Oh, wonderful, wonderful day!!!!! My mother and my son were visiting and I scheduled a chocolate workshop at the wonderful Durig's in Lausanne, my favorite chocolate shop! My son is Nick Curtin, a chef. Did you see him on Iron Chef this fall? And my mother is the adorable Peggy. Some new friends were also there. I was so excited I was beside myself. In this picture Nicholas, my friend Henriette, the amazing Swiss papercutter (more on her another day,) and I are all examining our plastic chocolate molds. In front of us is a bowl of white chocolate, to be used to ornament our molds, with artist's brushes, before we add the dark or milk chocolate. This is the first thing we did after putting on our aprons and washing our hands.
In this picture Nicholas is adding dark chocolate to his cat mold, with the help of our teacher, Eric, the chocolate maker. While our chocolate hardened in the refrigerator, Eric told us about how cacao is grown and processed.
Durig's chocolate is bio and fair trade, incidentally, another reason to love their chocolate.
These are some cacao seeds inside the cacao husks.
In this picture my mother, Peggy, with the purple shirt, looks so excited. She loves to learn, just like me. Now I see where I get it!
This is what the chocolate looks like when it arrives at Durig's.
This is what some of it looks like after the chocolate makers have done their magic. It is a beautiful shop and their chocolates taste amazing.
I loved seeing some of the beautiful ingredients which they add to their chocolates, like these dried flowers. We also got to smell the different types of vanilla and spices which they use. The quality is superior.
A second trip to the chocolate machine with the molds, a second cooling, and our chocolates were ready to unmold. I think everyone was amazed that they had made such beautiful chocolates. It's beautiful, Melissa!
I was so proud I felt like I should be hired to help Durig's get ready for Easter.
Nicholas decided to give his chocolate cat to his girlfriend. What fun!!!!!! Amy, in the background with her husband Kurt, was celebrating her husband's birthday that day.
If you want to order some of Durig's delicious chocolates or sign up for an atelier, google http://durig.ch/
5 comments:
Beth - That WAS such a fun day! Thanks for including us. I will definitely be back for more of their delicious chocolates (caramels and passionfruit were my favorites) - Amy
Amy, I am still smiling thinking about the fun of learning how to make chocolates. Now I am going to try to find a mold and make some for Easter! love, Beth
Hi Beth! It's so great to see a new post from you!! What a wonderful class you got to take! I love those chocolate molds...so unusual!! I've never seen anything that cute here in the U.S. I can't believe your son was on Iron Chef!! That is fantastic!! I am going to remember his name and check for re-runs of the show!!
Dear Beth - I am so pleased to see you back online. I have been wondering and hoping everything was alright with you.
What a lovely day you spent, and how nice to share it with your mother and son. The chocolates look and I am sure are delicious.
Your blog is inspiring. What a lovely post, and your art is captivating. Found you while hunting for sling shots for my 7 year old. Thanks so much.
Juls
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