2012 Chocolate Events

January 21-22 Coral Gables, FL.
Fairchild’s International Chocolate, Coffee and Tea Festival www.fairchildgarden.org at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. The event will feature chocolate samples from artisan chocolatiers, demonstrations by master chocolatiers, lectures, and activities for children. Participants who ride a bike, walk or use public transportation, will receive $5 off admission.

January 29 Rock Island, IL.
Chocolate Festival www.quadcities.com at the Quad City Botanical Center. The event includes samples from local chocolatiers, bakeries, and candy shops; cooking demonstrations; facials, massages, and beauty tips; special guest Willy Wonka and a kids chocolate activity area. Guides in the center’s tropical and warm Sun Garden will be showing a live chocolate tree. Lagomarcino’s, a century-old confectionery and soda fountain in the Quad Cities, is a featured participant. The chocolatier received a James Beard Award and has been voted best homemade candy in the state. It is known for its variety of heart-shaped boxes--one with 300 pieces.

February 4-5. Leelanau County, MI
Taste the Passion wine tour www.lpwines.com, features wine and chocolate pairings at 17 wineries of the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail in northern Michigan.

February 7. London,
at the AWC Wine Academy. Chocolate and Wine Tasting Course. Champagne and chocolate on Valentine’s Day? Not so fast, says Susy Atkins, the event’s host and BBC wine experts. “It’s natural to put champagne and chocolates together on Valentine’s Day, but actually champagne, or any sparkling wine, when consumed with chocolate renders the overall taste too sour, overly dry and fruitless.” Participants will learn which wines do go with a diverse range of chocolates. Visit www.awcwineacademy.com

February 10, Smithfield. VA. http://www.visitsmithfieldisleofwight.com/Chocolatelovers.php
Annual Chocolate Lovers Event in downtown. Participants can stroll downtown shops to sample chocolate creations at eight participating stores. There is no charge for the event.

February 10-19 Wolcott Hotel, New York www.wolcott.com/TLC
offers TLC: Travel, Love, Chocolate. A discount at Ayza Wine & Chocolate Bar is included in the romantic package. The hotel is in Midtown near the Empire State Building.

February 10-12 Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, NY. www.mohonk.com.
Art of Chocolate Weekend at National Historic Landmark resort 90 miles north of New York City. Highlights include

• Award-winning New York City-based chocolatier Rodolfo Espinal of Marie Belle New York Chocolates, will discuss how chocolate goes from bean to bar, while attendees taste a variety of chocolates from around the world with varying cacao percentages and flavors, and then learn to pair chocolate with beverages such as port wine, prosecco, and cognac.

• Laura Brody, best-selling cookbook author of Growing Up On The Chocolate Diet and Chocolate American Style, will help guests create a personalized chocolate bar from a myriad of ingredients.

• Cooking demonstrations and tastings, will show guests how to use chocolate to enhance dishes. Featured recipes include Mohonk Executive Pastry Chef Eric Smith’s Ultimate Chocolate Obsession Sundae; and Mohonk Executive Chef Jim Palmeri’s Encacahuatado, braised chicken with Mexican chocolate and peanuts.

February 10-12, 16-19 St Giles Hotel New York. www.stgilesnewyork.com.
The Court, the intimate hideaway located on a secluded Midtown street offers the Sweet, Sweet Valentine’s Day package, which includes breakfast for two served in Icon Restaurant, an in-room rose petal trail, two passes to The Luxury Chocolate Tour; and chocolate and wine tasting on February 10 in the hotel’s Lex Bar.

New York Chocolate Tours was established in 2006 by Carmen Santorelli, editor and publisher of Chocolate Zoom magazine. The popular Luxury Chocolate Tour includes La Maison du Chocolat, Charbonnel and Walker, and 5th Avenue Chocolatiere.

February 11-12. NJ www.newjerseywines.com
Vineyards throughout the state will participate in the Wine and Chocolate Trail Weekend featuring Garden State wines paired with artisan chocolates.

February 12. Casa Nonna, NY.
Pastry Chef Julie Elkind leads an entertaining afternoon on all things cocoa. Guests will enjoy tasting a variety of chocolate types, learning to get the perfect consistency of chocolate for dipping fruit, and creating chocolate bon bons and truffles under Chef Elkind’s guidance. Guests will also be treated to prosecco and mimosas, hors d’ oeuvres, and Casa Nonna gifts. A decorative gift box will also be provided for class participants to take their chocolates home in.

Reservations are required and can be made by calling (212) 736.3000.

February 17-19. Lake Erie Wine Country, NY and PA
Twenty Three wineries in Chautauqua County NY and Erie County PA along Lake Erie will feature wine and chocolate pairings. Tour is sponsored by Finney’s Chocolates. Participants may visit any wineries in any order.

Visit www.lakeeriewinecountry.org.

February 18-19 Herman, MO.
The Chocolate Wine Trail has become a romantic Valentine’s tradition for many couples, who spend the third weekend of February samplings chocolate and wine pairings at seven stops along the Hermann Wine Trail.

The tasting menu at the 2012 Chocolate Wine Trail will feature:

• Adam Puchta Winery. Chocolate Snowdrift, paired with Adam Puchta Signature Port
• Bias Winery. Doubly Decadent Chocolate-Chocolate Cookies, paired with Raspberry Weisser Flieder
• Dierberg Star Lane Tasting Room. Mocha-Coffee Crusted Pork Medallions with Chocolate Raspberry Sauce, paired with Three Saints Pinot Noir
• Hermannhof Winery.White Chocolate Soup with Grapefruit and Kiwi Infusion, paired with 2007 Traminette
• OakGlenn Winery. Alabama Mud Cake, paired with River View Red
• Röbller Winery. Chocolate Mousse Florentine, paired with Villa Rouge
• Stone Hill Winery. White Chocolate Blondie Brownies, paired with Vignoles

The Hermann Wine Trail hugs the Missouri River for 20 scenic miles between Hermann and
New Haven.

Visit www.hermanwinetrail.com.

February 25, Chicago. The 7th Annual For the Love of Chocolate Gala at the Merchandise Mart features a variety of chocolate confections and savory dishes from top chefs, chocolate fashions, a chocolate spa, a raffle, entertainment, and dancing. Proceeds benefit the For the Love of Chocolate Scholarship Foundation for students of the French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College.

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