trader joe's: swiss milk chocolate with 30% whole hazelnuts

delicious! trader von liesl claims that the bar has "incomparable flavor" yet, somehow it tastes just like villars chocolate with hazelnuts. do tell... the bar even has the matching edelweiss imprint on the chocolate. if you are going to repackage and call it your own, demonstrate a tad bit more contrast, give credit, or get a new copywriter.

365 organic: 54% cacaoswiss dark chocolate with mint crisps

pulverized tic-tac's blended into mediocre chocolate with borderline bloom is not my idea of delectation. i must not forget to mention that there is a kind of creepy aftertaste as well. if you do bother to try it, you might want to go better than bad and pick up a box of after eights instead.

i keep telling myself not to buy organic...

teuscher: champagne truffes

okay, i am a total sucker for packaging - - - this has to be the most darling box of chocolates ever. when i was at the teuscher store in san francisco, i had to get it (even though most of the time, pretty packaging does not equal good chocolate)!

the teuscher champagne truffles are gentle, delicate, and a tad too sweet... panache made up for the latter. dark chocolate ganache surrounds a champagne cream center. half of the truffles are dusted with confectioner's sugar and the other half are dusted with cocoa powder.

the story on the back reads:

the boy with the champagne bottle was in a series of collectible items for children at the beginning of the last century. in 1917, when adolf teusher was 8 years old, this picture has been part of his album compilation. thirty year later, in 1947, he had chosen this theme for the first printed box of champagne truffes.

lindt: petits desserts | crème brûlée

in the movie the fabulous destiny of amélie poulain, mr. dufayel encourages amélie to basically seize the day and go after the man she loves and a life she desires. a line that is permanently glued to my monitor, dufayel states, "voilà, ma petite amélie; vous n’avez pas des os en verre, vous pouvez vous cognez à la vie. si vous laissez passer cette chance, alors avec le temps, c’est votre coeur qui va devenir aussi sec et cassant que mon squelette. alors, allez y, nom d'un chien! " in other words, he basically says, "my sweet little amelie. you do not have bones made of glass and you can take life's knocks. if you let this chance pass you by, eventually, your heart will become dry and brittle like my skeleton. so, girl! go get him and don't waste time!"

lindt's petits desserts crème brûlée unintentionally pays tribute to the film. amelie's simple pleasure of taking a teaspoon and cracking her crème brûlée is brought to life with this bar. bits of caramel crack and pop in the mouth. i just wish the bar was not so sweet and perhaps made as a dark bar.

villars: chocolat a l'ancienne 64%

this is just a decent dark chocolate... no disappointment but no thrill ride either... it is fine for the novice or for the movies... if you do decide to go to the theatre, check out my grandfather in superhero movie.

happy 90th birthday milt!

addendum:
over the weekend we went to see milt's film. it was absolutely horrible. i don't think intoxication could even fix the film. i retract my film outing suggestion!

Chocolate banned in Switzerland

This comes from S.J. Simon ....

Heinrich Escher, mayor of Zurich, was introduced to chocolate in Brussels in 1697 and brought it back home, where it was discreetly consumed at the feasts of the various guilds which ruled the city, until the Zurich Council banned it in 1722 as unfit for virtuous citizens. (It had a reputation as an aphrodisiac.)

The Swiss in general had to wait several decades before wandering Italian "cioccolatieri" brought the drink to Switzerland. The first chocolate manufacture was set up around 1750 by two Italians in a former paper mill near Bern, the Schermenmühle. It was not a great success: the locals did not take to it, and the mill was soon given over to producing flour instead. Nevertheless, before the end of the century other factories appeared in western Switzerland - Vevey, Morges and Lausanne - and in the Blenio Valley in canton Ticino. The first chocolate shop in Switzerland opened in Bern in 1792.

from: http://www.swissworld.org/en/

villars: swiss milk chocolate wtih 30% whole hazelnuts

yum, yum, yum. very swiss, very milk chocolate, and wonderful whole hazelnuts. great for the non-dark chocolate folks.

lindt: intense orange

it is quite intense as the name states. no room for subtlety. dark simple. something perfect to take to the movie theater.

lindt: poir intense noir

this bar is the audrey hepburn of chocolates. classy, elegant, and charming...