I am the Pope of Desserts

I must be acquiring some good karma because a gourmet chocolate shop just opened across the street from my office building. Today was my first opportunity go to ogle their treats, and I wasn't disappointed at all.

Monde Chocolate has the usual case of lovely handmade truffles and chocolate covered nibbles but that's not all. Their walls are covered with shelves of gourmet chocolate bars, drinking chocolate and cooking chocolate from around the world, including Zotter Schokolade from Austria, Valrhona from France, Camille Bloch from Switzerland and an array of other world-class producers.

Zotter has some whacky novelty flavours like banana curry and bacon bits. Weird!

Monde Chocolate also has freezers and coolers with individually sized tortes, mousse and cheesecakes. And the lovely family who've opened this the store also carry their own brand of chocolate bars which are made in the store next door: Terra Nostra Organics, fair trade, guilt free. Their chocolate comes from Colombia, and they've even got three styles of vegan milk chocolate made with rice milk. They ship worldwide.

If I sound all promo! promo! promo! you have to understand that I live for chocolates and sweets. Having this place open across the street from work is like heaven opening a branch office in St. Peter's square. Yes, I am the pope of desserts, and yes, this store is a dream come true.

Now, how will I pay for all this glory? One visit and I've spent $16 on a tin of Valrhona grand cru au lait, which is now half gone (though I have shared with some of my coworkers). Yikes! I'm going to be penniless!

Lake Breeze Pinot Noir 2004

There hasn't been much wine drinking going on around here lately, but I did pull out a bottle for my honey's grandparents when they visited us last month. I chose the Lake Breeze Pinot Noir, one of the bottles I picked up on our trip to the Okanagan in April.

Lake Breeze Vineyards is situated gloriously on the edge of the Naramata Bench, overlooking Okanagan Lake. Okay, so are all the Naramata wineries -- you really can't get a more spectacular location. And in addition to great natural beauty, Naramata has a blazing reputation. It's generally considered to be the premiere terroir in BC.



I don't know about you, but that cottage looks like heaven to me!

We drove along the narrow road up from Penticton along the southeastern slopes of the lake, stopping at wineries along the way. There are a lot of them -- 21 in total -- all packed into a very small area. Great bang for your driving buck, skipping along from tasting room to tasting room, mere minutes drive apart. Someone with far more endurance that I could probably do all 21 in a day. I was hard pressed to hit 4 or 5.

Lake Breeze has a lovely tasting room, and they gave us a very relaxed welcome. Perhaps when I've done more wine tasting trips I'll stop feeling this way, but it seems to me that when you go into someone's tasting room, it's as though you're entering their home. It's very easy to be put off by salesmanship, or by a cool welcome. Lake Breeze was lovely, though.



We picked up a few bottles, and spent some time sitting on their patio visiting with the family dog. I love their buildings and the whole atmosphere of their winery -- quiet, comfortable, unpretentious. If I were to dream of a winery of my own (which I don't, because I am far too much a princess to do manual labour) it would look like this.



The wine

A complex nose with lots of leather and smoke, strawberries and currants. Sparkling ruby red in the glass. The taste was overwhelmingly smoky and earthy, with very little fruit and a bite of tannins that made me sit up and take notice. Not my favourite style of wine, but my honey's grandparents liked it just fine.

No cleavage for this bottle, because the smoke really was just too much, but I would try it again if I found in the markets, just to be sure.