Chocolate here and there and everywhere! pt. 2

.... aaand we're back! How's it going guys?

Okay, so today the spotlight is on the chocolates we got from the festival. They were almost too beautiful to be eaten but hey, unfortunately this is my job. :P So let's see what we got first..

From top left: Giant marshmallow on pretzel stick, s'mores, rice crispy treat, a pile of marshmallows

All of these were pretty much some basic stuff. Not saying that they weren't delicious but the flavors just didn't give any wow- effect. I just really like the idea of putting different kind of treats on a stick.. or pretzel :D I'd say the s'mores was my favorite one out of these four. For some one who doesn't know what a s'mores is, let me explain.. There's marshmallow and chocolate squeezed between two cookies and, in this case, dipped into chocolate. Yup, I just found myself drooling over that thought. :P Let's move on..

This is a tricky one because I can't really remember what the flavors were on these ones. Therefore I'm trying my best to describe the flavor I tasted.

I didn't know what to expect from these because my poor memory so I nibbled a first bite from the purple macaroon. It turned out to be a very pleasant experience. The flavor was extremely delicate and I actually had to close my eyes to define the flavor. It was almost like some kind of flower. I'd say it's lavender but I might be wrong as well. Definitely my favorite one!

The there was the blue one. Don't let the pretty colors fool you! Now this one was a let down. The flavor was notably stronger. I'd definitely say that there was some sort of licorice in that filling. I'm not a licorice hater but nope, I did NOT enjoy this one at all. It was just too weird to be likable.

Black: Lava, blue: Vanilla bean, yellow: Piña colada, oranges: Peanutbutter & Jelly, brown: Champagne, green: Key Lime

These were definitely my favorite ones from all of the treats we got. They're like Gym Badges from Pokemon! Okay, let's start from the top.. That black diamond is called Lava. Pretty scary, huh? We were expecting some super spicy chocolate but it was a disappointment. It was basically just dark chocolate ganache covered with dark chocolate. Where's the chili man?! Oh well..

Then we have Vanilla Bean. OH. MY. GOD! This one just melted in your mouth and the vanilla flavor was so gentle that you just wanted to live the rest of your life in it! Definitely 12/10.

Next up there's Piña Colada which almost reaches to Vanilla Bean's level. The sweet and creamy coconut flavor just spreads in your mouth after you bite it and makes you want more. Vanilla Bean just happened to be super gentle so this one holds the solid second place.

PB & Jelly was alright. The lady who sold these to us told that it's going to be amazing but meh.. I think it was overrated and it tasted like Reese's peanut butter cups which I don't really enjoy that much. Although it was cool to see a different combination/filling in chocolate truffles.

We got a champagne truffle just so I could compare again. This one was pretty much the same one we had on Schakolad chocolates. The champagne in the ganache wasn't too strong and the milk chocolate covering it was just the best!

The last but not the least we have Key Lime. It tasted EXACTLY like my key lime pie! It was such a surprise when I got a bite and tasted something familiar but in the form of chocolate! Definitely on the third place on my list. :)

Overall these showed me how beautiful chocolate can actually be when you put some effort in them. Also the flavors have surprised and taught me that there's much more than just the basic flavors like caramel, mint and orange for example.

Push-up Red velvet Pop

This one here was like the king of all of the cupcakes. I fell in love with Red Velvet cupcakes back in Sweet! cupcakes. That was the first time I got to taste Red Velvet flavor and oh my goodness how I love it! I love the push-up idea in this and reminds me of the ice creams I had when I was little. I would actually prefere these over actual Red Velvet cupcakes since it's so much easier to eat it without having the icing all over your face! :D I bet kids go even crazier over these than me. Such a great idea! 10/10

Pretty little fortune cookies

Look at these!! Aren't these the cutest thing you've ever seen? Yea, I've totally fallen in love with fortune cookies while being here. I've never had one in my entire life until we went to Panda Express. People who have had a fortune cookie can agree that they're pretty simple but something in them just makes me adore them. When dipped in chocolate they only get better, I can tell you that. ;)

Blue ribbon winner by Sweet Tweets Cakery: Hazelnut praline cupcake

 This cupcake got a blue ribbon from some kind of competition so of course we had to get one. The cupcake itself was HUGE! A rich chocolate flavor muffin underneath a gorgeous chocolate cream icing. After taking a bite I understood why this cupcake won a blur ribbon. The sensation was pretty much the same when I tasted the Vanilla Bean truffle. You just wanted to clse your eyes and concentrate on the flavor with all of your senses. Thank you Sweet Tweets Cakery for baking such a delicious cupcake for us! 

Coco Fizz! Yup, it's chocolate soda

 Sunday's absolute star was a bottle of this Chocolate Soda. I saw some kids running around the festival with these bottles and all I could think of was: "Who gave beer to all of these kids?!" After closer inspection I realized I was awfully wrong and started to seek this weird drink from the counters. They had a huge box full of ice and dozens of Coco Fizz bottles in it so of course we had to get one. The idea of chocolate soda was something really absurd but once you got a sip, it wasn't even that bad. I'd say it was like chocolate milk with bubbles. I'm not best friends with sodas so one bottle was enough for me. What I learned from this? Don't be afraid something way too weird until you have tasted it. :)  

The best thing I bought from that festival

 Yes, I actually got something else that edibles from the festival. This book was for half price and definitely a treasure. There's a lot of stuff they don't really have in my other candy books and I bet this will help me a lot in the future. Even the recipes are already converted into grams and whatnot so I couldn't be happier! I guess you guys will see some of these candies on my blog eventually. ;)

The chocolate festival was absolutely a blast and I wish I could go back. Hopefully you guys enjoyed these as much as we did! I have already set a couple of day for the adventures in the future, like Cheesecake Factory and a baking supply store. Therefore I'm going to see you soon chicsters!

Chocolate here and there and everywhere! pt. 1

Good day ladies and gentlemen and what a beautiful day we actually have here!

Last weekend was amazing and especially Sunday since it was time for adventures at Mosi (Museum of Science and Industry). Kind of like we have Heureka for us Finns. We learnt about natural disasters, human life, space junk, stars and the most important part... CHOCOLATE!

They had arranged a chocolate festival for people all ages. There was cookie stacking competitions, candy counting competitions, fashion show, two attempts for Guinness World Record and of course counter after counter full of chocolate.

I didn't really have any expectations beforehand so one can imagine how amazed and excited I was once we arrived to the hall full of chocolate. You could just smell the chocolate before you even stepped into the actual hall. I couldn't love my life more at that moment! :))

They had this system that people buy sort of like tokens and then buy chocolate and whatnot with the tokens. I loved that idea and tried to calm myself so I wouldn't spend all my money there.

Get ready for a delicious pictures because here they come!

Winner dress from the fashion show

Love the idea of putting the flowers on the right into the vase full of white chocolate. Also some mustache lollipops on the far left.

Some AMAZING candy apples by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Didn't buy any because they seemed over priced. ($7 each)

Some cute cupcakes, love those mini ones!

This guy made the ice cream you ordered right in front of you by using liquid nitrogen.

Beautiful macaroons, we got the light blue one and the purple one :3

Such a romantic strawberries, too bad they were $3 each :(

Yep, these are cakes. :D Amazing, right?

Closeup from my favorite cake

Truffles by Irresistible Confections. I've never seen anything that beautiful made out of chocolate!

There was plenty of different kind of treats on the stick for ex. oreos, giant marshmallows, s'mores, rice crispy treats etc. All of them covered in chocolate of course ;)

They just created the cutest things from sugar!

Chocolate fountains by Schakolad. Dipping options were strawberries and marshmallows :3

I'm so happy my boyfriend found this event since we don't have anything like this in Finland. I got so much inspiration from this place and it would be a dream come true to be one of those companies bringing out their products! :) On the part 2 I'm going to show you guys what we got from the festival and review them for you. ;) See you then!

Chocolate Rain

Hello my loyal readers!

Almost 3 weeks behind and what an awesome time I've had here! Besides food, I can't stop drooling after these cars. All I can say is that I wouldn't mind if I had a Mustang.. :D Before getting to the sweet spot I have to bring up some of my favorite food places here.

First of all the supermarkets. They have literally everything. You just name it. All the sushi I've eaten so far is from Publix and I just can't get enough of it. It even tops the sushi I've had in actual sushi restaurant in Finland. Their subs are also amazing and lets not forget the freshly made fruit salads. Mmmm so good!

Next up is the Panda Express. It's the chinese McDonalds for me. Their orange chicken is absolutely the best chicken I've ever had. I also love their fortune cookies since before Panda I had never had one before. Those cookies are just so cute. :3

I left the ultimate favorite for last which is Taco Bell. I honestly could just live by eating Taco Bell all my life. For $5 you get enormous amount of food which takes you up to the heaven. The fact that Finland doesn't really have a place like this makes me extremely sad.

From left top corner: Rocky road, ginger x2, orange peel x2, pineapple, graham cracker, cherry, champagne truffles, pretzel and oreo

So yesterday we visited this small chocolate shop called Schakolad. I had a conversation with a very friendly gentlemen employee there who told me about their business and the variety of chocolates they made. I was extremely eager once I stepped in and saw a pile afte pile of different kind of chocolates. Every single piece f chocolate is hand made on the spot as you can see some of the molds on the back wall.

It's very interesting since they had a couple of same chocolates I've been making. So today I pay some extra attention to the champagne truffles and rocky road. :) I will also tell my opinion of the best piece in this batch we got.

Let's start the tastings!

First we have Rocky road. This one hides macadamia nuts, cashews and little marshmallows inside. So the only similar part compared to mine are the marshmallows. Let's bite in......... hmm! It's soft enough to eat because the marshmallows and soft macadamia nuts. I have to admit that this one is a bit too much nuts for me. Therefore 1 point for my chocolates. :))

This one here is a champagne truffle. It's a way different looking if you compare that to mine. I can also tell that the chocolate covering the ganache is milk chocolate whereas I use dark chocolate in mines. Alrighty, let me see....... oh this is a close one! If i tasted both this and my truffle, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. The milk chocolate makes the truffle a bit sweeter than my dark chocolate so I'd say that this point goes to the Schakolad (;

The overall favorite would be the dark chocolate covered ginger. So far I've eaten ginger with sushi. This combination of dark chocolate and sweet but spicy ginger just blows my mind :3 Not that all the other ones were bad but this one just had that wow-factor in it.

This trip is so far one of my favorites. Not only because the chocolate but also because the employees in there were really friendly and ready to tell me about Schakolad. Definitely two thumbs up and 10/10 for this place my friends. :)

Ps. The winner of the Sweet! cupcakes was the Boston Cream. Just perfect balance between a little bit of cream and chocolate! :3

False alarm folks!

Finally!

After panicking over night and this morning, my blog is back to business. :) 

So on Saturday it was time for some cupcakes. Not any kind of cupcakes but the prettiest and most delicious cupcakes I have ever had. Let me present you the cupcakes from Sweet! by cake factory.

From up left: Peanut butter, I love chocolate, 2 cotton candies

                          Neapolitan, Lemon drop, Orange, Oreo

                          Raspberry, Red velvet, Boston cream and Coconut

We still have some left so I can't decide which one is the best. Although the blue cotton candy one is a strong #1. I was so surprised by the flavor of these cuties. I strongly doubted it since usually when they focus on the looks, they totally forget the flavor. These on the other hand, these are just perfect. They're tasty and just moist enough. 

The store from the outside wasn't even that appealing but once you stepped in.. wow! I don't know what my boyfriend thought but I just loved it. There was pink everywhere and I almost died to that cuteness when I saw that counter full of these little pieces of art. I wish I could bring some of these home! :3 

Definitely 10/10 for this one.

We'll se what I come up with next time. At least I can tell that on next weekend there is going to be a chocolate festival here and you have NO IDEA how excited I am for that! 

Yo yo yogurt

What's up guys?!

after 3 days spent in this paradise I can only say that I'm loving my life here! The sun is shining every single day on the cloudless sky and temperature is just above 20C. Can't complain about the company either. I'm living at my boyfriend's which makes me so unbelievably happy. :) 

But let's get back to business! So I promised to give you some sort of reviews of different kind of food places we're going to. First up we headed our ways to Yogurt land. It's an amazing kind of ice cream bar. Way healthier!

After some heavy lunch we had, I skipped all the yogurts and took just sorbets. A cup filled of guava-grapefruit sorbet and strawberry-lemon sorbet. For toppings I chose kiwi, strawberry and coconut flakes. I'd say that swirl of hot chocolate sauce would have made it perfect!

I'd prefer this place over Yogurtology when I'm in healthy mood. All of the toppings were healthy if you don't count a couple gummy worms in it. Overall I'd choose Yogurtology since the healthy moments don't kick in very often. I always  prefer chocolate as you know. (;

Next time we're getting messy with some cupcakes from Sweet! by The Cake Factory. So stick with the yummy desserts until next time chicsters!