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By Robbin Warner, February 20, 2012 11:01 am

There is no better way to spend a rainy Sunday in Brussels than making chocolate. Here are some pictures of Sunday afternoon chocolate making in my kitchen in Etterbeek.

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By Robbin Warner, February 15, 2012 8:07 am

The State Department Blog had a little piece on Feed the Future’s Africa Cocoa Initiative (ACI) in honor of Valentine’s Day. http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/usaid_chocolate_production

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By Robbin Warner, February 5, 2012 12:27 pm

My first review of 2012 is of my favorite store in Belgium, maybe even my favorite store in all of Europe. It is none other than Chocolate World: A cash and carry warehouse of chocolate moulds and chocolate making equipment. I wrote a brief post about visiting the store in 2011, but this is a full feature review.

Click here for full review

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By Robbin Warner, January 31, 2012 12:22 pm

In honor of a year-long food festival in Brussels celebrating Belgian gastronomie (Brusselicious), the festival organizers have put together cute little videos on Belgian cuisine. Today’s was on the Praline.

Another cute one is on Speculoos

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By Robbin Warner, January 24, 2012 4:39 pm

Yesterday was the Donation Ceremony for the NATO Charity Bazaar where we gave out 188,000 euros to 27 Belgian and International charities. I have been the coordinator of this bazaar for the past three years. The NATO Charity Bazaar is the biggest social event at NATO HQ (to find out more about the event and the charities we support go to www.natocharitybazaar.org).

Being part of this organization has been one of the highlights of my time here in Brussels. It has allowed me to get to know NATO in a way I never would have otherwise. Through the Bazaar I met people from every member nation and Partners for Peace. The NATO Charity Bazaar has shown me just how important diplomacy is in today’s global environment.

But I digress. Back to a discussion of chocolates. For this event I made special NATO Charity Bazaar signature Chocolates. Since our organization’s colors are blue and orange, I made two flavors: one for each color. The chocolates accented in blue were salted caramels with crunch, one of my favorites. The chocolates accented in orange were filled with speculoos. Speculoos is a very popular favor in Belgium–kind of a cross between pumpkin pie and graham cracker.

The Patron of the NATO Charity Bazaar is Anne-Mette Rasmussen, spouse of the Secretary General of NATO. Danish TV covered the event (The Rasmussens are Danish and he is a former Prime Minister). To my pleasant surprise the clip included a few seconds of Mrs. Rasmussen and me by my chocolates. Click here to see the video. My chocolates appear at the 2:08 marker point.

Speculoos pralines ready to be decorated with orange accents

Orange accenting

Close up of the blue accenting for the salted caramels with crunch (I love adding crunch to my chocolates)

MY NATO Charity Bazaar Chocolates on a plate

MY NATO Charity Bazaar Chocolates on a platter

I wrote out "NATO Charity Bazaar" in chocolates in the middle of the platter. Here's a close up

Another close up of the chocolates.

I couldn't resist taking a few artsy shots with my new camera

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By Robbin Warner, January 20, 2012 5:15 pm

I may be a chocolate person at heart, but I love expanding my repertoire of skills even when it doesn’t include chocolate. I recently took a cake icing seminar “The Basics of Buttercream” from Brussel’s resident American-style cake decorating expert Cindy Alvarez. Cindy is a great instructor: patient and incredibly knowledgable on all things cake related. This was the second in a 3-part series of classes on cake decorating. The first class was on making the perfect cake. The second (the one I just took) was on how to ice the cake. And the third installment will be on cake decorating.

I’ve always wondered how professional cake decorators get their cakes to be flat on top, perfectly straight on the side and still be tasty and moist. Now I know. Though I must admit that throughout the experience I kept thinking how a little chocolate ganache here and a few chocolate sprinkles there would make the cake oh so much better.

I took my cake home for Gene as part of his birthday season celebration. In my family a birthday is not just one day, but an entire month. January is my husband Gene’s birthday month, so we’re in full birthday season celebration mode at our house. The cake went well with his collection of birthday cards (one for every day of the month). Gene enjoyed every bite of the cake.

The finished product...better known as "Gene's B-day Cake"

It all starts with making the perfect icing

Cindy demonstrates how to form a dam between layers so the cake will be level.

Look at how nicely the 2-layers fit together.

Cindy demonstrates how to get your cake sides perfectly smooth

Another view of the finished cake: smooth sides and a flat top. All that is missing is some chocolate decorations

I couldn't resist including a photo of Gene's Birthday Season 2012 B-Day Card collection. Look at all those great cards in English, French, and Flemish. The cards will keep coming because his official birthday isn't until next week.

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By Robbin Warner, January 20, 2012 9:28 am

My cousin Talya came for a visit last week. After touring around Brussels and trying the local delicacies (waffles from a street vendor, frits at a friterie, and chocolates from the many chocolate shops in town) Talya wanted to try her hand at making chocolate. So on Thursday we spent the day making Belgian chocolates.

We made two types of chocolates: molded pralines and hollow molds. For the praline fillings, Talya chose peanut butter & jelly, salted caramels, and speculoos. The hollow mold we made was a woman’s high heeled shoe. I first saw this mold with Talya’s mother Roneet several years ago. Roneet had bought Talya a milk chocolate version of the mold. At our chocolate session, Talya had the opportunity to design and make 3 shoes.

Our chocolate making extravaganza took most of the day. To finish it off, we packed the chocolates in ballotine boxes, decorated them with
ribbon, and prepared them for their plane ride home. Talya ending up with an entire grocery bag of Belgian chocolates that she made herself from start to finish.

Talya working with the high heeled shoe mold

Close up of Talya working with the mini high heeled shoe mold

A sampling of the pralines we made

An artsy shot of our chocolates (I couldn't resist playing with my new camera)

Talya enjoying a Belgian Kriek Beer (cherry beer) at the end of our chocolate session

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By Robbin Warner, January 2, 2012 1:56 pm

Jessie Lewis and I made custom chocolates for the December 2011 Tamarin Foods Holiday Party. Tamarin Foods is a corporate catering company located in Brussels, Belgium. After taste-testing our signature flavors, Tamarin Foods decided to use three of our most popular creations–Peanut Butter & Jelly, Masala Chai Latte & Butterscotch. For the fourth flavor we made a yummy pistachio ganache. The boxes were decorated in Tamarin Foods green.