the last day of class

The last class of this semester was Viral Marketing class.
I handed my portfolio and I finished my all classes for this semester.

No more homework, no more exam!

I was so happy that I decided to give myself some reward.

I went to Westchester Mall after the class.
Then, I went to  Godiva Chocolatier on 2nd Floor.



These chocolates above are what I bought.

I bought 3 star-shaped chocolates; from left to right, Caramel Creme, Atzec Chocolate, and Apple Tart.

These 3 chocolates are covered by colorful dark chocolate. Inside of chocolate is the paste of each flavors.

My favorite one is Apple Tart. It tastes of Apple at first, then  you can find the taste of cake.

Caramel Creme doesn't taste of Caramel so much.

The chocolate above star chocolates is new product of Godiva.

Unfortunately, I forgot the name of this chocolate.

This chocolate looks beautiful, but I prefer basic Chocolate Ganache because this new chocolate is difficult to eat. In addition, there are a raisin and a nut on the chocolate. I don't like the raisin covered with chocolate and the nut is too chewy to bite.

Actually, I prefer Leonidas to Godiva in terms of taste of chocolate.

However, all Godiva chocolates look very pretty and they make me buy more chocolates than I expected.

Real Hot Chocolate

Mariebelle
484 Broome St, Between Wooster Stand West Broadway



     I see "hot chocolate" on menu at cafe when the winter comes. I often order hotchocolate, but I've never been satisfied with cafe's hot chocolate. When they say hot chocolate they actually mean "hot cocoa." They mix cocoa powder with milk, so it tastes like cocoa I make at home. My definition of hot chocolate is that "hot chocolate has to have taste of exactly chocolate." Therefore, I didn't like to order hot chocolate and to be disappointed with its taste.
     However, when I came to New York, I found real "hot chocolate" at Mariebelle. There are many types of hot chocolate there, such as Aztec, Spicy and White chocolate. I was surprised that their hot chocolate had rich and thick taste. It tasted just like drinking chocolate.
     You can choose hot water or milk to mix with chocolate. I like to mix with hot water so that I can enjoy the taste of chocolate. You can also buy hot chocolate powder at their shops and on their website. I have a can of chocolate powder and sometimes make hot chocolate. However, I prefer to enjoy the atmosphere of their cacao bar.

     After I met Mariebelle's chocolate, I visited other cacao bar, such as L.A. Burdick and Max Brenner, and tasted their hot chocolate. I like Mariebelle the most but other cacao bars also have real "hot chocolate." So, I decided that I would have hot chocolate only in cacao bar. Milk should not be added. It is the best way for me to enjoy hot chocolate.

     The weather gets colder recently. However, I'm glad that I can enjoy hot chocolate.

Leonidas

Leonidas

485 Madison Ave. New York, NY

Leonidas Belgium chocolate reminds me of my trip to Belgium.

I went to Belgium 3 years ago and stayed in Brussels for 3 days.

There were many chocolate shops in Belgium. I was so excited that I visited as many shops as I could and had chocolates instead of lunch and dinner.  Belgium has many famous chocolate brands such as Godiva and Neuhaus but I became a big fan of Leonidas. There are not as expensive as Godiva but all chocolates taste delicious. Leonidas has a lot of variety of chocolate. My favorite is pineapple mousse covered with white chocolate. I ate it every day.

When I came back to Japan, I looked for Leonidas shops. I found one in Osaka. However, they don’t have that Pineapple mousse chocolate.

That’s why I was very happy when I found it in Chelsea Market! It was a small retail shop but they have my favorite Pineapple chocolate and other fresh crème chocolates.

I usually go to one in Chelsea Market but their main store is located on 52^nd St., Madison Ave. They probably have more variety of chocolates in main store.

Artopolis Espresso

I happened to find this café when I went to the city. It’s on Amsterdam Ave. and close to Columbia University. It looked very pretty from outside of café. It was almost closing time when I got in the café, but there were many customers in there. There were many cakes and tarts in the show window.

I found this chocolate cake in the show window. It looks like a balloonfish. I think it’s difficult to eat but this is so cute! Other cakes also all looked delicious.

I ordered another chocolate cake.

This cake was awesome!! It’s the best chocolate cake I ever had in the city. You can enjoy not only its visual design but also its taste. Coffee came with a piece of cookie. I like that service too.

It’s been a while since I went there but I can’t forget about the tastes of the chocolate cake. I want to go there again.

Artopolis Espresso

10901 Amsterdam Ave. New York, NY 10025

Check out their website, and you’ll see more pictures of cakes and other desserts.

Chocolate from Japan

Today, I got the parcel from my mother.

My mother lives in Japan and she sends me many Japanese foods.

I asked her to send my favorite chocolate.

Gateau Festa Harada, “Gouter de Roi”

 

This is the Rusk, which is dry, baked bread covered with white chocolate. This white chocolate rusk is sold only during winter season and there are long lines for this famous rusk. I always ask her to buy it for me when winter comes. She sent me three packages of the white chocolate rusk for this time. However, I have to be careful. Once I open the package, I can’t stop eating.

Curry Chocolate

L'atelier Du Chocolat
59W 22nd Street, New York, NY

This store has curry flavor (the lower right in the picture above). You probably can’t imagine how it tastes like.

I like curry but I didn’t think curry and chocolate are good combination.

However, it didn’t taste like spicy curry. It tastes of chocolate basically. I tried other flavors such as pistachio, sea salt, and coffee flavor, but I like curry chocolate best.

When I went to L’atelier du Chocolat, the shop staff was a Korean woman. I talked to her and then found out she used to live in Osaka, my hometown, for 4 years. It was funny that she speaks Japanese with the Osaka accent.

This store has many interesting flavors besides curry chocolate, like wasabi, ginger, and saffron. I wonder how wasabi chocolate tastes like.

L.A. Burdick

L.A. Burdick @ 5 East 20th street, NYC

I had chocolate cake named "L.A.Burdick" because it's the same as the name of the cafe.

The cake is relatively small

But it’s delicious.

The middle of layers is like Mille-feuille.

They sell chocolate bars and you can take out them too.

I found Halloween chocolates on L.A. Burdick website.

They look so cute

I want to try them before Halloween!