Chocolate Photo Shoot

Chocolate is a treat in all of its forms. 

Whether it be an indulgent hot coco moment, a sinfully rich & gooey chocolate dessert or just a candy bar fix from the vending machine during the work day, each is a special little moment to be enjoyed in its own way.

So last year when the opportunity arose to partake in an extraordinary chocolate selection box at an amazingly bargain basement price I jumped at the chance.

It was one of those fabulously priced trial offers for a certain high end chocolate company’s tasting club (the shop that has a name which sounds like it may actually be somewhere to rest your head overnight on a bed made of the delightful treat ). 

It was truly just too good of a deal to pass up.

I, of course, had to have a little photo shoot with my chocolates before I allowed myself to indulge in their deliciousness.

They were indeed the prettiest chocolates I have ever experienced and they tasted pretty fantastic too which is an impressive bonus. They had both style and substance, a combination I can happily sink my teeth into.

I can genuinely say that up until that point I had never had so much fun taking pictures of food.  I think it was one of the very first times I tried my hand at actually styling food.   

After the shoot I did my best to savour each and every bite of these decadent morsels but if I recall correctly the box didn’t last very long.

Can you blame me?  

Rowntrees Randoms

With having a sweet tooth comes the love of all things sweet, that fact is a given, but it also means you can fully appreciate the good things versus the not-so-good ones. Thankfully, I don’t often come across the second category but I probably get through more than my fair share of the first.  

I definitely think these fun shaped gummy candies fall into the good category. A bag of Rowntrees Randoms doesn’t last very long once in my possession and I’m only slightly ashamed to admit that there’s been more than one occasion when I’ve bought a bag of them specifically to send as part of a little (and lightweight) British treat parcel to my sister overseas and it hasn’t quite made it to the post office.

Of course I always get a replacement bag to post eventually, but those brightly coloured little gummies are just too good to resist.

I also think that they are worthy of a photo shoot (perhaps that’s a given since I like to snap photos of most food), so take a gander at these little cute gummies and then go out and buy yourself a bag!



Peanut Butter Cups

This is a reposting of an entry earlier this year from my non-food blog, but since it is food related I wanted to repost it on here.  Plus, these have now become part of my 'baking' repertoire, so it only seems fitting to post it again in order to share the peanut butter & chocolaty love!

I never realised just how straight forward making Peanut Butter Cups could be.  It is pretty darn simple (and I love simple recipes!), a little messy but there are only a handful of ingredients and no actual baking necessary, just some simple melting.

So I finally decided to try it and after finding the recipe on the Joy of Baking page, voila... the results have been taste-tested by my colleagues and friends and have passed the test with a chocolatey thumbs up!

The Joy of Baking webpage makes me drool and there are so many delicious looking recipes to try....hmm.... what to make next?

Swedish Fish

These brightly coloured gummy candies are one of my absolute favourite treats!

I was very excited when I found out that IKEA sells bags of Swedish Fish and now after a trip to the Scandanavian flat-pack hub my sweet tooth is happily satisfied for a little while at least.   

Swedish Fish (and Sour Patch Kids as well, mmmm!) were the highlight of watching neighborhood baseball and softball games in my childhood memories of summer....forget the sporting event though, I was all about the treats.

We used to get them in little baggies from the snack stand at the local park. They were counted from a giant wholesale tub and individually bagged up with 25 in a portion.  It was perfectly kid sized.   

And if memory serves me right, they were the bargain price of only 25 cents a bag!  What can you get for 25 cents these days?

Thank Crunchie It's Friday!



Crunchie Close-up

 I decided to share this particular photo because it made me want to eat chocolate, so I figured why not at least visually share that Friday feeling with you folks.  I do love a Crunchie (or any chocolate, who am I kidding?) whether it be Friday or any day of the week.

I dug this photo out from the depths of my 2008 folder.  It was taken with my little point & shoot camera as part of a short online digital photography course which was aimed at getting people excited about digital photography.  I think it worked.  The course was definitely what encouraged me to finally take the plunge and upgrade to a DSLR camera.  It also totally whet my appetite for taking crisp, clear, colourful photos of beautiful and delicious food.  At the time I was also excitedly fritzing around with Photoshop, hence the colour/black & white combo effect.

For those of you not aware of this honeycomb deliciousness created by Cadbury which is famous for its “Get That Friday Feeling” ad campaign, you can read about it on Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crunchie

Off I go now to buy myself a Crunchie...