Oh! Oh! Oh! Chocolates

Is it possible to experience the big "O" by eating chocolate? I say, quite possibly, yes.

Last Saturday I went to Oh! Chocolate with my girlfriends. It is a fancy chocolate truffles store and they offer a chocolate class for $59.

It was worth every penny.

When we walked to the far end of the store, there were two large marble-top tables covered with wax paper. When resting my forearms on the table, I quickly learned how cold marble is in an overly air-conditioned room on a warm summer day.

When you sit down, you are greeted with an offer for either their java or homemade hot chocolate. Now, this isn't your everyday Swiss Miss hot cocoa. This was the syrupy, decadent stuff that Julliette Binoche served to Johnny Depp in the movie Chocolat. I have wanted to try this hot chocolate for the longest time, so even with the warning that they were running low on the hot chocolate, I still opted for a cup half full. Those six sinful ounces alone was worth the full amount that I paid for the class. Seriously. I took a picture of it, but it just didn't give it justice - just imagine smooth, thick, silkyness coating your tongue and throat in liquid ecstasy and you will get the picture (my, my, is it getting hot in here?).

Shortly after licking my cup clean, the class started. It was being conducted by one of the original owner's grandsons, who shall henceforth be called the "Chocolate Ninja" due to his line of work and the fact that he pulled out a big ass pocket knife and proceeded to tell us about how he takes some kind of martial arts classes. I really enjoyed the fact that a relative of the owner was giving the class, because he was able to provide some family moments and memories that personalized the whole experience. Anyway, during his whole spiel, we had this plate of chocolate in front of us:

Starting at the 12:00 position: cocoa nibs, dark chocolate, mango jalapeno truffle (not something I really like, but still managed to eat the whole thing), semi-sweet, and white.

We started the tasting with the cocoa nibs. They were crunchy, and nutty. Nothing like what you would expect chocolate to originate from. But then we were told to rub them between our hands to warm them up. This brought out a whole new flavor in the cocoa nibs; they became sweeter.


Next were the dark chocolate chips. Chocolate Ninja set us up by asking the question, “Who here likes dark chocolate?” The majority of the class raised their hands. “Let’s test that.” Chocolate Ninja ominously replied.


I put half of one large, flat chip into my mouth. Only one flavor came through: bitter. It was unpleasant to say the least. It is what I would imagine coffee grinds on my tongue to taste like. Unfortunately, for my friend, Lauren, she decided to put an entire chip in her mouth and proceeded to show me her best Bitter Beer Face.


The other three chocolates were dark, semi-sweet, and white. I am not a dark chocolate kind of gal, but this particular one seriously won me over. It was rich, dark smoothness. The dark chocolate was my favorite by far.

Next on the agenda was chocolate tempering time! We were provided with two full cups of chocolate:

To temper the chocolate, you simply had to pour a good amount onto the table and just keep mixing it around with your hand until it thickened and cooled a bit. Once it was at the right temperature, we got to cover an array of snacks: Oreos (my personal favorite!), marshmallows, pretzels, potato chips, graham crackers, strawberries, blueberries, and anything else you may have brought with you (I know for next time to bring gummy bears with me!). I started running out of room on my part of the table. To fix that problem, I simply started eating the stuff I had just covered in chocolate. They actually provided us with so much food that my hand started cramping up! I had to quit a little early because of it. But out of all the things I made, the best was still these:

CHOCOLATE FINGERS!!!

At the end of the class, you are left with this “plate” of tempered chocolate. We were advised by Lauren’s parents that this must be taken home and eaten. So I boxed that right up too.

This class is just about the worst thing a dieter can put themselves through, but it really was worth the extra eight hours in the gym!

Some more fun chocolote loving pictures:

This was my take home box. There were three additional layers underneath that looked just like this one.

Do I have anything in my teeth?

Germaine getting creative with her graham crackers.

The happy aftermath of some chocolate loving!