My second calling: Xoxolat’s Chocolate 101 class

I love chocolate. I always have. So when I saw the daily deal on Social Shopper for a Chocolate 101 tasting class + box of chocolates for $20 at Xoxolat, I grabbed two for me and my date. What I did not realize upon visiting the class was how my mind would open up to the world of chocolate. You don’t understand. I’m changed.

The class was held on a Sunday night by Hodie Rondeau of Xoxolat (pronounced sho-sho-la) who is an aspiring connoisseur – she knows much about the process of how chocolate is made from the bean in plantations 20-30 degrees from the equator to how it gets to her shop. And she says she’s still learning.

She started off with a little tour of her shop, which is the largest source of fine chocolate in Canada. I learned that REAL chocolate bars have the percentage of cocoa content presented on the bar, which typically ranges from 65-100% for darks. Some of these go up to $16-18 per bar.

Francois Pralus Chocolate (from Paris)

Then, we tasted. We started off with some cocoa nibs, which are the purest we can get after knocking down the beans from trees. Very bitter, but I could taste that hint of sweetness that we all love about chocolate. It was fascinating to taste chocolate in its pure form.

100% from Madagascar

Continue reading…

Fashion’s First Night at Bombay Brow Bar

This night is coming up quickly, but is happening at many shops on West 4th. I’ll be getting my brows did at Bombay Brow Bar, so if you come early enough you’ll see me there!

LAKSHMI splurge & luck on ILIA lipstick

I tend to win things. I figure I have good karma, because I tell grocery clerks that I’m buying the more expensive organic fruit when they punch in the regular fruit code during checkout.  One high-end and eco-friendly lipstick that came out recently is ILIA Pure Lip Care, created by Sasha Plasvic, a graphic artist and former luxury rebranding agent who I had the pleasure of speaking to at one of LYNNsteven’s sales.

Our lips are the closest organ to our mouths. They say we eat 13 pounds of lipstick in our lifetime. And it’s a fact that so many cosmetics are filled with junk and toxins. So why not put only the best natural stuff on our puckers? This is why I headed to Misch after work to buy a shade of Nobody’s Baby before store closing. I made it, but all of the lipsticks in stock were damaged during transport. So although I had to wait 6 days to pick it up, I was given the item for free! That’s the best customer service ever!

There are six different shades of ILIA, all of which are toxin-free (believe me, I checked) and are super smooth on application. They are available across Canada, the USA, and UK, but you can pick them up at LYNNsteven, Misch, and Homewerx if not online. Check out ILIAbeauty.com for more info.

***Update: I found the original ILIA card I received at LYNNsteven, and it’s so awesome I wanted to share it with you:

LAKSHMI splurge

Continue reading…