Welcome to The Chocolate Vault

[Danauk]

Morning guys,
I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. We get an extra long weekend this weekend as the first Monday in May is always a public holiday so no school tomorrow!!!!! So Pete and I are going to Alton Towers to ride the coasters again (I might as well make use of my AP.) I am looking forward to the trip as I get to ride the new rollercoaster, Rita, Queen of Speed (I mean who calls a rollercoaster Rita!) which is a launch coaster like RnRC.

So favourite chocolate? It has to be either a Cadburys Snowflake or the Mozart Chocolates from Austria.

So far the weekend here is beautiful, yesterday I had to put sun block on for the first time this year as I was out in the garden. But then it got so humid we had a huge thunder and lightening storm last night which the cats didn't like (well one cat sat on the bedroom windowsill and watched the lightening and the other stood at the side of the bed miowing loudly and demanding strokes (it was 4:30am!!)

Oh well I should be going as I have rehearsal at the theatre in an hour and a half.

Have a great day everyone.

 

[s&k'smom]

Good morning just had third cup of coffee. And I managed to do damage to the pastry tray at the christening party yesterday. Danauk is'nt it wonderful putting on sunblock for the first time.

Sher it's good to know your mom raised you right about chocolate. Smart woman.

 

[Danauk]

Just dropping in quickly to ask a question before I head out to the theatre.

I have been looking at our itinary for our Christmas trip and was wondering something. In England we have 2 holidays over Christmas we have Christmas day and the 26th is called Boxng day (traditionally when servants would have the day off from their rich families to open their presents after working on Chrsitmas day.) Obviously the majority of the country doesn't have servants now but the holiday still stands. Anyway, I didn't realise that in America you don't have Boxing day so as it is not a holiday will the shops be open? The reason I am asking is that we are thinking of having December 26th as a shopping day at the Beltz so will the shops be open?
Thanks guys.

 

[DHSsenior007]

Ohanafamily, Spring Show was my dance team's time to show off all of our dances. We had about 15 routines or so (and the dance classes from the high school performed a dance each, as well as some other stuff to buy the dancers time to change), and I was in 6 of them. It was a whole lot of fun, but it went by way too fast!! The audience enjoyed it, and afterwards we had a cast party. I had invited one of my guy friends to go with me, but the party was rather boring (people were just sitting around and talking), so my 'date' (as friends!), one of my other friends on drill team, and me went to Cold Stone Creamery at 10:20 to get some ice cream. That was really fun, too!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Gotta go get ready for church.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Hi All !!
The Memories Expo was GREAT (even without chocolate)

We made so many things and received a TON of free magazines and products along with project idea flyers... We were so exhausted we were in bed asleep by 10 pm..

We left around 7 30 am.. I was told to expect an hour and half drive time.. We got there at 8 30... Doors opened at 9 am. We left at 4pm and was home by 5 30 pm due to traffic... Looked over all our stuff again and showed (unimpressed) DH everything.. Haha...

I only spent $5.00, I was VERY good.. Most of the stuff I would of bought, we got free from Vendors..

Sooooooo It was an AWESOME Day !!!!


Hope all is well with everyone...take care..

Sounds like my first rubber stamping convention.....I had so much fun, but I didn't get away with only spending $5.....you should be proud of yourself for that accomplishment!

 

[s&k'smom]

Danauk the day after Christmas is a huge shopping day here. You should get plenty of bargains.

 

[slo]

Good morning everybody - I've been a little under the weather, but it seems like I'm a tiny bit better today.

pfishgirl - I'm glad you had fun at your Memories Expo.

Danauk - I hope you have a great time at Alton Towers.

DHSsenior007 - it's good to hear that you had fun at the Spring Show and that the audience enjoyed it too.

ibouncetoo - it's good to see you posting - how are you feeling? Hopefully you are feeling better.

s&k'smom -


Yesterday I found my "photo claim tickets" from our WDW vacation last year. When we were at WDW there was a picture taken of Stephanie holding Tinkerbell in her hand and it was a really sweet photo. I bought a 5 x 7 and then a day later I decided to buy more copies for the Grandparents. When I went to get the photos, I couldn't find my "photo claim tickets" and I then looked for them everywhere. When I absolutly couldn't find them the CM at Town Square Exposition Hall let me look through hundreds of photos to try and find Stephanie, but I never did. So yesterday I found the "photo claim tickets" in a little comparment in BabyKate's diaper bag. I couldn't believe it!! I was glad that I didn't loose them, but a little annoyed with myself for not looking in this comparment in Sept. Oh well!!

Well...I'm going to be on my way - have a good day!!

slo

 

[geffric]

 

[ohanafamily]

DHS, Cool, I can remember "Skiving" out of a few events and going for drinks... but I was younger then...Oh, Boy scouts sell a discount card for $10.00 that gives you a Cold Stone Discount...Sounds like a fun event anyway...

DanaUK, Boxing Day is ONE OF THE BIGGEST SALE DAYS IN THE US. It is not a holiday here, but if you plan on going shopping, I would wear riot gear (or American football padding)

Ibouncetoo, Watch out for the beans...(lol) Glad you are moving around better.

slo, Question, how long do they hold te negatives for????

Oh well, I have a work project this weekend, so in brtween Daddy Time, I am trying to recover a couple of hundred E-Mails that Microsoft Tech support told me couldn't be done. I am a little put off because all of the support engineers I talked to were in India, and I don't think that they were able to think enough out of the box to help me. I have a solution that I think will work, but without them supporting me and telking me through it, I am going to be very careful; I am working on a machine that isn't connected to any other machines and I am using a backup of a backup!!!!!...

Good weekend all... I think we will take a break soon and go for a walk. It is beautiful outside.....

 

[slo]

slo, Question, how long do they hold te negatives for????

That is a good question!! After reading your question I looked at the "photo claim ticket" and found a phone # for questions or phone orders. I'll have to give them a call and ask them if I can still get this photo.

 

[NC Belle]

Just dropping in quickly to ask a question before I head out to the theatre.

I have been looking at our itinary for our Christmas trip and was wondering something. In England we have 2 holidays over Christmas we have Christmas day and the 26th is called Boxng day (traditionally when servants would have the day off from their rich families to open their presents after working on Chrsitmas day.) Obviously the majority of the country doesn't have servants now but the holiday still stands. Anyway, I didn't realise that in America you don't have Boxing day so as it is not a holiday will the shops be open? The reason I am asking is that we are thinking of having December 26th as a shopping day at the Beltz so will the shops be open?
Thanks guys.

Stores should be open early on 12/26. When I was retail---12/26 was big for returning items and buying the deeply discounted after-Christmas sales. I refused to go to malls and big Box stores, and outlets on the day after Thanksgiving and 12/26.

 

[ohanafamily]

The BOXING in Boxing day has a different meaning on this side of the pond...

 

[ohanafamily]

http://disney.go.com/globalmedia/insider2/issues/050426_image1.jpg

Anybody hungry for a spicey meatball??

 

[Danauk]

Morning guys,
Just dropping in quickly before I head out to Alton Towers for the day.

Ohannafamily, I love that picture, too cute!!

So do you think it will be better to swap a couple of our days around? Do you think it will be better to go to Busch Gardens on the 26th December and then do the shopping on the 30th (the day we had origionally planned to go to Busch Gardens). Also Pete and I are thinking of taking the adventure thrills tour at Busch Gardens (you get a 5 hour tour with front of the line access to the top thrill rides and shows) have any of you done any tours at Busch Gardens or know anyone who has?

 

[NC Belle]

Danauk--- Maybe Busch Gardens on 12/26 is better---unless you are willing to get to the oulets extremely early and try to beat the crowds.

We wish to go to Alton Towers---maybe NC Beast and I pull our Alton Tower scenario from Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 and pretend that we are there with you today. Have fun (have a sweet in honor of my folks' 35th anniversary)!

 

[slo]

Good Morning everyone - I'm still feeling under the weather and this weekend I spent alot of time doing nothing. I was wondering - have any of you had a sinus infection? That is what I'm thinking I have. I'm going to try and go to the doctore today and find out for sure.

The worst thing about all this, outside of this terrible headache I've had since Friday, is I'm having a hard time sleeping. In the last 3 nights I've only slept 7 hours - I just can't sleep!!

I'm still going to drag myself into work for short while today, but I'm not staying very long. I can't bend my head to far down without the headache getting worse.

Sorry to be moaning about this first thing in the morning, but I just wanted to know if any of you had a sinus infection before.

Talk to you all later!!

slo

 

[s&k'smom]

Hope you feel better slo. I know about the headache thing, got one now myself. Didin't even exercise this am but I did get some work done for my childcare license and sending the last of the "changes" I needed to make in so it shouldn't be long now.

 

[ohanafamily]

slo, and s&ksmom, Sinus infections are no fun, my antibiotic of choice is a z-pack (zythromax) it used to be 5 days, I think it is down to 3 now. Good drugs for a sinus infection.

Actually, NC Belle, you bring up a good point. Most stores open SO EARLY on the 26th, why not do both??? get to the outlet store at 6:am, and by 10:30 Danauk, you could be ready for Busch Gardens...

Actually Danauk, I think the 30th for shopping will not have the selection (after a week of close-out sales) of the seasonal merchandise, some of the store will be a little picked over. Since you don't go to the stores all of the time, you probably won't notice, and there is something to be said about avoiding the "Full Contact Shopping"


How about some Chocolate Malto-Meal for breakfast???

 

[phowell13]

Hi Everyone. Thanks for the warm welcome. The M&M pool is awesome. Thanks for pointing it out slo. Is there a chocolate waterfall? (Does anyone remember the Dairy Queen commercials in the 80s that had the chocolate river with the chocolate waterfall? That was my favorite commercial growing up.

Now here is my long-winded report on neuhaus.

My work office recently relocated to adjacent Union Station in Washington DC. The information packet about Union Station had a map and had a note about the grand opening for neuhaus and a coupon for two pieces of chocolate free with a $10 purchase. Well, chocolate and sales are two of my favorite things. So after work on Friday I decided to stop by the shop only to find out that the store is not yet open. The coupon expires 5/15 so the store should be opening any time now.

This left me quite sad since I was heading to NY to visit a friend and decided to bring her chocolate. So, Saturday we take the train in from the Bronx to Manhattan to shop around. (i.e. must find the World of Disney). As we exit Grand Central Station what do we see but a neuhaus sign. The fates are tempting me as there is a sign on the door that says sorry for the inconvenience but we are refurbishing for your enjoyment.

Thinking all hope is lost we wander up Fifth Avenue to the World of Disney at 55th. After shopping there we wander over to Broadway and then down toward 34th Street (so we can hit Macys). On the way we hit the Hershey store. They have some really neat collectibles and old time designs (like what you find in Hershey park).

We also stop in at Lord & Taylor and what do my eyes see?
By the jewelry section they have a chocolate section with neuhaus chocolates. They only have the gift boxes, so we couldn't mix and match. We got a box of champagne truffles and I must say they were amazing. I was also able to pick up there some of the Sees candy lollipops. They have these amazing chocolate lollipops. And they last so long that I get more enjoyment and less calories.

But wait. There is more. Next we hit Macys and the basement has a chocolate store. They had this Australian handmade chocolate and ice cream. (That is the name Australian chocolate.) We tried a few pieces and I was a little disappointed. The flavor was heavy on the sugar and low on the chocolate. As we sit down to savor our chocolate, what do my wandering eyes see?

A neuhaus display case!

So, we tried the Cornet d'Ore.
The website describes this as:
The roasting of the hazelnuts and almonds is always carried out under the maker's watchful eye. Strict cooking times, the right temperature and taste tests. There you have the secret for getting this divinely smooth mixture, which gives the NEUHAUS gianduja its unrivalled flavour.

I call it pure heaven. This chocolate is truly amazing and is to be savored.
Next time I head to New York I plan to devote an entire day to the chocolate shops there.

To give a full report on the chocolate of NY as I experienced it, there is one more store to add to the list. Sunday morning before I left we stopped at Artuso Pastry Shop in the Bronx. It was rated by Zagats as the best canoli place in the city. They have the canoli shells dipped in chocolate.
I was doing the happy dance when the guy behind the counter sees my eyes and decides to give me one of the mini-canolis to taste test. Before we leave I bought two of the big canolis for breakfast/lunch and about 2 pounds of cookies for my co-workers. They had a large variety of chocolate dipped cookies. And they have pinelles (pine nut cookies) of which I got myself a dozen. They are awesome. The only thiing that would make them better is some chocolate.

Alas, you have reached the end of this meandering chocolate report. I hope you all enjoyed and thanks for all the warm welcomes.

 

[geffric]

Morning guys,
So do you think it will be better to swap a couple of our days around? Do you think it will be better to go to Busch Gardens on the 26th December and then do the shopping on the 30th (the day we had origionally planned to go to Busch Gardens). Also Pete and I are thinking of taking the adventure thrills tour at Busch Gardens (you get a 5 hour tour with front of the line access to the top thrill rides and shows) have any of you done any tours at Busch Gardens or know anyone who has?

Danauk we love Bush gardens..the shows are fun and the Montu is most fav rollar coaster.. also stop off at the hsopitality house and have a free taste of beer or two or..

slo ditto on the zpack.. called your doc..

maybe if the weather warsm up here it will help..

phowell13 sounds like a great trip.... wonder if there is one of those chocolate stores in in CHI??