Uncategorized | with knife and fork

Coffee and chocolate, most divine

So here I am again with my morning cup of coffee and some squares of chocolate.

I really like to try out different chocolate (always dark never milk).

But there are some favourites.

And my ‘regular’ choice for quite some time has been Divine’s 70% bar. Dark, smooth, nicely chocolatey, not bitter. And sensibly priced. A great everyday bar.

So imagine my delight when the people at Divine told me there was an 85% bar being launched and would I like to try it?

Would I? I leapt at the chance.

Here I am looking suitably excited before doing a comparative tasting of 70% vs 85%.

Now I’m someone who likes 100% cocoa solids chocolate, its weird and bitter but really nice. So I wasn’t too worried whether I would like the 85% more just interested to find out how it would compare.

I took a quick shot of squares of each lined up.

I was surprised that the 85% didn’t really look much different (the squares on the right).

I moved on to tasting…..

The 85% was unusually smooth and not bitter, often at this level there can be quite a strong bitter after taste which, depending on what you like, puts some people off. This wasn’t like that at all. It retained the smoothness of the 70% but was more intense, more chocolatey, perhaps more fruity.

I really liked it.

At the moment its only stocked in Tesco but the lovely people at Divine tell me that it will be coming to other shops soon. I hope so because I want some more. Soon.

You can find more about Divine’s products here: http://www.divinechocolate.com/products/bars.aspx

And thanks for the sample bar….it didn’t last long!

Teeny tiny aubergine

Some of the things in the garden are starting to be ripe and harvestable.

Some are only just forming.

I fear many of them will be too late to grow enough before the season is over.

Like this teeny tiny aubergine.

Less than a week on its now actually twice that size.

What do you reckon its chances are?

Lavender harvest 2010

This weekend I ‘harvested’ the lavender from the garden.

As ever there was quite a lot.

So I’m looking for ideas of what to do with it.

So far on the list I have:

Lavender shortbread

Lavender vodka

Lavender water

Lavender scented chicken

Lavender crust rack of lamb

maybe lavender scented jelly (I just need someone with a surfeit of crab apples to help out)

and of course lavender bags and pillows

All other ideas welcome there really is rather a lot of it

(to give you an idea of how much the picture is of it laid out on a table that’s 5ft x 3ft)

Rosehip vodka

There are rosehips in the hedgerows.

And maybe in your garden.

You could use them to make syrup. Or jelly.

But I’m on a bit of a mission to try out lots of fruit vodkas.

Why?

Because they are so simple to do.

They look pretty.

They taste great.

And they make great presents/barter goods.

So I made this rosehip vodka last year…..

You can find my basic method here.

Oh and the pretty glass was a barter with someone I let have some of my damson vodka

Curious acorn

When I was out walking at the weekend I saw this acorn…

In fact lots of the acorns were similarly afflicted by the curious knobbly growth.

I wonder if mighty oaks can still grow from it?

Close up cauli….

I like cauliflower.

Especially with cheese.

Or in curry.

Or even steamed and dressed with oil and vinegar.

Very curly wurly and contrary

What is it with girls and their hair?

They always want it to be something its not.

A different colour. A different style.

Blonde. Red. Chestnut. Black.

Straight if its curly. Curly if its straight.

There’s a whole industry built on this desire to get our hair to do things other than be its normal natural self.

My hair is neither straight nor curly, left alone it has a slight wave.

Of course I want it to be straight. Or curly.

And with a bit of coaxing it will do either.

Right now I’m all for curly.

So I’m loving these two products.

I can highly recommend them.

Now I wonder what they have for when I want straight hair again…..