Monday, March 21, 2011

Death by Chocolate

Okay, maybe "death" by chocolate is a bit strong. But if I had had one more piece, bite, or sip of chocolate yesterday afternoon on our Boston Chocolate Tour of Beacon Hill, I would have surely gone into a sugar coma. Indeed, my blood sugar is still recovering. (My daughter, on the other hand, felt she had died and gone to heaven after spending 2.5 hours sampling all sorts of fabulous chocolates on our Boston chocolate tour.)

So how much chocolate did I consume over the course of 2.5 hours? Too much. But rather than describe each stop or chocolate confection in words, I will share with you some pictures I took on the Beacon Hill Boston Chocolate Walking Tour (because a picture is worth 1,000 calories).

Our first stop was boYO, for Boston Yogurt, where we were served oreo frozen yogurt (which the group felt was good but a bit too tart)...















The next stop on the tour was Beacon Hill Chocolates, a lovely little chocolate shop chock full of all milk, dark, and white chocolate treats, some of which are pictured below.

We got to sample the Beacon Hill Signature (Dark) Chocolate and the Gentille, a "rich and creamy milk chocolate mocha ganache mixed with coffee bean pieces and coated in Belgian milk chocolate" (which were gobbled up too quickly for me to get a picture of them).

















































A few doors down was Twig, a florist that also sells candles and... (wait for it) chocolate! Among Twig's several chocolate offerings was this heavenly smelling MarieBelle Aztec Hot Chocolate, which we didn't buy. But we did buy a package of the Taza Guajillo Chili Chocolate Mexicano (not pictured -- but which you can see and buy if you click on the link). OMG. Soooo amazing. (Talk about hot chocolate!)






















Just a couple doors down was Isabelle's Curly Cakes, a cupcake bakery run by Isabelle English, daughter of chef Todd English (which was good, but it paled in comparison to my friend Little Miss Cupcake's Sugar Daze in Paris).






















At Isabelle's Curly Cakes, we sampled the Triple Chocolate cupcake, which was topped with a Cocoa Puff streusel. (While I was not cuckoo for the Cocoa Puffs, I liked the chocolate butter cream frosting -- and thought many of Curly Cakes' other cupcakes looked and sounded better. But many others on our tour loved the cupcakes and bought some to go.)






















And just when I was absolutely positive I could not possibly eat one more piece of chocolate we arrived at 75 Chestnut for our Chocolate Soup (below) -- which is one of the most amazing chocolate desserts I have ever sipped (or eaten). Espresso? HA! That's for wimps.

















But we were not done! (Groan.) We still had two stops left on our Boston Chocolate Tour, including Boston's own Finale Desserterie and Bakery, where mercifully I only had to consume a single bite of brownie, albeit with chocolate ganache on top. (As delicious as they all looked, no way could I have consumed one of these delectable chocolate dessert pastries pictured below. Maybe next time.)















On the verge of going into a sugar coma (did I mention I'm hypoglycemic?), we arrived at The Melting Pot, our final destination, for... yes, more chocolate! Specifically, chocolate fondue -- four different kinds.

I bravely dipped some banana and strawberry into the dark chocolate and marshmallow fondue placed in front of me, but I drew the line at dipping the chocolate-covered (and regular) marshmallows and cheesecake and brownies on offer, or trying the other three chocolate dipping sauces. (J-THREE-O and her friend had no such qualms.)

Finally, chock full of chocolate, and barely able to move, we said our goodbyes, hiked back down Charles Street, retrieved our car, and motored home.















I will never eat chocolate again. (Or at least not for the next 24 hours. ;-)

7 comments:

AlyssaGoodman said...

Wow, I'm actually feeling a little sick after reading that... glad you enjoyed it?!

larissa said...

Start killing me now
The Death by Chocolate Challenge
What a way to go

Dave S. said...

It was considerate of the hovering swarm of dentists to stay out of that group shot.

Sugar Daze said...

Wow! When I saw the title of this post, I knew I had to check it out! Now correct me if I am wrong but is this an annual tour you all embark on? I seem to recall a prequel to this Death by Chocolate post. I so need to make a trip to Boston on my next sejourn in the US so I can experience this live and in-person. I hope you saved some of that hot chocolate bar for me. And PS thanks for the shout-out!

J. said...

@Alyssa, I was feeling a little sick, too, and couldn't even say the word "chocolate" without feeling a little queasy yesterday. But I'm all better today.

@Dave S., One of the gift boxes at Beacon Hill Chocolates featured a dentist on the cover.

@SugarDaze, Good memory! We went on a Chicago chocolate tour a few years ago and on a Paris one in 2009 (both of which I blogged about). And you're welcome.

Ange said...

No words. Just drool :-P

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