I've been so busy recently that I haven't been thinking about posting here. Well, here's a report from the end of February.
With J and A living in Napa we occasionally hear about food-related things that interest us. This time it was that COPIA,
the American Center for Wine, Food, and The Arts was holding their
annual Wine and Chocolate Tasting, billed as "Death By Chocolate: The
Ultimate Chocolate Festival". Naturally, we were interested.
We drove up to Napa with a couple of co-worker/friends from China,
thinking they would enjoy the drive (and the chocolate) and possibly
get to meet up with J and A who were also planning on being there.
Alas, the weather was grey with odd spots of rain but it was still fun and the chocolate was delicious.
The wine-tasting part was frustrating for a couple of reasons. One was
that the various chocolates on offer were overpowering for the most
part, that I never felt I was appreciating the full flavor of the wine.
Another was than I'm not used to wine tasting - I know you are
supposed to taste and spit and to be honest, there wasn't a lot of
spit-receptacles available and this place was crowded. I don't think
they were really set up for the formal taste-and-spit process. Best you
could do was sip, taste, then spit discreetly back into your glass at
which point you had to make your way through the crowd to the nearest
"wet trash" bin. So I stopped sampling the wine and focused on the
chocolate.
One thing I really wish: 1) that I had discovered the Port Wine
vendors upstairs sooner, and 2) that I didn't have to drive us home.
The variety of chocolate goods on display was quite astounding,
including icecream and also some gluten-free chocolate souffles which
were very delicious and reminded me of my numerous gluten-intolerant
relatives (as well as my own history). I meant to take down the details
of the vendor but I seem to have misplaced my notes. Darn.
The other product that sticks in my mind are Jade Chocolates. These were quite special.