HoCho Fest Day 3: My Funny Valentine

With books on my back, I traveled today to Blenz Coffee (one of four participating locations) for a new hot chocolate festival experience. The familiar wooden interior and ambience of "studying" greeted me, and I examined my two options: "Mint To Be" and "My Funny Valentine". I went with the latter as it described dark chocolate and sounded as though it would be yummy with almond milk (my Achilles heel, evidently).

A 50% dark Belgian chocolate with ginger.
Served with a mini chocolate croissant. 

($4.99)

Unfortunately, I am unable to speak to the mini chocolate croissant's contribution - they had run out! I had been looking forward to a cute-sized treat alongside my cup of deliciousness. Beyond that, however, there is the focus of my visit to Blenz: The beverage!
The hot chocolate was served warm, but not hot - almost past the point of being "just right", but that is besides the point of taste, as it was very manageable to drink this way. My first taste was potent with ginger flavour and a dark chocolate undertone. My second and third sips introduced more balance in flavours, and the chocolate and ginger began to mesh more effectively as I became more accustomed to the strong ginger. It had a thick chocolaty and gingery aftertaste which left my tastebuds saturated and content. The almond milk worked with this drink as well - I do not believe Blenz uses sweetened almond milk, so it did not add any unnecessary sweetness to the ginger syrup and melted chocolate combination. An artistic touch on the top of the drink and a most excellent job aerating the milk to its fluffy state brought it all together, and would result in me returning for another, but perhaps with only one pump of ginger instead of two.

I would also be interested in trying the Mint To Be option, but perhaps with dark chocolate if possible!

What shall day four bring?

HoCho Fest Day 2: Call Me A Cab

Today's adventure in hot chocolate tasting took me to Terra Breads in Kitsilano. I have only had the baking sort of treat from them, and had no idea there was such a range of specialty beverages and meal items! Along with my hot chocolate, I enjoyed an avocado and veggie sandwich. 

The hot chocolate is called "Call Me A Cab" - one of Terra's two items offered for the festival. I vouched for this one as the other was white chocolate and I wished not to test my stomach's sweetness tolerance for the afternoon. 

Call Me A Cab: Cacao Barry Extra Brute Hot Chocolate with Cabernet, cinnamon and pear. Served with a pear crisp and a cocoa sugar cookie. 

I ordered it with soy milk, and found it to be extremely light and fluffy. There was no overwhelming sweetness or intense chocolatey-ness (in a rather pleasant way). I had trouble detecting the pear flavours, but was met with a hint of the Cabernet throughout the whole drink and it finished on a cinnamon-y note which sat on my tongue. The pear crisp atop it was a unique and delicious treat, and the heart-shaped cocoa sugar cookie was yummy and made for good dunking! 

I quite enjoyed today's experience and will definitely return to the location for sandwiches that are perfectly-sized, healthy, and delicious. Perhaps for the less-than-$5 soup I saw on the menu as well! I look forward to what tomorrow brings. 

HoCho Fest Day 1: Passionista

Today (actually, yesterday) marked the beginning of the 2014 Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival! I am very excited, and thusly decided to make my first stop Thomas Haas Chocolates. Here, they offered the "Campfire" and the "Passionista" - I tried the latter.

"Fresh passion fruit-infused hot chocolate with Grand Marnier Chantilly, served with passion fruit Pate de Fruit."

($5.95)

I ordered mine to be made with almond milk, while my friend Alex ordered the Campfire made regularly (my small taste yielded happy taste buds). The woman who took my order informed me that no one had ordered the Passionista with almond milk yet, and to return with a review for her. This, more or less, is what I said:

It was very unique! The passion fruit taste was very strong throughout the entire drink and was unlike any thing I had tried in a beverage before, particularly one with chocolate. I found that the almond milk offered a very clear nutty tone to the entire drink, which was not bad! However, I believe that if I had ordered it with soy milk, the greater creaminess of the soy milk would have better absorbed the fruit flavours. The fruit flavours are very unique (in my experience) to have with hot chocolate, and having the almond flavour remain slightly separate from the fruit flavours was slightly overwhelming.

Overall, I would love to try it again with soy milk, and am happy that I tried one with a sexy name to start off a delicious journey for the next four weeks! The passion fruit jellies served on the side were also delectable. 

Dining Discovery: Nuba - Authentic Lebanese Cuisine

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of sampling a "mezze" lunch appetizer from a restaurant on Broadway called Nuba. For someone such as myself, the appetizer sufficed for a meal - it was the perfect size, and happened to be gluten-free and vegan in addition to being DELICIOUS.

My particular appetizer of choice was the Garden Falafel:

"Victor’s secret recipe of organic chickpeas, fava beans, veggies and spices [VE+GF]"

It was only $7.50 and filled me right up to the brim - with pita to spare (I myself do not generally like to consume a lot of bread anyways). They event sent me home with a generous amount of extra pita - perhaps based on my empty plate... 

A definite recommendation for anyone - meat- and veggie-eaters alike!

Click the link to check out their website.

Until the next discovery,
Still Salivating