Sugar, sugar, sugar

I found five four-leaf clovers on my lunch break today. I was rather impressed with myself.

I also learned how to make coconut gianduja filling...which means I ate lots of coconut gianduja. (coconut gianduja=coconut flakes+white chocolate). Shu's back, so we'll be messing around with flavours before too long. We're trying to bring in a more savoury element to the chocolate, though Kevin, the head chocolatier and store owner, thinks spices and "food" flavours overpower the taste of chocolate. We've decided to prove him wrong......I have so many ideas floating in my head.....

• black pepper with Tahitian vanilla in a dark shell.
• sweet red bean paste in a bittersweet shell.
• BEER! We've done it before...Deschutes Brewery should be putting out their Abyss Stout soon, I can't wait.
• any herb, really. Now that Shu has perfected the tea truffle, we can infuse almost anything into the cream.

the possibilities are endless...

Oh, speaking of flavour, this cupcake-maker seems to have some pretty wild ideas: http://ecupcake.blogspot.com/
I haven't tried any of her recipes yet, but they look great. I like that she mentions any problems she encounters.