Chocopalooza, Day Three

Wow!  After only three twelve-hour days, I’m done making all the chocolates!  But Chocopalooza isn’t over yet – not until the Sunday afternoon packing party, wherein I and five of my closest chocolate-loving friends pack up the 66 boxes of chocolates going out this year.  Then they’ll go home with as many chocolates as they can possibly eat.  (Like going to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory!)

Here’s the pic of today’s output:

Clockwise starting from top left:

• Irish coffee
• jasmine tea
• caramelized banana
• kaffir lime/lemongrass/ginger/coconut
• three-chili (ancho, guajillo, chipotle chiles)
• pink peppercorn/buddha’s hand citron/yuzu
• saffron
• cardamom-rosewater-ginger.

(No, it’s not coincidence that the three-chili has the dragon.  I do have a sense of humor…!)

Now all that’s left is the ritual totaling-up of the poundage, and the making of the flavor index.  If it’s like most years, it’s probably in the vicinity of 80-90 lbs of chocolates.  I also need to pack one or two boxes to see how many flavors will fit.  If they won’t all fit (and I rather expect that some won’t), I’ll eliminate the weaker flavors.  Only the fittest (or maybe tastiest?) survive!

Off to bed!  Tomorrow I have to get my car’s tire seen to (it has a slow leak) and then after that, it’s time to clean the kitchen and take the photos for this year’s chocolates insert.  I’d like to do some dyeing, but it probably won’t happen tomorrow – too much chocolate cleanup and finishing work needs to be done.