Chocolate Utopia Nottingham - chocolate tasting.

In  a seemingly inconspicuous building on a main Nottingham bus route in the city centre, is the chocoholics dream Chocolate Utopia....  (The clue is in the name!)  It's a cafe, chocolate shop and chocolate factory all rolled into one. I've been lucky enough to have two trips there over the years once for their lovely hot chocolate many moons ago and more recently for a chocolate tasting session.

The first thing you notice when you enter the premises is the gorgeous aroma and of the chocolate filled cabinets.

Normally  Chocolate Utopia functions as a cafe with tables scattered around and throne like chairs available for customers to sit on; however, they prepared for their chocolate tasting session by arranging all their tables into one large table.

When  the chocolate tasting started we were offered a non-alcoholic beverage of our choice were given a chocolate menu to decide on a chocolate to accompany the drink.  Then once everyone had arrived and were comfortable the owners introduced themselves and explained the history of their business and got pictures, examples and samples out to demonstrate how chocolate is made.

As they explained this process we passed around a sample of a cocoa bean pod, crunched a smaller cocoa bean and sampled cocoa nibs and cocoa butter. Then we moved on to how chocolate is manufactured and we tried chocolate buttons with various levels of coco solids in them.

After we had tried these we had a little breather to stretch our legs then we went down stairs to see where the magic happens. (Or the place the chocolate is made to non-chocoholics!)  We gazed on the chocolate making machinery and were brought our choice of melted milk or dark chocolate in chocolate cups.  Then they brought out strawberries that had been dipped in milk chocolate and had then set.  These were lovely, I had a couple of them.

Once we were ready we ascended the stairs and had a quick breather before we were brought yet more chocolates to try! There was a variety from liquers to dark chocolates to truffles.  There were exotic flavours such as a thai food inspired chocolate and more conventional ones like milk chocolate truffles. We were even asked to try their works in progress such as the cheese chocolate which featured mature cheddar and dark chocolate.

There was lots of chocolates to sample and thankfully the owners gave us an option to save some of it and take it home with us in a doggy bag later.  We also had the option to take a few of the chocolate covered strawberries home with us which we were happy to do.

As we were leaving I tried to take a group photograph and one of the owners came out of the shop and kindly offered to take the picture for us.

It was a great night and I would recommend a visit to Chocolate Utopia to any chocoholic.

Home made tortillas!

The other day I accidentally tried a new recipe.  This recipe was a tortilla recipe in one of my cook books (Sam Stern's Real Food Real Fast) which had intrigued me for years but I never dared try... until now!  (We'll pretend that this was a moment of bravery rather than because all my local shops had run out of tortillas for some reason.)

To make them I used: 

225g plain white flour
1 tsp salt
25g butter
150ml warm water ( this is a rough estimate as I started off with the 125ml in the recipe but needed more...)
A sprinkle of herbs, I used oregano and basil.

I started off by measuring out my flour, then sifting it into my bowl and adding the salt and herbs to it.
Once I had done that I added weighed the butter and rubbed the butter into the flour mix until I couldn't see or feel it anymore. When I had rubbed the butter in I dug out my measuring jug and measured 125ml of warm water for the mix.

I then got a fork and stirred the mix with the fork as I added the water slowly until it wasn't really stirring very easily and at that point I tried to combine it all together with my hands.  It still seemed very dry and not very flexible so I added a bit more water and this made it easier to knead, however I probably put too much in and it got a bit sticky.  When I got it to a point where I was happy with it I covered it with clingfilm and left it for about 15 minutes.

After the 15 minutes were up I dusted my kitchen side with flour and got the dough out of the bowl, then I divided it into 10 uneven balls.  I took one of the balls and rolled it for what seemed like an age until it seemed the right size for a tortilla, by this point it was incredibly thin... When I had rolled out my first tortilla I got the frying pan out and heated it for a few minutes before putting the tortilla on it.

As the first tortilla cooked I set about re-dusting my side with flour and rolling out the second one.  I did my first couple of tortillas like this and they became quite crispy but didn't brown. The third one ripped as I was rolling it, which caused a bit of cursing...  this was about the point where Paul came downstairs to help. 

I tasked Paul with keeping an eye on the cooking tortillas for me which helped make them a bit less brittle but we worked out that the dough was too dry after we had done a few more.  So Paul got the last remaining balls of dough added a bit more water to them, then helped me divide them equally before I rolled them out and finished cooking them. In the end a few of them even got a bit of colour on them! (Not many mind...)

Once done we put them aside whilst Paul made a vegetable fajita mix to fill them with, the more brittle ones made large quesadillas. All in all it was very tasty and I got to take the left overs with me to work for lunch the next day!

Obviously it is a lot easier and less frustrating time consuming to buy them but making yourself them does make them that bit tastier!  I can see these being on the special meal favourites list along with home made pizza and chocolate chip cookies.

Nigella's Croque Monsieur Bake.

I tried this recipe the other week when staying at my Mum’s, she made it for me and a friend in place of a fry up.  It was just as nice! She called it a savoury bread and butter pudding but if your looking it up it’s Nigella Lawson’s Croque Monsieur  bake!

To Make this recipe you need:

6 slices of bread

3 eggs

Half a pint of milk.

About half a block of cheese.

A pack of ham

Some mustard

A sprinkle of salt and pepper

(A bit of butter if your being really bad!)

To make this I got out all my ingredients and started off buttering my bread, grating cheese on to it , popping ham on to that and then putting mustard on top of the butter on one slice of bread. After I did that I popped the two slices of bread together, then cut it in half to make two sandwiches, then put these in a casserole dish.

Now most normal people would repeat this process two times at this point  but I decided to experiment with the mustard...  I tried using less butter and more mustard on one of the sandwiches, then for the last one I decided to completely get rid of the butter altogether and use loads of mustard!

When I’d made up all the sandwiches I whisked the egg and milk together. 

Then I poured this mixture over the sandwiches and sprinkled the salt and black pepper over it.  Where the mix didn’t cover completely I spooned some of it back on to the sandwiches.

Once this was done I popped some cling film over my casserole dish and went out dancing.

On my way back from dancing I called Paul and asked him to pre-heat the oven to 200c and the pop the bake in the oven for about 25 mins. The food wasn’t quite ready when I got home but it was nearly there!  After a little wait we were able to safely say it was quite nice.

 It wasn’t as nice as my Mum’s version I think that was due to my experimenting! Mine tasted very mustardy and felt a bit soggy to me but Paul loved it and there was none left on his plate so I must have done something right! We’re currently experimenting with lower fat meals so this won’t be on the menu for a bit but with some tweaking it maybe something to add to the repertoire....

Recent rocking things!

Recently things have rocked!  There has been more dancing, which is always a great thing in my eyes!  I even danced on a stage in public on Sat 4th August...

Photo courtesy of a friend of one of the other dancers... thank you!

This was a Bollywood work out choreographed by Nisha Lall as part of

the activities of Sheftival, which promoted exercise, sport and music.

I could have stayed at Sheftival and caught a few more bands; instead I headed to Wales for a good catch up with one of my friends and watched history being made in the Olympics.

Last week also saw a return of lunch club for my team with a new venue being invaded... tried!  This month we said good bye to The Hop and hello to The Frog and Parrot! We also saw Olympic fever hitting the office culminating in the office sports day or mini Olympics as I like to think of it! It involved mishaps such as the health and safety worrying three legged race, the controversial egg & spoon relay; as well as my event the hula hoop... a good time was had by all!

Action shot!

On the podium, I came second!

The next day brought more catching up with friends and family, a bout of roller derby.

That blur is the Sheffield Steel Roller Girls All Stars vs Nottingham's Hellfire Harlots.  Good bout but we got thrashed!

Saturday also saw my first roller merby bout...

Like roller derby but with them male creatures instead of female ones... This bout featured Sheffield's Inhuman League vs Manchester's New Wheeled Order.  It was a close bout but eventually we won.

This was followed by a drive up to Leeds for my friend Deborah's flat warming at her lovely new abode! Yet more catching up with lovely friends. (I could get used to this!)  Then all too soon it was time to head back...

This week has mainly been sponsored by overtime at work, a bit more dancing, experimenting with this recipe and looking forward to Jessica Ennis's homecoming on Friday! Should be a hell of a party!

Pie Friday.

Tonight I gave in to temptation. (I know, not like me at all!) I went to The Old House for their pie Friday deal, which is more expensive than the one at The Hop down the road... Still they did serve us a couple of nice beef and moonshine pies.

I don't like peas!

Paul does though.

They're a bit more substantial than The Hop's offerings and a good deal tastier.  (We were even allowed plates and real cutlery!)

My pie wasn't quite as amazing as I had been led to believe, the verdicts given on the pies sold here a few weeks before had given me a bit of pie envy when I was eating my Salmon dish.  Maybe I have pie... I mean high expectations.  Still a pie and a pint in a nice bar was a great way to round off the week!

What I've been up to recently.

You may have noticed I haven't posted much recently but fear not I'm not giving up on this blog!  It's more just a combination of being busy and my laptop starting to show it's age.... I went on holiday for a few days then when I got back it decided to black screen for a week and then after miraculously coming back to life again it's been temperamental to say the least, but I won't bore you with that!

This month I have been to see the Stone Roses at Heaton Park, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britian at The Botanical Garden's, helped my Nain celebrate her 70th birthday and had my first holiday abroad with my boyfriend Paul!

After much deliberating we decided to go to Brussels for Belgian beer, buns and waffles... oh and to see the home of the European Parliament!

The weekend after I helped my sister celebrate her birthday and went to Tramlines on the Friday night, Saturday and Sunday to watch local and not so local bands perform across my city.

It had a great atmosphere and went way too quickly! This week I've been trying to burn off my tramlines pints in the gym at work, whilst rehearsing for an up coming dance show or two, as well as helping some of my work friends celebrate their birthdays and going to my first burlesque show at The Greystones.

So I've been doing one or two things and should have a few more events to blog about in the near future!  Keep your eyes peeled!

Recent reads

Recently I have got back into reading a bit more on the bus to and from work.  As well as occasionally in the bath, in bed, when pretending to write... although this does depend on the book!

I started off with Foundation by Isaac Asimov which, is a book I'd tried to read a few years ago but couldn't get into.  This time I persevered a bit longer and was pleasantly surprised.  It's not a book I would normally have chosen but I enjoyed the philosophical elements to it and the pseudo history at the start of each chapter. I must admit what I did find slightly annoying was the fact that the activity in the book would reach a climax then swiftly move on to the next historical event without exploring the action. 

I did enjoy reading Foundation and decided to carry on with the series and read the sequel Foundation and Empire.  I actually preferred this book because I felt that there were more interesting storyline and action in it.  Another part of me liked the fact that there was a strong female character called Bayta in this book, even if she is portrayed as being not that dissimilar to the males except for doing the all the housework on the spaceship...

As that one ended well I tried Second Foundation; however, I didn't get very far into that as I found the lead character quite annoying.

Thankfully my birthday came around and I received four great books!  They were: Mary Berry - My Kitchen Table 100 Cakes and Bakes, The Meowmorphosis - by Coleridge Cook and Franz Kafka, Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (no not THAT one) and The Last Dragonslayer also by Jasper Fforde.

I started off reading the The Meowmorphosis as I read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka at University and wanted to see how they compared and I quite enjoyed it.  I guess I'm a bit of a sucker for mash-up fiction and have enjoyed books by Quirk Classics ever since my sister bought me Pride and Prejudice and Zombies a few years ago.

After reading this I decided to pick up The Last Dragonslayer and I probably enjoyed this a bit more than I should as I doubt I'm the target audience for this book... still I enjoy Jasper Fforde's writing. It's the eccentricity and energy of it that I like and it reminds me of that of other writers I enjoy like Terry Pratchett, Paul Magrs and Douglas Adams.  The only problem I found is that I read it in about two days!  Ooops!!!

I tried to read Shades of Grey a bit slower but I struggled with this again as it's a mysterious book about a future society which, I just found riveting so I ended up spending all day one Saturday finishing it.  There were good intentions of trying to write my own novel that Saturday but reading this made sure they never became any more than intentions.

After reading these two books by the same author I decided to try something different and opted for Albert Camus's The Fall.  This is a book I had meant to read for a while but never managed to so I decided to take it with me on holiday to read on the train and Eurostar.  It's not the easiest read but it is fascinating and I'm not sure if I get it but I have an idea of what I think happens if that makes sense? It's a first person narrative of a conversation which is completely different to the other books I had been reading but sometimes a change is as good as a rest they say. Definitely a good read!

I am now reading a book Paul brought me from the library, he's sweet like that! It's a brand new book! This is another Paul Magrs book called Wildthyme Beyond! I haven't finished reading this one yet so I don't know exactly how I feel about it.  I'm enjoying reading it and nearly missed my stop on the bus reading it last night... the different narrators can be difficult to follow with a hangover but another cup of tea will sort that out! I am particularly enjoying the bit about the fan boys as a bit of a geek myself and of course Ms Wildthyme's adventures!

So that's what I've been reading recently, what have you been reading?