Ikea Hack: Bedside Pocket

When we moved into our apartment this year, we noticed that our new bedroom was a bit smaller than our old one. Seventy-five percent of the room is taken up by our giant bed, so it can get a little cramped.

I had to give up the luxury of having a night stand, and the closest thing I have is a little book shelf on the wall near my side of the bed. However, it's just outside of easy grasp, so if I want to put my glasses and book down there at night, I have to get all the way out of bed to do it (especially hard on a cold night). I generally just end up throwing stuff on the floor until there's a tiny mountain of books and chapsticks.

IKEA stuff is so cheap and simple, it makes it easy for hacking into other off-the-label uses. We recently got the Flort, a pocket that you can hang off the side of your couch to store remote controls. I got to thinking that it would be really great to hang one of those off the side of my bed, but would it be wide enough to store books that I'm reading?

I knew I'd have to rip a few seams to get what I wanted, but I had to be strategic. Each pocket is pleated in order to accommodate larger remote controls. This is a problem because if I ripped out all of the middle seams that separated the remotes, I would have one giant pocket, but it might have so much extra fabric from the pleating that my books would fall out.

I decided to just cut away the right and left inner seams to give me two medium pockets. I didn't even use a seam-ripper, just cut away with a cheap serrated knife. As you can see, the Flort hack is working out very well for me. I have enough room to store a book in one pocket and I use the other pocket to store my glasses and the remote control for my alarm clock. No more fumbling around outside of my bed when it's cold!

Norman Love Chocolates #20: Mint Chocolate Chip

Mint and chocolate are normally not my favorite combination, but I can handle it. I was interested to try the Mint Chocolate Chip confection, and I really liked the speckled-egg outer shell. (Although it makes me sad that somewhere there may be a chocolate bird looking for her delicious babies.)

The flavor was nice and smooth, a little like creme de menthe. Apparently the truffle part is a vanilla mint, and it had just the right combination of sweetness and mintiness. Not enough to overwhelm the truffle, but just enough to make your mouth a tiny bit tingly afterwards. Also, the chocolate chips on the inside were a nice touch and helped to balance out the flavor. Another very nicely made chocolate!

Norman Love Chocolates #19: White Vanilla Truffle

I was not looking forward to eating the White Vanilla Truffle, but up till now I have been able to suck it up and eat chocolates I thought I might not enjoy, but then I actually did enjoy them. I have a pretty wide range of tastes that I enjoy, and I like to be adventurous, so I was up for the challenge.

On a side note, not only does this chocolate sound scarily unappetizing to me, but it also looks like a kidney stone. What have I gotten myself into?


First of all, I actually really like vanilla in a lot of things. I add extra vanilla extract to my baked desserts and one of my favorite frozen yogurt flavors is just plain vanilla (or sweet cream). However, I already think that white chocolate is too sweet, and I didn't want to combine that with the already-sweet vanilla truffle.

Honestly, this was the worst chocolate I've had in this collection so far. It tasted like that sugary frosting that comes on store-bought cakes. Sometimes I'm in a sugary frosting mood, but not when I order really high-quality chocolates. I think this would have been so much better if the shell had been an intensely dark chocolate to counterbalance the sweet vanilla.

Norman Love Chocolates #18: Venezuelan Dark

There really isn't much to mention about this 66% Venezuelan Dark chocolate truffle that I haven't said before about dark chocolate, except for the fact that there are few things nicer than a truly well-made dark chocolate truffle. This one has more dark chocolate than the Dark Chocolate Cream Truffle that I tried, but I enjoy the extra-chocolatey bitterness so I knew I'd like this one.

Also, I like how artsy this chocolate is. If I was a kid and I still played with Barbies, I'd probably make this one into some sort of special occasion cake (I would say wedding cake but my Barbies were too busy fighting with Ken for that to happen, unless the story was like a spectacularly-bad Lifetime-esque wedding/cheating scandal. Yes, I was a creative child.)


It was pretty much exactly as I expected. There was a nice thin outer shell and the inside was as smooth as silk. There really isn't a word I can use to fully describe the texture. Well actually, I can, but it's gross if you don't like sushi. For those of you who are intense sushi-lovers (like me), it's like eating a really nice piece of Salmon sashimi (that is, just the fish without the rice). It had a very nice smooth/buttery feel but with chocolate instead of fish. (See, I told you it wasn't a great analogy.)

I thought this chocolate tasted a little sweeter than a dark chocolate normally does, and sure enough, I hadn't fully read the description before I ate it all up. Apparently it has been slightly enhanced with plum, coffee, and sweet raisin. That doesn't sound like a great combination, but I really couldn't taste the individual flavors, just the sweetness.

Two thumbs-coated-with-melted-chocolate up!

Norman Love Chocolates #17: Milk Chocolate Truffle

This planetary chocolate is the Milk Chocolate Truffle, described as having "nothing by fine, rich Swiss milk chocolate". Apparently, the reason that you always hear about "Swiss milk chocolate" being the best is because the first solid milk chocolate was invented by Swiss confectionier Daniel Peter. His method involved adding condensed milk to the chocolate, and this was an innovation because up until that point milk chocolate had only been available as a beverage.

I'm not such a huge fan of milk chocolate. It's like when I first started drinking wine and developing my palate. I really enjoyed the sweet wines (I think I even bought an Arbor Mist once), but then as I started drinking more wines my taste began to drift to the dry side, and now I really enjoy reds, although I still stick to semi-dry. In the same way my taste in wine has gone towards the bitter side, so has my taste in chocolate because I only choose to buy darks now. But since this is in my assorted box, the rule is that I am obligated to try it.

The interior was fudgy and it didn't melt easily in my mouth, which is good. It was an exquisite milk chocolate, and it's the kind of chocolate that really makes you realize that you've never had a good milk chocolate truffle before. Sort of like when I still liked wines with sugar added (the thought makes me a little sick now) and then I had my first sip of a smooth semi-dry wine and I realized that dry wines were not my enemies.

Norman Love Chocolates #16: Pistachio Cherry

I was happy to try the Pistachio Cherry chocolate, mainly because I've never tried this flavor combination before and I like to try new things.

This isn't my first experience with pistachio fillings though--I minored in German and have a love for German and Austrian foods. There is a type of chocolate made in Austria called Mozartkugeln that have pistachio nougat. I used to really like them because of their foreignness, but one day I overate a bunch of them and now I can't eat them. So, hopefully this isn't the same thing!

The inside was creamy with a dollop of cherry on top, and honestly it tasted more like a cherry-cheese danish than anything else. If I didn't know it was pistachio I don't think I would've guessed it. But it was good enough and I really appreciated the cherry on the top because it gave it a nice little tartness to balance out the creaminess.

Norman Love Chocolates #15: Pumpkin

It's winter in New England, and while I may not be craving mango, this is normally the time of year that I crave pumpkin. When I was in college, it never failed that if it was fall or winter and I saw a jar of something pumpkin-y, I would buy it. My craving has curbed a little bit since then, but I still love pumpkin pie (doused with whipped cream, of course). So, a pumpkin chocolate? Sure, why not! I'm up for it.

Another thing I do every year is to buy a pie pumpkin (or "sugar pumpkin") in anticipation of making a pumpkin pie completely from scratch. Of course, the pumpkin ends up becoming a decoration in my kitchen and usually sticks around for a period of time well past winter, and then I throw it out because it's bad. I've done this at least three times already--seriously, I am a huge impulse food shopper, especially when it comes to kitschy farmers' market items.

To be honest, I wasn't all that impressed with the flavor of this chocolate. It tasted more custardy than pumpkiny (even looked like it, from the inside), with a strong nutmeg aftertaste. The pumpkin did not mask the flavor of the white chocolate shell, so I had that to deal with too, which is probably why this chocolate was not one of my favorites. One of the things I like about pumpkin pie is that it's creamy and not so sweet (especially because I build an igloo of whipped cream around it), but this chocolate was just too sweet and not that pumpkiny. In the mean time, I'll just stick to my pie.

Norman Love Chocolates #14: Hot Dark Chocolate

This chocolate looked like fireworks, which makes sense because it was the Hot Dark Chocolate. I've had a few chocolate/pepper combinations before. They're mostly good, but sometimes the chalkiness of the dark chocolate doesn't blend well with spicy peppers. I like spice much more when it's mixed in with something like hot chocolate.

In fact, the Mayan people are the first known to have made drinks with cocoa, but the only thing hot about their cocoa was the chili peppers. Apparently, they made a cold drink with crushed cocoa seeds, cornmeal, water, chilis, and other ingredients. I'm completely guessing when I say that the drink was probably served hot (and sugary) once it made its way over to Europe. My mom used to make her own version by heating up milk on the stove and stirring in cocoa powder and sugar, and then adding a little half-and-half. Bottoms up!

I was really surprised at how good this chocolate was. The first taste to hit me was the intense sweetness coupled with the creaminess, then a bit of chocolate and a little spicy aftertaste that went very well with the chocolate. I suspect that I enjoyed it so much because the creaminess of the truffle lessened the burn of the pepper. The description says that this is a "dark chocolate confection ... infused with jalapeno pepper," but it really tastes more like milk chocolate--the best milk chocolate you've ever had. It was like a tiny explosion of flavor in my mouth.

If spiciness is something that bugs you, you might not like this, but it's really not even as spicy as medium salsa and it didn't stick around for more than a minute or two. But you definitely want to try this chocolate just for the intense flavor, and then wash it down with a little milk if you wish.

Norman Love Chocolates #13: White Chocolate Raspberry

This sappy-shaped confection is the White Chocolate Raspberry. I've been eating a lot of the white chocolate confections lately so I did a little research into white chocolate.

I already knew that white chocolate is made with cocoa butter, milk, and sugar, and it lacks cocoa solids because it contains no cocoa powder, liquor, or paste. Because of this, it also lacks theobromine, a compound that gives chocolate its brown color and bitter taste (the darker the chocolate, the more theobromine). Theobromine is what makes chocolate toxic to pets, but white chocolate has an insignificant amount so that's why those gourmet dog biscuits you see are sometimes dipped in the stuff. (Tangentially related: Cats have no sweet-receptors so they generally have no problem avoiding chocolate. However, this doesn't explain why my cat ate half a chocolate bar a few months ago--and no, nothing happened to her, she was just fine.)

The inside was like a thick raspberry frosting with just the right amount of tartness and sweetness. The white chocolate shell went with the raspberry very well and even though I could taste it, I didn't mind it. Of course, that makes sense because white chocolate raspberry cheesecake used to be my favorite dessert from our local bakery.

Norman Love Chocolates #12: Peanut Butter & Jelly

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time! (I know, I'm sorry, but the song did get in my head when I found out that I would be eating the Peanut Butter & Jelly chocolate.) This chocolate was on my wishlist to try out, so I'm really happy it was in the box.

When I was a kid, I thought you could make peanut butter by mashing up peanuts in butter, so I used to ask my mom to make me sandwiches with crunchy peanut butter, jelly, and butter. My logic was that I was making some sort of magic peanut butter in addition to the stuff already on the sandwich. Also, I thought I saw Mr. Rogers do it originally but I was thinking, "Nah, he probably just did a tour of a factory and I remembered it wrong." So I did a little googling and in fact a bunch of people remember the episode where he mixed together peanuts and butter to make "peanut butter".

Also, when my dad was a kid, my grandma Marge used to make peanut butter & jelly sandwiches by mixing together the peanut butter and jelly in a bowl and spreading it on the bread at one time. I know there's a jar you can buy like that now but she was totally ahead of her time, people.

This chocolate tastes as delicious as it looks. The "jelly" is strawberry and it's very nice and smooth and pairs perfectly with the smooth, thick peanut butter. It tastes like a Reese's peanut butter cup with a dollop of jam on top. In fact, that would be a good idea for the Reese's company to market. Or how about this: Nutella, peanut butter, and strawberry jam sandwiches! Yum. I would definitely like to eat a few more of these chocolates.

Norman Love Chocolates #11: Cinnamon Roll

I wasn't too excited to try the cinnamon roll chocolate, just because I don't really have a taste for the real thing, but it's good to try new things and challenge your taste buds because you don't know if you will have developed a taste for something. (Case in point: those new Pringle's Extreme Dill Pickle chips. It's amazing how fast I can munch those up without even thinking about it.)

The inside was the consistency of semi-firm icing, which makes sense since this chocolate contains "buttery cinnamon and pure sugar icing" with white chocolate ganache. The taste wasn't as objectionable as I thought--it tasted mostly of icing with a few notes of cinnamon and even a little yeasty taste from the imaginary bread. It was a tad too sweet for me, but I imagine that people who already enjoy cinnamon rolls would also love this.

Norman Love Chocolates #10: Caramel Apple

Today I tried the Caramel Apple chocolate. This was one of those chocolates that was almost too pretty to eat--if you click on the picture you can see the detail with the sparkly golden chocolate paint over the speckled green.

Caramel apples always sound good in concept--a nutritious fruit coated with a mixture of butter and sugar!--but they were always too unwieldy for me. The curvature of the apple makes it too hard to get a good bite in. But this isn't normally an issue for me because I usually don't like apple desserts, with the exception of one: a good apple-cheddar pie with homemade crust and streusal topping.

The inside was different than I expected because it was melted caramel instead of a solid truffle. It was in a white chocolate shell, and I think dark or milk chocolate would've overwhelmed the caramel apple flavor and made it taste more like a Rolo. It tasted exactly like you would think--very caramelly with a hint of apple. In fact, this confection was better than a regular caramel apple because I didn't have a sore jaw afterwards from cranking open my mouth to get a bite, and I didn't have sore teeth from the mound of caramel that comes off after you take a single bite. They should just put these on a toothpick, stick a few nuts on the outside, and sell them in a pack!

Norman Love Chocolates #9: Peanut Brittle Truffle

Peanut Brittle is a very simple candy to make--basically, you boil sugar and water together, then add nuts and maybe some spices and other ingredients (butter and baking soda), and let the mixture cool and harden. Because it's so easy, this was probably an old recipe, but the history of peanut brittle is up for debate. Some sources say it originated in the US in the 19th century, others say the Celts invented it. I couldn't find a good website with cited sources, so I'll just leave it at that.

Brittle is one of those candies that I really enjoyed as a kid but not so much as an adult. I'm not sure what happens to your tastebuds, but kids usually enjoy foods with simple flavors, which is why desserts made for kids are extra sweet. I've tried to enjoy treats from my childhood only to be disgusted at the sweetness. (I think there was actually a candy goo that I once ate that was basically flavored corn syrup in a tube--although even when I was a kid that was too much sugar for me!)

Funnily enough, when I first read the description of this chocolate, I thought it was Peanut Butter Truffle, so I was really surprised to see the caramel-translucence of the inside. Then I tasted it and I thought, "Hm, tastes more like caramel than peanut butter but maybe my taste is just weird." Upon closer examination of the chocolate brochure, I realized it was peanut brittle, and then it all made sense. I could taste the notes of peanut mixed with caramelized sugar and butter. Isn't that funny how what you think something is can totally change your perception?

Anyway, once I figured it out, this chocolate definitely tasted like peanut brittle, although more brittle and less peanut. Very sweet, perfect for a kid. That is, if you're the kind of person to give your kids very expensive truffles instead of just a pack of M&Ms.

Norman Love Chocolates #8: Strawberry

I could immediately tell that the next chocolate would be the strawberry one without even looking at the chocolate guide. The bright red color and flecks of black seeds on the outside were very appealing.

On a side note: when I finally get my own garden in a sunny spot, I really want to try to grow strawberries. I have fond memories of my childhood home in South Carolina, because it had a huge yard that bordered the woods, and right at the border between the yard and the woods there was a strip of wild strawberries. It was a real treat to find one or two while exploring on a summer day, like I'd found a secret. It's pretty much one of the only things better than finding a Honeysuckle bush.

The inside was an appealing pastel pink, and the taste didn't disappoint--it was like eating strawberry frosting. The white chocolate blended perfectly with the strawberry without having an unappealing aftertaste. If I could change anything, though, I would do this: Instead of using a white chocolate shell, try either milk or dark and market it as Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Truffle. I'm sure that exists elsewhere but it's just a thought.

Norman Love Chocolates #7: Dark Chocolate Cream Truffle

This next confection was the Dark Chocolate Cream Truffle, which contains "49% dark Venezuelan Chocolate made from Criollo beans and blended with cream and butter". I did a little internet research and found out some interesting facts about the Criollo bean: Apparently there are three different cocoa beans, and the most popular is the Forastero bean (used in 95% of chocolate). The Criollo bean apparently has the best quality chocolate but is less disease-resistant and has a lower yield. Most interesting is the Trinitario bean, a hybrid of the Criollo and Forastero beans that produces higher-quality chocolate than the Forastero and is more disease-resistant and has higher yields than the Criollo.

The inside was dark and rich, and it tasted wonderful. I'm not sure if I can tell the difference between Forastero and Criollo beans, but I know what I like and I really liked this. I remember when I first started eating good chocolate and someone told me that in order to properly enjoy it, I needed to let it melt on my tongue instead of just chewing it up quickly. Of course, I remembered this while I was absent-mindedly chewing up this truffle, so I stopped immediately and let the flavor linger in my mouth. What was left did not melt away for at least a minute. It tasted as rich as it looked, with just the right amount of bitterness.

Even though I do prefer dark chocolate over milk, I don't really like dark chocolates with more than 60% chocolate--I feel like they have a bitterness akin to black tea that has had a tea bag steeping it in for more than 10 minutes. But this chocolate was perfect. And don't forget--don't just chomp up a good chocolate like you would with old chocolate bar from Halloween. Savor it slowly and let the flavor bloom in your mouth.

On a different note, we just got hit with a blizzard up here in New England, and here is the view from our second floor porch:

I grew up in an area that didn't get much snow, so it was always a treat for me. However, since I've lived up here, it's lost a bit of it's beauty except for one case: when I don't have to go to work (canceled for today fortunately) and when it has just finished snowing, because the roads haven't turned the snow into slushy muck yet so it's still white. Of course, it also helps that my husband does all the shoveling. I like to appreciate these things from inside my apartment with my heater on.

Norman Love Chocolates #6: Mango

Mango is one of those fruits that I can't get enough of in the summer. I especially enjoy Champagne mangos, which have a creamy texture and sweeter flesh than regular mangos--they taste sort of like a Bellini. However, in the winter, I crave other fruits and if I eat a mango, it just doesn't taste the same. I know it's the wrong season, but it's not so much a taste issue as it is an issue of context--just like eating a pumpkin pie in June.

The inside was very fruity, pretty faithful to what a can of mango puree tastes like. It was very sweet, and I'm not sure if it's because of the whole eating-a-mango-in-winter issue that I have, but it started to tasted a little artificial. Sort of like how eating a strawberry candy compares to eating an actual strawberry. I'm sure it's just me, however--with the quality of these chocolates I can't imagine them using anything other than mango puree to make this truffle. I would rather try this again when it's hot out.

Norman Love Chocolates #5: Espresso Truffle

My strategy for testing these chocolates has been to just go in order of how they are in the box. I haven't really looked too hard at the other chocolates because I want to be surprised at what's coming next. Like many fine boxes of chocolates I've received, this one comes with a nice little brochure that explains what each confection is, and of course there are more varieties than what's in my box. I don't want to be disappointed that my favorite flavor isn't in there (among the best sounding are: Peanut Butter Banana, Sweet Tea, and Pistachio Cherry), so I haven't really inventoried what I've received.

I mention my strategy because the Espresso Truffle is not something that I would normally try first. I drink a lot of coffee at work, mostly to stay awake and cheerful, but I don't really drink it for pleasure (with the exception of Starbucks' Peppermint Mocha--even Andy likes that one). In fact, I started drinking espresso a couple years ago so I could just take a couple shots and be up and ready to go in the mornings (I've since leveled off my caffeine addiction).

Upon cracking open this chocolate, I could immediately smell the espresso. This is no small fact--I am usually congested and don't have a sensitive nose to begin with, so I was really surprised that I could smell this chocolate from at least a foot away.

The bitterness of the dark chocolate perfectly blended with the sweet espresso truffle inside. I hesitate to call it creamy, because while the texture was divine, there was definitely no cream in this coffee. In fact, it reminded me of the time I made espresso (using a moka pot--a stovetop espresso maker used all over italy). According to that website, the Neapolitan way to prepare espresso (after brewing) is to add sugar, no cream. So you end up with a very sweet, very strong drink. (Espresso machines are so expensive and you can make a drink just as good with a decent $20 moka pot, so if you're in the market, you should try that out.)

It was a good chocolate, especially for an after-dinner treat, washed down with a little milk, and maybe a tiny wedge of Tiramisu.

Norman Love Chocolates #4: Cookies 'n' Cream

This chocolate, which resembles a Snowy Plover egg, is Cookies 'n' Cream, which is a recent flavor combination (dating back around the early 1980's according to Wikipedia) based on blending chocolate cookies and sweet cream ice cream.

I was at McDonald's the other day (hey, I can't just live off of expensive chocolates) and I got an Oreo McFlurry and I absolutely loved it. (Of course, I'm trying to eat better, but no fruit can cure a sweets craving.) I'm more of a fan of cream with a little bit of cookie. Will this chocolate measure up to my impossibly high standards?

If you look closely at the filling, you can see specks of darkness. I really appreciate the level of detail Norman Love puts into their chocolates. The outside is a work of art (even with tiny paint speckles!) and the inside is just as beautiful. The specks themselves are not crunchy, the truffle has a creamy consistency throughout, so I'm not sure if the specks are pieces of very moist cookie or just marbled in.

The actual taste was good, definitely a delicious chocolate, but I didn't really get the cookies 'n' cream aspect of it. When I first tasted it, I definitely could taste the chocolate cookie with a subtle sweet cream background, but I found that if I didn't think about the flavor, the truffle just tasted like plain milk chocolate. I am a dark chocolate person, so that was a little off-putting, but bear in mind that this chocolate is still miles ahead of non-Norman Love chocolates. It's a little like being disappointed because you only won the $25 million lottery instead of the $100 million lottery.

Norman Love Chocolates #3: Key Lime Shell

This cutely-airbrushed tropical shell intrigued me, and I was happy to find out that this would be the Key Lime chocolate. I don't enjoy too many tart desserts with the exception of Key Lime Pie, which I'll eat until my tongue gets chemical burns. In fact, if you're ever down in Charleston, SC, you should check out Kaminsky's dessert restaurant and get a piece of their Key Lime Pie and a cold beer--there's nothing better. I haven't been to the Florida Keys and had an actual authentic piece of pie, but I'm sure this comes close. Or, make one yourself--I prefer this recipe because it's so simple and I think that baking it instead of setting it in the fridge gives it a more golden flavor.

Even though I love Key Lime Pie, after eating the overwhelmingly white chocolate New York Cheesecake chocolate, I wasn't too thrilled that this chocolate also had a white shell. But then again, someone has to eat it, so I'm prepared to suffer for my dessert.

I was pleased that the inside was a creamy color, like a real Key Lime Pie. (You can usually tell if a Key Lime Pie recipe is bad when it calls for the addition of green food coloring.) There is nothing extraordinary about the description for this chocolate, just that it's made with "fresh key lime juice for a feeling of Florida sunshine".

The chocolate itself was delicious--tangy and tart, just like the pie, and no white chocolate aftertaste! I think the tartness of the filling actually overwhelmed the white shell taste, which was a pleasant surprise for me. Also, I detected a hint of graham cracker crust, and my husband confirmed this. I would definitely eat this one again. Well, at least if I didn't have to order an expensive box of chocolates again just to get it.

Norman Love Chocolates #2: New York Cheesecake

The latest chocolate to try from Norman Love is the New York Cheesecake. Interesting fact: New York-style cheesecake is actually just plain baked cheesecake that uses heavy cream in addition to the cream cheese, eggs and egg yolks, and sugar. Sometimes cottage cheese and lemon is added to tweak the consistency, which makes sense because all of the New York-style cheesecakes I've had seem to have a fine curd-like consistency in the middle (yum). I happen to be a cheesecake lover, but I didn't know if I would like it in chocolate truffle form. But since I'm a scientist, I have to give in to the risks of self-experimentation (clearly this is too dangerous to give to strangers) and eat the chocolate myself.

The description notes that this chocolate is "New York-style cheesecake folded into white chocolate ganache" and the shell is also white chocolate. The inside is creamy (the consistency of unbaked cheesecake), and if I didn't know what I was biting into before I ate this chocolate, I would definitely be able to tell it was cheesecake. However, once the cheesecake flavor was gone, I was left with a finishing note of white chocolate, which I didn't enjoy. Of course, I'm not a white chocolate person, so if that's your thing you would probably enjoy this chocolate more than I did. My husband's review was "Hm, pretty good!"

Overall I wouldn't eat this particular chocolate again, but of course everyone needs a reject pile they can give away under the guise of sharing, right?

Norman Love Chocolates #1: Cherry Cordial Truffle

I was reading Consumer Reports recently and they had an interesting article about chocolates and they taste-tested and picked the top brands. I'm really not what you would consider to be a chocoholic, but I got inspired to order the chocolates listed in the magazine and do my own in-depth taste tests.

Over the holidays, I came upon a box of chocolates (Whitman's, maybe), and getting into one of those is like playing Minesweeper. First chocolate: cashews, you're safe! Second chocolate: caramel, safe again! Third chocolate: it's off-white and creamy...coconut? No, argh, butterscotch--abort! And then I'm left there awkwardly trying not to taste the piece of chocolate slowly eroding my enamel in my mouth. I never understand why those boxes don't come with maps all the time. I'm always a little wary of chocolate boxes, even the fancy ones, so I will take on the task of eating every single one of these chocolates and giving a report on what's inside.

I'm starting off with the top-rated box of chocolates from Norman Love. I got my first package today, and it is like a work of art.


It's almost too beautiful to eat, but then again I've never been sentimental enough to lose my appetite.

It's quite an experience to have your first bite of a well-crafted piece of chocolate, especially when what you're used to is Hershey's bars and Tootsie Rolls. I never really liked chocolate until I started getting the good stuff--no wonder! It's probably a good thing that the box of chocolates I ordered was so expensive ($50 for a 25-piece variety box, plus $30 for shipping) and not easy to get, because I haven't even eaten more than one chocolate and I'm already addicted.

The first one I picked was the Cherry Cordial Truffle. I'm mostly ambivalent about chocolate-covered cherries, because they come saturated in that milky syrup that makes my teeth hurt. (ButI have had some decent German ones however that have a liquor filling instead.) According to the description, this truffle allegedly has cherry jam and "dark chocolate Amarena ganache" encased in dark chocolate. ("Amarena" is apparently a type of cherry that grows in Italy.)

The quality of the chocolate was superb--it was slightly crunchy but then it was chewy, in a good way. There was a little dab of cherry jam on the inside at the top, and the cherry ganache was amazing. It had the consistency of sorbet and it was just a teeny bit tart, which complemented the dark chocolate shell. Definitely a winner. (By the way, you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge to food porn levels.)

Stay tuned for more adventures in the world of expensive chocolate!