Happy Lab

On a recent shopping trip I ventured into Happy Lab in Highpoint Shopping Centre. I wasn't sure what it was, but it looked interesting, and lets face it, I like food, so any store that sells food is a winner in my book.

It was a pretty funky store, set out like a pharmacy, where the shop assistants wear lab coats and the chocolates come in test tube bottles.

The chocolate was pretty darn good, which was a suprise, as I expected cheap tasting chocolate, but this was well above decent, bordering on fan-bloody-tastic. And I got to keep this funky jar (I brought one of the triangle tubes in the bottom of the second picture) and fill it with my own chocolate when I ran out. Bonus!

Apparently they are opening more stores around Australia, so if you happen to walk past one backtrack and walk inside. You won't regret it.


PS - Happy Lab have no idea about this post, I am just sharing the love for free. Pin It

Brownies - April Style

When we first came home with Eliza my mum baked for us (a huge thing in her world, as she isn't a big fan of cooking). She would come in daily with a hot meal for both of us, including an entree and main, and some sort of dessert.

Image from here

One of our favourites was Raspberry Chocolate Brownies. I loved them so much they have become a staple in our pantry, and a quick and easy snack that I can take when we visit friends.

Now, some clever folk may make their brownies from scratch, however in our household we are lazy and use a packet mix (WhiteWings Brownie Mix) and frozen berries. All I do is make the brownies according to the box and then chop up the raspberries a bit and throw them on top. Done and dusted.

I highly recommend them, go on, give them a go.
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Do you love chocolate?

I loooove chocolate, and so does my mum. So when thinking of a birthday present for her, I remembered a friend telling me about a walking chocolate tour in Melbourne. Fantastic, the walking would counteract the chocolate consumed, meaning it was a guilt free present!

A quick google search found me Chocoholic Tours, where I was amazed to learn there were several options. I decided on the Chocolate Lovers Walk, which took us to Lindt (my favourite), Haigh's (my second favourite), The Chocolate Box (my mum's second favourite), and KokoBlack (her absolute favourite!)

To mark the day as a special occassion for my mummy, I decided to make it a suprise - which meant that she was only told to wear comfortable shoes, bring water, and an umberella. I picked her up and we drove to the train station, boarded a train, and took a short stroll up Collins Street, all whilst she kept making guesses as to what we were doing. She guessed the zoo, Luna Park, going to a day spa, going to high tea, and going to a play. Her final guess, as we stopped outside Lindt, was shoe shopping. She spotted the shoe store, but failed to see the giant Lindt bunny.

(I so wanted to take him home, but he was $100, and I didn't think the husband would agree as to his essentialness)

Anyway, because she was starting to head towards the shoe store, and the tour was about to start, I told her the news, which she was ecstatic about. Some tour highlights included:

Ever seen a pregnant rabbit? 

I love the Collins Street KokoBlack store, it is so beautiful.

What was even more beautiful was the chocolate mousse and cake. It was devine! The pregnant bunny may have eaten half their mums cake too.

Both my mum and I raved about the tour to the people on the train on the way home, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. If you are ever in Melbourne, and have a spare 3 hours, book in for a chocolate tour - well worth the walk!
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Top 5 Easter Products

As promised, I took one for the team, and sampled many Easter products this year, to come up with the Top 5 Easter Products of 2011. You can thank me later :P

1. Cadbury Crunchie Rabbit

2. Darrell Lea 100's an 1000's Egg

3. Haigh's Trout

4. Lindt Gold Bunny (the $3.99 version, not the $100.00 version)

5. Bakers Delight Hot Cross Buns

I don't think my testing is done though, what do you think? Do you have a favourite that I haven't tested?
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Winner Winner Chocolate Dinner!

I am running a little late today, I thought about the competition ending last night around 7pm, and then prompty forgot about it until I was considering if 9am is too early to chow down on a mini easter egg (I decided it was). Opps, sorry about that!

Anyway, keeping on topic (something I find very hard to do these days), the Random Number dodad tells me that Number 9 was the winner

Who just happens to be the very lovely Bettina! Congratulations chickie, I will be in touch to get your address to send your chocolate goodies to.

And thank you to everyone who entered, I hope you have an awesome Easter with lots of goodies. I will be back with a list of my top treats in coming days - these things require serious research you know!

(PS - I wonder how long the chocolate keyboard would last in my office? Pin It

Easter is Coming Giveaway

April is here, and to celebrate Easter, I have a give-away for you all.

I recently made a trip to Koko Black and picked up this adorable pencil tin filled with goodies. It contains 6 solid milk chocolate eggs, 2 white chocolate bunnies, and 4 caramel chews - all of which don't contain my bite marks (I brought myself the same tin so this one was safe for you guys!)

All you have to do to win this is to be a follower of my little blog, and leave me a comment. I will leave the competition open until 8pm Wednesday 13th April 2011. I will draw a winner using the random number thingie and announce the winner on Thursday 14th April.

*Entries only open to Australian residents - international shipping is beyond my comprehension these days. Pin It

Point and Shoot Monday

This weekend saw my mummy and I go to Melbourne and attend a Chocolate High Tea at the Langham in Melbourne for her birthday. We both had an amazing time, and left feeling ever so full, and needing a detox!

Head on over to Fat.Mum.Slim and show Telle what you did this weekend!

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Snickers bon bons with vanilla thickshake recipe - Janelle Bloom

I found this recipe via Belinda at The Happy Home, and it reminded me of what got me through my final years at school: Deep Fried Mars Bars (somewhat ironically, I was as skinny as a stick, weighing all of 60kg (130pounds).

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed


2 snickers bars 


1 tsp caster sugar


Vanilla thickshake


1¼ cups milk


½ cup greek yoghurt


6 scoop vanilla icecream


1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:


1. Preheat oven and flat baking tray to 200°C fan forced.



2. Cut pastry in half. Place 1 snicker along 1 edge of the pastry and roll over to enclose the snickers. Press the edges together. Trim excess pastry. Repeat with remaining snickers and pastry. Brush the top of the pastry with a little cold water and sprinkle with caster sugar. 



3. Place a sheet of baking paper onto the hot tray and quickly top with snickers bon bons. Bake about 7-10 minutes or until pastry is golden and puffed. Allow to cool 5 minutes before eating.


4. Meanwhile, for the vanilla thickshake, combine milk, yoghurt, ice cream and vanilla in a blender and process until smooth. Pour into a tall chilled glass, and serve with snickers bon bon

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Books

Photo from Fickr

I love books, I can't think of a better thing to do on a cold day, with a block of chocolate, by the wood heater.

And that is how I plan to spend my winter. Each year I make a list of books to buy, and I slowly work my way through them. So this years reading list includes:

Sex at 6pm - Annarosa Berman

Thanks for the Memories - Cecelia Ahern

Handle with Care - Jodi Picoult

Lessons in Heartbreak - Cathy Kelly

How to Lose a Husband and Gain a Life - Bernadette Strachan

Still Alice - Lisa Genova

10 Reasons Not to Fall In Love - Linda Green

Things I Want My Daughter To Know - Elizabeth Noble

How to Break Your Own Heart - Maggie Alderson
The Gift - Cecelia Ahern
Between the Sheets - Colette Caddle
One Fifth Avenue - Candace Bushnell

There is another book I am wanting to read, but I can't remember its name. It has a light blue cover and a red flower on it. I wish I could remember its name, it looked like a fantastic book. If you know it, please let me know.

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