London Chocolate Festival – a photo essay

All photos copyright 2010 stefania lintonbon

“There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles.” Anonymous

 

Had a sweet time the other week-end at the London 2010 Chocolate Festival. This was my first time to attend such a festival, and I have to say it was a delicious experience! Even if it did rain — a lot — near the end of the day. I was determined not to let it slow me down — and so were the other attendees!

There were no choccie microphones on offer for voiceover type peeps; but I daresay someone would have been only too willing to whip one up for me.

Here are some piccies from the day:

Chocolate IS good for you. This lady says so!

Ok, time for a drool fest! Here we go!

The three piccies above are all chocolate sculptures!

For shoe lovers…

 

It rained, but since when have a few drops of water stopped a dedicated chocolate lover! ha, ha!

And there’s more…

iPod App of the Week

This week, I’ve gone mad for WordChasers. It is so much fun — if you’re into words, Scrabble-like games, etc. The letters rain down — slowly at first — and then faster and faster — whilst you try to select the appropriate ones to make words for maximum points. It’s an absolutely beautiful game as well, lovely bright jelly colours. And I like how the popcorn pops up and down at the end when you’re viewing your stats!

All for now…
Cheers


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Grapes and Food today!

Grapes from our Garden!

 

Did a little harvesting yesterday. Plucked enough grapes from the vines to make a nice batch of juice once they all purple (ripen) up!

It’s so much fun to grow your own when possible. Even when you don’t feel like going outside to water and weed, it’s worth it in the end when harvest time rolls around.

Spent gobs of time this week putting together the new website. Old server’s shifting their business focus, so I had to find a new one and build another site. Now to sort out the domain name transfer. The peeps at Fusive Web, my old site have been brilliant in helping me with all the technical bits that need doing. Thumbs up! I’ve been beavering away at getting my various voice over demos listed, and embedding an MP3 player…so I’m getting to grips with that.  I’m almost there! 

Since I haven’t had much time to ponder and think about what to write today, I’m printing one of my fave vegetarian recipes. It makes a fine dinner….Give it a try!

 

Feeling peckish – a Vegetarian suggestion  from my cooking corner

 

How about cooking Aubergine parmesan with Potatos layered alternately with the aubergine – covered with alternating layers red leicester and mozarella cheeses, and lovingly topped with a homemade tomato-based herb and seasonings sauce with mince and shiitake mushrooms?

 

You only need about 3 aubergines, and about 4  jacket-style potatoes or other large potatoes.

 

 Slice the potatoes and aubergine thinly and cook them in a little olive/sunflower oil. Meanwhile soak the mince and shiitake mushrooms in boiling water (water that’s boiled in the kettle and poured into a bowl will do) so they get soft.

 

 Then mix 2 tins of chopped toms and some Italian seasonings such as garlic, oregano, basil, as well as some parsley in a skillet. Get this a bit warmed up and then add the mince and mushrooms.

 

Then oil a rectangle pan and next layer in a pan the aubergine, cheese, some of your sauce, potatoes, cheese, more sauce and continue alternating till you have used all the aubergine and potatoes. Finally top the mixture with the last of your sauce and sprinkle more cheese over it.

 

Put this in your oven at about 180/190 degrees for about 45 minutes. I usually cover the dish with foil and then put it into the over. You can check after about 30 minutes to see how it’s doing and adjust your cooking time accordingly.

 

Also feel free to add the spices that you like and other ingredients. I made this up myself so you can really adapt it to whatever you have to hand. If you eat meat, you can add that as well! 

Enjoy! 

Cheers…