In Chocolate Heaven at the Northwest Chocolate Festival 2012

– by MonSun Chan | TheChocolateDate.com ©2012

Oh chocolate! Oodles and oodles of chocolate samples! Chocolatiers worked their magic to transform those little beans into chocolate delights for chocolate lovers around the world to savour and devour at the same time. What’s not to love?

 

The Northwest Chocolate Festival is a chocolate lovers and aficionado’s dream with so much to choose from. Even if you are not a chocolate fan, I’m sure you will find something you will love. Caramels, raw chocolates, truffles, chocolate fountain, artisan, organic, fair trade, brittles, savories’, spices, gold tincture, vegan, gluten free and many more to tantalize the taste buds.

 

I had a blast last year that I just had to come back to Seattle for another round of chocolates. I mean, who can resist such a treat! The organizers out did themselves again and hosted it at the Convention Centre. It was the perfect venue to house and accommodate large number of chocolate lovers.

 

But for me, besides eating chocolate it was a family reunion. Met up with chocolatiers after one year of Facebook connection. Nothing beats meeting them face-to-face. Have also made new friends with those who came to the festival for the first time.

  

Did you know there is an amazing history behind this little bean? It was worth its’ weight in gold back in then. It was so valuable it was used as currency. You can find out more fun facts when you participate in the chocolate rooms – Chocolate Keynote Room, Cocoa Learning Room, Culinary Kitchen Stage, World of Chocolate Room and Aphrodisiac Room. There you get to learn more about this dark decadence. From the history of chocolate origins to how they are processed, meet the chocolatiers as they share they own stories and experiences and of course the Aphrodisiac Room where sensual play emerges (adults only of course!) Each hour there is always something going on. The hardest part is choosing which session to attend to.

 

 

One demonstration caught my attention and it was ‘Chocolate Pastabilities: white chocolate Alfredo sauce by Karen Neughbauer from Forte Artisan Chocolates. It was great to see how you can expand the use of white chocolate in many savory dishes, which is a great way to impress your date. If you don’t want to use white chocolate you can use of cocoa butter instead. I’ve seen it commonly used in skin products but not as edible cooking oil. Did you know, it has half the calories of butter? (Check out this article How to Cook Healthy Meals Using Chocolate for Your Next Dinner Date) about the pasta and steak cooking demonstration.

 

One of my favorite rooms has always been the Aphrodisiac which has been the focus of The Chocolate Date – get turned and excited again and again. All about chocolate and things you can do with your sweetie. I was excited! There were a few vendors like Babeland who bought their wares and edible chocolate massage oils and creams and The Chocolate Shop offering samples of the original chocolate wine and strawberry flavored. The speaker’s talks expanded on more uses of chocolate as an aphrodisiac, of course. Focusing on its’ sensual uses for love and romance. New this year is the chocolate body painting as you can see in the picture. Was there just in time to see the artist doing last minute touches. Ahhhh so many yummy things you can do with chocolate!

 

Would I go again? Of course! With this much fun under one roof how can I say no? Hope to see you there and maybe we can exchange notes.

 

Well done and congratulations to the organizers of the Northwest Festival! Until next year.

 

If you would like to see the pictures, check it out on The Chocolate Date Facebook page or Flickr photo gallery 

 

If there is a chocolate festival happening near you and stuck for date ideas, make it a date with your sweetie and spend the day with chocolate. Check out for this post for tips: How to Make Most Out of Your Chocolate Festival Date. Women love chocolate and love men who know what to do with it.