Kitchen Shower Cupcakes

Review: Whittaker's Milk Strawberry Chocolate 250g

According to the information supplied on the outer cover sheet, by purchasing this particular block of chocolate by Whittaker's you are contributing to the $75,000 Whittaker's is committing to a New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation fund for continuous medical education.

It is a fund that will be used to train more of the vital professionals needed to avoid medical skill shortages in breast cancer treatment.

The actual strawberry image depicted on the front of the pack was captured on an MRI scanner by the Auckland MRI Research Group, at the University of Auckland.

The chocolate block itself is a Milk Chocolate comprising 33% Cocoa Solids.
It contains a Strawberry Filling.

It is a block of chocolate that will appeal to those that are perhaps wanting a milk chocolate treat that is quite sweet overall due to it's fruit filling, yet smooth in texture.

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Chocolate Cupcakes

Review: GuyLian Artisanal Belgian Chocolates 180g

What can I say, these were simply delicious!

A well presented box of 16 chocolates made in Belgium. All 16 chocolates have a very smooth hazelnut praline truffle filling which was just so pleasant to sample.

As it says on the actual box: 'A rich and decadent taste sensation.'

Consists of 48% minimum Cocoa Solids, 31% Milk Chocolate, 25% White Chocolate.
Milk Solids, 23% Milk Chocolate, 29% minimum White Chocolate.

Would make a lovely gift for family and friends. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing them, whilst having a night in relaxing at home watching a movie.

Certainly lovely to share, or to have over time should you want to treat yourself.

Highly recommend for those that like sweet Milk Chocolate, hazelnuts and truffles.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Log Blog Giveaway Results!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Blog Giveaway, which was hosted to celebrate one month of the Chocolate Log Blog being established.

Here is the official random result (generated from random.org):

So the winner of the Blog Giveaway, is Jennifer Morris, the third person to leave a comment/entry on the Giveaway Post.
Congratulations Jennifer! A lovely gift package will soon be coming out to you!

Review: Cadbury Dairy Milk Coconut Rough 220G

This is a delicious milk chocolate product with toasted coconut by the Cadbury Chocolate Company in Australia. It is a chocolate which is made from local and imported ingredients.

It contains 85% milk chocolate, plus 15% toasted coconut.
The milk chocolate contains 26% cocoa solids, 28% milk solids.

Overall, a lovely milk chocolate with the coconut texture evident, yet with a pleasant, relatively subtle coconut taste.

A sweet pleasant tasting and textured milk chocolate for when you would prefer a lighter chocolate, which is lower on cocoa content, yet would like something a little different.

Life is like....

"Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get."

- Forrest Gump in "Forrest Gump" (1994)

Chocolate Cake

Eiffel Tower Moulds

Review: Vandenbulcke Chocolate Seashells 250g

This is a very delicious collection of Belgian chocolates.

Most of the chocolates are presented as seashells, a few as sea creatures.
All are crafted from both milk and white chocolate, with a pleasant combination of a hazelnut and chocolate filling contained within.

Chocolatiers since 1949, this is indeed a very nice chocolate product by Vandenbulcke Chocolatiers, which is presented in an attractive gift box with tray.

Each chocolate is contained in its own niche within the plastic tray, and has been crafted with careful attention to detailing to ensure it represents a specific seashell or sea creature.

A delightful collection of individual chocolate treats with the combined hazelnut chocolate filling being both pleasant and subtle, yet able to be detected in each chocolate morsel.

A very smooth textured collection of chocolate, which is rich enough to warrant sharing with a friend or loved one, or you can simply choose to enjoy it over time should you wish to enjoy the collection by yourself.

A boxed collection I will be choosing to keep in mind as a possible future gift for
family members & friends.

Remember to enter the Blog Giveaway for New Zealand Blog Readers!
This reviewed product will be included in the Giveaway also.
See the Blog Giveaway Post for entry details.

Chat & Chocolate

On Monday evening a group of friends and I get together to watch Downton Abbey.

It has become such a treat to watch the DVD series of this popular television series, to have dessert and hot drinks, plus take time to chat and catch up with each other.

It is just so nice to simply chill out. To take time-out from all that we are each involved in, and consciously organize to have some regular, scheduled 'down-time' with a small group of friends.

My husband takes charge of the whole evening/bedtime/tidy up/week-night family routine in our household on a Monday night, and I get to simply walk out the door to go and have some girl-time with several other ladies. So lovely. Such a blessing.

When we first started this Monday get-together, I volunteered to be the dessert provider. It has been fun coming up with the dessert for each Monday evening's time-out session. To date, we have had quite a range of desserts - some have been home-made, if time and energy has allowed for me to do the baking and preparing. Other times, a quick stop at the supermarket on the drive over to my friend's house occurs instead. Pumpkin pie.... chocolate cake... cupcakes with chocolate butter cream icing.... all have been fun to make and such delightful treats to provide.

Whoever attends the Monday night Dessert & DVD time-out session gets to enjoy putting their feet up. You can have a coffee/a chai latte/a herbal tea/a hot chocolate... whatever hot drink on offer that you fancy. Plus of course, you get to sample a delicious dessert with no focus being on calories or points for the evening. This is purely a relax and enjoy event!

Being able to get together with whosoever manages to turn up on the night, to get to enjoy a big screen DVD movie session in the hostess' family home theatre room, is fantastic.

If we are not watching the Downton Abbey DVD series (due perhaps to too few of the regular ladies attending), then we choose another DVD movie that we all feel like watching.

Then of course on occasion, like last night (as we had not met up over the school holiday period), sometimes we simply spend the whole time chatting whilst enjoying hot drinks and dessert. No movie. Just re-connecting. Lovely.

I am very grateful for this Monday evening time-out experience with a small group of friends. It is great to have my husband happily take on the oversight of the usual family evening routines each Monday night. He also values and sees the benefit for the whole of our family, to have me come home re-charged from having this time-out time. It is so good to have his practical support to make this happen for me each week. It has become an accepted part of our normal weekly family life routine, that Mummy gets this pocket of time for time-out on a Monday evening.

It is so nice also to have a friend willingly open her home each week, and share the benefit of the big screen escapism her family home theatre room provides, with the rest of us who come along each time.

It feels so healthy, to be able to re-group and re-balance everything by having this specific, timetabled time-out time for myself amongst friends. To be able to simply have fun, and time for some respite, in the company of this small group of ladies each Monday, has become very much part of finding the best way for me to look after myself. It enables me to function better and keep on with doing all that I do. All work and little or no play..... really doesn't work.

I have found it to be really truly beneficial to have time put aside to get together for a short, scheduled time with friends on a weekly basis. To be able to take time to provide each other with encouragement if it is required, empathy, compassion, a listening ear, to have a sounding board in a small group setting as a means to toss around ideas, get constructive feedback.... all those things that good friendship can provide, is truly wonderful.

Time can slip by. Connectedness lapse. Busyness so easily can take over.

Imbalance kicks in and occurs......

Time-out, respite, having fun ARE healthy and necessary balancing elements of life, I know the benefits first-hand. I personally really appreciate my Monday evening time-out time with this small group of good friends.

Chat & chocolate. A DVD & dessert. I highly recommend it.

Review: Lindt Creation Divine Hazelnut 100g

This is a milk chocolate product with almond and hazelnut praline, plus hazelnut pieces created by Master Swiss Chocolatiers Lindt & Sprungli, which is manufactured in France.

It contains 16% almond & hazelnut praline, plus additional 6% hazelnut pieces.
The milk chocolate contains 30% cocoa solids, 20% milk solids.

A sweet treat with some nutty texture, for when you would prefer a lighter chocolate which is lower on cocoa content.

Review: Donovans Dark Chocolate Covered Ginger 170g

Donovans Chocolate is crafted in the Waikato Region in New Zealand by Chocolatiers Mark & Paul Donovan, from both local and imported ingredients.

With Dark Chocolate containing 60% Cocoa Solids, this is a very nice dark chocolate treat, with what seems to be just the right amount of chocolate coating on each of the delicious crystallised ginger pieces contained in the pack.

Would recommend for those who like their ginger, and also enjoy good dark chocolate.

Stylish plastic packaging which is resealable, so you can have some and pop the rest away for later, if you wish to do so.

A very enjoyable chocolate and ginger treat - will be keeping this particular product in mind as a possible future gift for family members & friends.

CHOCOLATE LOG BLOG GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate the first month of the blog Chocolate Log being online, we are hosting our very first blog give-away for our New Zealand readers!

How to enter:

Leave a comment attached to this blog post (one comment per reader please, to keep it fair), and you will go into the draw (it will be done using random.org) to win a gift package of the various chocolate reviewed over the first month since the blog's initial launch date on 22 July 2013.

Please note: Anonymous entries / comments on this blog will not be considered as valid entries.

What a delicious, fantastic gift package for one special New Zealand reader!

The draw will be close at 09:00 NZT on the 22 August 2013, and the winner announced via a blog post at 09:00 NZT on the 23 August 2013.

The winning reader will then be asked to contact us within 42 hours with their New Zealand postal address details, so we can then send the scrumptious gift pack of the various reviewed chocolate on to them to enjoy.
 
Help us celebrate our first month of blogging and enter this fabulous giveaway.
Hope you have a great day!

Sometimes......

"Sometimes a girl's gotta have some chocolate!"

- Carrie Underwood

Review: Whittaker's Ghana Peppermint 250g

With 72% Cocoa, this is a very nice dark chocolate created from batch roasted cocoa beans.
Just the nicest amount of peppermint fondant (36%) to balance the higher percentage of Cocoa.
Sourced from Ghana, the beans are batch roasted in New Zealand according to the package labelling.
A nice end-of-the-week treat in the wintery month of July.
Would recommend to those who like a dark chocolate, yet who can enjoy a sweet pepperminty fondant component to their chocolate also.
We would have this bar again.

All you need...

"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.”
 ― Charles M. Schulz

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