ChocolateBet: December 29, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 piece
Xocolatl de David
72% Ecuadorian Chocolate with Black Truffle and Sea Salt
Very Good + - Yum
Weight: .5 oz. (14 g.) in 1 small, square bar
Calories: 75 calories (estimate)
Cost: $5.00 (need to verify)
Purchased from: Far West Fungi, in the Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA

Fungi and dark chocolate. It was so much better than it sounds. Then again, I like savory flavors and salt melded with chocolate.  I'm going back for more next time I head into downtown San Francisco.

ChocolateBet: December 28, 2009

Chocolate(s)  of the Day:

1.) Clarine's Florentines
1/2 cookie, Florentine
Very Good + - Yum
Weight: Approx. .5 oz. (14.1 g.)/5.5 oz. (155 g.) total pkg.
Calories: 75 calories (guesstimate)
Cost: $8.99
Purchased from: Bi-Rite Market, in San Francisco, CA

2.)  Nestle Butterfinger pieces in milk chocolate
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town"
1 serving, medallion
Good
Weight: 1.2 oz. (34 g.) total package
Calories: 160 calories
Cost: $
Purchased from: Walgreens, in Palo Alto, CA

One round, flat chocolate item does not equal another. It is unfair to compare these two chocolate items; however, I will. They both involve chocolate and nuts in some combination, and were holiday treats.

The Butterfinger medallion, stamped with Santa's jolly face, was good. However, I tend to favor dark chocolates made with a smaller number of high-quality ingredients.

Clarine's Florentines were the run-away winner here. These thin almond and chocolate confections were a hit with my extended family. In fact, I had to hustle to save half a Florentine to eat later (today). They were disappearing very quickly at our table. These Florentines were also gluten free, pleasing the non-wheat eaters.

ChocolateBet: December 27, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

3/4 bar
Starbucks
Dark Chocolate and Caramel bar
Very Good +
Weight: .9 oz. (26 g.) in 3/4 bar/1.2 oz. (35 g.) in total bar
Calories: 135 calories (estimate)
Cost: $1.45 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Starbucks Coffee, in Mountain View, CA

Today was a big movie intake day, with a walk over to Starbucks in between ("Avatar" and "Invictus"). This dark bar, manufactured for Starbucks (by a company not mentioned on the label) served as a great palette cleanser and lift, between films, and between popcorn and dinner.

ChocolateBet: December 26, 2009

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

1.) Palmer - Santa's Coal
1 piece
Good - Good +
Weight: .5 oz. (14.125 g.)/4 oz. (113 g.) total mesh bag of 8 pieces of "coal"
Calories: 75 calories for one piece (estimate)
Cost: $
Purchased from: Walgreens, in Palo Alto, CA

2.) Reese's - Reese's Peanut Butter Snowman
3/4 snowman
Very Good
Weight: 3.75 oz. (105.7 g)/(5 oz. (141 g.) total
Calories: 540 calories for 3/4 snowman
Cost: $4.99
Purchased from: CVS/pharmcy, in midtown Palo Alto, CA

3.) Sweet Time - Red Reindeer Noses
1 serving
Good
Weight: 0.70 oz. (20 g.) total package - chocolate round shell + red pieces inside
Calories: 100 calories
Cost: $0.59
Purchased from: Walgreens, in Palo Alto, CA

Today was a post-Christmas chocolate windfall -- from chocolate coal, to snowboarding peanut butter and chocolate snowmen and a chocolate clown nose -- no wait a minute, there were little mini red shelled chocolate candies inside this little chocolate nose orb (see image above).

ChocolateBet: December 25, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

3 pieces
Enric Rovira
Bombolas de naranja con chocolate negro
(Pieces or orange with dark chocolate)
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: .8 oz. (22.64 g.) (estimate) / 3.53 oz. (100 g.) in total package/box
Calories: 120 calories (estimate)
Cost: $
Purchased from: Alegio Chocolate, in Manika Jewelry location, San Francisco, CA

Today marked the end (Day #7) of Chocolate and Orange Theme Week.

These orange chocolate pieces from Spanish chocolatier Enric Rovira ended this week on a high note. I was happy to be able to share these with family after presents were opened, and as part of a Christmas pre-lunch snack.

ChocolateBet: December 24, 2009

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

1.) Terry's - Dark Chocolate Orange
1 segment
Good +
Weight: .31 oz. (8.8 g.)/6.17 oz. (175 g.) in total orange
Calories: 48 calories for 1 segment
Cost: $0.50 (sale)
Purchased from: (most likely Safeway or Walgreens in Palo Alto, CA, some time ago)

Day #6 of Chocolate and Orange Theme Week - and the conclusion of the battle of the foil-wrapped chocolate orange whack-a-thon. Trader Joe's dark chocolate orange scored highest of the four oranges sampled. However, I can't really say it was a fair fight, as the creaking sound you may have heard before the whacking (to separate the chocolate segments) started, was the sound of my removing the Terry's Orange from my chocolate vault. In fact this orange was, by far, the oldest item in my chocolate vault. Probably at least two years old. It stood up fairly well. Terry's was one of first vendors to turn out these citrus chocsimiles. Over the years, manufacturing for Terry's Chocolate Orange (a Kraft Foods owned brand now), was moved out of Great Britain, and production began to shift to other areas of Europe. However, Terry's still has a decent share of the holiday chocolate orange market from what I can tell. (From the old box I have, it looked like they also had a relationship in the U.S. with Callard & Bowser-Suchard, Inc.)

2.) Alegio Chocolate - Ginger and Orange; The Orange
2 pieces
Very Good
Weight: ~ .6 oz. (17 g.) in two pieces
Calories: 90 calories (estimate)
Cost: Approx. $4.00 for 2 pieces
Purchased from: Alegio Chocolate, Manika Jewelry location, 11 Maiden Lane, San Francisco, CA

Alegio Chocolate offers a great selection of fine chocolates. Both the Alegio "Ginger and Orange," and "The Orange" were filled with a 67% cacao (Madagascar) dark ganache. Both were skillful blends of orange and dark chocolate. My only complaint: the ginger flavor was almost undetectable in the first piece. I like ginger, so I would have enjoyed just a bit more of this flavor. (Our cat liked the image; she tried to "help" me type in this entry. xlzort aeg =g0fg0 h... - typed the cat.

ChocolateBet: December 23, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

5 segments
Ferrara Chocolate
Milk (Chocolate) Orange
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1.55 oz. (44 g.)/6.17 oz. (175 g.) total orange
Calories: 230 calories in 5 segments
Cost: $2.50 (sale)
Purchased from: Walgreens, in Palo Alto, CA

Day #5 of Chocolate and Orange Theme Week. Whack! Whack! Whack! What do my neighbors think when they hear me slamming something down so hard on my kitchen counter? I'm not sure; but the rewards are sweet. This milk chocolate orange with "Natural Orange Flavor" was very enjoyable; and not bad for milk chocolate (which can be too sweet for me).