Côte d'Or

I've never really been a fan of chocolates in general. It's sweet and all but also happens to be fattening. Between being satiated by cacao and fat, there's no fight here. My childhood household was made up of a majority of women who were keen/desperate not to be fat. Somehow, chocolate slipped through the crack and they got fat.

Ok la, not really fat but not your picture of health or even fit. Moderate is the word.

Most (if not all) my chocolates were mostly gifts from people. Never did I buy any myself unless if it was on sale. Not even as treat as it seemed frivolous. Unhealthy and fattening, I didn't need much convincing on why my money is better spent elsewhere. Yes, my frugality stemmed from a very young age. You know what they say, you gotta start them young.

Over the years, it felt like I was missing out on something. Like why hold back from trying out things that may bring happiness? As my friends like to put it, save so much money but live miserably, for what? Well, I wouldn't call my life miserable because I opt not to spend it on non-essential items. Just like how exercise is a torture but it's not a torture 🙆

So, as part of my new outlook on life, I embarked on a journey of change. For starters, I got into the online dating game. One of the guy I met was a Belgian guy who swore that this was the best ever chocolate he ever had. My chocolate preference is for usually along the lines of dark chocolate or low milk content and not too big of a chunk.

Since it wasn't that expensive (almost 1 McD set), I figured it was worth a shot. There were few different flavors available but I picked one which had more flavors than just boring chocolate. You know, just in case I don't like the chocolate then I can instead focus on the other stuff with it.

This is how each piece looks like. Stamped with its elephant icon, it is quite thick and there were quite a fair amount of raisins and hazelnuts in it. As a milk chocolate, it's more sweet than bitter due to the higher milk content. I did like it but maybe only because of the nuts.

Another Belgian idea (since it was a Belgian dude who gave it to me) was to make hot chocolate using actual chocolate. It was such a brilliant idea that never crossed my mind as my version of the drink would be sachets of powder emptied into a cup of hot water. Why not melt a chunk of chocolate? It gave way to the idea of making mocha in the same fashion.

Of course, you do need a good chocolate to get good result. Which when you think about it, isn't that quite a waste of a good chocolate? 😭