Gone Chocco

Alrighty then, the Taste of Melbourne event….. The tickets that Green and Black’s sent me to give away to GoneChocco readers were won within twenty minutes of posting and I was lucky enough to attend the opening night on Thursday and take Sapphire with me on Saturday.

….. to be honest, I was also looking forward to having a gander inside the lovely old Exhibition Building which looks rather ominous here due to the spitting rain but didn’t seem to stop a guy posing joyously for a photo (see bottom right) with his arms akimbo like Maria from ‘The Sound of Music’.

Ironically, there was a delay in opening the doors because the cooking inside had set off the fire alarms and three fire trucks turned up to investigate.

You’re going to find this almost impossible to believe, but once inside, my first thoughts weren’t on chocolate.

The interiors of the building were beautiful enough to divert my attention for a moment …..

…… before heading over to the Green and Black’s stall to check out their chocolate fountain

  

 

 

 

…… and sample their delicious cheesecake (made from Maya Gold) and their Tiffin slices before they were eagerly inhaled by other visitors…..  Sarah said that they deliberately didn’t hand out paper recipes in order to be environmentally aware, but she did promise me that she’d email me the PDFs of the recipes that, if you ask me nicely, I could share with you all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the roof – so pretty!  Wait a minute – who’s the topless sheila being fanned by angel? Is she the Taste of Melbourne Goddess? Does enough heat rise to the roof so that she can flash her boobies in such wintry Melbourne weather?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No matter. It was time to have a chocolate fudge ice-cream from Ben and Jerry’s combi van and sneak a few chocolate shards from Sisko (who use Belgian Callebaut, French Valrhona or Spanish Chocovic in theri creations) and guess the weight of the solid chocolate Eiffel tower…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

….try some Della Mano (hand made) chocolate fudge brownies from Brissie and some gorgeous looking truffles and chocolates from the more local (Preston) The Chocolate Master (yes, I bought boxes from both stalls)

       

……. and a double choc icecream sandwich from Pat and Stick’s homemade for me and a choc-chip cookie and strawberry one for Sapphire. I’ve stolen the pictures from their website, because the photos I took on the day featured some rather ’strange-looking’ punters nearby that I was unable to edit out and was also unable to publish in case they frightened you (no Pat, it wasn’t you).

        

Rather selfishly, stall holders SMEG weren’t handing out any free samples, even though I fell in love with their candy-influenced fridge and freezer combo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On both occasions I returned home jubilant, tired and ever-so-slightly ill, because apart from the chocolate stalls, I also sampled various versions of smoked salmon, grain fed beef, organic dukkah and olive oils, cheeses, meringues, vodka(s), biscuits, spice mixes, ginger cordial, turkish meatballs, pesto ravioli and lemon liqueur. 

I’ll be back with bells on for next year though.

 

Dr Lucy Burns is a blonde combination of Gretel Killeen and Pamela Stephenson and was sporting a black eye when we met,* having truly suffered for her art. And for a good cause…..

As the proud owner of ‘Better than Flowers’-  a business that specialises in creating unique bouquets of edible chocolates cunningly disguised as flowers, Lucy was reaching into the industrial-sized cooler used to store  the chocolates and had the door clunk into her eye.

We met up at the Lindt Cafe on Collins Street to talk about the upcoming FSHD Lindt Chocolate Ball to be held on Friday 6^th August at the Hilton Hotel in East Melbourne.

As we entered, I couldn’t help but notice Lindt’s Macaron tree, surely inspired by Adriano Zumbo’s scary Masterchef challenge?

FSHD isn’t a chemical compound found in chocolate but is a common form of muscular dystrophy that causes progressive and irreversible weakness and wasting of muscles in the body.  The not-for-profit FSHD Global Research Foundation is working towards finding a treatment and cure for this debilitating disease, offering hope to thousands of sufferers and their families. In the few short years the foundation has been running, it has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to research projects around the globe.  Lucy also donates all of the profits from Better Than Flowers to FSHD.

Lucy was diagnosed with FSHD (pronounced: Fay-she-oh-skap-you-lo-hum-er-al) in her teens but that didn’t stop her pursuing studies and a career in medicine and raising two daughters with her husband, Ty. Based in the Mornington Peninsula, they are also ‘parents’ to three alpacas, four chickens, two ducks, two Jack Russells, two goats, a couple of rabbits and the unfortunately-named sheep ‘Lamb Chop.’

When not fashioning chocolates into bouquets and organising the Lindt Chocolate ball, Lucy works as a doctor three days a week for the navy. Lucy became disillusioned with the profits-first, 6-minute-medicine style of general practice, which she was unable and unwilling to deliver. Her job at Navy involves looking after hospital patients and allows her to spend more time with them, which is ultimately far more rewarding. “I enjoy my work but have realised that life is about so much more than money – Better Than Flowers gives me a creative outlet and a specific area to direct my energies. Why not combine the challenge of establishing a business with making a difference to FSHD awareness and research?”

I wondered if BTF bouquets would be a hit with blokes who would normally baulk at receiving something living, pretty and covered in petals. “Absolutely,” she nods, “Our footy team-themed chocolate bouquets are very popular.”

Perhaps that’s why Kevin Sheedy, quirky Essendon legend, is a featured guest at the FSHD Lindt Chocolate Ball, along with award-winning chef Luke Mangan and Australian Idol talent Roshani Priddis. “We are bringing together the public’s current fascination with food, Lindt chocolate and celebrity chefs for a great cause and it promises to be the most decadent – and fun – event you’re invited to attend this year,” Lucy says, smiling through her black eye.

Those interested in purchasing tickets – or just making a donation – are encouraged to do so quickly at www.fshdglobal.org.

…..and yes, of course we had hot chocolates at the cafe….. and some desserts ……

…..and yes, I bought some macarons to take home – and share – with Sapphire and Love Chunks – the heavenly salted caramel, the70% chocolate and the rose. All of them were divine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* hence I’m using the photo on her ‘Better Than Flowers’ website rather than the one I took of Lucy yesterday that could be mistakenly used for a WorkSafe or domestic violence campaign!