Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I Can Has A Chocolate
Just as I was running out of places to put on my "Places I'd Die Happy" list, I had the opportunity to scout out another potential place which shot straight to the top spot (effectively kicking Bikini Bottom down to second place)!!
Fidani's chocolate factory!!
After receiving my Golden Ticket which came in a delectable box of exclusive chocolates, I was off to visit the Fidani chocolate factory to have a look at what goes into every piece of chocolate and maybe lay my chocolate-obsessed fingers on a bite or two.
Others with a Golden Ticket from Fidani were David, KY, Yiling, Shaolin Tiger, FA, Kimberly Cun, Suanie, Cheesie, Rachel, Grace, Nicholas and Ziling.
And we all have Eiling to thank for it! Love her long time.
When I was guided to a room deep within the factory (which is in Glenmarie. damn near my house), I spotted breakfast all laid out for us on the table!
A whole tray of Fidani chocolates (and plenty of mineral water to wash it all down)!
Everyone else had already arrived and we started digging into as much chocolates as our arteries could carry.
Gimme gimme [pic stolen from KY]
Browsing through Fidani's guide to the wonderful world of chocolate and deciding which one to try next. One sinful decision after another!
Now that's the way to start a factory visit =D
While we were busy stuffing ourselves, Fidani's very own Willy Wonka walked into the room and was probably horrified at the rate that the chocolates in the chocolate tray were disappearing.
Say hello to Chef Amer.
What I want on my dream jersey one day.
And so Chef Amer sat us down and began telling us all about the finer details of chocolate (its not all kit kat and choki-choki) and about the premium ingredients that goes into every piece of Fidani chocolate. We were told of the differences between good quality chocolate (the ones sitting in front of the class) and cheap and bad chocolate (the ones who sit at the back of class) which are mostly flavoured with lots of sugar and other flavourings (lies! all lies!).
Ze history of chocolat begins with..
Apart from that, we were also enlightened on proper chocolate care and storage conditions (e.g. in my mouth), step by step chocolate preparation from bean to bar and the secret behind the Fidani brand name (hint: my father would have a field day trying to name anything after his 5 daughters. haha).
The bean! Which we were reassured, tastes nothing like chocolate at this stage.
Eiling telling us how wonderful Fidani is and that we should all convert to Fidanism and ignore all other chocolate brands (with pleasure!).
After a few more bites of chocolates from the almost-empty chocolate tray, we were herded off deep into the bowels of the chocolate factory to have an exclusive look at how Fidani chocolates are made!
Not an Oompa Loompa in sight. Or is it..?
Before getting anywhere near the chocolates, we had to put on hair nets, white latex gloves and oversized lab coats to look the part (oh and also that small matter of hygiene, cleanliness, etc).
Moi, Yiling, Ziling and Eiling.
Once inside, it took alot of willpower for me to resist running from one chocolate station to another and nick a piece or two (they wouldnt miss one right?)!
I was very much amazed to hear that all of Fidani's chocolate creations are hand-made and I stared in disbelief at Chef Amer when he proudly told us earlier on because have you seen how many different types of chocolates are available? Each with its own special design for easy differentiation and it just looks pretty too.
Crazy.
The truffle station. Hand-made.
Dipping the little balls in chocolate. Hand-made.
Laying them down lovingly onto a tray. Hand-made.
Heaven in little balls. Hand-made.
Paying close attention and trying not to be distracted by the wonderful smells of melting chocolate wafting through the factory and teasing our senses.
Almost drove me half mad.
Chocolate dates.
What you can turn your date into if he/she doesnt fork out for the dinner bill.
Unfortunately, there was no chocolate waterfall to be seen.
There was a hairdryer though.
The process of making a chocolate shell looked easy, but as we found out later, was most definitely not.
First, the plastic moulds (which are apparently not cheap) are dried with the funky hairdryer to make sure that there isnt any moisture in the moulds which would affect the chocolate shell.
Then each mould is filled with chocolate (dark, milk or white) flowing from a machine which I would like to own one day.
Like so.
The chocolate factory workers know just how much chocolate should go into each mould and carefully swirl it around so that the mould is evenly covered, then empties the excess chocolate so that the inside of the mould is covered in a thin layer of chocolate.
Oh, they also put it on a vibrating part of the machine to shake out any air bubbles.
The chocolate moulds ready to be filled with some filling, covered in chocolate and refridgerated. Yummeh.
Part of Hogwarts' Fidani's kitchen.
Well they always say that chocolate is an aphrodisiac.
My nose caught a whiff of something around the corner..
They were making durian chocolates!
*big shiny eyes*
Their durian chocolates are made with heavenly durian flesh blended with cream. Absolutely delicious (yes i tried a few)!
Once we were done disturbing the peace and tranquility that is the chocolate factory, it was time for us to have some fun and have a go at making our own hand-made chocolate creations! Yay!
The equipment.
We were all given a special chocolate mould to fill up with chocolate, piping bags also filled with chocolate for decoration and an assortment of nuts and fruit (strawberry, mango, cranberry) for the finishing touch.
I was very excited!!
Time to get to work *snaps gloves*
Chef Amer giving us a much needed demonstration.
Alrighty, lets see how I did!
Me and my very empty chocolate mould.
Chef Amer filling up my mould with dark chocolate for me because I am a n00b that way.
Filling up the mould is done by stepping on a lever which controls the chocolate flow from the machine, then scraping away the excess to ensure an even surface.
My very full of chocolate mould.
Piping out a random squiggle design with white chocolate. I was never one for artistic talent in school.
Using a stick to make my random squiggles of white chocolate look somewhat artsy and decorative.
With a healthy sprinkling of random nuts to complete the look!
Then it was into the freezer for about half an hour, where they took it out and packed it up nicely for all of us!
David boldly going where no blogger has gone before.
Oooo chocolate on my sleeve. Waste not want not.
David's turn to poke his stick into his chocolate mould.
What passes of as a work of art in some countries.
Epic fail.
Would you like to receive this as your graduation present? Haha!
Spirit fingers!
Chef Amer is a romantic at heart as he showed us how to make a rose out of some ingredient which I forgot (is it marzipan?).
Rolling it out into a long thin worm.
Slicing it up.
Flattening it out and making the petals.
Voila!
Me, dishonouring the purity of the rose.
KY's business card.
Wrapping individual chocolates.
A machine for spraying on expiry dates onto the boxes.
More packing of chocolates! Each chocolate has its own designated spot in the tray, so no messing up here ladies!
Our tour of the chocolate factory was over, and we were herded back to the room with a task to be done.
But before that.. More chocolates!
The very colourful.. *flips through booklet* Macadamia Praline!
David gets a mouthful.
Truffle love yo.
Our very own chocolate creations!
That's the durian chocolate! Yummeh..
As we were busily pigging out on chocolates (again), more chocolate samples were set down in front of us and we were given forms to fill out.
Chocolate tasting!
We had a taste of several chocolates fresh from the Fidani lab (not sold in stores yet) and wrote down our opinions about them. Made me feel important for... 15 minutes =D
Careful scrutinisatio of chocolate taste and texture.
Treasure boxes.
Stealing one home (i wish).
After the visit ended, we were all given goodie bags filled with enough Fidani chocolates to last us for weeks (or months depending on how slow you are)! Awesome!
Happy chocolate filled faces.
As if stuffing ourselves till chocolate ran in our veins wasnt enough, we had lunch at a yummy bak kut teh joint in Sunway, where we can apparently get a discount courtesy of KY (wah quite useful).
The trip to Fidani's chocolate factory was amazing and I had a ton of fun! Never in a million years did I think I'd be able to experience something like this and I now have a new found respect for gourmet chocolatiers such as them who put love and quality into every single chocolate. Double yum!
To check out their full range of chocolates and what they have to offer (or just to drool at some pictures), have a click at www.fidani.cc.
A huge thanks once again to Eiling and Yiling!!
*pics courtesy of David*
Happy Birthday Skyler! Hopefully by the time your next birthday comes along, I'll have enough money to go to Singapore with you and belanja you some fried Mars bars =D
And goodbye to Hwei Ming who's jetting off to UK tonight! Just when I was getting to know him better, he scuttles off to do greater things. Oh well, we'll see how it goes in the future =)
Stuck in my head - "Walk Away" by Funeral For A Friend
They don't leave
When the moment comes we know we have to wait
As the days go on and the places fade away
Into dirt, into dust, it all fades away
And the waiting is the hardest thing to take
A moment more before we break
If you have to let it go
And these dreams keep you awake
If you have to let it go
Walk away
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