CHOCOLATE!!

I'm sorry, I am going to veer away from my usual posts about Nolan to discuss my other love... chocolate.

Yesterday, Em and I celebrated her birthday by indulging in the Chocolate indulgence tour hosted by Savor Seattle. I heard about this tour from groupon.com (thanks Jennifer for that referral!). When i got the email about a 2 hour tour of the various chocolatiers of Seattle i booked it right away. The anticipation was worth it as the weather held out, and we had a great time tasting the many varieties of chocolate. I of course took my blogging eye and documented every treat. Here is our tour, sweet after delicious sweet.

Let me start off by introducing you to our super fab tour guide who was the perfect mix of educational, random knowledge (who knew they legalized Absinthe in the U.S.?) and Seattle-ite cooky.

We started off our day at Oliver's with a shot of a chocolaty adult beverage called a flatliner. I can't remember all the ingredients but 151 and espresso beans, but it tasted like a rum-y chocolate shake.

Then we ventured over to Dahlia's Bakery for their not so chocolate but still notable Coconut Cream Pie and super rich chocolate crinkle cookie.

I didn't get a shot of the pie before i ate mine up, but here is Em cheesy posing with the last bite of hers. Let me preface the next picture by saying that Emily had taken 3 other pictures that resulted in my eyes being closed so she told me to keep my eyes open and here's what happened. So flattering!

Our next stop was Caffe D'Arte where they make the fancy coffee drinks, including delicious dark chocolate mochas.

Next stop, the Chocolate Box where tons of different chocolate specialty treats are offered. Our sampling included this chocolate covered brownie that was more like chocolate covered fudge it was so gooey. The picture isn't great but I'm posting it anyways since this was my favorite of the day.

We also had mini cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing. so cute!

We wrapped up this stop with some chocolate gelato with a palate cleansing Lemon Sorbet.

We didn't sample these but i had to snap a picture of these very relevant Obama chocolates. Who doesn't love chocolate that also makes a statement?

It's not a tour of Seattle without a stop at Pike Place Market. I forgot how many great food stops there are in the market since i avoid downtown Seattle and any place with a lot of tourists but we stopped at the Confectional which made it all worth it. They specialize in cheesecakes, and this is where i started to go into a chocolate coma because I cannot remember what is actually in this deliciousness other then chocolate, some sort of fruit and a great crust! I might have to head down there again, despite the tourists to grab some more of this cheesecake.

Still at the Confectional, we had our second shot of the day. This one was alcohol free and called Colombian Drinking Chocolate. It was the consistency of brownie batter, but seasoned with cinnamon and clove. If I wasn't in a coma already this would have surely sent me over the edge, but was so good!

Last stop, Frans Chocolates for the ultimate gourmet chocolate experience. They keep their chocolates in jewelry cases, they mean business!! We tried a bunch of chocolates here, including Emily's favorite of the day, the Chocolate covered caramel with Grey Sea Salt.

There was this mural at Frans that was of Frans' granddaughter. I'm not sure if Fran herself did it but I do remember that it took 94 consecutive hours and over 4,000 chocolates. That is true devotion and a little creepy!

I had such a great time, playing a tourist in my own city and would recommend this tour to anyone that truly loves chocolate, because I consider my self a true choco-holic and by the end i was done with chocolate...at least for the rest of the day.

Happy Birthday Emmie, I love you and hope you had a great day!