Chocolate Fest & Ravelympics Prep

Since returning from the lovely beach trip I have been dealing with a migraine in some form or another. I won't go into details. Except, really? Four freaking days?!

Tonight was the Chocolate Fest at Whole Foods. The $5 donation goes to ChristieCare. This year it seemed as if the samples were lighter. The tasting menu included:

1. Lobster Bisque ( yummy, I ate Brandon's sample since he doesn't like lobster) 
2. Chicken Mole (I really liked this and wish they had the recipe card for this one, good with the rice - anyone have a good recipe they want to share?)
3. Chocolate Beef Curry with Saffron Rice (Brandon liked this one but wasn't impressed by the rice, I found it just a bit spicier than I would normally eat. Maybe less curry, since it wasn't a top note, definitely tasted the orange juice.)
4. Dry Jack Cheese & Barely Buzzed Cheeses (the Dry was a hard cheese and not a lot of flavor; the BB cheese had lavender and coffee and had more flavor; both needed something than the hard little toast rounds to clear the palate or eat with.) There was also a chocolate cake/pie/truffle slice here that was really good that I'm not sure where it fits in on the list.
5. Lake Champlain and Green & Blacks Chocolates (yummy! Chocolate bar bits and truffles)
6. Chocolate Dipped Strawberries (interesting chocolate sauce, not sure that I'd want it again though)
7. Themed Wines (They had an Australian Port Wine with the cheeses. Most wines taste like vinegar to me but both Brandon and I liked it. Will have to go back for a bottle.)
8. Numi Chocolate Puerh Tea (This was also by the cheeses. Surprisingly good.)

Missed the salad and the shrimp they had last year as well as the Rogue Chocolate Beer Floats. Could have used another beverage other than the port along the way too. Oh! Totally missed the chocolate fountain!  You can compare visits from last year's post.

This morning I spent time with the swift and ball winder as well as the printer. Printed out the two patterns I'll need for casting on tomorrow night at 6pm. Ideally the projects that are attempted during Ravelympics have some level of challenge to them. Otherwise what's the point in competing?

I have the Leyburn Socks using the Sock Candy yarn I picked up from Tammy's destash. I'll be participating in Sock Hockey with Team BMFA (Blue Moon Fiber Arts). I'm going to finally teach myself Judy's Magic Cast On (the visual version that I can follow along with, I think), without Judy close by to turn to for help. I think I may try this out beforehand just to be sure I don't have to switch out patterns, but I'm confident I will be successful in getting things started. I may go wild and see if I can do two socks at once! Gasp! Lots of challenges with this project!

 

I also made into a yarn cake the Cormo/Silk I recently spun up to do the Lillia Hyrna Shawl from the Book of Wool by Clara Parkes.This is my Short Track Shawl entry with Team Spin-Knit. Team Spin-Knit is all about using your own handspun yarn to knit a project. A nice large lace shawl should be nicely challenging as well, getting it done in the two week time period.

 

Then there was digging out the Yak/Merino that Tammy brought back for me from Madrona last year. Since its a year later, I thought it appropriate that I spin this next. I thought I'd enter this in the Flying Camel Spin competition without a particular team to compete with. The challenge is to see how much yardage you can accomplish.

I have just around a foot of the Portland Punch fiber to finish spinning up. I may try to get it done tonight, since I'm pretty sure that the other three items I was hoping to get done before Ravelympics aren't going to get done! LOL I'll have those around to give me breaks in between the event projects. Then I can try to ply it tomorrow afternoon so its all done. It's been good preparation for me to see if I can spin four ounces of lace weight in two weeks. That right there is my own personal challenge!

Are you competing?

Chocolate Fest Night & Booby Socks

Brandon and I went to the Whole Foods Chocolate Fest event tonight. $5 each and this is what we got:

* Spinach Salad with strawberries, nuts and housemade dressing - pretty good, just a little too much dandelion greens.

* Shrimp Cocktail (two big ones!)

* Choice of Jamaican Jerk Beef or Chicken Satay with Masa's Pineapple Sesame Sauce, or there was a ginger sauce that Brandon had. I had beef, Brandon chicken. This was just a little too spicy for me, Brandon liked his.

* Chocolate Mole Wings - we each got one little drumette. They were pretty bland.

* Lula's Truffles & Peppermint Bark - yummy!

* Oak Knoll Framboise - raspberry wine. A little dry for my taste but went well if you drank it after the fondue. ;^)

* Chocolate Fondue - chocolate fountain of chocolate that you got to dip angel food cake into or the totally decadent double chocolate brownie chunks. (The brownie dipped in the fondue was actually a little too much for me.)

* Assorted chocolates - (These were called 'truffles') I went for the milk chocolate and they were great. Brandon liked his dark chocolates.

* Lake Champlain drinking chocolate - less thick and rich than Cacao's. Actually drinkable in quantities larger than a shot.

* Adora Chocolate Disks - these are supposed to be calcium supplements. I had the milk and Brandon had the dark chocolate. We both disliked the weird aftertaste they left. Brandon says its like the cheap chocolate you got as a kid at Easter. He's spoiled by the chocolate tasting they do at work - think Godiva and the like.

* Rogue Chocolate Beer Floats - I'm not a huge float fan, not a huge beer fan and so this wasn't that great for me. Brandon is new to the whole beer thing and didn't care for it either. He thought likes floats. ;^)

They also sent us each home with a bag of goodies:
Two Larabar Jocolat mini-bars(chocolate cherry & chocolate hazelnut); Two ThinkThin mini-bars (chunky peanut butter); Two Dagoba blocks - Sambirano (dark chocolate); Two Green & Black's Organic disks (milk or dark chocolate); 1 whole bar of Dagoba chocolate bar (lemon ginger - crystallized ginger with a hint of lemon).

There was a little Passport that we got stamped at each of the stations. It took us about an hour to go around the store and try out the different areas. We brought home some lobster bisque (for me to try out) and a bottle of hard cider (for Brandon to try) and a Belgian raspberry beer (I like Belgian beer). Definitely try it out if there's one near you next year!

Here's the progress I have on sock number one of the Booby Socks: