Of Chocolates

Cocoa was said to have been discovered somewhere near the Amazonian-Orinoco basin, where the ancient Olmecs and Mayans dwelled. The earliest known cocoa plantation was found in the regions of Yucatan. Cocoa wasn't just an important part of their epicurian palate, it was money. Aztec Indians are convinced that the cocoa beans were brought down straight from heaven, and those who consume chocolatl(a bitter drink made by boiling crushed cocoabeans) will acquire superpowers and great wisdom. It was well kept secret until a Spaniard named H.Cortez discovered that King Montezumo of Mexico popularized the idea of consuming molten hot chocolatl to improve virility. Naturally, he brought home some of that potent stuff.

The Spanish were the ones who started to mix the bitter South American concoction with vanilla, sweeteners and aromatics to taste like the chocolates that we so love today. And then a Spanish King married a French princess, bearing a gift of a chestful of expensive cocoa, which essentially marked the beginning of chocolate culture in France.

Chocolate continued to be the food for the upper class well into the 17th century until it was made more superbly edible by refining its taste and texture and easily affordable and available in the open market by big chocolatiers like Van Houten, Cadbury, Lindt and many more. From that bitter drink, it has evolved into scrumptious bonbons, ganache, caraibe, tendresse,fondants, royale, caraques, tablette, truffles, pralines, macarons, caramelo...oh, I can go on and on...

The theme of my dreams

Isn't it amazing to learn what was considered as sacred and divine by the ancient South Americans, a couple of thousand years ago is so readily available for us these days. Chocolates continue to be the subject of sinful fantasies, sure fire way to win your way into the hearts of mother- in -laws, and especially lately, souvenirs from overseas friends. Kakteh got me nearly 10 bars of these, I finished them all before I remembered that I should take pictures. Sorry. Temporary short term memory loss possibly due to high pheromones.

So you have read about the serious pig-out session I had with Ayu last week, yea? If not, please click here, I've put up some food pics there,just in case you need to work an appetite for lunch or something? See also our private stash of See's Candies flown in all the way from San Francisco. What you see here is the content of that gold box. As you can see, it was not very hard to eat these giant truffles. This picture was taken minutes after it was opened. What was difficult though, was to refrain from eating more than two at one seating. The trick was to leave the gold box at the inlaws' just so that I don't gobble them up on the get go.

What didn't help was the fact that Aishah is a connoissuer sampler. She eats a bit and when she gets enough of one truffle she would move on to the next one just to see what heavenly filling is next. You never know what you're gonna get, huh, Gump? I could not let the leftovers go to waste so, pop! In you go!

I have always had this mad, mad passion for chocolates. So bad that almost everyone I know would get me some of this stuff for the kick of seeing me all giddy and hyperactive. I remember an old friend who came back for summer hols and gave me huge bars of chocs. I went berserk and totally ignored him while getting orgasmically lost in chocoholic frenzy. Other than great guitar skills, chocolates can be considered as welcomed compromise, when it comes to scoring major points with me way back then. Give me a Baci and you're home free. Give me Godiva, you are my best friend. Give me See's Candies, you are my twin. Keypoint: 70% and above dark chocolate. With an assortment of nuts, if you please.

I discovered cream-filled frozen strawberries earlier this week at Cold Storage, but since I am seriously detox-ing, I had to be forcibly steered away to the salad section in the middle of my hallucination of simmering chocolate fondue, my delectable husband and them strawberries. Oh, gosh! Ayu, please stop me.

My regular trips to The Cocoa Tree does not help much either. I would always keep my purchases below $50 just so that I won't buy too much that I'll regret the extra paunch, eh, pounds. I am not kidding when I say the Japanese make great chocolates, Hironobu Tsujiguchi is one mean chocolatier, or you could just try Royce, your answer to Japanese Godiva. And if you just want to feel overly sexy with the masterpieces by bonbonnieres magnifique, send the boys to get you some knick knacks from, urm, let me see, Le Chocolat de H would be as much fun as Hevin Chocolates. Airports are great places to get your chocs, some restaurants make their own gourmet chocolates too, like Les Amis, and there are a great number of chocolate cafes and bars down here in Singapore. In KL, you could just pop over to the KL Tower and knock yourself out. Otherwise, supermarkets carry a wide range of goodies too. Or better still, order online. Wah, how easy it is to get fat nowadays huh?

Chocolate is always a good ingredient to have fun with in the kitchen. I can betcha there are probably hundreds of chocolate recipes out there.It is always a joy to google chocolatey recipes. One I would like to try is Chocolate Soup with Caramelised Bananas, pictured above. But I would not be too k*nky or brave enough to try chicken fried in chocolate though.

But it is not radically strange to put chocolate in savoury dishes, really. Mole Poblano , poultry cooked in chocolate sauce is Mexico's national dish. So there.

I remember a pen that has a chocolatey smell, which was really popular when I was in primary school. And bath products that smell of chocolates are good for cold weather, kan Ayu?.I have not mustered the courage to purchase edible chocolate flavoured massage oil, but I would someday wish to make a visit to Hershey's and go for that chocolate body mask treatment and that oh-soo-gooey chocolate long bath.

So, peeps, this is what detox-ing has done to me. I could not get chocolates of my mind. Help me God! What's your chocolate story, Charlie?