ChocolateBet: March 26, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 serving (banana)
Trader Joe's
"Gone Bananas - chocolate dipped bananas" (frozen)
Good +
Weight: ~ 2.75 oz. (78 grams)/11 oz. (312 g.) for total pkg. of 4 bananas/bars
Calories: 160 calories for 1 banana
Cost: $1.99 (a relative bargain for 4 servings)
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, in Mountain View, CA

These frozen bananas are a good value. Also, 160 calories for one serving of a frozen dessert is not bad if you are trying to watch your weight.

ChocolateBet: March 25, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 container
Trader Joe's
Mocha (European Style Lowfat Yogurt)
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 5.3 oz. (150 grams)
Calories: 130 calories
Cost: $0.99
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, in Mountain View, CA

I think I like their Chocolate flavor a bit better than the Mocha, but both flavors are pretty tasty.

ChocolateBet: March 24, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

5 pieces
Caffe del Doge
(Made by Tavoletta)
TreRe Fondente - dark chocolate w/ hazelnuts
Yum
Weight: 2.1 oz. (60 grams)
Calories: ~ 315 calories in 5-piece package
Cost: $ (checking)
Purchased from: Caffe del Doge, in downtown Palo Alto, CA

Caffe del Doge in Palo Alto specializes in coffee and hot chocolate drinks; but also carries chocolates. These dark-chocolate with hazelnut chocolates were fantastic. Just what I like: great, rich dark chocolate mixed with toasted nuts.

ChocolateBet: March 23, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 container
Trader Joe's
Chocolate - European Style Lowfat Yogurt
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 5.3 oz. (150 grams)
Calories: 130 calories
Cost: $0.99
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, in Mountain View, CA

Well, I guess you may need to be a yogurt-liker to appreciate this combination. I love Trader Joe's plain nonfat Greek-style yogurt, so I was interested to try their chocolate flavor. It's good. I also picked up their mocha yogurt, and I'll try that later this week.

ChocolateBet: March 22, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

4 pieces
Caffe del Doge (Il Caffe di Venezia)
(Made by Tavoletta)
Grue - Il Cioccolato line (dark chocolate pieces covered with cacao nibs)
Very Good +
Weight: ~1.17 oz. (33.3 grams) in four pieces/2.8 oz. (80 grams) in total package
Calories: ~ 175 calories (estimate)
Cost: $9.00 for total package
Purchased from: Caffe del Doge, in downtown Palo Alto, CA (the other location is in Venice, Italy)

These dark chocolates are great with a coffee and/or shot of steamed milk. And the coffee drinks and hot chocolate flavors here are pretty wonderful at this cafe too. This may be the closest I get to Venice (at least this year).

ChocolateBet: March 21, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1/2 bar
Jade Chocolates
Genmai (35% cacao milk chocolate bar with roasted brown rice, green tea, jasmine tea)
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (58 g.) total bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.95 (estimate - check this)
Purchased from: Draeger's Market, in Menlo Park, CA

Jade Chocolates (San Francisco) offers several Eastern-inspired flavors. I found this carefully and artfully wrapped Genmai bar (one of three different Jade bars on display) at Draeger's, a high-end local market with a large collection of fine foods and higher-end chocolates.

ChocolateBet: March 20, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 small package
Britt chocolates
Dark chocolate covered passion fruit jelly
(Jalea de maracuya cubierta de chocolate oscuro)
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 grams)
Calories: 142.8 calories
Cost: 750 colones (Costa Rica)
Purchased from: shop in San Jose area of Costa Rica

Dark chocolate tends to overwhelm many fruit flavors. The good news is that I could detect a hint of passion fruit flavor inside the dark chocolate coatings.