Chocolate Lover’s Fantasy 2010

I’m so glad to be writing posts again! School has been incredibly busy for me and I haven’t had time to post…I am going to try very hard to put something up regularly, despite how much school work I have…Besides that, I officially changed my major to Culinology and, honestly, I have never been happier. Just like most college students, I struggled with deciding what I wanted to do with my life. My mom always advised me to “follow my heart” and, as easy as that sounds, it’s the most difficult yet the best advice to follow. However, in the end, I discovered what it truly means to “follow your heart”…it took my whole life of experiences for my heart to know what it wanted and then it took the last few years for me to decode my heart’s language and to find the courage to listen… 
This February was the annual Chocolate Lover’s Fantasy at the Embassy Suites in my hometown. The convention hosted chefs from local restaurants, each of which put on a displays with tastings. I thought it would be a good experience for me to be around other food lovers and to see what kind of creativity chefs bring to a very well-known medium: chocolate.

The first table I made a stop at was Embassy Suites.  I was so impressed (and my stomach was so anxious) by their tartlets.  Plus, all the flavor combinations were very creative. 

Embassy Suites' Table

 My favorite were the two below…

A dark chocolate ganache with a hazelnut cream cheese topping

Milk chocolate pudding tart with raspberry mousse and sprinkles

 These are some more from the Embassy Suites table…

Bakalava with chocolate and almonds

Mango-chile chocolate with pomegranate mousse

The next table was Russ’s Market (with a poor woman trying to fill cannoli on the spot and keep up with demand).

Russ's Market

 Then came Sweet Pea’s Bakery…the table was filled with mini cupcakes!!  They were so adorable.  People love small desserts because then they’ll have room to try other flavors…and by having mini cupcakes this is achieved.  The next time my friends come over…I want to do this for them!

Sweet Pea's Bakery

Chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache frosting

Red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting

 Another table was Lazlo’s Brewery and Grill.  Their theme was “Pretty in Pink” :]  They had pink cotton candy spun on cookie sticks and homemade caramel dipped in chocolate with pink Himalayan sea salt (the combination of salt and caramel was sooo goood).

Lazlo's Bar and Grill

Other restaurants represented that night was the Red Onion Grill, Dish, Runza, The Mill, the Cup, Venue, and Colby Ridge Popcorn.

The night was really fun (despite the fact I went alone).  I came home with my sweet tooth overly satisfied and brought home a few samples for the fam :]