The Epitome of France

Today, I'm going to teach you about chocolate.

(And before I begin - yes, this is entirely meant to make you jealous. In case you had any doubts about that.)

We had a degustation de chocolat a few days ago, which is essentially a chocolate tasting, and we also had a bit of history and a talk of the process of making chocolate thrown in. For those of you in my dear hometown of SK and know about the Sweenor's Open House in December, this was essentially that, but more elaborate and expansive, and had more eating involved.

The first thing that happened was that I was late (I'm in France. It happens). We were greeted by the intoxicating smell of chocolate, as well as the warmth that comes from not being outside. Someone who worked there was handing out little cups of homemade hot chocolate. Even better than that, though (yeah, I know, it KEEPS GETTING BETTER) was that there were two platters of little chocolates sitting on the counter for us to munch on before the tour actually started. We had hors d'oeuvres of chocolates before a chocolate tasting. Absolutely phenomenal.

Then the actual tour started. Our guide talked about the cacao bean, and where it came from, and passed around a tray of shaved 100% chocolate to taste. I knew what was coming, but apparently I was one of the few, given the faces. It was really amusing, actually. He then showed us the machines for getting the small shaped bits of yumminess, and how to cover them in chocolate (like at Sweenor's), and how to decorate the tops with nuts or music notes or whatever you fancy. He also showed us how they make the hollow chocolates that they can then fill with liquids, like caramel or some such thing. Then he took us into the storage room, where the chocolates all wait patiently to be nommed, and left us alone with another few platters of chocolates, after telling us what types they were.

All in all, very delicious.

Also on the list of wonderful things that are not necessarily healthy is a crepe with nutella and banana slices (sorry Mom). Ridiculously good. Also also on the list is passion fruit sorbet. Oh mon Dieu.

*see moral of previous post*