A Chocolate World: Ghirardelli Drinking Chocolate

Friends who've known me for years find it odd that I now have such a chocolate obsession. The reality is I never liked chocolate until I began losing weight about 5 years ago. One day the chocolate lust hit and it hasn’t yet gone away.

Thus, I traveled half way around the world to experience my first cup of drinking chocolate only to find that a luscious cup was always available in my own backyard of San Francisco. I just never knew it.

A few weeks back our summer staff at camp wanted me to take them on a San Francisco tourist outing. Cable cars, Chinatown, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and of course, Ghirardelli Square were on the agenda.

Ghirardelli Square is known the world over as THE San Francisco chocolate destination and is the company's flagship retail location. Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is the second-oldest chocolate company in the US, founded in 1852 by Italian chocolatier, Domingo Ghirardelli. [1] In 1893, the company was expanding and relocated its operation to what is now Ghirardelli Square. San Francisco declared the site an official city landmark in 1965. In 1967, the company moved its production facilities to San Leandro, and turned the buildings and original chocolate making equipment into a popular tourist destination.

Because Ghirardelli's ice cream is exclusively made from cow's milk, I wasn't sure what I would have during our tourist visit. I was thinking a brownie (as chocolate baked goods are my vegan exception), but when I saw "Decadent Drinking Chocolate" on the menu, I immediately knew what I wanted. And after a cold windy day along the bay, I knew a cup of warm chocolate would definitely hit the spot. And it did.

Though I was the first to order, my afternoon dessert was the last to arrive but I knew the wait would be worth it.

I was surprised that I could taste the difference between the LaVerna drinking chocolate and the one from Ghirardelli. Though LaVerna's drink was darker in color and had a rich textured consistency, it was slightly sweeter than the cup I enjoyed at Ghirardelli, which was more milky with a subtle bitter bite. The different amount of cacao percentage is the reason for this taste difference. LaVerna's dark chocolate has 53% cacaoa as opposed to Ghirardelli's 58%.

Both of these drinking chocolates are made in the classic way, with a semi-sweet chocolate and blended with milk, as opposed to the traditional French and Belgian style which uses a 60% bittersweet or 70% extra bittersweet cacao and is finished with water. This more traditional European way is thus, non-dairy, and better corresponds to my vegan values, making my vegan-life much happier. I plan to share my bittersweet chocolate drinking experience in an upcoming blog.

Though the LaVerna drinking chocolate was sweeter, I preferred the dark rich dense texture, over the lighter more liquidy version at Ghirardelli. There was a depth in the overall flavor and experience to the cup at LaVerna that I truly enjoyed and savored. While I did appreciate the bitter chocolate edge at Ghirardelli, it was however more milky, smooth, and monotone in flavor. Even though I took my time sipping it, the brew was gone way too fast, and without swishing it around in my mouth, hard to fully enjoy. LaVerna's drinking chocolate, however, served with a small spoon, lasted for a while, and was definitely more dessert than drink. Ghirardelli's on the other hand was more drink than dessert.

Overall I did enjoy my cup of drinking chocolate at Ghirardelli, and it did live up to its menu description providing an "intense chocolate flavor in every rich velvety sip." At $4.95, it may be more expensive than my 2 euro cup at LaVerna, but at least I don't have to fly to Italy to indulge.

Footnote:
[1] Baker's Chocolate is the oldest chocolate company in America, founded in 1780.

Also note, the 14th annual Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival will be held on September 12-13, 2009. I'm planning to take in the experience on Saturday the 12th. Email me if you are interested. $20 gets you 15 tastings. A real deal, if you ask me!

It's a Chocolate World: A Vegan Celebration

It was my birthday this past week, and the camp where I work made me a vegan chocolate cake in celebration. I was impressed for 2 reasons.

1. This was the first vegan chocolate cake one of our cooks had ever made, and it was good. She served it slightly warmed, topped with shredded coconut because, as she said, "I didn't know how else to 'frost' it." Though the cake didn't have the dark bitter bite that I truly love, the cake was very moist, rich, and had an inviting cocoa flavor which was accented nicely by the sweetened coconut.

For a first cake, from a recipe straight off the internet, I was impressed. I had two pieces and scraped up the crumbs because, well, you can't let good chocolate cake go to waste!

I was impressed with the cake for a second reason. 2. The camp staff gobbled up their pieces and wanted more, in spite the fact that it didn't have the "usual" stuff they expected like eggs, milk and animal products. Questions abounded as to how the cake was so moist, so rich, so yummy. In essence, they couldn't believe that this chocolate cake was vegan.

I was impressed by the fact that even some hard care staff members who razz me about my diet enjoyed it, proving once again that you can be compassionate towards animals and still enjoy an excellent slice of chocolate cake. In other words, with a vegan diet, you can have your cake and eat it too.

Though impressed by my chocolate vegan birthday cake, what has really impressed my chocolate taste buds is the international chocolate I have discovered in recent weeks - Italian chocolate, Russian chocolate, Mexican chocolate, even though much of it has been non-vegan. (Just remember, chocolate cake is my vegan exception!)

With the summer now in full swing and school a few months off, I am planning on getting back into a weekly blog and featuring international chocolate delights over the coming weeks. It is a chocolate world!

Though "the perfect chocolate cake" has been my chocolate quest, I have also come to appreciate other chocolate forms like chocolate bars and drinks, and how some of it can be greatly complemented by a little glass of red wine. Having returned from 2 weeks in Italy, I'll begin my summer chocolate blog series with some beautiful chocolate experiences there.

As I hopefully have you salivating for more, click here for the recipe link from allrecipes.com for the vegan chocolate cake the camp staff enjoyed this weekend for my birthday. (It sure beat the boxed lemon cake they made me last year!)

Next post:
Chocolate cake from Assisi, Italy

A raw decision

I have been moving these last few days. Thus, a delay in our vegan nutrition lessons. And as I've been moving, I discovered a new roommate - a field mouse. Because I've been determining how to best deal with my new friend (and I want to share it with you), we have another reason for the delay.

One of my first mornings in this new place, I made way into the kitchen and saw the eyes of a little creature poking around on the partially covered stovetop. When I moved closer, it dashed into the hole of the stove where the gas line comes up, and it disappeared while I tried to get a look to see where it escaped.

I had just moved in and was (and still am) between my old place at camp, which has hot water, and this new place, which still has no hot water. Other than my fruit bowl and compost bin, there is no food here and I've not done much food prep in this kitchen. There were no signs of visit earlier as this 5th wheel trailer unit I've moved into just arrived at camp last week. Thus, this is a new visit and a new place for my forest friend, who I prefer remain a "forest" friend.

A few weeks back I blogged about how I deal with insects as a vegan, and wrote, "luckily, I've not had to face ant swarms or rodent invasions in my place. If I do, you'll probably read it on the blog as I cross that ethical vegan dilemma when the time comes." Well, the time has come. How DO I as a vegan deal with this new dilemma?

At work last week, our camp's Executive Director asked me to pass the message on to our Associate Director that we need more rat poison. If I were to ask the camp for assistance on what to do, I know what their response will be as there has been evidence of increased invasion in other staff resident trailers. (That was a nice thing about my old residence - it was a house not a trailer.)

In moving from a house to a trailer, I've been needing to downsize and make decisions about what to keep, what to store, what to give away what to bring to my parent's place as I will be living there part-time and here at camp part-time when in school (the reason I'm switching residences at camp).

Like most folks, I have a shlew of pots, pans, et al. The night before "the visit", I had just moved a crate of some essential cookware I thought I might need. The cookware was actually in a crate right in front of the stove when I see the eyes looking at me. While moving the crate, removing the metal grate, and covering the entire stove top with cutting boards, I decided to simply leave the crate packed and bring it to my parent's place. And in that moment I decided I will not be cooking here and with that made another decision.

How do I as a vegan deal with the problem of rodents? Become a raw food vegan. (or at least, a raw food vegan while here at camp... for now.) The vegan-me adventure continues. Stay tuned.

MY VEGGIE TALE: Part 3 - a freezer story

(For Part 1 - a weight loss story - see October 21, 2007)
(For Part 2 - a running story - see December 9, 2007)

While searching through the mysterious depths of my overly packed freezer, I discovered this week a bagged plate of frozen leftovers labeled "Paesano P/C with tort". I regularly make meals and freeze them, but oddly I did not remember this one. When I opened it up, I quickly identified the "tort" as "tortellini", but it took a few moments for me to realize that the big brown frozen "PC" glob in the container was ... a Pork Chop! How long has THAT been in there? I had no idea.

Pondering where it came from, I was reminded that just over a year ago I officially made the transition from "part-time meat eater" to "full-time vegetarian". I had been a vegetarian before (see Veggie Tale: Part 1), but did not eat healthy thus I gained a lot of weight. To lose the weight I adopted a healthy carnivore diet. I began running (see Veggie Tale: Part 2), and dropped 40 pounds. (NOTE: If you read Part 2, you'll now need to wait until Part 4 to find out the results of my first marathon).

About two years ago I read a book entitled, "What the Bible Says About Healthy Living", by Rex Rusell, which challenged me to make my fairly healthy diet, even more healthy. The three principles around which the book centers:
1. Eat only substances God created for food. Avoid what is not designed for food.
2. As much as possible, eat food as they were created - before they are changed or converted into something humans think might be better.
3. Avoid food addictions. Don't let any food or drink become your god.

What I found most insightful was his interpretation of the dietary laws in the Old Testament. He demonstrates how these regulations are really God's prescription for healthy eating. Disease (or you could say, "punishment") results when these food principles are violated and not followed. For example, he describes the digestive system of a pig as opposed to a cow. While a cow chews it cud, which gets digested multiple times, a pig eats and what it eats is immediately digested in the stomach. This means that if a pig which as a scavenger eats slop, and then you eat the pig, you've just eaten the scavenged, rotten and diseased slop. Not very clean or healthy, thus the reason for God's prohibition of pork in the diet.

The main applications from the book for me became: (1) Avoid pork and shell fish (which are filters of ocean slop). (2) Avoid refined foods like sugar and white flour. There is more, but I was convicted to incorporate these into my new eating practices, and over the next months, I lost another 5 pounds.

I live at a camp and conference facility where meals are provided for staff members. When I was eating anything, meals were no problem. I'd head to the staff dining hall and eat whatever, which is mostly (I am sad to say), meaty and fatty, with lots of refined foods. Because I was exercising, I was working off the calories and fat. Unfortunately, many of my colleagues do not, and well, I won't go into that. It's been a challenge talking with some of the kitchen staff about nutrition and healthier foods, and challenging them to make changes. They are "old-school" camp cooks.

When I decided to not consume refined foods and not eat pork and shell fish, it created all sorts of "huh?" The kitchen wasn't sure what to do about that, what to make of me. One of my colleagues is a vegetarian, and so are many of the part-time naturalists at camp. The kitchen had figured out how to feed them, but to feed me was confusing. It was easier to tell the kitchen staff that I was cutting back on carbs, and eating vegetarian, though I might eat meat on occasion. As I began to pay attention to the quality of food the kitchen was serving, wanting more whole and natural foods, I began to cut back on meat, and found myself choosing to eat meat once a day, if that.

The turning point in my vegetarian transition came just over a year ago. Because I was eating a 99%vegetarian diet by that time, the kitchen began to forget that I still claimed to be a "partial vegetarian" (or a vegetarian when I didn't want to eat what the kitchen was cooking, which was becoming more frequent). During one meal, I decided to try the meat entry the kitchen had prepared. Seeing my plate, one of the cooks said to me very sarcastically, "Why are YOU eating that? I thought YOU were a vegetarian."

I was shocked and taken aback by her attitude and tone. I don't remember my response, but I played it off. Integrity is important to me (see last's week's blog). And with the integrity of my words and actions questioned, that became the turning point. I decided right after that to cross the line, and admit to myself and tell others, "Yes, I am now a 100% vegetarian. I choose to not eat the flesh of animals or fish."

Though I've had my "oops" moments over the past year, I have not missed eating meat, and I've never looked back. In fact, I moved forward to choosing a vegan life, and even now, I am looking into a raw vegan diet, but that is for another entry in this blog.

The "Paesano P/C with tort" is now out of the freezer, in the fridge as I figure out what to do. I know I will not eat it. I have no desire to eat it. And the thought of eating the pork chop actually repulses me. It's a BIG hunk of dead animal (aka "meat"). I don't like to waste food, but I will probably throw it out. I could eat the tortellini and dump the pork chop. Or I could save it for some meat eater who comes to visit, but probably not, especially after being in the freezer for over 2 years, which is my best guess. I really do need to clean out my freezer more often.