Be my ….uuugh

February marks a month filled with little harts and chocolate and ugly stuffed bears, pink fluffy stuff and more. This would be the first Valentines day I will spend officially unattached to anyone in 15 years. It makes no difference really, I don’t cherish any memories of any particular Valentines day that was filled with exciting memories or surprises.

The firm favorites will once again make their appearance, chocolates and flowers…the perfect gift for your hormonal high school sweetheart! Not so much for those of us well past our 1st or second high school reunion date.

Just a little note to the men, whatever you are envisioning as your idea of romantic, it won’t come close to hers… If your idea however might get you a slap from your mates as being ridiculously cheesy… Then you might just have a winner. Don’t do the last minute gift thing…just don’t. Female radar is like a superpower, we’ll know…undoubtedly that you forgot, and thought yourself genius when you quickly popped into the shop for a last minute gift.

I suppose for those romantics at heart that still believe in the constitution of showing affection and doting on their special loved ones, you can easily overt a complete disaster if you focus on a few little things…

Women love sappy… Not always, but on Valentines it could never be too cheesy, or over the top. Try too hard….seriously… Try too hard, it will definitely give you some brownie points. Men should realize that they are expected to possess sudden creative abilities to express their deepest emotions. Yes, dig deep, my friend.

If all else fails you can still hope that if love is all you can give, then that should be enough.

Addictively Craving

I have come to the conclusion that I have an addictive personality. Actually, I think I have come to this conclusion several times before, but I really only now truly feel ready to accept it.

I honesty find it so very difficult to refrain from indulging in all the things I love. My addiction definitely ranges between all things delectably delicious right through to non edible but still soul satisfying things.

I have been fighting against my insatiable craving for all things chocolate and have actually been doing very well!! 🙂 I have had some chocolate, but not every day, and not for breakfast ;).

This last week I have been craving anything containing some form of processed sugar cane and cocoa beans…. Sigh…. Chocolate mouse filled with microscopic bubbles of air making it smooth and foamy. I love the feeling of gliding my spoon through the firm yet unbelievably soft decadence, feeling my lips envelop the yummyness, tasting the deeply satisfying sensation of chocolate deliciousness. Yummm

I also crave caramel treat.. I did have some left over after filling a cake, but that little bit just made me want more! Lots more, gloriously golden sweet spoonfulls of pleasure.

Another thought consuming deliciousness that I desperately want is cinnabons. I had one for lunch the other day, but still want more gloriously soul satisfying deliciousness … Cinnamon combined with a soft doughyness, topped with melt-in-the-mouth cream cheese icing. BIG sigh!!

So reflecting on all my recent cravings I have come to the conclusion that I’m undoubtedly addicted… To anything that makes my mouth tingle with delight and awakens all the sensations within my taste buds that scream out with pleasure whenever they come into contact with anything delectable.

Sigh… So whilst my last block of chocolate melts away in my mouth, I feel satisfied with my acknowledgment of my addictions. After all, isn’t the first step to recovery admitting you are addicted? 😉

Magical Mother’s Day!!

Mums are like a magical chocolatey treat
They are kind,good and very sweet.
They make you happy when you feel sad,
And help you celebrate when you are glad
And just like chocolate,
You can never get enough
Of such a sweet and perfect love!

Wishing all mums a fabulously blessed day filled with laughter, love, sticky pictures, burnt toast, kisses, hugs and all the little nothings in between 🙂

It’s beginning to smell a lot like chocolate :)

As discussed in my previous post, I received a gigantic basket full of delectable chocolate surprises from my friend Andra for my birthday. I had been looking forward to her gift for days and had absolutely no idea what it could possibly have been.

Andra told me that I can pack out what is inside, but only if I commit to unpacking everything inside. I obviously did not need a second invitation!! I was greeted with a “sprinkle” of kinder joy bite sized, individually wrapped bits, kinder joy schoko bons and some chocolate gold coins 🙂 I also found some Anna Lize choc chip swiss caramels(yet to be sampled). Speckled eggs, which are soft jelly eggs in chocolate with a crisp candy shell – besides having eggs made entirely of chocolate, these are wonderfully chewy and delicious! Cadbury dairy milk GIANT buttons…melt-in-your-mouth disks that leaves your mouth with a burst of chocolate loveliness. A Cadbury Fudge bar, also not yet devoured. A selection of deliciously dark Lindt chocolate bars that included a sea salt slab, chocolate chili slab, and intense caramel slab… Yummm, absolute heaven!. A Daim milk chocolate wit a crunchy almond centre, it was a little piece of heaven, crunchy and chocolatey leaving a rich buttery caramel after taste. Toblerone, always a winner :). Nutella hazelnut chocolate spread. Then some Ferrero Rocher balls, glorious!!!

Then a carefully selected group of items which caused a lot of laughter and jokes at the table…the selection included some Sugar Mommy kissing chocolate, to be put on your lips of course. Chocolate nipple spread that came with a silver spreading knife – instructions read: “warm knife before spreading, don’t over sharpen blade”. The thought of sharpening the blade would with no doubt have ever crossed my mind hahahaha. Chocolate body paint with a note on the tin: ” a note to weight watchers, body paint loaded with kilojoules but when consumed in accordance with directions is quite likely to have a slimming effect due to simultaneous physical activity” bwhahahaha, chocolate body pens, . It also included a box of “Teenie Peenies”… Very fun and well shaped 😉

It also had some chocolate cherry biscuits that I had for breakfast on Sunday morning, they were absolutely to die for!!! Oh so moreish leaving you with a taste of delectable dark chocolate and an after taste of cherry.
Chocolate Italian kisses were also in there, wonderful with coffee…you have to get the whole thing in your mouth in one go. It was a mix of very light and airy but deeply dark chocolate shortbread.

I can now also indulge in some mouth watering recipes from a recipe book all about chocolate. The basket also include a bottle of wine labeled “the chocolate block”, chocolate incense sticks, and last but not least some absolutely fabulous chocolate scented body wash, body scrub and body butter. The body scrub leaves you feeling renewed and the body butter is gloriously scented and melts into your skin, making it feel unbelievably soft and smooth…. I can seriously eat myself after applying it, and yes…I did give myself a lick, but other than the aroma of chocolate, it does not taste like chocolate 😉 lol!

What a fabulously thoughtful, creative and blissfully delicious gift!!! Besides the mountains of chocolate in my basket, I also received another enormous box filled with chocolate teddies, a huge chocolate bunny, smooth indulgent hand made chocolate squares with strawberry fill, butterscotch fill, and salted caramel fill. White chocolate squares with rich cappuccino filling and milk chocolate squares with a creamy chocolate mousse filling from my baby sister Irene. Another irresistibly smooth Lindor slab with smooth melting filling, a Milka chocolate bar , a ripple bar and of course, glorious minstrels from brother-in-law Brad. Thanks guys!! You all paved the way to my complete chocolate indulgence and no doubt weight gain regime 😉 xx

Add some Sparkle to your wine ;)

Living so close to the Stellenbosch winelands, my husband and I decided to do a bit of wine tasting with some friends recently. On the top of our list was undoubtedly JC Le Roux. The House of JC Le Roux is a well known Sparkling wine producer in the picturesque Devon Valley near Stellenbosch.

We heard that they do a fantastic nougat tasting, and anything that includes a bit of bubbly and chocolate is a definite must in my books 😉 especially when it includes five exquisite J.C. Le Roux Cap Classique and sparkling wines!

Upon arrival we were greeted by the beautiful venue filled with natural light and surrounded my the majestic mountains and glorious vineyards. A meticulously set table awaited us with promise of a tantalizing sensory experience. The staff were all friendly and well educated in the JC Le Roux range of products and methods and our hostess explained all our wines to us beautifully.

We had a selection of handmade treats that included dark chocolate, white chocolate, cherry pecan and cashew nougat, pecan and cashew nougat and rosewater turkish delight tempting our taste buds. Every paring offered you sheer indulgence! The mix of swirls of bubbly and delectable nougat and chocolate was absolutely glorious!

Seeing as my birthday was the 27th, the outing also doubled as a bit of a celebration with friends that I wouldn’t get to see on the day. I felt truly spoilt. Amongst my gifts I received a gigantic basket full of creative, fun, heavenly chocolate treats that warrants an entire blog post on it’s own!

All in all it was a fantastic day and I would recommend it to anyone visiting the area. Go have a look also at http://www.roseshandmade.co.za for all the mouth watering treats we had and even more!