CHOCOLÁTE

This weekend my friends (and former co-workers) Becky and Raianne came to visit Cory and I. We’ve been trying to find a good weekend for a while and it finally worked out. I was so happy to have them visit. I love see my friends and since moving down here I never have the time to see anyone. They drove down from Phoenix and arrived Friday late afternoon. Whenever friends or family make the trip down here to see us, there is the feeling that we should show them the area. I guess it is that way just about anywhere you live. When you have visitors is the only time you do the touristy thing. My brother, who was on a mission, had asked if driving up the canyon was the only thing to do down here; since every time we talked about having visitors we talked about driving up the canyon. It’s not that it’s the only thing to do, but that we love showing off how diverse and beautiful the area is. There are lots of things to do in Cochise County. We have a military post, the mountains, there is a mall in Sierra Vista, Tombstone, Bisbee, the Mexico border… and that isn’t even counting sheep or cows. Friday night was spent having dinner and talking. Saturday morning we went out to breakfast at a cute restaurant called the ‘Country House’, we showed them the house we’re buying (side note our closing date has been pushed back due to an appraiser who is claiming that he never received the order). That afternoon we drove to Bisbee. I drive to Bisbee twice a month to collect DNA samples for court ordered paternity testing, but I have never stopped in ‘Old Bisbee’ and walked around. We walked up and down the historic district and enjoyed looking at all the art stores. But the best store of all was at the end of the historic area in a little shop called CHOCOLÁTE. It’s this little shop owned by a husband and wife. He is a retired Navy man and decided that after retiring he wanted to live off his retirement and become a chocolatier- opening a little shop in Bisbee Arizona. They only make dark chocolate, starting from the coco beans themselves. When you enter their shop you can smell the most wonderful aroma of chocolate. He will teach you about the different types of beans and how they differ and gives out small samples of the types of finished products from what he is currently using.

• West African beans- make what we’d recognize as normal everyday chocolate
• Madagascar beans- make chocolate with citrus like bite
• Venezuela beans- product is bitter and has a heavier after taste.

In general these chocolate are not processed anywhere near the level of store bought chocolate and also being dark are not as sweet. For Valentines’ day my husband got me a box of these homemade chocolates. At the shop on Saturday I had the most wonderful cup of Hot Chocolate I have EVER had in my entire life (and I drink hot chocolate like other people drink coffee- at lot and many different types, brands, and places). It was so amazing I wanted my cup never to end. Hot Chocolate will never be the same. They make it fresh there in the store from shredded unsweetened chocolate. I even asked if they sell it with instructions to make at home- alas they do not. Someday I will return to the little chocolate shop and enjoy another cup of the most amazing hot chocolate ever, but till then farewell little chocolate.
http://spiritedchocolate.com/