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ChocolateBof

In 2005 the idea of a Chocolate Gathering was floated. This is now the discussion and sign up page for that adventure. The top will have a signup space and a list of meeting options. I expect to revise the main options in this area as ideas come forth. Discussion will follow below that. Unless someone has a better idea, in which case this lead in will get rewritten as well. I have taken a fine chocolate class and studied tasting ideas since last year so that background informs my discussion. (Kurt)

--KurtSimmons

--SuePetersen

--SherryHeinze unless it is Monday night

--SusieBrame

--FionaCharles (depending on timing)

--DianeGibson

1. One main gathering for tasting and sharing all chocolates.
2. Several little gatherings focusing on milk, dark, and bring-your-own tastings.
3. Assorted clandestine meetings, "Pssst, buddy, wanna try a dark chocolate?"

Times: A dinner. A lunch. 5:00 Monday and/or Tuesday.

There are arguments on all sides. For a single meeting there is a the convenience of meeting just once, which allows for better scheduling. The argument against is that your taste buds get overloaded and you miss part of the experience. That can be mitigated by having a longer meeting (an hour or more) and spacing out the tastings, or by providing take home-tasting kits. Milk would go first. Dark after 20-30 minutes. At the end we could share the bring-your-own chocolates and it would not be required to eat them right away.

Focusing on single styles, milk or dark, allows people to show up for their favorites. It also allows for a shorter meeting. One tasting idea is to not have had any food recently because it would influence your taste buds. In this case a 5:00 meeting might work well. It would have been a couple hours since snacks and we would be well before dinner or the munchie bar. (parse that!)

The clandestine meeting idea has its merits. Chocolate junkies could gather at a table for a meal or in the lobby and share stories, ideas, and chocolates.

Bring-Your-Own Chocolate.

I think MikeMelendez floated this idea. People can bring a chocolate from their region and we could all share. (The counter to this is me picking out a selection worthy of an educational tasting.) In Mike's area I know he has some noble little toffee sailboats from Harbor Sweets. In Portland Suzy has a very tasty coconut concoction that goes by the name Mt. Hoods (Michelle's Truffles). There are many variations on this theme.

Thoughts?

Sounds like you're the expert! :-) Wanna stay purist, or would local favorite wines/cheese fit in as well?

--SuePetersen 2006.09.12

I am not a wine drinker so I lose all expertise in that area... sort of. I did conduct a small experiment with some Banyuls and a Single Malt scotch. I have a neat trick for any rookie drinker who wants to get whiplash. :-) KurtSimmons 2006.09.13

If you cross the border with chocolates for us, we will adopt you right away! (And if you have a Bernard C shop near you can you find out how much you pay up there? They run $50+ a pound down here.) KurtSimmons

I have the Bernard Callebaut main store and several others near me, since I live in Calgary and there are at least 2 other Calgarians coming this year. I will check the price and convert to U.S.$ and let you know in a few days. They are not cheap here either. It works out to about $1 Canadian a chocolate, I believe - perhaps $.85 U.S. The rate varies every 7 minutes at my bank.

As far as timing goes, I can't come Monday evening, much as I would hate to miss this.

SherryHeinze 2006.09.13

And a quick trip to and then on to flickr and I see many people taking pictures of chocolate at Soma. It looks like a thoughtful, fancy, and tasty operation. There are silly times I wish I had a private jet. Kurt.

DennisCadena 2006.09.14

SherryHeinze 2006.09.16

1. If you don't have white chocolate for those of us who can't eat the other kind, I'm going to picket the event. We do not allow discrimination at the AYE Conference.
   
   
2. Sherry, from what I read above, chocolate is a chemical ingredient essential to life, IOW, a pharmaceutical. George Bush says it's illegal to import pharmaceuticals from Canada. So, are you going to obey George Bush?
   
   
3. At a recent meeting in Albuquerque, SouthWest Writers brought in a company that ran a chocolate fountain. Even though I can't eat chocolate, I thought this was marvelous just to look at. Are you going to have a chocolate fountain? If not, why not?

- JerryWeinberg 2006.09.17

What means "considered...to be a food group"? I'm sure chocolate figures largely on Canada's Food Guide. How could it be anything else? -- FionaCharles 17-Sep-2006

What George Bush thinks? Isn't that an oxymoron? Perhaps you meant "what George Bush believes"--He's big on beliefs.

1. White chocolate is not really chocolate. It is in fact an illegal alien, and if I can get George to deport it, there will be none to discriminate against.
   

If you discriminate against Whites, you will be picketed by the Kooks Kovet Kandy - JerryWeinberg 2006.09.19

Oh boogers! I suppose you'll want white chocolate in that fountain, just to keep the Kooks away? KurtSimmons 2006.09.19

2. I think the chocolate fountains run about $50 for a cheap rental. Add 50 more dollars for the chocolate, that I think they dilute to get it to flow nicely, and we could get a fountain. Get enough people to chip in the money and I will spring for the marshmallws, pound cake, and fruit and we can all sit around and marvel at the chocolate fountain while we stuff ourselves with treats that are not chocolate (just so Jerry does not feel left out, since we don't leave people out at AYE).

KurtSimmons 2006-09-19

I subscribe to the "White Chocolate is NOT Chocolate" political party, but I'll willingly provide some if it means there's more of the real stuff left for me. :-)

--SuePetersen 2006.09.19

Also white (non-)chocolate is disgusting stuff, and I cannot in conscience provide any. How about jelly beans? -- FionaCharles 19-Sep-2006

Only if they are Jelly Belly Factory Seconds (Belly Flops!). I know more about them than I know about chocolate. Or does that ruin my credibility? KurtSimmons 2009.09.20\

I like the idea of a chocolate fountain (with the darkest chocolate possible), if we can afford one. I'm willing to donate towards such a thing.

--SuePetersen 2006.09.28

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a chocoholic.

I picked up a gift assortment from Harbor Sweets in Salem MA at the conference I attended this week. It includes Sand Dollars, Sweet Sloops, Periwinkles, Sweet Shells, Friendship Sweets, and Barque Sarah. I have no idea what these are. The website is http://www.harborsweets.com

The box says "Best if Sold By: Jan 1 07".

1. Should I bring this to the conference?
2. If I do, will someone attending the ChocolateBof be willing to take it off my hands and share it with the bof?

DonGray 2006.09.28

Why yes, Don, I will undertake this particular mission for you. :-)

SuePetersen 2006.09.28

At the beginning I mention MikeMelendez and his Harbor Sweets. I am guessing the Sweet Sloops are the Toffee Sailboats I referred to. I'm sure they will be much appreciated Don. (Although I might be seen making off with the sailboats.) The rest of the items are molded milk chocolate in the shape of various harbor creatures. (Or they were in my box).

I was walking through Costco today and saw a Regal Chocolate Fountain for $40.00. We may have to pick one up for the conference. I can get good bulk Dark Chocolate in town and bring it along. People could all bow before it. Well, except Jerry, who will be in the courtyard worshipping a palm frond.

KurtSimmons 2006.09.28

Unfortunately, I won't be at AYE this year having just started a new job. It's amazing what you're willing to let go if you think like a consultant even if you're full time. Make sure you publish the time of the BOF and I'll have a Chocolate feast with my family at the same time, so I can be there in spirit.

As an aside, I have no objection to White Confection. After all it contains the second major food group, sugar. But it isn't chocolate.

MikeMelendez 2006.09.29

Here is another idea that is fun to play with. Is anyone planning on missing any of the lunches? We could do a mini-tasting before lunch each day. I only mention this because I have been playing with some very interesting tasting ideas comparing bars within a line and across lines. It is quite educational, and you only eat a little bit of chocolate at a pop. Before lunch your palate would be clean and you could get more out of the tasting. This is what I have been doing the most in my recent explorations.

The regional idea goes well if we are going with filled chocolates. Those tend to be very local establishments and it is easy to find shops in each person's region. If we are going with filled chocolates we are pretty much signing up for a faceful of chocolate all at once. That lends itself to a single group meeting.

For future reference the two paragraphs preceding concern the difference between chocolate (straight) and chocolates (filled). I'll do my best to stick with that vocabulary from here on. And yes, that makes the plural of chocolate chocolate.

And as to numbers I would guess an error factor of 2x. Newcomers and impulse shoppers will show up at the last minute, once word gets out.

KurtSimmons 2006.10.07

I like white chocolate. For years it was the only chocolate I ate.

This winter I took up eating dark chocolate for its pharmacological effects, as I needed some mood-eleveation therapy.

Now I am eating milk chocolate purely for pleasure.

(I grew up near Hershey, which distorted my relationship with chocolate, I'm sure. All those elementary school field trips to the chocolate factory and associated souvenirs.)

Esther 2006.10.08

--SuePetersen 2006.10.11

ED

KurtSimmons 2006.10.12

I have been out of touch lately, so I hadn't seen this discussion. Nonetheless, I am a low-level chocaholic - gradually increasing my use of the drug! - and I will plan to attend.

I can bring something I found in Albuquerque (or maybe talk to our local Albuquerquian) - Chocolate Port. It is Wonderful... I wonder if I can order it to show up at the hotel. I will call them... it would be easier than lugging bottles on the plane.

And - being in PA, I could bring some local Hershey chocolate - but somehow, I don't think that really makes the grade.

DianeGibson

There is a Bernard C in Phoenix (Scottsdale). Depending on exchange rates they could be gotten there as well.

It sounds like people are leaning towards a piece oriented tasting (chocolates) as opposed to a chocolate oriented tasting. Maybe I can collect votes.

Chocolates (Sherry)
Chocolate (Kurt, ) Or ( 1 )

Although there is that place in Toronto, Soma, that sounds most interesting. Both their chocolate and chocolates have promise.

KurtSimmons 2006.10.18

I'll do my best to get to Soma before I leave, but (my) life is a little crazy, so no guarantees. FionaCharles 18-Oct-2006

Chocolate vs. Chocolates: The chocolate world is racing ahead with innovations on two fronts. Dark chocolate in particular is under going a great deal of change that is very similar to the wine industry. People will speak of varietal chocolates and even of years within a variety. Valrhona has a 2002 Chuao bar for example that features top quality beans from a single region in Venezuela. Amedei in Italy makes a bar from a very rare, top-of-the-line bean, called Porcelana. All of these changes lead to a world (literally) of interesting explorations in chocolate alone.

Chocolates have also changed considerably. Recchiutti, in San Francisco, is making a really cool tarragon grapefruit truffle. Chocolate Arts in Vancouver has long made a delightful Lemon Basil Truffle. Sea Salt caramels, now the rage, are branching into Grey Sea Salt and Red Sea Salt versions, for example. The explorations in fillings makes for a bank-breaking taste adventure.

The above marks my disctinction between chocolates and chocolate. A chocolate feast can easily be assembled with a single call to Chocosphere.com. A chocolates feast lends itself more to people bringing stuff from their respective locations. As you noted that may put more of a burden on people than is warranted. It is hard to get to the store at the last minute. And each person has to worry about where they pack their chocolates. Heat can be a problem in the trip through Phoenix.

Both chocolate and chocolates present eye openers. The difference is in the logistics, and the flavors, and in the needs of the picketers outside our door...

KurtSimmons 2006.10.19

OK, now I'm drooling too hard to vote! :-) I'll happily do either, although I will try to get some local truffles to bring.

--SuePetersen 2006.10.19