Every April, I hold something called a Chocolate Party, an annual event in which I gathered some fifty of my closest friends, feed them dinner, then try to kill them with massive amounts of chocolate. Over the years, this event has grown, from a modest get-together at my home to a gastronomic blow-out at Fuel now Refuel) Restaurant. The evening goes something like this:
The guests gathers. We chat and drink.
We sit down and enjoy an incredible multi-course meal prepared by Chef Rob, Chef Ted, and the rest of the gang.
Then, we move onto the main event: Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!
It seems fairly straightforward, but even the most dedicated chocoholic would be hard-pressed to sample all that’s an display – the varied master creations of some twenty chocolatiers from all over the world. This year, I brought in chocolates from Paris, Troyes, Barcelona, Austria, London, Brighton, New York, San Francisco, Kansas City, Fort Myers, Montreal, Vermont, and, of course, Vancouver. It was quite a night!
I arrived early to help set up the chocolates along the massive bar and counter area, fully covering all available space with chocolates from…
- This year marked four straight appearances for New York’s MareBelle. The 100 Piece Blue Box, pictured here, never fails to draw a crowd.
- Also from MarieBelle, the hugely popular Croquette au Chocolat: buttery European cookie milk and dark chocolate bars. Each box contains 4 bars. I ordered six boxes – and they were all gone by night’s end.
- It was two years in a row for New York’s Jacques Torres (aka Mr. Chocolate). They usually don’t ship to Canada but made an exception last year after I sent them a link to previous chocolate parties. And we’re glad they did. Their champagne truffles – a combination of milk chocolate, fresh cream, and actual Tattinger Brut la Francaise never fails to impress. I ordered two boxes because they proved so popular last year – and they too were all gone by night’s end. In addition to the champagne truffles, the Jacques Torres corner also included a fifty piece assortment of their hand-crafted chocolates and bars.
- One of my personal favorites – Jean-Paul Hevin – presents his marvelous creations in an eye-catching “cave a chocolat”. Basically, it’s a briefcase full of chocolate!
- Also from Jean-Paul Hevin, a coffret filled with composed of 8 blisters filled with dark, coffee, milk and milk-caramel with refined salt palets. In addition, I also ordered a box of Hevin’s intense truffles and a Cheese Chocolate Appetizer box that included flavors like époisses cheese/ cumin, Pont l’évêque cheese/thyme, goat cheese/hazelnut, and roquefort/walnut. Ashleigh’s favorite! She made off with any leftovers.
- Barcelona’s Oriol Balaguer has been described as a gastronomic revolutionary. One bite of his inspired creations and you’ll no doubt agree.
- Also from Oriol Balaguer: luscious ganache-filled mini-tubes in a variety of delectable flavors – Passionfruit, Orange, Yuzu, Raspberry, Star Anise, and – Carl’s wife’s favorite – Hazelnut Praline with Pop Rocks. You can order them from Borne Confections in New York.
- Making their first appearance: chocolates from Troyes’ Pascal Caffet. A sampling of the award-winning patissier’s chocolates included Earl Grey Tea and Hazelnut Praliné with Coriander. Also available from Borne Confections.
- Paris’s Debauve & Gallais boast a rich 200 year tradition of chocolate-making as the appointed supplier to Kings Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis-Philippe. The selection includes a 54 piece assortment, a 36 piece pralines collection, and Les Incroyables (pearls of caramelized roasted Spanish almond coated in dark chocolate) that WERE incredible! These blew away Jamil Walker Smith.
- Compliments of my friend Cynthia in London comes Rococo Chocolates’ award-winning salty caramel ravioli. The assortment included dark chocolate with chilli, milk chocolate with sea salt, and white chocolate with cardamom.
- Another Parisian heavy hitter, La Maison du Chocolat represents with their Initiation Set of 20 pralines and ganaches. Also, smooth and creamy caramel truffles an Arriba Gift Set of smooth dark chocolate ganaches and…
- La Maison du Chocolat’s Habanera Gift Box: dark chocolate perfumed with vine peaches and milk chocolate infused with mirabelle plums. Another annual favorite.
- Another little something from Cynthia in the U.K.: Demarquette’s ganache assortment, a signature blend of carefully selected pure single origin and single estate cocoas.
- Wow! Some of the evening’s most visually striking offerings came from Norman Love in Fort Myers, Florida. Pictured here: the black single origin chocolate collection.
- Another striking offering from Norman Love: the 50 Piece Chocolate Gift Box.
- Norman Love chocolate bars: chocolate caramel pecan, peanut caramel, coconut milk chocolate almond, and chocolate hazelnut. Another wow!
- A few years ago, a friend brought me back a box of Recchiuti chocolates from San Francisco. They were nothing short of revelatory. For two years, I tried to convince Recchiuti to make an exception to their “no shipping to Canada” policy with no success. Until this year. Pictured here, The Platinum Collection. Marvelous chocolates. I also ordered their Dragee Sampler which comes with with Burnt Caramel Almonds, Burnt Caramel Hazelnuts, Peanut Butter Pearls, Cherries Two Ways.
- Also from Recchiuti, Key Lime Pears and Peanut Butter Pucks. Both garnered a lot of fans over the course of the evening.
- Barcelona’s Enric Rovira offers up something called The Planetarium – all nine planets and the sun. Mars tastes of Earl Grey tea, the sun of Williams pears and Earth of salt and pepper.
- In addition to a truffle selection with flavors ranging from fiery Habanero to peaty Scotch, the Enric Rovira corner also included Bombolas – Covered in intense 70 dark chocolate, flavors include corn, pumpkin seed, pink pepper, lemon, and cocoa nib. The pink pepper and lemon were particularly well-received. Alegio Chocolate in Berkley carries the Enric Rovira line – and it’s a little closer than Spain.
- Missed them last year because they were closed, but Vancouver’s DC Duby made a triumphant chocolate party return with their Arome Collection (praline butter filling is scented with enchanting oil infusions and studded with luscious sun-ripened fruit jellies), Texture Collection (praline butter filling is scented with alluring and exotic spice blends, and studded with honey caramelized nuts or seeds, plump dried fruits or candied citrus peels) and various other imaginative creations.
- Requisite dark chocolate fountain.
- The requisite milk chocolate fountain.
- Representing Kansas City with a stunning assortment – Christopher Elbow.
- An assortment from Vancouver’s own Thomas Haas.
- And while I was at Thomas Haas picking up chocolate, I spied these delectable-looking chocolate macarons. I sampled one – and ended up buying the tray.
- San Francisco’s Jin Patisserie, another chocolate party mainstay, never fails to impress with its delicate creations. This one is Chef Rob’s favorite.
- Another U.K. entry compliments of Cynthia – Brighton’s Montezuma’s Chocolates.
- Everybody had their personal favorite, and this one way mine – France’s Patrick Roger. Cocoa bean chips, mini-rochers, ganache with hazelnut praline and almond paste, citrus caramels, and a fantastic assortment.
- Making a first chocolate party appearance – Montreal’s Gendron Confiseur Chocolatier. I sampled these when I visited Montreal last month and was mightily impressed with their delicate texture and flavors. The ganache assortment included Hawaiian coffee Kaüai, black spruce, mimosa, Matcha, Lapsan Souchong, Tahitian vanilla, Alba truffle, Roquefort, caramel a la fleur de sel, pistachio, cranberry, and grapefruit.
- Also from Montreal, Le Maitre Chocolatier delivers a terrific assortment –
- – some INTENSE alcohol-spiked chocolates, and –
- A double decadent combination of foie gras and chocolate. Everyone who tried them was pleasantly surprised by these truffles.
- File this one under “fun”. Austria’s Zotter Chocolates is known for flavors famed and infamous: celery, truffle and port wine, peanuts and ketchup, and lemon polenta to name a few.
- A couple of weeks ago, I was watching Throwdown With Bobby Flay and watched him take on The Vermont Brownie Company and their signature chevre brownie. Impressed, I elected to include these delectable treats in the line-up this year.
- Speaking of brownies, check out this decadent Callebeaut-chocolate version from Vancouver’s own Linda Meinhardt. David Blue declared them the best brownies he’s ever eaten.
- Another great local entry was Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France. Exquisite ganaches and truffles.
Eventually, the guests started to arrive –
- Stuart, Brian, and John
- Ashleigh, Lawren, and James
- Ivon
- Kathy and Will
- Teresa and Alan. Oh, and Carl.
- Alan and Kerry (with a Y)
- Carl, Karen, and Debbie
- Peter and Holly
- Louis peruses the menu.
- And likes what he sees.
- Alaina and John
- Elyse
- Ashleigh and Kerry (with a Y).
- David snaps me snapping him.
- Jeffrey and Elyse
- Al
- Carl sports his hungry face.
- Jen
Everyone eventually took their seats and dinner got underway…
- Amuse bouche of broccoli soup and Welsh rarebit. Not rabbit. Rarebit (coined “cheezy bread” by some). Delicious!
- Alan smiles while his wife chokes on her drink.
- Ashleigh and James
- Remi and Cintia
- Alan and Kerry (with a Y).
- Lawren
- One for Brian’s mom.
- Lawren presents the butter lettuce salad with smoked coppa and heirloom beets. Excellent. I’m all about the beets.
- The partial line-up
- The partial line-up.
- In the kitchen: Tom, Chef Rob, and Chef Ted.
- Black truffles!
- Tagliatelle with black truffle and cultured butter. THIS was the dish everyone was talking about all night. Simple yet sublime.
- Chef Rob invited me back into the kitchen to watch them finish the prime rib. Cooked sous-vide until rare, then given a crispy coating.
- Cirspy Duck Confit and Prime Beef! Two types of awesome!
- Denise
- Jen and Jamil. And Louis too!
- Debbie, Alaina, and Hillary.
- Ivon and Elyse
- Kathy and Will
- I ask the kitchen to include a little something special in Ashleigh’s vegetarian option. Yes, some crispy duck.
- Well, look who’s fashionably late. It’s Patrick Gilmore.
- My crispy duck confit with mustard spaetzle. Lots of oohing and aahing over this dish.
With dinner done, we moved onto the main event…
Thanks to the gang at Refuel for an incredible evening!
What a night!
And what a day – spent uploading all of these pictures!
Fantastic pictures – thank you for spending ‘all’ day uploading them so that we can sit and drool over our laptops.
Everybody looks well and are all obviously enjoying the food.
I, personally, would have missed the food to ensure plenty of tummy space for the chocolate.
When you get fed up as a writer you should start a new career as a party organiser.
Susan
Wow, that is a lot of pictures of a lot of fatty, but surely delicious food.
I’m going to have a sympathetic gall bladder attack now.
as great as the chocolate looks, I don’t think I’d have made it past the dinner itself. The duck AND prime rib? I’d die a happy person after just those two dishes. And what an impressive assortment of confections you got together. Not sure all of them would be to my taste(I have not associated chocolates with spicy, and not sure how I’d react to it). And best of all, you have the pleasure of the company of what look to be a wonderful group of people. Have you by chance worked out how much, in ounces, pounds, grams, or kilograms of chocolate were consumed per person? Just curious.
I had looked around for some worthy chocolates from this part of the country. Alas, I didn’t find a chocolatier I considered up to the standards your party sets. The quest goes on and just perhaps next year Virginia will have an entry that finds its way west and north.
thanks very much for sharing in pictures and words. The annual chocolate party post gets viewed by a good score of my friends and aquantances who are in awe over such a layout.
I am no one’s gastronome, but there are two things I love: goat cheese and hazelnut. When you mentioned a confection combining those two, I could actually taste it in my brain, even though I never considered that combination before. I should thank you for the new quest.
And once again, no invitation. 🙁
I am…disappointed.
I am NOT disappointed, however, in that picture of Alan flirting with the camera while the missus chokes in the background. What a handsome fella he is (one can only hope he has a nice personality to match). Mmmm… mmm… mmm… I still say Alan woulda made one hellava sexy Wraith. 😀
He doesn’t read this blog, right??
Everything looks delish (especially Alan!)!
🙂
das
Oh my god…all of that looks delicious!! I’m in a diabetic coma just from looking at that. Seriously, I am drooling right now. And I would totally have skipped out on the dinner so I could have more room for all those chocolates. My love of chocolate knows no bounds and of course get it from mother.
Goodness! I can’t get over how good all of it looks. And I totally would have made the attempt of trying them all…granted that would never have happened, but at least then I would have died a happy girl.
Good lord! I thought I was going to bust a gut from looking at these pictures – either due to my gut wanting to fly out of my body and glomp at the computer screen thanks to all that delectable chocolates (seriously, I was salivating), or because some are just so goddamn hilarious. I CANNOT not laugh when I look at that pic of Teresa, Alan, and Carl. Oh, Carl. Your face is Awesome.
I mean, looking at that picture from foreground to background, it’s like:
SMILE!
Smile!
CARL!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Also…man, Stargate Productions sure is filled with a lot of beautiful people. Seriously. My goodness.
Also also, I cannot get enough of Louis’s I AM HAPPY face. It’d make anyone who looks at it smile.
So, who do I have to kill to get invited to one of these things? I’ll do it. I swear to God I’ll do it, and I will feel no remorse over it; or, at least, I’ll drown my remorse in chocolate.
Anywho…
@ Carl: Aww, that’s unfortunate. Well, hopefully something like that will be included in a future episode! Also hope that Jamil got better quickly!
@ Heather Marie: Hello, I am a pg15. You can read my review of Faith by scrolling up a bit on yesterday’s blog comments. 😛
@ Tammy: Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
And yes, I will have to echo my buddy Major D. Davis and say that you guys MUST save Balding Asian Guy! He is an inspiration to us all! He is the heart and soul of SGU!!
Thank you! Pictures of Brian, Ivon, Jamil and Chocolate…I am a happy soul.
Whoa, I think I just gained five pounds looking at those photos. I’m glad to see Kansas City was represented, though. Thanks for posting them, anyway! I’ve never had Christopher Elbow chocolates, but plan to remedy that situation since I discovered I’ll be just down the road from one of the stores that sells them tomorrow morning. Hm…I better take the credit card because they look expensive. 🙂
On the SGU front, I’m greatly enjoying the second half of the season. I agree with others that say cast and crew have found their stride, and playing an A game. I always have to wait to watch the new episodes when they are released on iTunes, early Saturday morning. On the plus side, that means I can easily watch each episode twice in a row, allowing me to catch things I missed on the first go round.
I’m glad to see the pooches looking in such fine form. They are all so adorable.
Take care, Joe, and everyone else!
wow.
Also, WOW!
Thanks for the load of pics of chocolate and people! Looks like everyone had a lot of fun 😀
The chocolate party never ceases to blow my mind. I’m with Susan, I’d have been afraid to eat the main dishes and not have enough room for the, well, “main” course of cocoa-lishousness.
I’d have gone straight for the Norman Love bars (setting the bar for the form, pun intended), the Rovira Planetarium (how fun!) and the Recchiuti Peanut Butter Pucks (peanut butter, mmmmm). Not to say I wouldn’t graze my way through other samples.
Do you allow your guests to invoke take-away privileges, so the decadent treats have a good home by the end of the night?
You sure do know how to enjoy the flavor of life, Joe. And that’s just really cool.
OMG, I hate you. I really do. Dump all those people next year and just invite your blog regulars. It would be worth the plane ticket. OMG. OMG. Excuse me while I try to stop salivating all over my keyboard. OMG.
very year i turn green with envy over your chocolate party. do people get filled up on dinner & don’t eat much chocolate? was there a lot of leftovers this year? if there was, i’ll take some off of your hands.
Joseph you are one hell of a party host! Fantastic is right! Wish I had a friend like you. I want one of those chocolate fountains!
Oh my god, I want to try those cheese chocs. So. Much.
What a gorgeous array of chocolates! A chocolate party would be sadly wasted on me. While I really love good quality chocolate, I can only eat a little at a time … and then only when I’m in the mood for chocolate. Cheese, however, I can never turn down.
Hence, my hips.
One year, you really do need to give CocoNymph a shot — maybe sign up for one of her classes to make your own contribution to the party! 😉
Hi, Joe.
Oh, my. What a party!
I just got a sugar high looking at all the photos of chocolate.
Dinner looked so scrumptious!
And everyone looked like they were having a wonderful time.
Thank YOU for taking the time to upload all those photos.
Best wishes.
Oh my God!!! I know I see pictures of this event every year, but it never ceases to amaze me that a) you bought all that chocolate, b) so much of it gets eaten, and c) that so much of it gets eaten after that much dinner! How do you all do it? Great pics of the cast, nice to see them in normal surroundings. Looks like everyone had fun. You are definetely the King of Chocolate! Hope it didn’t cost you too much to rent a U-haul to bring all that loot to Refuel.
Question 4 Elyse;
From viewing and reviewing all now 13 episodes I have come to the conclusion that that your character will show the most growth of all the actors involved. Do you, from the scripts you have read and completed and scripts that are now being produced, sense an idea as to what the writers would like to do with her going forward.
I personally believe that Chloe will grow leaps and bound from the situation that she has encountered.
So the question do you have input with the choices that the writes make regarding Chloe?
The Migraine Force was strong in this party Joe.
I felt it all the way here in Aus. Woke up with a shocker so I knew someone, somewhere was eating copious amounts of chocolate.
I probably would have eaten two bites of the dinner and said “Where’s the chocolate?” My husband was impressed with your assortment.
Question for you: Are we going to get more backstory to T.J. and Young? You threw us a curveball with T.J.’s condition. There’s been really subtle hints, but nothing concrete.
Joe, I see ya took me seriously!! Great pic’s!! Here’s an idea, have a contest w/ the prize an invite to the chocolate party,just the invite. They pay for their plane fare, hotel,ect, of course it has to be for two people. Think of the response you would get for that contest!! I see you had chocolate from Ft. Myers,i’m not that far from there-3 hours,worth the trip for that stuff!! Sheryl.
Oh, man! I sort of want to work on SGU just for the invite to the chocolate party! I hope you invited Marty G, even if he WAS busy with Bored to Death. It’s the thought that counts, yanno. 😉
They’re all such beautiful people, but the Huffmans in particular. Alaina and John are so perfect together!!! 😀
I can die and go to heaven a happy woman just seeing these awesome pictures. Chocobliss. Perfect.
I got back from Dallas (Lou Diamond Phillips’ film Transparency) on Saturday night and Patrick gave me the cold shoulder for about 20 minutes and then wouldn’t let me out of his sight for the rest of the night. The movie was very interesting. Very dark. Twists and turns.
Because of that, I didn’t get to watch Faith until very late last night and rewatched it again today. Beautiful episode.
Mmmmmmm… Chocolate peanut butter pucks… I swear to God, or whatever almighty being created that heavenly chocolate concoction, that there is nothing on His green earth than the combination of chocolate and peanut butter. Come fellow chocloholics, speak out and tell me if I am wrong…
But seriously: I am glad that everyone had a great time. I have been reading about your chocolate parties for months now. I always thought you held them at you place. Now however, I see tht this is a formal dessert that can only be held at a dining hall. Cool. Re-fuel did a great job, as did you. 😉
Best Wishes.
Bryan
The champagne truffles sound AMAZING. And I love the looks of the Norman Love chocolates. they look more like paperweights than chocolate–beautiful! Also, peanut butter pucks? I’d probably have gorged just on those.
The Christopher Elbow chocolates look lovely, and you can be sure next time I’m in town for a Royals game, I’m going to pick up a box. If they’re good enough for your party, they must be outstanding!! Any of the flavors in particular you liked?
Thanks for sharing the pictures and the event as always! everyone looks great. Love the little Stargate serving platter, too.
Must…… get…… chocolate.
*runs out in the L.A. night in search of an open candy store*
Joe- tell SyFy to forget a Get in the Gate contest this time around, have them offer a “Go to Joe’s Chocolate Party all expenses paid” contest!
wow the party looked amazing but the chocolate looked disgusting. I think I am now diabetic from just looking at it, I like chocolate but that is ALOT!!
I said I was gonna hit up ReFuel and I totally was going to this weekend, but my debit card stopped working and I ended up using all my cash on Saturday. Apparently it was “compromised” so they cancelled it for me so nothing could be withdrawn, so I gotta wait until Monday to get a new one. Which means, absolutely 100% i will be going to ReFuel this weekend, i’m shooting for Saturday. Will let you know how it is. Also I picked up a great book, “Everything is going to Kill Everybody”, it’s from an editor of Cracked.com. Really funny read.
So how do you get on the invite list? It looks like most of the regulars in the cast were there, but there were a few absent, most notably Robert Carlyle, Ming Na, and Julia Benson. Were they unavailable, or have you killed them off and so they’ve left town?
No Chocolate pizza? You should make yourself a favor and put it on your to do for next year’s party.
Lucky you Joe, to get those European deliveries made *before* all that little ASH problem!
You know… all that high-end chocolate, makes me wonder about my 9th Great-Uncle Robert back in the 1600s. He started out as a London goldsmith and then became a Confectionist… I suspect he probably made more money back then selling chocolates than shiney baubles!
BTW, did any of the SGA gang [who were in town for the convection] show up?
Thats just taken care of any chocolate cravings I might have had for the next ten years.
OMG – absolutely awesome… I am in love with all that chocolate – my idea of BEST PARTY EVER! looks like you all had a blast
nice. I’m so jealous of Brooke for being able to cook for you guys
who provided the stargate dish? Was it you, someone else from the crew, or did Refuel get it specially made for the party?
Whoa, the only thing I could afford out of all that decadence is the snickers!!!
Who’s funding this opulence??? *sigh*.. wish I could be there. Wonder if there’s any fancy shmancy Aussie chocolate to be bought? Must check it out.
Love the pics of the SGU cast, but missing Rob Carlyle..:(
PS Hi Chef Ted *little flirty wave*.. God he’s cute. hehe
I want to be one of your 50 closest friends.
never heard of such a thing.
Hi, Joe.
Some questions.
1) Will we find out why Young collapsed in his kitchen at home prior to the Icarus base assignment? Was his seizure then linked to the seizures later on the Destiny?
2) If Rush did take a an Ancient communication stone with him, how would he have used it without the controlling power device (still on Destiny). As far as we know (I think…), Rush doesn’t have the Ancient gene. Or was Rush hoping that he could create his own controlling device, similar to the one the SGC cooked up?
3) Why, oh why (oh why!) was the scene between Rush and O’Neill that was included on the DVD extended version of Air excised? I know, running time, but surely some another scene could have been trimmed. Although…the loss of the scene did heighten the mystery of Rush of whether or not Rush was really in ‘charge.’ But, we lost a terrific scene with O’Neill! ARGH!
That’s it for now.
Thank you!
Best wishes.
Thank you. I have died and gone to chocolate heaven.
Welsh rarebit!! Our best claim to fame…
Also, that chocolate looks amazing, I just hope you didn’t feed the cast so much that they died of a chocolate overdose!
wow you guys know how to party NOT! just kidding, awesome pics. next time invite me, i know how to spice up a party NOT! wait what?
all those SGU characters in one place, didnt you ever worry about Lucian Alliance crashing the party? –and leaving you stranded on an ancient ship? with no way home? oh wait, Rush wasnt there, so youre safe lol.
Oooh, pretty. That is quite the spread! My tummy wants chocolate for breakfast now. Fabulous!
Hey, I know what rarebit is!
My friend Genius has been experimenting with truffle making since he has tasted mine and thinks he can do better (whippersnapper). His raspberry attempt was tasty, but too many seeds in his puree. We’re discussing the logistic of bacon truffles, but haven’t decide the best way to utilize the bacon. I did suggest he try a lime-chile next, as I have the ingredients. Hmmmm, summer coming, not the best season for making chocolates.
did Brian just reach puberty? (its a jokeee, Brian is cool) he looks more manly/older in those pics than on the show.
Sheeh! i said it was a joke, you guys are so sensitive. gosh.
Wow! Just looking at all that chocolate made my teeth hurt. How do I get on next years quest list? 🙂
OMG!!!….That’s close to being in heaven!…All that delicious chocolate of every kind and a room full of my favorite people from my favorite TV show!!! Oh, how I wish I was there!!! 🙁 . You guy’s really know how to live, I’m so jealous.
@pg15…LOL, I don’t know how I missed your review. I didn’t know you were a real person, I feel so stupid, lol. Sorry about that.
wow. is all.
Oh my! What do you do with the leftovers?
@ Sheryl, I was having the same thought about a contest to win an invite to the chocolate party! How about it, Joe?
Thx for all the pix! Anything dark choc & coffee combination, would be my faves. Oh and brownies of course!!
DD
Wow. My girlfriend would have died and went to heaven, lol. Awesome party! I’m glad everyone had a great time.
Thanks Joe 🙂
I watched Faith, read Denis’ blog & mailbag comments. Still too many questions & still can’t get a liking for any characters although from Eli, I did smile at the Genesis “Hello, Wrath of Khan” comment and immediately thought, “Not staying on that planet because of ST III”. Pregnancy no shock. Liked the obelisk & all suggestions implied. The beacon beam reminded me of the Wraith light beam seen on SGA one time- the one Sheppard couldn’t identify.
Next ep Jackson yaaaay!!
DD
great pictures mouthwatering.. so how were the English Chocolates? .. and sadly Mr carlyle was not there he has a very sweet tooth..
Ha!
I KNOW what brand those French Truffles are.
They are ‘NOEL’ brand! Red box. They also make bulk chocolate as well.
We sell them at our Pastry Ingredient business. (Mostly Imported)
We are a wholesaler for bulk items (Bulk Imported chocolate, flavorings, etc) for the Pastry Chef.
Interesting how you had a Chocolate Party.
We sponsor a few ourselves…
Pretty Neat!
Looks like a lot of fun, though it looks like Carl is stalking Teresa and Alan in that one pic.
And Louis looks like a madman! It must be a lot of fun to have that guy around.
Thanks for sharing! Looks like it was lots of fun. 🙂 You’ve got some wonderful cast and crew there.
so its me again are you not going to answer me please answer
Awesome. Looks like a lot of fun. One thing though, more Alaina pictures are required 🙂
Hi Joe, piping in a little late here, but looks like it was a really wonderful party. I was looking at the pics yesterday and realized a little too late that I was popping my Harrods Lemon Discs (dark chocolate discs filled with lemon fondant) in my mouth like they were going out of style. Diet? What diet? Back on the wagon today, ugh.
Still catching up on the shows I missed last week, finally watched “V” last night. Woke up in a panic to a “V meets Children of the Corn” nightmare. Dog-stealing evil lizard children. No more chocolate and/or “V” before bedtime, methinks.
Have a good day! 🙂
Wowszer, that looks incredible. Is the chocolate party something you take on yourself? Or do you have others that help plan/pay?
Everyone looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing the pictures. I feel confident that I can speak for everyone on this blog, “Can we have a party with the leftovers?”
Dear God. Phenethylamine overdose, anyone?
What? She ate a duck who was as vegetarian? 🙂
Proud BAG Lady here!
Save the BAG!
So how many people ended up with stomach aches….or migraines? WOW! What a party. Much bigger than years past. If you keep expanding you’ll have to rent out the Wall Centre. And you said there were NO left overs??? Did Carl bring his truck? Thanks for all the marvelous pictures. You really out did yourself.
Faith ? …. It was only suggested that Young was the father of TJ’s baby. I’m guessing not. True?
I am a sweets FREAK!
As a child my mother would often allow me to eat my dessert first. It’s a habit I have continued into adulthood, except, of course, while dining in public. I think I would have liked to have made an exception in this case……
I have a few new additions to my Food Bucket List.
There are not enough superlatives to describe that set-up. It looks like a great time was had by all and I am sure everyone in attendance appreciated all of the effort that you have gone to in creating such a special evening. May I also congratulate you on your self control in not sampling the wares as they arrived. It must have been an excruciating wait.
Thank you for taking the extra time to post all of the pictures and do the write-up.
Side Note:
For companies that don’t ship to Canada. Did you know that there are various websites that will enable you to bypass that rude little rule? Below is a link to one of them to explain more fully how the service works. In a nutshell, you are provided with an American address and they forward your parcels. The account can be set up for a one time purchase or an ongoing basis. It does involve extra effort on your part (account set-up, e-mail notifications, tracking etc.), so you have to determine how badly you want the item(s). You also have to take into consideration the ‘freshness factor’ when you are ordering food. But fine chocolate is best consumed within 21 days, so that is an acceptable window for this service. But it’s great for non-perishables like clothes, books, electronics etc. I apologize for wasting your time, if you are already aware of this service.
http://myus2.myus.com/About/HowMailForwardingWorks.aspx
Have a good one!
Kymm
Save the Earth….it’s the only planet with chocolate.
Oh. My. Those chocolates are amazing! Your chocolate parties never cease to amaze me with all the different flavours and displays. It looks like everyone had a fun night too (how could you not?!).
Thanks for sharing all those pics 🙂
Amz/Amy
Wow! That looks like a fun night. Thanks for sharing and for all the great pictures.
Wow. Chocolate and gorgeous gals all in one place. Excellent pic-age, Joe. Your camera shots of the SGU cast are always great (The last great batch was probably October or so, when you had the screening of Air. Good times!)
Can I just say how much I like James, TJ, Eli and Young? The actors have done a superb job of being natural and present in their roles.
James especially has been a surprise because I didn’t even remember her from the first few eps, even tho she had the big love scene early on. Chloe and Camile have not had the same growth in their characters that TJ and James have. Eli, Young, TJ and James are subtle, fresh and just spot on.
Rush is still isolated and shut down, which suits the character but leaves Rush without a chance to show other shades of his character besides the jerky bits. I’m looking forward to next weeks Rush ‘sode to see if Rush opens up. It would be cool to see Rush befriend a character that is his polar opposite, and so far that hasn’t turned out to be Chloe or Eli and certainly not Young. Rush needs a vulnerability (besides caffeine withdrawal); on Breaking Bad Walt is tough, detached and even cruel but his vulnerability, his soul, is his family.
I still feel the cast members don’t have big enough problems to solve week to week; the aliens provided great conflict, but the other issues (food, water, wanting to stay in Eden) haven’t grabbed me quite so much. I
I still don’t see why the Civies were so mad about Rush being left behind — the Civies never mention those two dolts from the premiere who jumped through a Gate into some random world and got left behind. Why no outcry for the Left Behinders? Since Destiny is traveling faster than time is passing on the planet it would be cool to see that the Left Behind Couple spawned a whole angry civilization who demonize the Destiny crew.
But I digress; Big Enough Problems. I liked the action and tension involved in taking back the ship but I don’t feel leaving Rush was a big enough reason for the takeover. I was hoping the takeover meant the Civies would step up more and take charge of the questing. I’d like to see the soldiers training the Civies and the Civies teaching the soldiers; they need something to do on the ship, why not some Lifetime Education classes in Gate Engineering and Alien Combat? It would be great to see a big Bam Bam fight scene, even if its just some cool fight training scenes.
Even if there were no answers at the end I’d still like to see them exploring the Eden Planet, finding out more about it’s creation; maybe finding a control room in the monolith that lets them Sim City the planet a bit before they left (add a Starbucks? Grow some Wacky Weed?) I wanted to see them searching for the planet’s purpose and interacting with the monolith instead of just hanging out relaxing.
But still, very lovely episode and major props for rocking Alexi Murdoch in the montage; big improvement over the end credit Soft Rock from Divided. Alexi, Eli, TJ, James and Young are SGU’s best weapons.
Thank you, Joe. Thank you VERY much. Out of sheer desperation, I had a Zitner Cocoanut Cream Chocolate egg …for breakfast. 😛
Not familiar with Zitner’s?? Here’s a link:
http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/cookery/them/zitners/index.htm
Their marshmallow eggs are to die for, too! Mmmm! See?? There are some advantages to living in the distant shadow of Philadelphia. 😀
das
Hi Joe,
Wow! Amazing chocolate party, again this year.
Have you tried Chocolatier Blue in Berkeley –http://www.chocolatierblue.com ? His style is similar to Norman Love but Chris Blue is the only north American chocolatier that uses exclusively Amedei’s chocolate in every part of his creation. He can give an hour long lecture on why he chooses to do so.
I hope you got the new Chuao ganache from La Maison du Chocolat, they are heavenly. They also do a very nice tea pairing with their chocolate.
I am trying to organize a choco party myself, on a smaller scale. Any tips? Actually, how did you get Recchiuti to ship to Canada? I am still in conversation with them…
Brian
I must figure out a way to get invited to this for next year!
P.S. great pics of the chocolate party; I’ve already ordered Chocolate Champagne truffles and I’m seriously considering ordering those Vermont Brownie Co. beauties, but not chevre (not quite sure what “chevre” is) but one of their sample packs. The Norman Love chocolates are so cool and space-agy, I hope to see them pop up on the table in a future SGU ep.
Epic pics, now I must go have some chocolate stat.
Any leftover choccies to donate to the starving children of Africa? If so, send my way and I’ll ensure they get it.
Honest. 😉
I have two dreams in life:
One: To attend the Oscars. I know I will be underwhelmed but still….
Two: To attend your Chocolate party!
Great entry and those pics made me hungry. I am going to make my famous peanut butter brownies just to quash my chocolate craving. Thanks for sharing!
Jordy
Hi Joe,
I’ve had a long and tough day today (it’s already 8:50 pm here at my place) but while I was looking at the pictures from your Chocolate Party I caught myself smiling broadly :D. Thanks a lot for sharing the photos and for the great job you do on this blog,
Best wishes,
Ewa
I am so jealous of all that chocolate, I can only hope someone showed up at work Monday morning with a big pimple on their face! Please tell me that happened.
I can almost taste those brownies. Darn! I am so tempted to order some.
Joe, did you guys use the same location for SGU’s Faith as you did for SG1’s Paradise Lost? It looked eerily familiar.
BTW forgot to say, Ya DO know chocolate IS one of the 5 food groups, right?? Sheryl.
Joe – out of all the chocolates above – which one would you rate on top out of the dark, nut-free, non-flavored ones. I am very interested in which was just the ‘best’ pure chocolate, on the darker side.
If you have any other specific recommendations, I also like chocolate flavored with liqueurs, hot peppers, and spices…oh, and MINT! I AM the anti-Mallozzi! 😀
As always, thanks!
das
Brian, if you can’t get Recchiuti to ship to Canada, see the Side Note in my above comment. I just used that site as an example. Their addresses are based out of Florida, so you may want to source out a site with addresses closer to your own home base.
Shiny, Chevre is goat cheese. mmmmmm. I’m going to order some as well. I’m so excited!!
Have a good one!
Kymm
Chocolate makes me happy……
dose peter ever smile?
Wow!
We had a chocolate party this weekend, too! Nowhere near as elaborate. But everyone dressed up and all the chocolate dishes were contributions from the people attending. I made Tart Noire and some buttercream chocolate truffles. One of the stars of the evening was chocolate baklava.
I love seeing all these pics! Drool worthy chocolate and fun pics of folks from SGU. I think Alaina looks wonderful with her hair down! Add that to the wishlist for upcoming SGU – let TJ’s hair down more!
If you are looking for suggestions of fine chocolate… I have heard Amano is really good. http://www.amanochocolate.com
Amazing layout of chocolate!
Thank you for the chocolate heaven. I want to go there when I die.
Also, I think you just solved my dilemma of what to get all my relatives for Christmas in December. Chocolates all around.
Thanks, glad I didn’t miss the chocolate party pictures. Appreciate the posting of food and friends photos. Nice to see smiling faces. I am telling you not to mess with Ashleigh,,you have been warned..Oh and yeah, any brownies left?!? *drool*
Carls face in the back of the one picture, like wheres Waldo!. thanks again.
so the diet begins,,,,tomorrow..
So what do you do with the leftovers? There’s probably enough there to send some to us… I get 3 months supply of Imitrex from my insurance company for 50.00 – so I gotz plenty to combat any migraine chocolate can give me.
I’m with Sheryl and others…would make the trip to attend a chocolate party for blog regulars.
Hello Joe,
I just wanted to thank you for all your pictures of the wonderful food at Re-Fuel. This past Friday, when my sister, Debbie and I were in town for the convention, I took her to Re-Fuel to experience the pan seared Foie gras , lemon risotto and the amazing crispy duck. It was a great meal and we had a very nice time. Chef Ted and the whole staff were amazingly gracious and accommodating, so please pass on ours thanks the next time you are in for dinner!
The convention was great fun, and Brian, Elyse, David and Mark did a great job on the SGU panel. We all laughed a lot at their antics on stage! I was fortunate enough to run into Mark Savela and we chatted for a while. I hope that the powers that be (MGM) open the sets up to the tour next year at the Bridge!
Cheers!
Patricia Lee
Hi, Joe!
I just read a tweet from Will Dixon that Robert C. Cooper won in his category at the 2010 WGC Awards for ‘Time!’
Woo-hoo!
‘Time’ was my favorite episode from the first half of the season.
Congratulations to SGU, RCC, and to all of the nominees.
🙂
Hi Joe:
All Right. What’s the deal? I was in Vancouver and you didn’t invite me? And…to be honest, your chocolate party was a tad more upscale than mine. But we had Dan Payne and Aleks Paunovic and Genevieve Buechner from Caprica. So you missed out. And, yes, Peter Kelamis and Patrick Gilmour also joined us for a great time. Did you know that Peter plays a pretty mean game of paddle ball? Ask him about it. We raised over $200 for charity just on the auction of the signed paddles alone.
I asked that life altering question of Elyse, David and Brian: “What do you think of Joe Mallozzi?”
Answers ranged from, “He is such a cool dude”, to, “I adore him, he is so brilliant, to, I want to have his baby (I think that was Elyse that said that, although, it could have been Brian). So, you are well loved. Especially under impending drop in story line coverage.
The convention was fun. My party was a hit. who could ask for more?
Patricia
I really hate it when you post pics from your chocolate parties. Because I want it a lot. But I can’t have it. Because I’m not invited. So phooey.
Hey Joe,
With “Faith”, SGU has become my favourite of the three series. Just so many great little moments in dialogue and writing. I was completely immersed in the episode.
What location was used to shoot the planetary scenes? Beautiful place.
Cheers,
-J.
I’m going to be in San Francisco in a week on a business trip. I didn’t know about Recchiuti. I’m not sure if I should thank you or curse you…