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18.1.9
I’ve been getting a bit over excited in the past few days - all to do with chocolate. First of all, I taught the first of the new format chocolate workshops - the Truffles and Bars workshop. And so enjoyed it - it’s great to be able to go more in depth with the recipes I teach now because there’s more time.

I’m doing loads of experimenting with chocolate bars - up to now I’ve been more of a truffle recipe person, but I’m REALLY getting into the whole chocolate bar thing now. Once you’ve got the proportions of chocolate powder to fats right (and that really is the key)  then you’re away, and can have incredible amounts of fun experimenting with different shapes, flavours and fillings.  There really is no end to the possibilities...

Plus...last week I bought some specialist chocolate moulds, to sell on the website and in the workshops, which are great. You can get some truly fantastic, professional results with these moulds and they come in all shapes and sizes from smooth bars, to break apart bars, to bon bons, to animals. I could have gone really mad in the warehouse but managed to be sensible in what I selected.

I also got hold of some freeze dried strawberry pieces which are absolutely divine and work so well with the chocolate bars and bon bons. For instance, if you scatter them in the base of the mould, then pour the chocolate on top, let it set then remove it from the mould, you have this beautiful, really professional looking chocolate that tastes divine.

12.1.9
I’ve just got the results of some blood tests from the doctor. As well as what I went for, they checked my glucose and cholesterol levels. Both were normal, which I reckon is a good indicator that the kind of diet I’m eating (which includes A LOT of sweet stuff and chocolate - but it’s raw chocolate and low GI/GL sweeteners) is ok for me.  

The cholesterol levels are especially interesting as high cholesterol runs on my mother’s side of the family but it was only 4.1. I eat a lot of coconut oil and cacao butter (raw), so despite the genetic tendency to high cholesterol I display no signs of it even though I eat lots of fat, including saturated fat.  In case you don’t know, the saturated fat in coconut oil is medium chain rather than long chain, which many experts think is much more likely to be used for energy than laid down as fat or cholesterol.  The saturated fat in cacao butter is a long chain fatty acid.  However, a nutritional therapist (Louisa Eyo), who came on a chocolate workshop a few months ago, said that plant saturated fats aren’t laid down as cholesterol (I hope I’ve quoted you correctly there Louisa!)

Even the glucose level is interesting as my father has diabetes (hope my family don’t mind me revealing their medical history!). It didn’t develop till later in life so you wouldn’t necessarily expect me to show signs now, but it’s a good sign that I don’t.

Of course, everyone’s constitution is different, and I should point out that I also eat a pretty healthy diet in other ways - lots of green veg, oily fish, fruit, nuts, seeds, lots of water, no meat, practically no dairy etc, but I’m encouraged by the results and what it means in general about eating this way, not just for me...

14.11.08
I’ve been pretty busy revamping the website, working on the chocolate recipe e-book, and a project which is a secret till it’s ready in a week or so, but I ‘m taking a brief break to let you know that Sweet Sensations will be running a stall at the Cabbages and Frocks Outdoor Christmas Fair on sun 7 Dec 11am-4pm at William Ellis School in Highgate Road, London NW5 1RN (by the outdoor ice skating rink, Hampstead Heath). This is a