Chocolate. Enough said.

It's a snow day here in New York (which means nothing except that you're out 100 bucks if you're an hourly worker for NYC public schools, like me). So I'm taking the time before my audition at 2pm (which was NOT canceled - thank god I get to trek all the way down to Chelsea in the snow) to tell you about the amazing Portland Chocolate Fest, which I went to with my sister and my mom when I was in (guess where?) Portland.

Here we are at the World Forestry Center. I just love giant trains, don't you?

The Chocolate Festival spanned three giant rooms. The lines were very very long.


Each room had table after table of vendors giving away free tastes and selling their wares. Here's some great examples of chocolate-y amazingness.


One of the things I loved about the festival was the inventive use of ingredients pared with chocolate. A really popular one was bacon (remember how I said Portland loved bacon? Still true).


The maple bacon fudge from the Oregon Zoo Fudge Company was delicious. I brought some back for Zack. They had some other great flavors as well - chocolate raspberry, mint, all your basics.


Bacon kept popping up everywhere.



Another weird ingredient pairing? Blue cheese!


I love mixing chocolate and cheese together. I have the palate of a crazy pregnant woman (does this mean if I ever become pregnant, I'll start craving "normal" things like boxed mac and cheese or tuna fish? Just musing....).


The blue cheese/chocolate combo totally worked for me. It was sharp and creamy and sweet. Love it.

There were also wine tastings and beer tastings (if you were over 21). I saw local chocolate beer on display, so the good wife in me said I had to try some (for Zack, you know. I'm a giver. Drinking beer by myself in Oregon.....that's so wifely).


My sister and my mom were both disturbed by this.


But I liked it. Beer? Good. Chocolate? Good. I was a happy camper.

Alli was a big fan of Brownies from Heaven -giant brownie truffles. Do you see the one cut in half on the left side?


That was the size of a baseball. They had different flavors (coffee, raspberry, etc). I bought one for Alli to take home. She said she'd share it with me (but she totally lied).

We all left with gift bags, full stomachs and smiles (and Alli got a balloon hat as well - I'm not sure why, but she sure liked it).



That's it for Portland, folks! Back to my Astoria kitchen.