ChocolateBet: May 12, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 serving/pkg.
Christopher's/Adams & Brooks Inc.
Big Cherry
Good+ - Very Good
Wt: 1-3/4 oz. (50 grams)
Calories: 230 calories
Price: $0.79
Purchased from: Longs Drugs, in Mountain View, CA

This is Day #4 of Chocolate and Cherry week, and I was pleasantly surprised when I had one of these Big Cherry candies for lunch today. I bought this because this is chocolate and cherry week after all. However, I think I have passed over this candy on the shelves at the store for many years, because I pictured it might have a thin milk chocolate coating and an overly sweet, artificially colored and flavored red goo center. But, it is more interesting than that. The Big Cherry has a fairly thick chocolate and chopped peanut layer on the outside, and then a pinkish cherry middle, with a "whole cherry center" inside that. OK, it's not totally natural, but it is good, and more complex/interesting than I thought it would be.

ChocolateBet: May 11, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 serving
Cocoa Bon
Dark Chocolate Cherry - Bite-Sized Chocolates
Good (no trans fats and light on the corn syrup; no artificial flavor)
Wt: ~ 1 oz. (28 grams)/2 oz. (56 grams) total
Calories: 180 calories/serving
Cost: $2.49 ttl pkg.
Purchased from: Whole Foods, in Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Cherries Week, and Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate this holiday. I shared some of these at our Mother's Day brunch at my folks house. I like this relatively small 2 oz. package; it's just big enough to share, but small enough to carry with you.

ChocolateBet: May 10, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 piece
Maglio (Puglia, Italy) - sold through Cocoa Bella Chocolates in San Francisco, CA
Maglio Cherry Marzipan (Cherry, Liqueur, & Almond Paste (covered in dark chocolate))
Very Good+ - Very nice combination of flavors
Wt: ~.5 oz.
Calories: ~80 calories
Price: $2.70 for 1 piece (At $45.00/lb. - this is high-end chocolate)
Purchased from: Cocoa Bella Chocolates, in San Francisco, CA

This is Day #2 of chocolate and cherry week. (This is much easier than chocolate and meat week, which was last week's theme.) This was a very nice chocolate. The marzipan around the cherry was natural tasting, and the cherry, in the cherry & liqueur center, looked like it had been a real cherry at one time as well. Too often in more popular chocolate and cherry candies, sugar, corn syrup, and perhaps artificial flavorings, seems to overpower what the natural cherry taste might have been. Chocolates like this remind you of what's possible with this combination.

ChocolateBet: May 9, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 serving
Gelato Classico
Burgandy Cherry Gelato w/ chocolate sauce
OK-Good
Wt: ~ 4 oz.
Calories: ~250 cals.
Cost: $4.00 inclu. tip
Purchased from: Gelato Classico, in San Francisco, CA

I've decided to continue with the chocolate theme weeks....This is Day #1 of chocolate and cherry week. It was just warm enough in San Francisco to stop and grab some gelato on the way back to the car.

ChocolateBet: May 8, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

2 servings
Swiss Knight (Imported) Fondue Au Chocolat + Southern Tsunami/AFC Corp. Ocean Crab Roll (Crab and Avocado Sushi)
OK - Good (Each item was very good separately; they were OK together.)
Wt:
Fondue: 2 oz. (56 g.); 7 oz. (200g.) total container +
Sushi: 10.5 oz. (298 g.)
Calories: 280 calories (fondue) + ~1,000? cals. for 12 pcs. crab roll = 1,280 cals. total (estim.)
Cost: $7.99 (fondue) + $7.25 (sushi) = $15.24 total (This was an expensive experiment.)
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, in Palo Alto, CA

Day #7 of Chocolate and Meat Week calls for something daring. Or, as my daughter would say, gross. But I thought to myself why not try sushi fondue? Wouldn't you? :-). (It was either that or lamb with chocolate pomegranate sauce -- a dish I was going to invent on the fly. But, I had to work late, and I ran out of time to cook anything elaborate.)

I have to admit, I am glad to see the back of Chocolate and Meat Week. I was running out of items or combinations to try. I thought about dunking turkey hot dog pieces into chocolate fondue this evening, but went for the crab roll instead. I have to admit that after this I would have been out of ideas. What I learned this week: a really nice, rich chocolate-y mole sauce goes well with most meat or main entrees. And the remaining edible chocolate + meat alternatives generally also involve a close relative of a mole sauce. All other possible combinations are pretty iffy.

ChocolateBet: May 7, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 serving
Chapala Mexican Restaurant
1 beef taco & 1 chicken taco dipped in a side of their mole poblano sauce
Very Good
Wt: ~10 oz.
Calories: ~600 calories/meal eaten
Cost: $9.11 for a la carte tacos + drink
Purchased from: Chapala Mexican Restaurant, in Mountain View, CA

Day #6 of Chocolate and Meat Week finds me sampling yet another meat and sauce-with-chocolate combination. Since Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) fell on this week, it seems fitting that I'm eating different versions of mole sauce, with different meats. I like the richer, sweeter (more chocolate-y) versions of mole. This one was nice. (There are many different kinds of mole sauce from different parts of Mexico: black, red, green, yellow, and some may be fruit-sweetened vs. chocolate-sweetened. Some are more bitter, and some are sweeter.)

ChocolateBet: May 6, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:
1 plate/meal
Taqueria El Grullense (restaurant)
Chicken Mole Plate/Meal
Good - the mole sauce on the chicken was a little bit bitter (anchiote?) for my taste; the homemade corn tortillas and also the pineapple fresca were very good.
Wt: ~14 oz.
Calories: ~ 700 calories
Price: $10.25 for the whole meal + drink
Purchased from: Taqueria El Grullense

Day #5 of Chocolate and Meat week led me to try a different kind of mole dish for dinner this evening. Earlier this week my chocolate/meat item I ate was enchiladas with a mole sauce. The sauce for these enchiladas was a different blend, a bit sweeter/less bitter, at another restaurant. (I need to find out whether this flavor that is slightly bitter is anchiote or not - just to satisfy my own curiousity.) Mole sauce ingredients, I've found out, can vary widely. Some contain banana, ground sesame seeds, cracker crumbs, and other interesting ingredients beyond tomato sauce, spices and cocoa.