I flew down first thing in the morning and met up with me mate Joekie (*waves to Ukes*) and we headed off to Hotel Intercontinental where the Chocolate Festival was held. *swoon*!!!! But first, I had to stand at the entrance and wait for Ukes. She's a mum so is always on babytime! I watched as millions (or what felt like millions to my hungry stomach) filed past me to go in. Anyhoo all was not lost as I got to take a pic of this cool car that belonged to one of the exhibitors.
Entrance to the festival. Mostly women with excited girlfriends in tow and a few boyfriends.
I could feel the excitement from the bottom of the stairs! Chocolates? Gimme!
There were 4 parts to the event - chocolate pastry type stalls including a chocolate fountain (!!), artisan chocolatiers gathered in the main ballroom, chocolate talks and chocolate masterclasses.
We started in the hallways where all the foodie stalls were. First up, french pastry!
I went with the "light" option - crepe with chocolate sauce.
Ukes got the chocolate fondant. I must have overdosed on Masterchef Oz because I can hear Gary and George in my head saying oooh better be all gooey and ooozzy inside. Ukes declared it yum!
Next up, free sample of the chocolate fountain with marshmallows. Mmmmmmm...
Ukes was a happy camper.
Talks that were going on that day - Unveiling the secrets of cocoa and chocolate, Creativity and chocolate, Fabulous fudge and Beer and chocolate. We gave them a miss.........
.... and made a beeline for the ballroom where all the artisan chocolatiers were waiting.
Free sample of gelato? Yes, please.
Next up, truffles!!! The guy was so generous and gave us samples of half a truffle every time. So Ukes and I both bought some. But methinks I bought too quickly because the best was yet to come. The dude went on and on about the taste on the palate, how one was more subtle or elegant , bla bla bla. I nodded along, trying to look knowledgeable haha.
More stalls.
The tickets came with a free talk by a Swiss chocolatier so we went along to it.
Servers came out with trays of free tastings and it reminded me of Oprah. Alas, the freebies were not quite "My Favourite Things". Where is my free ipad damn it!
Even-better-than-ipad-freebies - five pieces of wafer thin chocolates. Dark sweet, dark, dark bitter, white, milk. I liked dark sweet best I think. The dude said the more cacao it has, the more "snap" you'll hear when you break it. I think... the memory is a tad hazy now.
Ukes trying hard not to just gulp it down... the dude said put it on your tongue, savour it, smell it through your nostrils. Err say whaaaat?
Next, we just wandered around a bit more and there were students from AUT there making chocolatey stuff.
We hung around for ages waiting for them to start giving out what they were making but they didn't so we left. We headed downstairs to the cafe where they had a special chocolate menu for the day. But we were so stuffed from all the samples we had so we didn't.
I took a pic of the goodies available though. The hotel staff was very gracious and let me snap away even though no money changed hands.
In need of SALT, Ukes and I met up with her man and baby and headed off to a pub for a greasy meal.
Me lunch - burger and chips.
Hailey - I'm hungry. I'm gonna gnaw on my daddy!
Uke's lunch - Nachos with a side of Hailey's head.
Eric's steak eggs and chips:
After lunch, we went off to Te Papa for a looksie and it was really cool.
Awesome gigantic ferns (?):
The deep ocean section was cool with gigantic animals hanging off the ceiling:
I went with the "light" option - crepe with chocolate sauce.
Ukes got the chocolate fondant. I must have overdosed on Masterchef Oz because I can hear Gary and George in my head saying oooh better be all gooey and ooozzy inside. Ukes declared it yum!
Next up, free sample of the chocolate fountain with marshmallows. Mmmmmmm...
Ukes was a happy camper.
Talks that were going on that day - Unveiling the secrets of cocoa and chocolate, Creativity and chocolate, Fabulous fudge and Beer and chocolate. We gave them a miss.........
.... and made a beeline for the ballroom where all the artisan chocolatiers were waiting.
Free sample of gelato? Yes, please.
Next up, truffles!!! The guy was so generous and gave us samples of half a truffle every time. So Ukes and I both bought some. But methinks I bought too quickly because the best was yet to come. The dude went on and on about the taste on the palate, how one was more subtle or elegant , bla bla bla. I nodded along, trying to look knowledgeable haha.
More stalls.
The tickets came with a free talk by a Swiss chocolatier so we went along to it.
Servers came out with trays of free tastings and it reminded me of Oprah. Alas, the freebies were not quite "My Favourite Things". Where is my free ipad damn it!
Even-better-than-ipad-freebies - five pieces of wafer thin chocolates. Dark sweet, dark, dark bitter, white, milk. I liked dark sweet best I think. The dude said the more cacao it has, the more "snap" you'll hear when you break it. I think... the memory is a tad hazy now.
Ukes trying hard not to just gulp it down... the dude said put it on your tongue, savour it, smell it through your nostrils. Err say whaaaat?
Next, we just wandered around a bit more and there were students from AUT there making chocolatey stuff.
We hung around for ages waiting for them to start giving out what they were making but they didn't so we left. We headed downstairs to the cafe where they had a special chocolate menu for the day. But we were so stuffed from all the samples we had so we didn't.
I took a pic of the goodies available though. The hotel staff was very gracious and let me snap away even though no money changed hands.
In need of SALT, Ukes and I met up with her man and baby and headed off to a pub for a greasy meal.
Me lunch - burger and chips.
Hailey - I'm hungry. I'm gonna gnaw on my daddy!
Uke's lunch - Nachos with a side of Hailey's head.
Eric's steak eggs and chips:
After lunch, we went off to Te Papa for a looksie and it was really cool.
Awesome gigantic ferns (?):
The deep ocean section was cool with gigantic animals hanging off the ceiling:
This was freaky awesome... all kinds of underwater animals but in skeletal form. I have a thing for bones and skulls, by the way.
Can't remember what this was now.
The colossal squid was on display. Doesn't it look like something out of Alien?:
There was an interactive activity where you could build your own squid. So I did.
This is the only Andrew that will ever show its face on my blog. Yes, I'm looking at you freakshow. Heheh I say this with a lot of love.
NatureSpace:
Hey, like fashion godmother like fashion goddaughter!! Hailey shares my liking of all things skull-like. Heheh.
Eh look Ah Here, they put a model of your itty bitty skull next to mine. Yes I realise these are skulls of monkeys. Joke, peeps.
Hailey was a monster at puzzles. I was really impressed. Clever girl.
There was a cool area with the map of New Zealand on the lightup floor.
*waves to Auckland*
Hayley had enough of the cultured hoity toitty stuff and ran around in circles for a bit.
Time for a game!
After the museum, we went off to a childrens' indoor rec centre with loads of monkey bars and jumping castles and what not. Hailey ran around for a bit while the adults had a coffee. After that, I got dropped off in town to meet up with my other friends (yes I have more than 1). Thanks, Ukes. I have missed spending time with you!
While waiting to be picked up, I marched off to Fidel's - this really laidback cafe with a super alternative vibe. Fidel's was a MUST VISIT because I've been fantasizing about their snickers milkshake for ages now.
Heaven in a cup. While I was ordering it, I told myself "Ok, it is going to be very calorific so you are going to have maybe half max and leave the rest." Weeeelll, I inhaled the thing in under five minutes (after i finished taking photos obviously). O.H S.O G.O.O.D!!
My mate Jeff picked me up and we went back to his place where I was staying for the night. Hung out at his place for a bit with him and his fiancee, Wendy and then we headed back out for dinner. We ended up at Pravda, Simon Gault's restaurant. Word of warning - photos to come have very bad lighting. The restaurant was really dark and I hate using flash.
Wendy's entree - Twice baked Italian ricotta and spinach souffle with walnut crumble, pear and rocket
Can't remember what this was now.
The colossal squid was on display. Doesn't it look like something out of Alien?:
There was an interactive activity where you could build your own squid. So I did.
This is the only Andrew that will ever show its face on my blog. Yes, I'm looking at you freakshow. Heheh I say this with a lot of love.
NatureSpace:
Hey, like fashion godmother like fashion goddaughter!! Hailey shares my liking of all things skull-like. Heheh.
Eh look Ah Here, they put a model of your itty bitty skull next to mine. Yes I realise these are skulls of monkeys. Joke, peeps.
Hailey was a monster at puzzles. I was really impressed. Clever girl.
There was a cool area with the map of New Zealand on the lightup floor.
*waves to Auckland*
Hayley had enough of the cultured hoity toitty stuff and ran around in circles for a bit.
Time for a game!
After the museum, we went off to a childrens' indoor rec centre with loads of monkey bars and jumping castles and what not. Hailey ran around for a bit while the adults had a coffee. After that, I got dropped off in town to meet up with my other friends (yes I have more than 1). Thanks, Ukes. I have missed spending time with you!
While waiting to be picked up, I marched off to Fidel's - this really laidback cafe with a super alternative vibe. Fidel's was a MUST VISIT because I've been fantasizing about their snickers milkshake for ages now.
So I walked in with my little bright pink cabin suitcase and there were a few weird looks aimed my way. The weird looks increased when I whipped out the camera and started taking a million photos of..... a glass of milkshake. Bite me people.
Heaven in a cup. While I was ordering it, I told myself "Ok, it is going to be very calorific so you are going to have maybe half max and leave the rest." Weeeelll, I inhaled the thing in under five minutes (after i finished taking photos obviously). O.H S.O G.O.O.D!!
My mate Jeff picked me up and we went back to his place where I was staying for the night. Hung out at his place for a bit with him and his fiancee, Wendy and then we headed back out for dinner. We ended up at Pravda, Simon Gault's restaurant. Word of warning - photos to come have very bad lighting. The restaurant was really dark and I hate using flash.
Wendy's entree - Twice baked Italian ricotta and spinach souffle with walnut crumble, pear and rocket
Jeff's entree - crispy tempura sesame squid with spicy Asian slaw and toasted peanuts
Jeff and Wendy had the same main - Free range pork belly with prune, calvados, shallot mash and Cavala Nero.
I decided to go all out and had Confit duck leg w Toulouse sausage, pancetta white bean cassoulet and herb gratin. Twas gooood.
My dessert - Apple raisin strudel with spiced anglaise and salted caramel macadamia nut ice cream. Anything with the words salted caramel and I am there. This was good but the pastry was a tad thick.
And that was the end of Day 1. More eating to come in Day 2.
