Feb 12 2025 - More Chocolate

 

Remember when I looked up all the large quantities of things that are for sale at Costco?  Last week someone told me they had to throw out an enormous jar of Mayonnaise because of how far it was beyond its best before date.  Doesn't that make for one of those creepy scenarios of  picnics with egg salad sandwiches baking in the sun? A culinary-themed horror movie. That won't be the case with chocolate - well, dark chcolate.  Chocolate lasts a long time on the shelf (not in the hands). So  the 1.3 kg jar of M&M's Peanut Chocolate Candy beside the 1.6 kg bag of Swiss Delice Milk Chocolates at Costco might be worthwhile.  That's if you look at the products by most viewed.  Go sort by most expensive to cheapest and there is $82.99 worth of Theobroma Chunkies. Most of the chocolate bars come in counts of 48 items.  But nothing pops out at $500 or so price point.  Like the caviar which is listed at $849 to $1,4999.99.  Costco just isn't into chocolate like cavier.  But then the products at Costco generally aren't the luxury items in the world.   For chocolate?  That would be: The To'ak chocolate from Ecuador is the most expensive chocolate in the world.  That's different than the most awarded in prizes.  Its website says it charges over $300 for a single bar of chocolate.  The public relations story of this chocolate is HERE.   They age their chocolate with wood barrels that have been used for whisky making. They also are experimenting with Cambodian Kampot pepper and Ecuadorian Palo Santo wood to extract aromas and create flavour. Their chocolate is aged up to six years.  You can store dark chocolate much longer than Mayonnaise, as there is no milk in it.   They list the experiments so far -  here.   These are things like French oak, ex-Cognac, American oak, ex-Scotch Whisky.  And the types of Ecuadorian Wood:  Spanish elm, Andean alder.  And then their other aging media - Madagascar Vanilla Bean - of course.  I am sure you can get a sample of something - at the bottom are featured products in the $15.00 USD price range.  I expect these are "flakes" of chocolate.  Still would be fun.

There are many plants with heart-shaped leaves.  These at Longwood were perfect. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Mar 29 2024 - Chocolate Crisis

 

We are short 374,000 tons this season, way up from a shortfall of 74,000 tons last season.  Chocolate prices have tripled.  West Africa is having the problem.  Ghana, specifically.  There is a virus that kills the trees.  Illegal mining pollutes the water and kills the trees.  But mostly the virus.  Some headlines call this a "chocolate meltdown."  The hope is Latin American countries will be able to step up production.  That will help Easter stay afloat. But what about a crisis that could happen daily?  That's the banana pandemic.  We only eat one variety of the thousands of bananas that grow - the Cavendish banana.  Every single Cavendish banana grown is a clone so they aren't adapting to conditions or becoming resistant to viruses.  Panama disease is a fusarium wilt, and just a few spores can lead the way to blighting an entire plantation.   Could it be possible that we will be eating something that looks and tastes like banana but is artificial?  There's a long way to go to get artificial banana flavours that taste like bananas.  Isoamyl acetate has been criticized widely for not tasting like bananas.  Or it tastes like a banana that we don't normally eat, given we only eat Cavendish.   Science Daily says the day will come (that was in 2008) when scientists will fine tune enzymes responsible for flavours in fruits and vegetables.   I guess there should be hope on this one too.  Or we'll be eating all colours and textures of bananas - sort of like the many carrots that are available again. Look up "Can we simulate bananas" and you get a lot of video games  - roblox banana simulator, simulation of giant banana orbiting the earth, turning people into bananas, and banana (pet simulator).   Is there a possible best banana joke in the world?  There certainly are claims for the best banana bread recipes in the world. Maybe the headline is the joke:  "45 banana jokes to get your whole bunch laughing" or "25 banana jokes for a bunch of laughs"   Q - What do you call the period of time between slipping on a banana and landing on your butt?  A - A bananosecond    We won't see a display like this one again at the Niagara Showcase greenhouse.  All that forcing of bulbs and probably not a long-lived display.   The last few years have seen the showcase greenhouse closed most of the winter and open in May.   This year, it is back to festivals all through the seasons. When I went a few weeks ago, the orchids on the white twig trees were artificial. Despite that  it was very beautiful.  That was part of a Cyclamen show and the replacement plants are all real for the orchid show on now.  I got my seasonal parking pass - it was a bit shocking last month to pay $25 for an hour's visit to the greenhouse.

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Mar 27 - How the Eggs Got into Easter

 

I have forgotten how eggs got into the Easter tradition or maybe I didn't really look into it. This comes from wikipedia and seems an astonishing sort of origin:  "The use of eggs as favors or treats at Easter originated when they were prohibited during Lent. A common practice in England in the medieval period was for children to go door-to-door begging for eggs on the Saturday before Lent began. People handed out eggs as special treats for children prior to their fast." What about chocolate and Easter?   "At that time, it was customary to save eggs until the end of the fast, and some eggs were also decorated. The chocolate egg appeared in the 18th century, when the idea of emptying eggs and filling them with chocolate was introduced as a way of marking the end of the fast."  According to Wikipedia chocolate eggs first appeared at the court of Louis XIV in Versailles, and chocolate eggs were produced in 1725 in France and continued thereafter. The big moment of the big chocolate egg is a highlight of Easter.  It is either British Chocolatier J.S. Fry & Sons or Cadbury who created the first modern chocolate Easter egg.  Definitely Cadbury is known for the  invention of machinery that made pure cocoa butter that could be moulded.  Most reports of when chocolate came to Easter dwell on this moment  - in 1875 Cadbury released their first line off chocolate Easter eggs - the hollow ones.  They were filled with sugared almonds. So I guess the story of Easter and chocolate is that it got into Easter through eggs.  The egg story is the complicated one to me.  Many legends and religious myths are part of this tradition.   I found some pictures of Koi in the Lightroom database, and have been editing them to showcase the Koi.

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Dec 19 2023 - Everything Chocolate

 

What is the movie where everything is made of chocolate?  It is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - the 2005 version directed by Tim Burton.  The latest version has real chocolate - so won't that river be  chocolate? f And everything is edible, so they say, in this version compared to earlier versions.  But I read that it isn't a chocolate river this time.  It seems to be a scenic blue-and-white candy river where a chocolate boat floats on top.  We will have to find out for ourselves.   Do you want to know the names of the candies in the original movie?  They are HERE.  The article capitalizes every single letter of every chocolate/candy name: SQUELCHY SNORTER (1971) GOO-FILLED GOURD KICKED BY MIKE TEAVEE (2005) CHOCOLATE BIRD HATCHING FROM AN EGG IN GRANDPA JOE’S MOUTH (2005) HAIR TOFFEE (2005) HOVER CHOC (2023) PRINCE PONDICHERRY’S CHOCOLATE CASTLE (2005) HAIR REPAIR ECLAIR (2023) WONKA WHIPPLE-SCRUMPTIOUS FUDGEMALLOW DELIGHT (2005) There's a lot to a Wonka Chocolate Factory.

The old versions versus the new - everything is edible in the new version.  The Niagara Parks winter garden, or perhaps the winter blizzard garden. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 18 2023 - Wonkas Everywhere

 

There are a lot of Wonkas out there.  Is the best Wonka the original? Who knows - we'll find out with this latest release. The plot summary is a delight.  Here's an excerpt of just one scene: "While on tour, Charlie and Grandpa Joe enter the Fizzy Lifting Drinks room and sample the beverages against Wonka's orders. The drink makes them float up and have a near-fatal encounter with the ceiling exhaust fan, but burping allows them to escape and descend to the ground." The making of the movie is as crazy as the movie. Who was considered for the part of Willy Wonka compared to Gene Wilder?   "Before Wilder was officially cast as Willy Wonka, producers considered Fred Astaire, Joel Grey, Ron Moody, and Jon Pertwee. Spike Milligan was Roald Dahl's original choice. Peter Sellers reportedly begged Dahl for the role. All six members of Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin) expressed interest in playing Wonka, but at the time they were deemed not big enough names for an international audience.  Sammy Davis Jr. wanted to play Bill, the candy store owner, but Stuart did not like the idea because he felt that the presence of a big star in the candy store scene would break the reality; though Davis would make Bill's signature song, "The Candy Man", into a big hit. Anthony Newley also wanted to play Bill, but Stuart also dissuaded him for the same reason. Here's another tidbit. The movie was filmed in Germany. The Chocolate Room set had difficulties and overran its allotted time.  Director Bob Fosse came in every afternoon to complain because the filming was overrunning towards the end and stopping him from shooting Cabaret on the same stage.

I would expect this is just as eccentric - my version of Chocolate and Vanilla. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Sep 28 2022 - Land of Lakes

 

Canada has the most lakes in the world.  We have 62% of them.  There are more than a million lakes n the world with a size of over 0.1 sq. km.  According to a 2016 study, the 10 countries with the most lakes in the world are:  Canada - 879,800 Russia - 201,200 USA - 102,500 China - 23,800 Sweden - 22,600 Brazil - 20,900 Norway - 20,000 Argentina - 13,600 Kazakhstan - 12,400 Australia - 11,400 And looking at the size of lakes, this article shows the size of the world's largest lakes in comparison to each other . It shows the size of the Great Lakes if they were to exist in India, Europe and Australia.      It is interesting to actually see the comparisons, but mostly the information I retrieved about lakes is political or scientific.   What might be interesting about lakes besides all this size and depth information? The Guinness Book of Records with its 2,524 entries for lakes - here are the tongue-twisters: 1. the largest lake on an island in a lake.  that's Manitou Lake.   2. the largest lake on an island in a lake on an island?  It is nameless on Baffin Island.   3. the largest island in a lake on an island in a lake - that's Treasure Island on Lake Mindemoya which in turn sits on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron.  4. Largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island.  This is a small islet, measuring four acres, lies in a small lake on a slightly larger island within a bigger lake on Canada's Victoria Island.  It says that it is likely that no human has ever set foot on the island, but satellite images confirm its status and size. 5. the largest island in a lake.  that's Manitoulin Island.  Our last one is not from Canada - the largest island on another island in a lake on an island is Samosir in the Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia.  Another texture abstract today.

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Feb 02 2022 - Winter Snow Storm vs Chocolate

 

The clouds in the sky are moving fast.  Layers of them above a pale orange layer.  Which of them will come the rain clouds followed by snow clouds that will deliver our snow storm today into tomorrow?  February certainly is a tumultuous month.   That must be why February is also the month where chocolate can dominate and be celebrated. It is a soothing, uplifting, and energizing food and drink.  The debates about the goodness of chocolate are always present.  Here are a few of them. Is chocolate good for me?  The standard answer: Chocolate contains polyphenols which are good for you - reducing blood pressure and having antioxidant properties.  But healthier sources of polyphenols include pulses.  "Pulse” is a derivation from the Latin words puls or pultis meaning “thick soup”. Pulse crops are small but important members of the legume family, which contains over 1,800 different species. Pulse crops are the seeds of legumes that are used as food, and include peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas and faba beans. Now that's a bit of a let-down for chocolate. Is dark chocolate better for me?  Here's the response: It certainly is bitter and hard to taste the chocolate flavour at 100% chocolate.  I once got my Dad some  organic chocolate "nibs".  They are little bits that are considered to be very healthy - Cacao nibs are highly nutritious, providing an impressive amount of protein, fiber, healthy fats, minerals, and plant compounds like flavonoids. They were in an organics store in trendy Liberty Village.  He tried one and gave me the bag back.  Not enough sugar.   And what about these:  Hot chocolate doesn't count,  Chocolate with bubbles in is "lighter", and a chocolate bar is the perfect portion.   While we call these chocolate myths, they do seem more fact vs fiction areas.   Calling these myths seems to make sense given chocolate's history.  The Mayans creation story involves two twins who came into existence when their deceased father's head spat onto their mother's hand from a cacao tree.  Supposedly his severed head had been left on a cacao tree.  The father was resurrected and became the Maize God. The corn from him was used to create the true humans of the world. Can you imagine if the Roman Catholic Church had a "Jesus was spat onto Mary's hand" story?  How different things would be. My "Chocolate or Vanilla" mushroom image transformed in Flexifly.

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June 5 2021 - Truffles from Chocopologie

 

Perigord Truffles have a distinctive smell - somewhere in the skunk, cannabis, mushroom, funky, and musky aroma range for me.  The formal entry says Perigord truffles "bear a pungent, musky aroma that is likened to a combination of garlic, forest floor, nuts, and cocoa. The truffle's flesh contains a robust, subtly sweet, savoury, and earthy flavour with notes of pepper, mushrooms, mint, and hazelnut." Now we know why hazelnut is in the mix.  That's how I got to thinking about chocolate truffles - they came up frequently yesterday on searches for Perigord Truffles.   There is a chocolate truffle that incorporates a French Perigord truffle.  La Madeline au Truffle, created by Danish chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt is acknowledged as the world’s most expensive chocolate truffle at $250 per piece.  It is $2700 a pound.  What a gorgeous website - called chocopologie.com.  "Fritz immigrated to the US in 1996, produces this lavish chocolate in Norwalk, Connecticut under the brand name Knipschildt Chocolatier. This chocolate is made of 70% Valrhona dark chocolate, heavy cream, sugar, truffle oil and vanilla as the base for this rich mouthful. A rare French Perigord truffle is then surrounded by this rich ganache, and then rolled in dark chocolate and fine cocoa powder. The result is absolutely divine and sinful." The chef makes this recommendation on how to eat it:  "I would suggest you serve it on a silver platter, cut it with the best knife you have in the house and eat it with a wonderful bottle of red wine. "The flavors are just so amazing, the ingredients so special that it deserves to have a ceremony made of it." This doesn't sound divine to me - how do you possibly eat a truffle within chocolate.  You will need an extremely sharp knife and I expect you will have to cut it into slivers.  And then won't everything separate.  I don't relish putting more than a sliver of funky, mushroom, garlic, forest floor in my mouth.   But you can order it online from chocopologie if you are more adventurous. Doesn't this bark look flaky and crispy?  The top looks like caramel bark and the bottom chocolate layers.

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Feb 15 2021 - Chocolate Crimes

 

There isn't leftover chocolate at Valentine's. We overindulge in the gift  at Easter rather than Valentine's.  Or perhaps indulgence is the norm on Valentine's. Here's advice in preparation for the Easter leftovers.   "If you've ever tempered chocolate before (hopefully while consulting Kenji's excellent guide), you've likely had a good bit left over—whether you're dipping or coating candies, fruit, and cookies, it takes some extra chocolate to ensure you've got enough wiggle room to get the job done. Now, an extra ounce or two of leftover chocolate is easily managed with a guilty glance and a quick finger to the bowl, but if you've got more than that, it can be saved and reused for another project. Not for tempering, as it's likely tainted with cookie crumbs, swirls of butter, or traces of caramel, but for baking, where such contaminants are both tasty and harmless." Isn't this such delightful and enjoyable writing?  Such good times we can have reading about the chocolate crimes of lingering cookie crumbs or caramel. Did you know that there are such things as chocolate-related crimes?  Parade writer Daryl Chen says they occur all over the world. He has a wonderful sense of humour: WHAT HAPPENED:  Online flower shop delivered box of fruit to a Canadian woman, instead of the “chocolate lovers” basket that her sister had bought and paid for.  THE CRIME: Cruel and unusual deprivation of chocolate.  WHAT HAPPENED: On April 8, a news story was published that began with the following sentences:  “The driver was wearing his tennis shoes on the wrong feet, and he could lift his arms only halfway to his chocolate-covered face when officers stopped him at a Tucson fast-food restaurant.   He seemed impaired. Yet there was no alcohol in the 44-year-old’s system.”  THE CRIME: Damaging chocolate’s fine reputation; disturbing the peace with a somewhat misleading opener. There are more articles on chocolate crimes - here's an enjoyable example: "Leave it to the Swedes to have the most twee crime spree ever. In February 2015, criminals made off with almost a thousand dollars worth of chocolate in three separate raids. One shop owner believes "there is a market for buying chocolate bars and dividing them up into pick-and-mix pieces.” Is food crime on the rise?   There are 10 Common Crimes Against Pasta You Don’t Have to Commit (here). These get perpetrated every day!  I find out that when I oversauce my pasta, that's considered a crime. February always turns out to be a brightly coloured month for me in lightroom and photoshop.  Here's a blue theme with these montages using the same crackled blue background.   So many different effects - what do you think? Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 14 2020 - Chocolate Day is Here!

There are lots of countries who don't celebrate Valentine's Day.  Practicing Muslims consider the concept against Islamic Law.  The Islamic authorities created the religious ruling of fatwa, banning celebrations of Valentine's day. So that would be Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.  I had no idea - living in the "Western World" is bubblesome. Given that chocolate has a reputation as a love food, it isn't unusual it is part of Valentine's Day.  Marie Antoinette brought her personal chocolate maker to Versailles.  Known as the official Chocolate Maker to the Queen, he created such recipes as “chocolate mixed with orchid bulb for strength, chocolate with orange blossom to calm the nerves, or chocolate with sweet almond milk to aid the digestion.” Chocolate producers were creative: Richard Cadbury  marketed his chocolate with Cupids and rosebuds on heart-shaped boxes.  The boxes were used to keep mementos such as love letters. And the Hershey "kisses" were supposedly named for the smooching noise the chocolate made as it was manufactured.  These facts come from the Smithsonian so there's some confidence in the facts - silly as smooching production noises seem. The biggest spenders on Valentine's Day?  Supposedly Singapore.  And the biggest Valentine's box of chocolates? On 2 April 2008, confectionery retailer Thorntons and prop-maker Russell Beck Studio created a box of chocolates that towered 5.04 m (16 ft 6 in) tall. It weighed 1,690 kg (3,725 lb). From the Collection of hearts on my Redbubble site...

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Feb 6 2020 - Chocolate Day x 365

How many chocolate days are there in the year?  World Chocolate Day is July 7th. Or maybe October 28th, or December 28th.  And there's International Chocolate Day on September 13th.  Variants such as National Milk Chocolate Day, National White Chocolate Day and National Cocoa Day join the days.   EuroChocolate is an annual chocolate festival in Perugia, the capital of Umbria in Italy. It is such a good idea, that Rome and Turin also have chocolate festivals.  But Perugia's is huge: it starts on October 16th and ends of October 25th this year and has over one million visitors.  I guess chocolate is popular in Italy. I decided to find out if there are chocolate days all year long. If it is this popular in Italy, it is popular everywhere.  So the situation is that you can celebrate chocolate pretty well every week.  The list of chocolate holidays is HERE - there are celebrations every month - think things like National chocolate cupcake day or bittersweet chocolate with almonds day.  Don't forget Office Chocolate Day - that's the suggested day to give your colleague a vegan chocolate present.   What kind of candy is never on time? ChocoLATE What is a French cat's favorite dessert? Chocolate mousse! Why did the Oreo go to the dentist? Because it lost its filling  Today's Valentine was found in a back alley of Queen Street West.

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