(Click to enlarge)

... That there is no need to go all the way to Belgium for elegant and extremely delicious Belgian chocolates. We can find 'em right here.

I'm sure that there are quite a few very discerning chocoholics on my flist. Chocolate, for us, is indeed theobroma - the food of the gods, ambrosia, manna from heaven... All that is good and true in the food world, and in the dessert world, in particular, can be summed up in that one delightful word that conjures up visions of heaven and cravings faster than anything else.

And for a chocoholic, there is no place more sacred than Belgium. This European country has come to symbolize that most luxurious, most wonderful of delights called the "Belgian chocolate," and while the price may often give us pause, there are times when the temptation is too great, and one must give in to the lure, the siren song of chocolate. Alas, though, truly luxurious Belgian chocolates may only be acquired when one goes to Europe; they are otherwise inaccessible.

But I have recently discovered this may not be so any longer. Rejoice, oh chocoholics of the Philippines! I have discovered the delightful treats of Benoit Nicolay, Chocolatier, and I deem his creations an answer to our prayers!

Some history: Benoit Nicolay is a Belgian who moved to the Philippines after marrying his wife four years ago, and true to his roots, he started creating and selling his chocolates (truffles and pralines, for the most part). I stumbled upon him last Sunday, when my mother insisted that I join her at the International Bazaar at the PICC (that's why I wasn't at FB, for those who were there). His little pralines were just displayed there, like jewels at some ancient Oriental bazaar, and I had to have them - well, at least some of them.

So I opted to buy a box of nine pieces, which costs 340PhP. If that seems expensive for just nine bites of chocolate, the price is actually quite reasonable, especially when one considers the fact that it takes ten times that amount to go abroad in order to get the same kind of quality. I made my choices, and have declared that I will carefully space them out, and not devour them all that once.

My choices were pretty simple, a mixture of flavors I'd already come to know and love, plus some others I was terribly curious about. I chose a regular truffle and a Bailey's flavored one: the former covered in dark cocoa powder, the latter covered in sparkling red sugar. I followed up this selection by going for two small slabs that were labeled 61% Peru and 71% Ecuador, the percentage representing the concentration of cacao in each piece, and the name representing where the cacao came from. I then gunned for the pralines: a coffee-filled one, another containing three different kinds of vanilla, and one that had a dark-chocolate inside and a dark-chocolate shell. These are all familiar flavors to me, and so I decided to take a risk and pick out two flavors from the available selection that I'd never tried before. I wound up choosing one praline that was simply labeled "Spice," and another one that said "Lavender." I assume this means that the former is filled with a spice-flavored cream, and the latter with a lavender-flavored one.

Now, I'm familiar with chocolate and spices together: cinnamon and chocolate go fantastically well, and chili is said to work wonders with chocolate, both in savory dishes but especially in desserts. But this one didn't specify what kind of spice or spices had gone into the mix, so I decided to see for myself, and chose one piece.

As for the lavender-flavored one, well... That was me being adventurous. I've never tried anything with lavender in it - or anything flower-flavored, for that matter, so I'm really curious as to how this is going to work out.

Oh, and I'm not that big a fan of milk chocolate, so most of the ones I chose were dark chocolate.

For more information, here's the info:

Phone: 822-6995 or 0917-327-1877
Email: info@chocolatesbybenoit.com
Website: www.chocolatesbybenoit.com

As I understand it, his home is also open for visits and purchases, but I don't know where it's located. I bet, though, you can email him for the information.

XD

http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html#6419520384917846552

Please note all media requests should be sent to either my publisher or agent. Anything received via my workplace or my personal and work emails, &c. will be ignored as I would only have to forward it to them anyway. Please do not come to my workplace as this compromises the security of patients and staff. Thank you for understanding.

Also, so much curiosity about my tax situation! Yes, I did pay taxes on sex work earnings.

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Untouchable
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( the feelings of discomfort )

Some brother-sister bonding, coming right up!

( MiniNaNoWriMo Challenge: Day 15 )

Word Count: 621

Ohitorisama
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My Girl
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Samurai High School
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( weird lady )

Sigh.












That pretty much sums things up.