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 TM
The best place to say “I love you ”for Valentine’s Day
The Chocolate Bar Gourmet Chocolate Buffet at the Ritz-Carlton New York,
Battery Park
 What:
Award-winning Pastry Chef Laurent Richard presents a sumptuous gourmet
buffet of the most unforgettable decadent chocolate desserts complimented by
a glass of Champagne. Indulge in this sinful selection while experiencing
the most breathtaking views in Manhattan.
Per person charge is $65.00
(including tax and tip).
 Where:
Rise bar on the 14th Floor of The Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park
(overlooking the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor)
Two West Street
New York, New York 10004
When:
Friday and Saturday Nights
February 4th through February 26th
Three Seatings: 7:00pm, 9:00pm, and 10:30pm
Due to limited space, reservations recommended:
917-790-2571
 **Additional
Chocolate Bar evening on Valentine’s Day, Monday, February 14th in the
hotel’s Manhattan Ballroom; seatings available at 8:00pm and 10:00pm.
The AAA Five Diamond hotel is situated on Lower
Manhattan’s waterfront, the 39-story, 298-room hotel overlooks historic New
York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
 Inside,
a flawless standard of personal service reigns with bath butlers, valets,
concierges, spa treatments and 24-hour room service. Guests venturing from
the snug haven of their room can enjoy a breathtaking sunset and
award-winning cocktails from Rise, the hotel’s 14th floor bar or step
outside for a stroll along the scenic esplanade of Battery Park. For hotel
reservations and information, visit online at
www.ritzcarlton.com, or call 800-241-3333, or the hotel direct at
212-344-0800.
The only sour note after a very sweet evening was the
$35 charge for parking. Maybe you should walk to and from a nearby subway
stop and save money and burn up calories.
Edited by Madelyn Miller
More Fantasies For Chocoholics
Chocolatier Magazine
Great way to get your monthly chocolate fix
Bittersweet
Recipes and Tales from a life in Chocolate
By Alice Medrich
Artisan Books
www.artisanbooks.com
Bake and Freeze Chocolate Desserts
By Elinor Klivans
120 recipes to make now and enjoy later
www.bdd.com
All About Chocolate
The ultimate resource for the World’s Favorite Food
By Carole Bloom
McMillan USA
www.mgr.com
Chocolate Crazy
By Slvia Balser Hirsch
The celebrated Miss Grimble presents more inspired Desserts—all chocolate
MacMillan Publishing Company
Mr. Food Simply Chocolate
Think chocolate goodies are hard to make? Not when you make them Mr.
Food’s way
William Morrow and Company, Inc.
The Chocolate Lover’s Guide
To the Pacific Northwest
By Bobbie Hasselbring
Wordsworth Publishing
Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor
By Anne Byrn
Workman PUBLISHING
www.workman.com
365 Great Chocolate Desserts
By Natalie Haughton
Harper Collins Publisher
The Totally Chocolate Cookbook
By Helen Siegel and Karen Gillingham
Celestial Arts
Chocolate
The Consuming Passion
By Sandra Boynton
Workman Publishing
www.workman.com
The Little Book of Chocolate
By Katherine Khodorowsky and Herve Robert
Published by Flammarion
Distributed by Rizzoli through St. Martin’s Press
Cinnamon Mornings and Chocolate Dreams
By Pamela Lanier
Lanier Publishing
www.travelguides.com
Good Deeds With Chocolate
Chef Hilly Blondheim has put his culinary skills to
good use and turned a simple boyhood treat into a life-saving instrument in
the fight against breast cancer. Whether its sprinkled on top of fruit or
ice cream, to enhance the flavor of coffee or a smoothie, blended into
waffle or pancake batter, used in a chocolate martini, sampled as fondue, or
simply to make the best cup of hot chocolate you have ever tasted, the
possibilities for this gourmet chocolate mix are endless.
www.chefhillyskitchen.com
Chocolate Travel Opportunities
"The Chocolate Society café and shop at 36 Elizabeth
Street, SW1 Londonmecca
for the chocoholic. Celebrating chocolate as a gourmet delicacy, there are
handmade truffles, biscuits and all sorts of other chocolate-based goodies.
The shop is open from Monday to Saturday - for more information call 0207259
9222."
Great Chocolate Mousse Festival
New Brunswick, Canada
Sutton Place Hotel weekend chocolate buffet
Toronto, Canada
Hershey, Pennsylvania
Norwegian Caribbean Lines
afternoon chocolate buffet
Chocolate tea buffet
Mark Hotel, New York
Chocolate Festival
Poconos Manor Inn and Golf Resort
Pennsylvania
The Lofts Hotel in downtown Columbus, Ohio is now
offering chocolate lovers the opportunity to enjoy the ultimate chocolate
experience, while indulging in the luxury of The Lofts. Featuring
everything from a chocolate body massage and a lesson in how to make
luxurious hand-dipped chocolates to a souvenir DVD copy of the movie “Chocolat”,
the Pure Imagination Chocolat Lovers Package is a sweet escape.
The Pure Imagination Chocolat Lovers Package starts at
just $349 per couple and includes:
-
Deluxe overnight accommodations at the incredible
Lofts Hotel
-
Two consecutive 30-minute chocolate massages
-
The Pure Imagination Chocolat Experience: private
chocolate making lesson with renowned chocolatier, Daniel Cooper,
teaching the couple how to make hand-dipped chocolates. Guests will
take home four hand-dipped chocolate-covered strawberries and a gift
package of European hot chocolate
-
Dinner for two (a $50 value)
-
Nightcap of a bottle of champagne and fresh,
hand-dipped truffles
-
Breakfast for two in bed
-
Souvenir DVD copy of the movie “Chocolat”
To top off this romantic getaway, couples can have a
photo and a sweet message placed on the jumbo 18’x 32’ ADTV (Arena District
Television) screen, located just a block west of The Lofts in the Arena
District. Guests can even have a proposal or “I love you” message
strategically timed for unveiling to a loved one. The cost of ADTV is $35
Madelyn's Favorite Chocolate Treats
Doubletree Hotel chocolate chip cookies
THE VERY BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES IN THE WORLD
http://www.travellady.com/Issues/February04/WheretoGettheVeryBest.htm
Fairytale Chocolate Brownies 800-fairytale
www.brownies.com
Chocolate Cowboy Crunch from Bumblee Bee’s Baja Grill.
505-820-2862, Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can buzz through and buy them for
$2.50 per package. Other irresistible treats are the Cowgirl kisses made of
white chocolate and Espresso Brownies.
Madelyn's Favorite Chocolate Desserts
Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity in New York
Lollipop Tree at DavidBurke and Donatella in New York
(okay, it is not ALL chocolate but it is so wonderful I am making an
exception)
Chocolate Hotel
The Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas offers a chocolate replica of its
signature location at Reunion Tower. The Landmark Tower is a decadent
dessert filled with Berry-chocolate ganache and Champagne Mouse on a sea of
mango sauce and berries. At $13 it is a lot better deal than downtown real
estate. This stellar sweet is more than enough for two serious chocoholics
and worth every penny for the WOW factor
Total Body Chocolate Experiences
The Golden Door Spa in Carefree, Arizona offers the
Chocolate Champagne Body Wrap. This Valentine's Day-inspired treatment
teases the senses with tantalizing aromas while rejuvenating the skin. The
treatment begins with a double exfoliation using chocolate, Ayurvedic herbs
and natural fruit acids. An anti-oxidant mask of vitamins, green tea,
chocolate and fruit of choice is then applied to the body and spritzed with
champagne or healing vanilla water. The guest is wrapped like a delectable
morsel while the active elements begin to renew and restore the body.
Following a light shower, the body is caressed with an intensive hydrating
cream. This unforgettable sensory adventure concludes with the guest's
choice of custom-made chocolate in the same taste as the body treatment.
At New Orleans Belladona Day spa you can almost OD on
chocolate. But then I believe you can never have too much chocolate.
Be a chocoholic: the choco-palooza body deluxe
3 hours - $225.00
This was designed for those who have that never-ending fascination with
anything chocolate. The Choco-palooza begins with a serenely romantic still
bath, laced with chocolate and raspberry sprinkles, nourishing almond oil,
exquisite salts, and healing extracts. Romantic music sets the mood.
Scrumptious chocolate truffles are there for the nibbling. Following the
bath, a massage therapist begins a light exfoliation using a raspberry
scrub, rich in vitamin B and aloe vera. This gentle scrub enhances the
appearance of the skin and is preparation for the Chocolate Surrender Body
Treatment, a chocolate body mask rich, soothingly smooth and great for any
skin type, especially after a harsh winter. While the face is cocooned in
the mask, the therapist massages the face, neck and scalp. After a shower,
the therapist applies "raspberry syrup" to eradicate stress.
Belladonna's
special Relief Gel gets at those difficult spots in the back, and a decadent
chocolate paraffin melts away the last resistance. A 50-minute massage
utilizing Belladonna's chocolate syrup massage oil completes the Choco-palooza.
Mini choco-palooza
90 minutes - $125.00
For those who don't have time for the deluxe treatment, the abbreviated Choco-palooza is an option. This mini-version of the previous service
entails a scrumptious exfoliation using a raspberry scrub to enhance and
prepare the skin for the Chocolate Surrender Body Treatment. This chocolate
body mask is rich and lusciously hydrating to winter-ravaged skin. After a
shower the next step is the Chocolate Stress Relief utilizing a chocolate
whip cream, a silky moisturizer rich in willow and aloe vera followed by an
application of Relief Gel and chocolate paraffin. A massage with chocolate
whip cream follows. And it's all calorie-free.
Manicure au chocolat
1 hour - $40.00
This delicious manicure completely pampers with chocolate and raspberry
products designed to treat and repair the hands. Belladonna's chocolate
nutty scrub is a luxurious way to smooth away dry flaking skin and allow the
rich avocado oil, vitamins and nutritious meadow foam seed oil to do their
thing. After a massage using "raspberry syrup," rich in anti-oxidizing
vitamins and extracts, the hands are submerged in the utmost of decadence --
chocolate/raspberry paraffin -- known for its hydrating benefits. This
manicure's finishing touches are an application of Chocolate Whip Cream
and polish. All are calorie-free except the delicious truffles on hand for
nibbling.
Pedicure au chocolat
1 hour - $55.00
This sweet treat for the feet utilizes the utmost in decadent chocolate
products. The feet are gently soaked in chocolate sprinkles, which will
raise anyone's spirits and relax the mind. Rough, dry skin is then
exfoliated with Chocolate Blizzard, a natural sea salt scrub infused with
rich oils and extracts to assist in revitalizing dull skin. A delicious
cocoa aroma enhances the whole experience. Raspberry syrup caresses the feet
and legs to release all remaining stress. The Chocolate Surrender Mask
soothes the feet. Chocolate truffles are served and a Chocolate Whip Cream
application provides the finishing touch.
Chocolate Drinks
The Chocolate Jacuzzi Martini
Balcony Club 1825 Abrams Rd @ La Vista Dr. Dallas, TX 75214-
6617 214-826-8104
Most Erotic Chocolate Opportunity
Todos Santos in Santa Fe, New Mexico offers a chocolate kama sutra set.
Since I visited right after Valentine’s Day, they were sold out. Not
surprisingly, they cost $69. They can ship them anywhere with a weeks
notice. I am sorry I could not photograph them to give my readers a
titillating preview.
Another interesting offering is “after dinner saints”.
You could also use them after any sin. Saint boxes cost $28 for a box of
four, $56 for a box of eight and $84 for twelve saints. I wonder what sins
you commit would need a dozen saints for redemption?
Todos Santos Chocolates and Confections, 125 East
Palace Avenue #31, Santa Fe, New Mexico (505) 982-3855
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