Gail Ambrosius Pralines: Mais Oui!

You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. I simply cannot leave any good chocolates sitting on my desk because they mysteriously disappear overnight. I know it's not the cat, because he's too lazy to get up on the desk. It's not the Sugar Baby, because he has access to his own sweet shelf. So that leaves only one other culprit in the house who's been eating my chocolate, the most recent acquisition being Gail Ambrosius Parisian Pralines. When I first heard "pralines," my thoughts turned to the New Orleans variety-- brown sugary pecan patties that are usually overwhelmingly sweet. That's not the case here. These were influenced by French chocolates, the kind that make you go "ooh lala!"
Visually, the chocolates are stunning. Each piece is like a mini architectural masterpiece. They seem to shout Frank Lloyd Wright.
But it's the taste that matters, right? The flavors are Pecan, Pistachio Bomb, Hazelnut and Orange Almond.
I went for the orange almond first, and was actually surprised that it wasn't more citrusy. I was expecting a tang, but instead the texture was what really stood out. The filling was crisp and nutty, very unlike any other chocolates I've had recently. My favorite was the pecan, which was like a tiny, crunchy pecan pie. They were all excellent and, like I said, beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, before I had the chance to really take any notes on the subtleties of flavor, Mr. Goodbar the Chocolate Thief had eaten through the whole box. I suppose that, in itself, is the best review possible.

Happy Birthday to Me!

The doorbell rang on Friday and I was psyched to see two boxes on my step. One was really big, like the size of a box of copier paper, and the other was smaller, about 8"x8". What could they be?
I opened the giant box first. Inside was a big styrofoam cooler. Inside that was another box. And then, inside this Russian nesting doll box was: taadaa! A single Lindt chocolate bar with a tiny decorative glass bottle full of salt. Can you say Holy Packaging, Batman? But I was excited to try it. The flavor: Lindt Excellence A Touch of Sea Salt. The aroma is deliciously chocolatey, like walking into a candy store at Easter. I was nervous to sample it, though, because it had the possibility of going terribly wrong. If the salt crystals were too big, or the chocolate too bitter, this could be a bad thing. No worries, though. This is a mighty yummy bar. The salt is strong, but it goes well with the surprisingly creamy dark chocolate. You know what this would be ideal with? A croissant. Get a nice, flaky, buttery croissant, warm it up and melt one of these bad boys in the center-- heaven! With a cup of coffee, oh man. I'm thinking I need to do this a.s.a.p. On its own, a little square with a glass of red wine would be fantastic.
So what was in the second box? A red tin packed to the brim with "Pralines by Leon." Funny, I thought, I wasn't expecting any samples of pralines. Then I saw the gift card from Memaw and Grandpa David. A birthday present! Hooray! The pralines are an assortment of flavors: Bourbon, Jack Daniels, Amaretto and original. These little sweeties are chock full of nuts and are super sweet, not unlike fudge. They taste of cream and butter and sugar ... what could be better?
(Sidenote: the Sugar Baby was thrilled to see the tin of pralines, because they're one of the candies mentioned in the now-famous candy book. Later that afternoon he called me upstairs during his nap to say, "New Orleans-style Pralines are a kind of candy!")