupcakes. I cooked some in a conventional oven and some in a microwave oven. (They were both good.) Today, I had two of the latter, unfrosted, for breakfast. And while I did suffer from a few moments of temporary, dessert-induced brain fuzz a bit later, it was worth it.

*Better Crocker was invented in 1921 by home economist Marjorie Child Husted at Washburn, Crosby Co. (producer of Gold Medal flour), shortly before a merger that resulted in a new company, General Mills.

ChocolateBet: October 23, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Garden Island Chocolate Co.
Kauai Chocolate Coconut Milk bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 2 oz. (56.6 calories) in 1 bar
Calories: ~ 300 calories (estimate)
Cost: $0 (gift from Alec)
Purchased from: N/A

The coconut milk flavor in this bar was very authentic. I ate this bar with a handful of toasted almonds and the two paired nicely.

The tagline printed on this organic chocolate bar wrapper invites the customer to "Taste the Aloha." Yes, I would be happy to support local Kauai local agriculture and community, thank you. Garden Island Chocolate Co. is fortunate to be able to work with a cooperative of farmers, involved in raising and propagating their own cacao trees. And "all processing of the chocolate (including stone-grinding of cacao in a melanger) from the bean to the finished bar is done on Kauai."

Thank you to Alec who brought a few of these Kauai Chocolate bars back from a recent trip to Hawaii.