williams-sonoma chocolate cooking class...

Today, Val and I went for a chocolate cooking class at Williams-Sonoma. The head chef was a former Procter & Gamble chemist. She was very informative and reminded me a lot of a female Alton Brown. On today's menu was a Chocolate Sorbet, a Mocha Cake with Spiced Caramel Sauce, a Warm Molten Cake and finally a Chocolate-Banana Croissant Panini, the latter being my favorite. Everything was quite delicious except for the mocha cake which I found to be quite salty.

The head chef (Maral Apelian Banks) explained to us the differences in the type of chocolates that you use for cooking and baking. Let me pass on a tip that she gave us. Try not to use domestic chocolates in baking because they are usually coated in wax and oil for shipping and the flavor is not usually as pure as European and other imported chocolates. Above, you see me holding a 10 pound bar of Guittard Bittersweet Chocolate. Wow. And I thought that the 5 pound Hershey bar was big!

This morning I picked up a few new chocolates that I'll be reviewing in the upcoming days, including a new brownie flavored Hershey bar. It should be interesting. Until tomorrow...

nestle banana aero bar (Japan)

Sorry for the lack of updates. Val was a bridesmaid in a wedding this weekend and most of Friday night and all of Saturday was taken up. Let me just tell you thought that they had an amazing chocolate fountain at the Viennese (sp?) dessert table. The chocolate tasted as if they had used freshly melted Hershey Kisses for the filling. On another note, I'm expecting a large order of Kit Kats to arrive from Japan. In the meanwhile, I have Banana Aero bars to review. Mmm. I don't even have to taste them and know that they are going to be insane.

I could barely read anything written on the package of the Japanese packaging, but let me tell you, I loved it! For one, the entire box was covered in yellow and orange air bubbles as well as flying bananas. Top that off with a talking poodle on ice skates and I believe we have a winner! The box had a perforation on top and inside were ten single-serving bite-sized Aero bars.

Biting in the (small) piece of chocolate was heaven! Now, let me tell you that bananas are one of my favorite fruits / flavors and I've tried many different banana flavored chocolates and candies before. None of them, not even the banana flavored Kit Kat has come close to the real flavor of a banana as this Aero bar. The Nestle chocolate, combined with the aerated banana flavored middle makes for quite a delicious treat. They really don't get much better than this!

Nestle Banana Aero Bar
Size: 5g Calories: 28 Fat: 1.7g Carbohydrates: 2.9g