Friday, April 17, 2009

Death By Chocolate - Is That a Bad Thing?

Just mention the word chocolate and watch the expression on the faces around you. Nothing can stir up the emotion or bring such instant pleasure as eating a piece of chocolate. And most would agree that everything tastes better dipped in chocolate. Chocolate has been synonymous with love, passion and romance since it was discovered by the Mayans and Aztecs, of Mexico and Central America, hundreds of years ago.
Two years ago my husband and I vacationed in Brussels Belgium, where we discovered the famous brand Neuhaus chocolate. We would sit for hours in a very well-known and frequented beer house, La Mort Subite (meaning sudden death) and drink Trappist beer and eat a pound of this wonderful chocolate everyday!! I even brought a shopping bag full of it back home with me when I returned. But soon that ran out and I have not eaten chocolate since then. That is until this week, when I discovered a little chocolate shop tucked away in an obscure shopping center in Augusta, Georgia.
La Bonbonnière is owned and operated by Bébette Smith, who makes these fine Belgian chocolates in house. Not only does she offer thirty different chocolate selections, she specializes in making the most exquisite chocolate boxes which are then filled with her chocolate treats. And the bonus is that the chocolate boxes are also edible. All of her chocolates are made in the traditional Belgian method, which means without preservatives. Bébette, a former teacher who is originally from Belgium, fell in love with chocolate-making during a trip back to her home town. She decided to attend the Barry Callebaut Chocolate Institute to get formal chocolate-making training, and three months later she opened her own shop. “Nothing chocolate, nothing gained.”
La Bonbonnière, 706.868.8120