Saturday, February 24, 2007

Chocolate Cereal has come to Life!


Life cereal is now available in Chocolate Oat Crunch flavor with real chocolate! Life is full of surprises! It is healthy with whole grain too! There is also a great chocolate trip giveaway on this site to go to New York and visit all the wonderful chocolate shops! Visit:
www.ChocolateComesToLife.com


 

Thursday, February 22, 2007

New Verizon Chocolate Phone in new flavor-Strawberry Pink

Verizon announced for Valentine's Day a new flavor of the already top-selling chocolate phone-now strawberry pink! It is too cute for all you chocolate lovers! Take a look!

www.digitaltechnews.com/news/2007/02/lg_strawberry_c.html

Monday, February 19, 2007

9th Annual Chocolate Fashion Show in NY-When is the 10th one anyone?

I want everyone to click this link and take a look at the fashionistas wearing outfits of chocolate! It is beautiful! Models are adorned with purses made of chocolate made by chocolatiers such as Jacques Torres, etc..
Amazing! Does anyone know when the 10th one takes place?

http://www.fashionwiredaily.com/first_word/fashion/article.weml?id=724

Eat chocolate daily!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Valentines Day at the Melting Pot! Chocolate Fun!

I just wanted to share a great chocolate experience once again-at the Melting Pot Fondue Restaurant. We had their Valentines Day five course meal and it was so scrumptuous! I started off with an excellent chocolate martini that was rimmed with dense chocolate before the affair began then off the the meal-1st course: shrimp cocktail with a very spicy angry cocktail2nd course: tomato basil cheddar cheese fondue3rd course: chopped caesar salad4th course: lobster indulgence5th course: banana fosters white chocolate fondue
Let me tell you about the white chocolate fondue- it was served with vanilla marshmellows rolled in graham cracker crumbs and with chocolate marshmellows rolled in oreo crumbs! ECTASY! It was heavenly everyone! Try it out next year!

www.meltingpot.com
Try it next year!

We love the Barefoot Contessa Products too

Ina Garten has one of the best brownie mixes out there that has double the chocolate! Here at Chicks Love Chocolate we are always after good quality and rich chocolate taste! These brownies by the Barefoot Contessa are both! Try the mix (called the Outrageous Brownie Mix) and we melted the chocolate using the microwave method. Use the defrost setting and do it at 30 second intervals. We love how these came out, rich and scrumptuous brownies that everyone will love! They went like wild-fire at the SuperBowl Party!They are available at the following online stores:
www.stonewallkitchen.com
www.surlatable.com
www.crateandbarrel.com

Enjoy!

How is chocolate good for you?

Dr. Mike Roizen, Oprah's favorite doctor recommends our favorite substance, chocolate for your health! He says that the "flavonoids in cocoa are one of the few saturated fats that the body turns into healthy unsaturated ones"! Wow! The body likes chocolate so much, it makes it into something it likes better! Chocolate rocks! More about this at: www.oprah.com/health/soh/200702/soh_200702_heart14_114.jhtml

Eat Chocolate Daily!

Chocoholic recipes in this month's Oprah Magazine! You'll think you went to Chocolate Heaven!

Oprah is a long time chocolate fan (ever since hitting menopause she has been known to say). I love her recipes this month! These are some great ideas for your sweetheart (or to treat yourself) during the wonderful chocolate season of Valentines Day! Pick up the February 2007 issue and find recipes for:Nibby Napoleons with Chocolate SauceSpice-Dusted Brownies ( I can't wait to try that one out!)Three Layer Chocolate Cake with Blackout Filling
You'll just double over in ectasy with these recipes!

www.oprah.com

Enjoy!

Prescription Chocolate?

Maybe this is our answer to happiness in a pill but it is in the form of chocolate! There really is something new out that I came across in a few of the female magazines- "The Doctor's Chocolate". Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby, MD, PhD states that his chocolates are clinically proven to "reduce daily stress and tension, while improving your mental clarity and focus". Well doc, we don't need you to tell us that! We chocolate lovers have known this all along! What I would like to see is some data on chocolate lovers vs nonchocolate lovers and compare qualities of life! But, thanks for the medical advice and we give Dr. Keith an "A" for promoting the health benefits of chocolate. Unfortunatly, this chocolate product states it is all natural but the ingredient list is full of stuff that I can't pronounce. Now can you find a chocolate especially designed for all those women with fibromyalgia? They need some help!
www.TheDoctorsChocolate.net

Maxine from Hallmark! She's crabby but she loves chocolate!

We love Maxine, the crabby character from Hallmark. She's a chocolate lover and we found this saying from her that sums up her love of chocolate!
MAXINE'S LIVING WILL: (sorry, picture not available)

I, MAXINE , being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of pinhead politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it, or lawyers / doctors interested in simply running up the bills. If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to ask for at least one of the following:
Glass of wine
chocolate
Margarita
chocolate
Martini
Cold Beer
chocolate
Chicken fried steak cream gravy
chocolate
Mexican food
chocolate
French fries
chocolate
Pizza
chocolate
ice cream
Chocolate
cup of coffee
chocolate
Sex
Chocolate
It should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my appointed person and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day.
funny lady!
Enjoy!

Attention all Chocoholics! "Covered in Chocolate" Comes to the Food Network

I just wanted to let everyone know at 8eastern time and 7Central PM all next week (the week before Valentines) would be the Food Network's series "Covered in Chocolate"! Don't miss Emeril, Paula Deen, Rachel Ray, Giada from Everyday Italian, and the rest of the Celebrity Chefs cookin up some great chocolate treats! I can't wait!

www.foodnetwork.com

The Chocolate "Affair"

I recently entered a writing contest where you could, in 150 words or less, write about chocolate and either an event related to it or some feeling you get when eating chocolate. I described my intimate relationship with this wonderful substance that stems from childhood. When I was around 7 years old, a cute yet puggy, little Italian girl living in Connecticut, I used to sneak chocolate whenever available. I was totally IN LOVE with the stuff! I would put it down my shirt and hoard it in my closet. My fave was the All-American, Hershey of course. As I have gotten older, finished multiple degrees and learned a lot more about this unique substance, my appreciation has only deepened, and my love for it only gotten stronger. Now it is like sneaking away with a romantic partner when I am contemplating indulging with my 70% dark. I just hope the affair never ends. I am sure it will last since this is one affair that my husband won't get upset about if he finds out! I didn't win the writing contest, by the way, but I great fun writing the entry! Comment on your relationship with chocolate, if you can put it in words!


www.chickslovechocolate.com

Chocolatinis for all! Happy Valentines' Day!

We're getting close to our favorite holiday at Chicks Love Chocolate, Valentines' Day! Have fun with it and make some new martini recipes using our favorite ingredient, chocolate! There is this site called martiniart full of great ideas for chocolatini's. They have recipes for Lady Godiva chocolate martini, chocolate orange martini, white blizzard martini, mint patty martini, funky monkey chocolate banana martini, and out in the milky way martini! Take a look and here's the link:
www.martiniart.com/index.asp

Happy Valentines' Day, party on!

Charleston has it going on again with chocolate, now its with chocolate barbeque sauce!

I ate last night at a restaurant in Charleston, SC called Tristan. I had previously visited this chic little place on the Charleston Chocolate Tour where they made the best hot chocolate I ever had. So I went back for dinner to see what other chocolate treasures they would have and I was pleasantly greeted with their newly available Chocolate Barbeque Sauce! Tristan is no road side barbecue joint, my friends, it is fine dining that stands up to all its competitors in Charleston. I had a wonderful appetizer of shortribs grilled to perfection and a side of the chocolate barbecue sauce and I was in chocolate heaven again! Not too sweet, and went great with the smoky barbecue flavor. It is will be availabel online in 1-2 weeks for anyone wanting to give it a try. Chef Duffy was there to greet all his guests and said the bottles were not quite ready to ship yet! The sauce was served to Vanna White and Pat Sajak when they were recently in Charleston taping the Wheel of Fortune and it must have been a hit! Here is the site for Tristan if anyone is interested in buying the sauce when it comes available!
www.tristandining.com

I am ordering all three!

Chocolate on the Verizon!

Verizon Wireless LG Chocolate VX8500 phone comes in Chocolate, Cherry Chocolate, Mint Chocolate, and White Chocolate! It is awesome! The LG VX-8500 Chocolate is the Verizon answer to the iPod. Part MP3 player, part cell phone. Megapixel camera, Bluetooth, sleek slide design. MicroSD port for extra storage. I just wanted to share this and give some information on purchasing! I am definitely gonna get one of these too!

www.amazon.com/LG-VX8500-Chocolate-Verizon-Wireless/dp/B000H7GVA4


www.chickslovechocolate.com

Never do I pass up a good brownie recipe!

I came across a site called www.kitchenchick.com , a blog full of great recipes! I thought I would pass this recipe to others since everyone loves a good brownie-young and old love them! You can do so much with them too- cut them up in pieces and layer them with chocolate pudding for a great truffle, serve them with vanilla ice cream and a great hot fudge sauce, or add a nice raspberry sauce and fresh raspberries with a dollop of whipped cream or just alone with a glass of milk! So simple, yet so awesome! So check this site out and the brownie recipe!
www.kitchenchick.com/2006/11/fudgy_chocolate.html

Enjoy!

Dipping Strawberries/Candy for Valentines' Day

I was given the this link by a friend that was blogging. The link is for a fellow blogger who dipped cinnamon bears in chocolate over the holidays. I think this might be useful for anyone wanting to do chocolate dipped strawberries too especially for Valentines' Day! Take a look!
www.dubandsam.com/blog
If you want to go directly to the ghirardelli site for the recipe, go to:www.ghirardelli.com/bake/chocolate_dipping.aspx

Happy Dipping!
ChicksLoveChocolate

Sometimes Valentine's Day is not for the weak at heart but here is a tip on how to make the best of it!

I have had many a Valentines' Day that I did not have a significant other. I remember one such Valentines' Day when I was a just-graduated pharmacist living in a new town a few hours from home (where I didn't know a soul!). I was doing my laundry at the local laundromat the night of Valentines' Day, reading a novel to pass the time. Out of the blue, a man whom I had never met, brought me a red rose! He said he couldn't bear to think I was alone on Valentines' Day and immediately left. I really was stunned and it was so unexpected. He was a real angel and I remember smelling my rose the whole way home. There are some really special people in this world and it may be that God sends us an angel now and then to remind us of this. So if you are alone this Valentine's Day, think of some of the people in your life who you are grateful for and try not to dwell on what you don't have and what you do have. I am sure you can think of a special angel who came into your life at one point or the other too! Just giving everyone something to think about from ChicksLoveChocolate!

Can't get your kids to brush their teeth? They may with chocolate toothpaste!

Hi Mom chicks out there. If you are looking for further bribes to get your bedtime routine going, here is one more. Chocolate flavored toothpaste! At Tanners Tastypaste, you can get toothpaste in vanilla, vanilla orange or our favorite, chocolate!! Love that idea! Parents magazine already did a story so I am gonna keep the word out on this going! I wish we could have come up with this idea at Chicks Love Chocolate-visit the site at:
www.tannerstastypaste.com

Dark, Milk and White Chocolate? and What are all those percentages?

Sometimes, the wold of chocolate gets a little confusing. I want to make this a simple thing for all. The reason white chocolate is white is because there is no cocoa liqueur or cocoa mass in white chocolate but there is cocoa butter which is white. When buying white chocolate, look for the whitest color! Yellow/white chocolate is usually poor quality. Got that? Moving on to milk chocolate. Milk chocolate contains milk solids and lots of sugar. The beans that milk chocolate comes from are usually less quality. Dark chocolate has been found to contain the healthiest compounds because it really is from the rawest of the substances from the cocoa bean. The higher the percentage, the higher the cocoa mass or liqueur. Do not bake with a higher percentage than 50-55% because it is usually too bitter. But if you develop your tastebuds, the higher percentages are usually better for you because they have less sugar and higher cocoa content so you get all the healthy cocoa compounds in a very potent piece of chocolate. Kinda of like extra strength! Higher than 70% is a little too bitter for most of our palettes but that is an individual preference. Here at Chicks Love Chocolate, are dark chocolates are 55% cocoa. Hope that helps!

Chocolate Tour in Paris!

My friend Sarah gave me an idea to look and see what was going on in the world of chocolate in Paris because she has a website packed with information for anyone who loves Paris! (www.bonjourparis.com) I looked to see what was available and one of the best authors on chocolates, David Lebovitz, has a whole website on Paris and Chocolate! There is an upcoming tour in May 2007 for a whole week visiting local chocolate shops and bakeries that is done by David himself! I love talking about tours since they are so much fun and informative. Please take a look at this tour in Paris. What a better way to enjoy chocolate!
www.davidlebovitz.com

Chocolate Tobacco from Belgium, who knew?

I was in Charleston, South Carolina and visited two wonderful tobacco shops looking for cigars for the hubby- the Tinker Box and the Smoking Lamp. I was so amazed to see that chocolate has now entered the world of tobacco! There is cigarettes in Chocolate Mocha flavor called "Sweet Dreams" and cigars in Chocolate tobacco flavor as well. The smell is just wonderful ! So if anyone is a smoker (and I don't really condone it due to my having a medical background) and loves chocolate, these are some new twists on cigarettes and cigars. My girlfriend tried the Cherry flavor "Sweet Dreams" cigarettes and said that they would go great with some dark chocolate because they leave a sweet cherry flavored flavor in your mouth!!!

Fair Trade Chocolate, Help Spread the Word

Nestle and Mars have been implicated in using child labor for farming cocoa. I would like to say a liitle about this due to the fact that I am a firm believer in using freedom of speech as one of my privileges for living here in the US. Remember when Walmart and the Cathy Lee Gifford story came out? A lot of us applauded her for refusing to put her name on items where she knew children were being exploited. Well people, Nestle and their cocoa farms are doing the same thing but no celebrity rebuttle. Do we have to call Leonardo DeCaprio on this too? This is an exerpt from an article done by www.globalexchange.org on the subject:
"With an annual sales of over $65 billion, Nestle SA is not only one of the world's largest manufacturers of chocolate products but also the third largest exporter of cocoa from regions affected by forced and abusive child labor. Through its subsidiary Nestle Cote d'Ivoire, Nestle maintains distribution, administrative and sales offices throughout the Ivory Coast, even as it claims to have little idea where its cocoa comes from or what the conditions are like on the farms with which it regularly does business."

Corporate-types like Nestle seem to have a way of not knowing what is going on when confronted with their exploitive ways. I hope we all take this into consideration when purchasing one of the most consumed items in America. We should ban this like we have banned conflict-free diamonds coming into the country. Children don't have choices in what they are told to do in these countries and corporations like Nestle should be doing a better job of staying aware and make an effort to change practices that have come to their attention by the public.

To find out more, please visit these sites:

www.globalexchange.org/getInvolved/actnow/nestleslavery.html

www.lwr.org/chocolate/index.asp


Charleston and Chocolate again! February 10, 2007

Mark your calendars! This event helps out at-risk youths and families and you get to enter a silent auction while eating chocolate!!! This is what ChicksLoveChocolate is all about! Love it! We are donating a $55 dollar basket for the event. Look for us there!!! Don't forget to order tickets online before February 8. After that, tickets are no longer able to be purchased online.

For more information:

www.thechocolateaffair.net

Hershey Hotel has it going on!

Chocolate bisque with chambord and chocolate bread that was then made into a bread pudding with raspberry sauce-These are just few of my favorite surprises at their buffet. If your ever near Hershey, Pa stop in at Hershey Hotel for their Sunday brunch! Chocolate fountains, chocolate desserts and a wonderful hotel where Milton Hershey began his journey into the business of chocolate!

To learn more about the Hershey Hotel, please visit:


www.theHotelHershey.com

Chocolate Recipes from Nigella Lawson

My favorite chocolate recipes are from Nigella Lawson's cookbook on 'How to be a Domestic Goddess". Please check it out! She is amazing! Here is an example of one of my favorites:

Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake

1 cup unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 ounces best bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
9x5 loaf pan

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and line loaf pan with parchment. This is a very damp cake and it is what Nigella recommends also.
Mix the flour with the baking soda in a separate bowl. Cream the butter and sugar, either with a wooden spoon or with an electric hand held mixer, then add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well. Next, fold in the melted and slightly cooled chocolate, taking care to blend well but being careful not to overbeat. Gently add the flour/baking soda alternating spoon by spoon with the boiling water until you have a smooth and fairly liquid batter. Pour into the lined loaf pan, and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 325 degrees and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. The cake will be a little moist and an inserted toothpick or skewer will not come out completely clean. Place on a rack and let it get completely cold before inverting out of the pan. This cake is dense and damp and very moist!!! It goes great with pudding or berries! Enjoy!

For more on Nigella and her recipes, please visit:
www.nigella.com

Virginia Wines with Chocolate

On our way up to the Hershey chocolate capital of the US, Hershey, Pennsylvania, we stopped to sample a few of the Virginia winerys. To my liking of course, there was a few wines always pointed out to us that they would be perfectly paired with chocolate! Of course, they were taken home with me along with a few nice sauvignon blancs. Raspberry wines, spiced wines seemed to pair best so look out for these in your travels and stop and support these wonderful and magical small wineries here in the US! It is a great way to break up a road trip!

Chocolate Mint as a Pick Me Up!

I gave my web girl a little gift of chocolate mint mist spray when she came over to help me with using Front Page, the program to update my website. Did you know a little mint with chocolate can give you the pick me up that you need in the afternoon after working long hours on your computer? Try a chocolate mint candle or chocolate mint lip balm for sure! It is the calorie-free way to go!!! Happy New Year everyone!

Wholesaling

Whether you are buying wholesale or you yourself will be selling wholesale, the concept of wholesaling is one you will come across in the chocolate business. I learned from my very favorite people, the state IRS, that you need to give retail liscensing proof to other business owners before you can sell to them. I did not know some of that early on and test marketed a small sample of product with a few business owners without that knowledge. The businesses themselves did not ask though so how was I to know! Just another tip for all startups!!

Organize! No worries!

I have learned that this is key with business. I have been organizing all Chicks Love Chocolate paperwork into files and last night, I organized all my online files also. It is necessary in this world to operate quickly and have all information available at your fingertips for questions etc... I am happy to say that the once this happened, stresses went away immediately!

Suppliers Tip, go Paypal!

Recently, I had a supplier who did not fill the complete order for some soaps. I called them to ask when to expect it and was talked to very rudely by the owner. I was not happy!!! Good thing for paypal though. If you purchase items via paypal, you can dispute charges. Paypal will withdraw the money until the dispute is closed. Remember, when dealing with suppliers to use paypal if possible. It is worth it for instances such as this!!!
www.paypal.com

Come on Girls, Get Along!

Unfortunately, you cannot trust all other woman to help each other out in business. I think because of woman's innate competitiveness (supposedly for reproducing purposes, I have read) with each other that there becomes a need for woman business associations to foster better female relationships. If I was to run a business center, this would be one of my top priorities because it is so unnecessary!!!! Of course, if you are in the same business, there is always going to be an essence of competition but come on, girls, there is no need for competition if you are not in the same line of work and only a win-win if you pair up!!!! I had the recent opportunity to be featured in one of our local women's business magazines called Jolie and because their editor was so helpful, she gets my vote for woman of the year!!! Thanks to her for making my Christmas so special and picking Chicks Love Chocolate as the editor's pick for the Valentines Day edition 2007

Cafepress

If you are unfamiliar with cafepress.com, here is the scoop! This site will let you put any of your artwork on shirts, hats, mugs, etc... and sell it. It is great and easy to work! I use it for all my chocolate designs and it makes my life really easy because you markup your stuff yourself and they make the products, ship it out and send you a check!! Sooooo... easy! I have a little space that I love keeping up with. Yesterday, I changed a banner! Yes, no website experience at all! I just got the HTML code that they provide and placed it on the site where I wanted it! You need to upgrade to premium status if you want to add multiple designs to the same products but it is cheap and for as little as $5 per month! Love that!
www.cafepress.com

Chocolate Walking Tour Charleston December 2006-February 2007

I went on the Charleston Chocolate Walking Tour Friday and had the best time! I highly recommend it! It is full of information about chocolate, how it is grown, what is the difference in percentages of cocoa, how do you use it and on and on! I met two female pastry chefs in Charleston that were using chocolate in so many exciting ways! I had the best hot chocolate ever at a restaurant called Tristan on the South Market. Nicole, the chef, put cayenne pepper, chiles and cinnamon in this rich delicious concoction of chocolate! It was heaven! Then they take you to McCrady's and they make a their best selling dessert called soft chocolate. Way easy! It was rich and delicious! Then we went to Lucas, a small Belgian chocolate shoppe full of delicious goodies! I had chocolate dreams that night! The best walking tour Charleston has to offer!
Please visit the following link to learn more:www.carolinaprofoods.com

FrontPage Tutorial

Yesterday, I learned briefly how to use Front Page from a wonderful woman from Germany who learned Microsoft Front Page on her own and now helps others build their own sites! After realizing that the front page extensions were not installed on the server Blue Host, we were in business! I can now update pages, add images and manage my own site! Front Page is supposedly going to stop being updated this year but I was assured that that was not an issue since Front Page is such a great program already! Girls, if you need to manage your own site instead of paying web developers as much as $75.oo per hour, use Front Page!!!