HoCho Fest 2016: 2, 3, 4, 5

Each year, the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival brings together cafes, confectionaries, and restaurants to create specialty hot chocolate beverages to fundraise for a great cause. This year, proceeds of the festival will be going towards supporting the Downtown Eastside Women's Job Training Program of the PHS Community Services Society and East Van Roasters. Each year, I join this win-win-win situation by dropping in to every possible location, tasting delicious drinks and snacks, reviewing my stops, and supporting this superb cause.

-----

HoCho 2: The Bananarama, The Last Crumb Bakery & Cafe

On this rainy Sunday, I grabbed an amiga and headed east to sample a drink from a location that I have enjoyed visiting each year of the festival, The Last Crumb.

HoCho Fest 2016: 1 + Welcome!

My friends, it is the time of year I wait for months on end, the time when my budget is devoted almost wholly to one single cause, a time of tickled taste buds for four glorious weeks. It is time for the 6th annual...

HOT CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL

Each year, the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival brings together cafes, confectionaries, and restaurants to create specialty hot chocolate beverages to fundraise for a great cause. This year, proceeds of the festival will be going towards supporting the Downtown Eastside Women's Job Training Program of the PHS Community Services Society and East Van Roasters. Each year, I join this win-win-win situation by dropping in to every possible location, tasting delicious drinks and snacks, reviewing my stops, and supporting this superb cause. 

Let's begin.

-----

5th Annual Hot Chocolate Festival, 2015 (HoChos 1, 2, 3 & 4)

HELLO!

It has been a long time, my friends. A long time.

The blog has suffered as I have struggled and rejoiced through this fourth year of university. While it is months from being over, the season is currently one of applications, interviews, and planning for the months ahead - it easily feels as though the fourth year of university is already coming to a close for me.

Thankfully, I am forced to pause at this time once each day to enjoy something that always brings me calm and pleasure...

Chocolate.

The 5th Annual Hot Chocolate Festival is back in Vancouver! This year, the festival's funds are going towards supporting East Van Roasters (link), and they are superb! They make delicious chocolate, beverages, their space is great, and they function on a foundation of helping women in Vancouver's downtown east side.

So... The hot chocolate.

I missed the first actual two days of the festival because I was in Las Vegas (que sera sera), so I caught up as quickly as possible over the next few days.



HoCho #1: Balsamic Desiderio, Terra Breads ($4.99)

This hot chocolate was enjoyed in the company of AB the January Vegetarian, while he had the Stollen Kisses hot chocolate (discussed later). Mine was a fairly simple hot chocolate, but was mixed with a balsamic vinegar and decorated with a cocoa balsamic glaze. The sweetness of the chocolate with the tanginess of the balsamic was beautiful, and the cookie was incredibly chewy and delicious. I had mine with almond milk, and that did lighten the texture of the drink from what it would regularly be, I think. I would recommend this if you prefer your sweets to be balanced with a less-sweet flavour. (website)

 HoCho #2: The Lumberjack, 49th Parallel & Lucky's Doughnuts

AC's 'The Nanaimo Bar' hot chocolate

I have been to 49th Parallel in the past, but not for their hot chocolate before - I was (am) excited to see that their two locations near school were participating for the festival this year! Their three offerings included a regular dark hot chocolate with a doughnut of your choice, the Nainamo Bar: dark chocolate with butter icing sweetened milk with a small doughnut on the side, or my choice, The Lumberjack: spicy dark hot chocolate with two maple marshmallows and a chocolate-dipped log. 
The hot chocolate was light due to the almond milk I requested, and that made the spicy notes stand out amidst the dark chocolate. I did not indulge in the marshmallows much, but could smell their sweet maple flavour. A chocolate-dipped log? It was obviously delicious (but more descriptively, it was flaky and a little bit chewy with sugar and finished nicely with the slowly-melting dark chocolate on the end). (49th website; doughnuts website)

HoCho #3: Homemade Oreo Hot Chocolate, Butter Baked Goods (~$5.50)

Butter Baked Goods aren't about that store-bought way of life - they do things their way in their ovens. These "oreos" are made by BBG and for this cocoa, they crumbled them atop the hot chocolate. Made with soy milk, J and I shared a drink with a delicious miniature cookie on the side (the full-sized ones are about three of this wee bites). The cocoa had crumbs and chocolate chunks throughout the drink as the crumblings fell through the surface - it was creamy, had that magical Oreo-chocolate taste, and was enjoyed in the most adorable of locations! They make an abundance of delicious-looking baked goods, including banana bread, lemon loaves, cake, date squares, brownies, large home-made "Oreos", and many, many more. It was like sitting down in a doll house, and the service was incredibly friendly. Highly recommended if you enjoy Oreos! (website)

HoCho #4: Stollen Kisses, Terra Breads ($5.00)

Back to Terra Breads we go! With 20 minutes before this location closed, our flexibility was minimal to obtain cocoa that day! We rushed from campus to TB and J and I shared the Stollen Kisses flavour, as I had already tried the Balsamic Desiderio.

Our drink was made with almond milk (a trend, you may have noticed) and was flavoured with a less-dark chocolate and orange spices with almond syrup. It was a dynamic taste experience as the various flavours found their taste buds across the tongue, and was pleasant right until the end! My only concern was the temperature of the drink, which on both Terra Breads occasions was just-warm. However, the smell of the bakery and the tastes of their festival offerings were excellent, and the service is always friendly and warm. Recommended for brunch, lunch, or a sandwich dinner!

See you next time!

- K

2 Year Vegiversary: Chinatown

This weekend was one that would be full of studying for my upcoming midterm. To ensure I had my heart-warming fix of family, I studied up until the weekend and, on Saturday, I was able to finally get a visit in with my dad!

In addition to celebrating finally getting to see one another, there was another occasion to take note of: My 2 year anniversary of vegetarianism! It has been an interesting and educational and 'fruitful' (ha) journey, and I like to have an excuse to go find some treats to eat. On the suggestion of a friend, we vouched for a restaurant coinciding with our plans to visit Chinatown: Jade Dynasty Restaurant.



We enjoyed a splatter of vegetarian options - my dad didn't order any meat, either! - and then proceeded to explore the area a little. The Cultural Centre was very interesting, and had a gallery featuring two artists that focused on the theme of trees.

 

After walking through the whole of the centre, we explored the gardens outside, then visited a couple of the shops around the main block of the sub-city in Vancouver.

 












We discussed my possible future plans with regards to school and involvement and all of that fun stuff, and made our way to a Hot Chocolate Festival location to indulge in some post-brunch dessert at Thomas Haas Chocolates. 

It was a much-needed catch-up, and was a nice prelude to a stressful Sunday and Monday.
Speaking of Monday...


I was hired as a Residence Advisor! At the end of a long day of hearing no news, I was informed that the computer system had lost my phone number, and I was hired in-person. After much emotional and stressful deliberation, I have decided to accept my offer and take on the new challenges and opportunities associated with the RezLife employee role.

On to new adventures! After RHA elections...

HoCho Fest Final Day (27): Popped Cherry

A bittersweet day for the hot chocolate festival and me! The only sweetness of it comes from the end of my sense of obligation to buying expensive hot chocolates and then later consuming them in greater quantities than I ordinarly would. The bitterness is the end of my contributions to the Women's Job Skills program in the Downtown Eastside, the end of exploring new venues and their exciting specialty items for the festival, and the end of blogging about them every day. However, it has been an exciting four weeks, and the day itself was beautiful and everything (beyond the chocolate) felt very 'right'.

My last stop of the festival seemed somehow appropriate for Valentine's Day, as Gem Chocolates was serving up Glenn's "Popped Cherry" hot chocolate (it is only appropriate for Valentine's Day in a way that is slightly inappropriate, ha ha). Also, the store was decorated for the day, and employees vouched for red, sparkly ties as their uniform!

Popped Cherry: Cherry, chocolate and fig, with a surprising pop.
Served with a dried cherry chocolate creation.
($6.25?)

It turned out I had arrived just in time, as they were onto the last scoop of the specialty ganache for the drink! I think this is what made it difficult to detect the specific flavours during the first quarter of the beverage. Not only that, but I asked for almond milk - and they ran out of that, too! So we decided to go crazy and combine it with soy milk so as not to waste what was already poured.

Each sip was distinctively flavoured with milk chocolate, and the soy-almond milk combination made it smooth. The cocoa sprinkled on top was a nice chocolaty touch, as well (Glenn remembered that I have a no-whip preference, so the cocoa shavings sat upon delicious foam instead).

Towards the bottom of the hot chocolate, I could begin to taste some of the cherry flavour, though I do believe I truly got what little was left of the ganache, ha ha. In addition to all of this last-day-of-the-festival craziness, I missed out on the cherry chocolate creation! However, I was not disappointed by the consolation prize: A homemade chocolate fudge cookie made by a Gem Chocolates employee. It was a moist and gooey and amazingly delicious cookie to be paired with the yummy hot chocolate!


Off to birthday/Valentine's Day dinner we went, and finished off the hot chocolate back at home. Overall, I believe that the hot chocolate was a lovely accent to what turned out to be a really excellent day.

At the end of my chocolate journey for 2014,

I am content with all of my new dining discoveries

and the time with friends and family that the festival

was able to make even more delicious and exciting.

I do not consider myself much of a hot chocolate

connoisseur, but it has most definitely been fun to

experience so many unique creations and locations!

Until next year,

HoCho Fest Day 26: Bacchu's Dream

The penultimate day of the hot chocolate festival is upon us! I took this opportunity to make a quick trip down to Cocoa Nymph before other evening obligations came upon me.

Bacchu's Dream: Made from 72% dark chocolate with red wine
reduction and apple ginger compote.
Served with walnut shortbread (vegan).
($6.65)

 This particular beverage was made with coconut milk (though I ordered almond - this works, too!), and I thought I could detect an aroma of red wine before I even took a sip of the drink. 

WHOA. I definitely could smell it before I sipped it - I realized this upon actually sipping it, and tasting what turned out to be a very strong red wine flavour. My expectation had been to experience more of a red wine undertone, rather than a half-wine half-chocolate drink. This was slightly distressing as I am not a fan of wine, so the taste was overwhelming, and I struggled to detect anything else about the drink for a few sips. Eventually, though, I was able to pick up on some of the apple ginger compote, as little pieces of apple made their way to my mouth as I sipped.

Now that walnut shortbread cookie - that was amazing! It was chewy and had texture from the walnuts in it, and would be perfect to dip in a less wine-y hot chocolate or some tea in the morning, I think.

It was a nice night with a big moon in the sky as I left, and it felt like the week would be ending on a good note. Valentine's Day, big birthday, and the beginning of our reading break - I would expect no less from such a day!

I just couldn't finish it...

HoCho Fest Day 25: ...?!

I was disappointed to find that another location in the hot chocolate festival has stopped serving festival specials - but this time, the website was not overlooked by me! They stopped early according to the schedule online. With a tight schedule and a lot of driving ahead of me, I went to Beaucoup Bakery and decided to get something to drink as an alternative to their "Hungers Satisfied" item.

Note: This post will be short.

The drink I chose was their regular hot chocolate (to upkeep my daily intake of cacao products), and was made of dark chocolate ganache and was flavoured with salt. It came with small sugar cookies on the side that were delicate and lightly sweet.

I ordered my drink with soy milk, and the ganache and soy blended so smoothly, and the richness was countered by the salt, which made the drink more dynamic. Additionally, the small size of the drink was very nice - the perfect amount of hot chocolate for me! While I am disappointed that I was unable to grab a festival item today, it was nice nonetheless to try one of the participants' regular drinks.

HoCho Fest Day 24: Brunette Bangle

Today was a hot chocolate festival day marked with both high and low moments.

First, the low (because then we can move on from them): Really there is only one, and it is having made the discovery that Thierry Chocolaterie stopped participating in the festival as of yesterday - I do not know why, but this means there will be one location that I do not get to attend while it participates in the festival - perhaps I will go visit anyways!

The highs: I was able to enjoy a very unique and delicious hot chocolate with three lovely people! The four of us ventured to Koko Monk this afternoon.

Having done a bit of research ahead of time, I learned that all of their creations are preservative and chemical free! All of the flavours come from their natural sources. A novelty that I appreciate, and a point of pride in their establishment made clear by the chocolatiers that served us today.

Brunette Bangle: Hot chocolate with the exotic hint of curry.
Served with your choice of cookie.
($6.75)

I was hesitant in approaching this unique flavour combination, as I do not generally like curries because the majority I try are spicy and have caused me to avoid them. However, this soy-milk beverage was a surprise to me: It was a really nice balance of real, homemade dark chocolate, and curry flavours! The curry flavours were not spicy, but added a unique dimension to the drink and paired well with the dark chocolate, which was bitter and full of flavour. 

Halfway through the drink, we stirred it with the spoon provided and whew! Curry flavour was in abundance. After more mixing and including the chocolate drizzled along the sides of the glass mug, the flavours seemed to balance again and reach a very happy place.

As for the cookie.. There is not much to say, and not much needs to be said: It is a cookie filled with delicious jam and covered in soft and powdery sweetness. It had the soft, chewy texture that I so love in my cookies.

This spot is a definite need-to-try if you're ever in the Kitsilano area! I want to sample all of their yummy chocolate confections and take a stab at that chocolate fondue fountain... Droooooooling.