i know, not chocolate, but a chocolate boutique, wherein loads and loads of amazing chocolates lie in wait for my greedy appetite (+ tight purse strings). why is this picture worthy?
samples. like, all over the store. the most fabulous samples of some pretty fancy chocolates. i visited it two days in a row, the first day because i needed to really think it over and set some kind of a budget for myself, the second day to purchase.
i wasn't able to take pictures of the stuff i sampled, but i can give you a short rundown. they had a lot of dark choc samples (all rich, all amazing, dark and sexy - none of that somewhat nasty weird tang of an aftertaste you can get from crappy dark chocolate), and some bizarre ones - dark chocolate + lavender (which was amazing; there were bits of lavender in the dark chocolate and i think lavender oil. i don't know if i would necessarily call it tasty, but just amazingly inventive. it's so cool to taste lavender and really good dark chocolate in your mouth... it's like eating a non-disgusting, non-alcoholic form of perfume. a really intriguing combination for your tastebuds. i came back the next day and stole a couple more samples of this one.), dark chocolate + chili (didn't like it as much as the lavender and dark chocolate, but this, though a more oft tried combination, did a good job with balance. the chili heat kind of crept in at the end of the savoring and lingered, a small pleasant fire), and dark chocolate (not very dark, like 60%) + pear (also a pretty good, though the pear flavoured-sugar on top was a bit too sweet).
here are the things i actually did take pictures of/consume larger quantities of - i don't know if it was intentional (probably not) - but i happened to purchase two rose-flavoured things. probably because they both looked so pretty:
you have to admit, the sugared rose petal in the center is pretty impressive looking. this was a really nice combination of not-too-dark-chocolate (53%) and rose oil. really fragrant, the chocolate wasn't overly sweet, and was well balanced by the sugary, but not overwhelmingly so, rose petal. i really liked tasting the rose-ness in the chocolate - again, i don't know that the rose necessarily enhances the flavour of the chocolate, but it's like eating dark chocolate and inhaling subtle but lovely-smelling rose fragrance simultaneously. the experience is highly enjoyable.
but oh wait, wait wait wait wait....
probably the divine virgin of all finds - and white chocolate, not dark! insane! - this slab of white chocolate-champagne-rose (the package reads champagner-rose gefullt; gefullt means filling - i'm not entirely sure what kind - it wasn't as sugary as fondant or extremely extremely creamy either... but anyway) - here she is, clothed:
slip:
naked and half ravished:
sorry about the awkward homoerotic metaphor. i normally am not a fan of white chocolate, but this combination (shipped in from a chocolatier based in vienna) of champagne and rose oil and rose petals was absolutely sublime. i think what i said before about the rose oil and rose petals adding not so much to the flavour of the chocolate, but the experience of inhaling roses while you eat the chocolate, still holds true.
but this time champagne got involved. and that you can actually taste. the hint of carbonated fizziness and (very very slight, almost undetectable, but necessary) bitterness of the alcohol balanced out the very pure, unadultered sweetness of the white chocolate filling (interesting, it's a light sweetness, like that of nice bottled water or of fresh air, as opposed to the heavier, richer, more intense flavour of dark chocolate - reminds me of the tea/country vs. coffee/city dichotomy that might only exist in my mind).
this is what effervescence should (always) taste like: white chocolate and champagne, with the smell of a cloud of roses.
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