Sad News: CocoaNymph is Closing

I generally have a no-bad-news-policy on this blog. But this bit of bad news cannot go unnoticed. 

Not just because I've collaborated with Rachel Sawatzky and CocoaNymph for the past 4 years; but because it's disheartening to see a business that poured so much heart and soul into everything they do need to close down. Everything that Rachel and her team did they did wholeheartedly: from their craft of making top-notch chocolates and confections, to educating new entrepreneurs in the art of chocolate making. They served their community as a neighbourhood gathering place and home-away-from-home environment for many of their patrons, something I have witnessed and experienced every time I stopped by for hot chocolate or for picking up fragrant bars. CocoaNymph has become part my family's life on our weekly stops from our horseback riding lessons, and recently even became a work-training hub for for my autistic daughter (who was a proud member of the team every Thursday this past fall and winter as part of her "work experience" at school). 

CocoaNymph supported countless Canadian musicians, who frequently performed on the chocolaterie's grand piano, contributing to the city's much-needed nightlife; hosted many workshops and tasting events to cultivate the West Coast palate and co-promote other local artisan businesses - from craft beer brewers to perfumers.
 
I don't know if there is a "positive" way to look at CocoaNymph's closure. I can just hope that it serves as a lesson to us all to support your favourite artistan while their business is still alive and can thrive and create more jobs for us (or our kids, for that matter). 

It will be hard to live without your chocolates, but even more so without this dream. 

P.s. Don't panic! The fragrant chocolate bars we've co-created will still be made especially for you despite CocoaNymph's closure. So please keep ordering them and help us keep this project alive!

Beer & Chocolate Pairing

Day 723 - Paddle of beer, a photo by Clive C on Flickr.

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to be able to attend a Craft Beer & Chocolate Pairing night at CocoaNymph, as part of BC Craft Beer Month. It just so happened to be on a Friday (October 25th, to be exact), and by the time I got home I was too tired to blog about it and had to prepare for my last tea party. But it was a memorable beer night and I took some tasting notes - which is how I am able to still write about what I tasted intelligibly. The event was co-hosted with Lundy from Pink Pints.

All the truffles served were delights no one ever tasted before - either seasonal truffles, or the ones that are part of the steady collection were actually the future-version of themsleves. And I got to tell you: if you liked CocoNymph’s truffles so far, brace yourself for the type of goodness that makes one wax poetic or just swoon on the spot.

Beer no. 1: Black Betty Blackberry Saison (Vancouver Island Brewery). It’s a fizzy light amber coloured brew with a raspberry aroma. The flavour is beer with raspberry notes, bitter, fresh-tart, sweet and leaves a stinging fizz afterwards.

Chocolate pairing: CocoaNymph’s new recipe for the Glinda truffle: blackberry sage. Tart, fruity, musky and earthy-herbaceous. Beautifully complemented the beer.

Beer no. 2: Sweet Punk Dunkelweizen (Longwood)
Dark brown beer that looks (and tastes) like thin drip coffee. If it does not sound appealing, it’s because it’s not my taste. At all. It also has a very strong coffee, roasted notes, and mocha notes (hints of cocoa).

Chocolate pairing: Melissa, CocoaNymph’s hazelnut crunch truffle, with a whole candied hazelnut in the centre. Nutty, sweet and a soothing honey aftertaste. Great redeeming point for the harsh coffee-beer prior experience. By the way - once this truffle’s recipe was modified, it completed the task of turning the entire CocoaNymph chocoaltes & confections gluten free.

Beer no. 3: Sap Sucker (Fernie Brewing Company)
This maple porter is frothy, even darker than the previous beer. Malty flavour.

Chocolate pairing: Barnabas the Tortoise, which is a milk chocolate filled with orange brandy ganache and caramel.

Beer no. 4: Pumpkin Pearzen (Moon Under Water)
Unclear, pale golden liquid, looks like unfiltered pear juice. Aroma is spicy and reminiscent of pears and pumpkins simultaneously, but also surprisingly sour and bitter in flavour. Very smooth mouthfeel with hints of spice.

Chocoalte pairing: Prancer, which is CocoaNymph’s first seasonal truffle - a pumpkin ganache that is just absolutely wonderful and gets better every year!

Beer no. 5: Spirit Chaser (R&B Brewing)
A porter made with Sumatra coffee from Salt Spring Coffee Co. Looks like a very dark coffee. Aroma of smooth coffee, roasted beans. Flavour is bitter and sour, just like a too strong coffee.

Chocolate pairing: Ultra Dark truffle, with cacao nibs on the outside. I believe this is a completely new truffle that is not part of the steady collection of truffles yet.

Beer no. 6: Lost Souls (Parallel 49)
Chocolate and pumpkin flavoured beer, which was apparently too much for me. I think by this point I had too much beer! But not too much to form the opinion, that I do not like coffee and beer together, and strangely enough, when it comes to craft beers, I probably lean towards the light and fruity ones. While with “normal” barley beers, I prefer the darker actually.

Chocolate pairing: Illa - the salted caramel truffle that started Rachel in her sweet chocolate path (very similar to the SeaNymph bar, which is what the chocolatiere is probably most known for). It practically goes with everything and enhances everything. Personally, I prefer it with a glass of dark red wine such as Shiraz or Zinfandel.

Chocolate Bars in the Vancouver Sun

The fragrant chocolate bars we created with CocoaNymph were featured in the food section of The Vancouver Sun this Wednesday!

Sights and Textures from the Zangvil Tea Party

For those of you who missed the Zangvil tea party - here are some photos that will I hope you will find inspiring for creating your own wintery tea party this holiday season!


The assembly of desserts (except for the whipping cream that joined the midst of the pears only later on).
You can also see snowballs (or Mexican wedding cakes), orange-ginger icebox cookies, halva, and barks of the new White Potion chocolate bar!


Setting up the desserts in eikcam's handcrafted and painted birch pottery. Get into the winter mood with rustic style bypassing cliches.


White chocolate brownies with sour cream frosting. I the background - CocoaNymph's ginger marshmallows that topped the steaming chai we cooked!
And the lovely tea tumblers by eikcam - each has a different emblem - so it's quite easy to remember which cup is yours!


Tea sandwiches:

Asian Pear + Cheddar + Quince Mustard tea sandwiches

Orange +Fennel + Tarragon Tea Sandwiches

Kabu + Yuzu Tea Sandwiches

The Carrot + Ginger proved to be unnecessary for this very full menu... We had enough ginger already anyway ;-)

I've also served freshly baked cheese & chive scones, but they were gone before I had a chance to snap a photo!

So excited about the new (4th) fragrant chocolate bar that we launched this weekend!

The White Potion white chocolate bar was created together with Rachel Sawatzky of CocoaNymph, and has white chocolate, vanilla beans, roasted almonds, toasted coconut, and... tuberose essence! It's amazing and not to sweet at all :-)

As for the Zangvil tea - it's the first time I'm launching that is all my doing. I've designed the tea, a perfumed tea which is so fragrant and can be infused up to 7 times!

Ingredients:
Silver needle jasmine white tea
Ambrette seeds
Sliced vanilla beans
Cryztallized ginger

I'm very happy with how the new labels turned out as well. All the tea labels are going to be re-done, and the teas will be relaunched in the springtime.

Zangvil tea demo - 3 types of white tea and the other ingredients that make my new Zangvil tea!

A word about the poached pears: I felt like a genius finding this underaged pears at the Winter Market. If it wasn't for their lack of desire to reach full pear size, I would have had to serve them cut into cubes (shame on their seductive shape!) or as spoon dessert (which defeats the whole purpose of a tea party). Little Asian pears also work well for the same purpose.


Handmade ginger marshmallows (by CocoaNymph, naturally!), that we served with the homemade chai. Already a winter favourite!


And last but not least - the birch vases, so wintery and festive in a twisted way... I think I might just need to keep them here at the studio - they are a perfect match to the pussy willows I keep year-around.

Hot CocoaNymph + Giveaway

Hot CocoaNymph, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

I heard about the hot chocolate festival pretty late - when it was already halfway through.
And of course, I had to at least make a pilgrimage to Cocoa Nymph (3739 West 10th Ave. @ Alma) and try her legendary hot chocolate. All of my visits there were purely business so far, and very busy at that - so I never actually just sat down and enjoyed a cup of hot CocoNymph before! Fortunately for me, Rachel was taking a little break, and we were able to just hang out, relax, chat and enjoy her company as well as a few other regular customers and friends whose faces I already recognize (and sometime can even guess their name right...). CocoNymph should be a weekly pilgrimage to Kitsilano just for that atmosphere alone. And did I mention they do live music shows there - almost every weekend?

Back to hot chocolate: You can find 4 flavours on a regular basis - white, milk, dark and dark spicy (inspired by the original Aztec power drink), made on site from real wholesome ingredients and topped with Rachel's marshmallows.

During the hot chocolate festival there is a new limited edition flavour at CocoaNymph every week - for both the hot chocolate AND the marshmallows, which are made on site from scratch!

The first week, it was the reverse switch - white hot chocoate topped with a milk chocolate marshamllow. Second week it was hazelnut hot chocolate topped with Crown Royal marshmallows. Last week - Earl Grey hot chocolate topped with Guilt inspired marshmallows (made with orange oil and juice!). The Earl Grey was sold out that weekend, but I have I tried the Guilt-y, orangey marshmallow, and am thrilled to report they are utter bliss and I just can't wait for the Earl Grey infused hot chocolate to return.

This week, the special flavour is a black-pepper infused hot chocolate topped with salted caramel marshmallows!
Salted caramel is CocoaNymph's signature flavour - the first bonbons Rachel made and got this business started were her salted caramel chocolates. Her most popular confections are the English Toffee (highly salted and crunchy) and the SeaNymph bar (with sea salt and crushed pieces of the above-mentioned English toffee).

I sipped the dark hot chocolate, topped with the salted caramel marshmallows, which really balanced it well - and made it very easy to drink up what turned out to be a whole cup of heavy cream (!) with melted dark chocolate. This is hard core hot chocolate indulgence, yet I had no trouble at all getting to the bottom of it...

The experience was inspiring, and I'm really intrigued by the combination of tea and chocolate together... Or any infusions into liquid chocolate... Mmm... Maybe an idea for something to serve on my Valentine's Day "Spice It Up" Tea Party next Sunday? What do you think?

Last but not least, I'd like to use this opportunity to mention a giveaway via Vancouver Foodster Magazine - who are giving away a box of chocolates from CocoaNymph (value of $60) and a Roses et Chocolat mini + chocolate bar (value of $60 as well). All you need to do is comment, and tweet about it, and you will be entered :-)

P.s. In the photograph: Top right is white hot chocolate topped with vanilla marshmallow. Bottom left - dark hot chocolate with salted caramel marshmallow.

Chocolate & Berries

shy cardinal, originally uploaded by betty wiley.

Today was my first time at the perfumer's organ in a long time. Last time was sometime in October (not counting any blending for replenishing batches). There is simply no room for creativity during market season, it's too busy.
This morning I was finally able to get back to a project I started this fall - the private label perfume for chocolaterie CocoaNymph. I had two directions in mind when I initially drafted my olfactory ideas: one is inspired by the colours of the logo and general whimsical image of the chocolate nymph. The other is inspired by the SeaNymph chocolate bar. Although Rachel was instantly taken with the latter, I decided to go back to the sketch formula and refine the concept I had. Inspired by the berry-like colours (grape-purple, to be exact) of CocoaNymph's logo, I always had in mind this very bold, fruity-chocolate perfume. Something that will be reminiscent of raspberry bonbons (favourites of mine!) or perhaps chocolate-dipped strawberries and a glass of red wine.

What was initially a rather crude rendition of the concept, with cocoa, davana and rose geranium, had to be refined now into something more voluptuous, less herbaceous and more whimsical and urbane. I added some botanical musks to make the base more sophisticated, and fine-tuned the proportions of the davana and geranium, plus added some floral notes that I think will do the trick (and I also think are quite original). I'm really curious to see where this goes after it matures a bit. I have a feeling I stopped adding things at the exact right moment before ruining a good idea... So I'm going to wait patiently for a week and see what happens and how it smells on my skin than.

In the meantime - I have 2 more custom scents to work on (the private label perfume for Gentille Alouette as well as another private client). Not to mention many perfumes that need to be replenished so that I'm fully stocked for the New Year and Valentine's Day (yes, I know it's madness to think of a 2011 hallmark holiday when it's still December 2010, but it really is just 6 weeks away!).

Two Articles in the Vancouver Sun!

This morning, the Vancouver Sun featured our scented chocolate bars in two pieces:

Last-minute buying this Christmas? Think local
- where Rachel Sawatzky of CocoaNymph (aka my sweet and awesome chocolatiere) is interviewed (and the print edition would also have her photograph - scan to come after I leave the house and get the paper).

Wrapping up the feeling of home
- gift guide of homely BC articles, including the chocolates

Chocolate Bars in CBC's On The Coast

CBC's On The Coast recipes column features the scented chocolate bars I created in collaboration with CocoaNymph.

The bars are available online at www.AyalaMoriel.com and in store at:

CocoaNymph 3739 W. 10th @ Alma
(604) 222-4477

Beyond Pilates
928 Davie @ Burrard
(604) 684-9711

Chocolate Mousse
1553 Robson St. @ Cardero
(604) 682-8223

Dream
311 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC
604-683-7326

Little Dream
#130 – 1666 Johnston Street - Granville Island
Vancouver, BC
604-683-6930

And they will also be available for purchase, as well as 2 seasonal flavours of freshly rolled truffles at Mindan's Christmas House Sale, this coming Saturday, December 18th, 12-7pm.
Mindan's Designs studio
241 E. 17th Ave. @ Main

Gourmand Perfumes @ CocoaNymph

What an exciting fall!
I can't even decide anymore what I'm most proud about - each new store opening in Vancouver, my 1st appearance in Toronto (Shopgirls), or launching my three new chocolate bars!
Each retailer that have invited my perfumes into their boutique have been so fantastic and I'm so fortunate to be working with these amazing business women who work so hard and so genuinely to promote local Canadian designers and artists.

And it's double the excitement with CocoaNymph, because of my collaboration with Rachel to create the three amazing chocolate bars I've been bragging and talking about in the past few weeks. So not only does Rachel make these amazing bars for me, and we had a wonderful event the other night presenting them to the world for the first time; she also took in a beautifully delicious collection of 6 of my gourmand perfumes to complement the shop and give customers in Kitsilano and Point Gray neighbourhoods access to my creations.

CocoaNymph is not like any other chocolaterie. Because of Rachel's warm and compassionate personality, stepping into the shop feels at times more like a creative gathering place. The customer service is top notch (most customers are greeted by name as they stop by for their chocolate boost). And almost every week on Friday or Saturday, there is a live band playing at the shop. And did I mention there is a grand piano there too? We had classical pianist playing during our event and it was sooo beautiful...

The following perfumes and products have joined the chocolate bars on the shelves of CocoaNymph boutique (3739 West 10th @ Alma). Most of these perfumes (except for Film Noir) are exclusive to Ayala Moriel Parfums and CocoaNymph:

Guilt
Espioange
Roses et Chocolat
Immortelle l'Amour
Finjan
Film Noir

And besides the three amazing chocolate bars, you can also enjoy these luxurious matching products - teas and sugar scrubs:
Immortelle l'Amour tea
Roses et Chocolat tea
Guilt Sugar Scrubs
Finjan Sugar Scrubs

Stop by at the boutique to have a whiff of real, natural and uncompromising natural perfumes.
By early spring, we are also planning to launch CocoaNymph's own custom perfume. The date is not set yet, and the perfume is still in the making - but we promise it will have chocolate in it!

Special for 1st week in the shop: Purchase your favourite gourmand perfume at CocoaNymph and receive a matching chocolate bar on us!

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Chocolate Fairytales

Three Chocolate Fairytales, bundled up with a ribbon. Now that's what I'd like to find in my stocking for Christmas!

The wine glasses here on appear to be empty: they were filled with each one of the perfumes that inspired our three chocolate bars. The scent permeates the cup even after it has seemingly evaporated... Yet another way to experience perfume - in a cup!

Rachel and Ayala showing off...

Chocolate squares for tasting. You can't see this very well in this photo, but the bars are decorated with botanical etching. Perfect math for the outer packaging of the bars...

Rachel serving wine to pair with the chocolates. In the forefront is one of her chocolate sculptures, which was shown at Ayden Gallery.

Smelling chocolate...

Yesterday, Rachel of CocoaNymph and me have launched our 3 scented chocolate bars that we were concocting all summer. These bars are like no other chocolate bar in the world as far as we know... They are original, refined stories told in the language of of the senses - primarily the palate and the nose, but also texture and visuals are part of the experience, as you will be able to see for yourself when you meet these bars in person.

We began our tasting with the Guilt chocolate bar, which is scented with orange blossom, wild orange and blood orange. Guilt perfume was created to celebrate all the guilty pleasures in life and I am positively certain that experiencing this bar will transform any guilty feelings you may still hold towards chocolate into sheer pleasure with none of the negative residues of this peculiar emotion... We paired it with Pinot Gris, a white wine with fruity and citrusy accents that worked beautifully to bring out all the orangey pizzazz in the bar!

The Espionage chocolate bar is probably the bar that garnered the most intense and diverse reactions from people. Not only because using smoked salt in chocolate is unheard of; but also because it has very distinct layers. Here are some quotes from people who tried Espionage chocolate bar for the first time:
"This is the taste of memories"
- Jenn, Rachel's assistant chocolatiere

"There is a party in my mouth!"
- my friend Tina

"This is a journey..."
- our customer who is an English Literature professor

"This chocolate tells a story - I'm not sure of all the details, but it certainly takes place on a train..."
- our customer Kelli)

We paired Espionage chocolate bar with a glass of Merlot with oakey undertones that complemented the smoked salt, juniper and jasmine.

And last but not least - we tasted Roses et Chocolat with a beautiful sweet and full-bodied Port. This flavour was the first truffle I've created using essential oils. It was the toughest bar to develop, and took us the most trials to nail down the winning formula that you will be tasting now. Which is not surprising - developing my truffles was a painful experience, thanks to the high doses of chilli I initially used, which literally burned my hands as I rolled them... Which is why to this day I call them "Blood Truffles". Rose is so beautiful with the chocolate and has so much depth. We used 72% cocoa for this bar, giving it a bit of a crunchier texture and a duskier flavour. The saffron and spice complement it beautifully, resulting in a truly sexy bar that I can envision many lovers enjoying in Valentine's Day....

Thank-yous and credits:
Big thank you and kudos to Terry Sunderland who designed the spectacular wrappers for our bars. Their vibrant colours really reflect the vibrant taste!

The wines served at the chocolate bar launch were courtesy of Cassandra Anderton of Good Life Libations.

Many thanks to Rachel's friend and to my mom, who have helped us with the French translation and proofreading for the bar covers. We wouldn't have been able to do this without you!

And thank you to James for playing the piano so beautifully during the evening and making our event so much more special!

Photographs by Noam Dehan

Exciting Night!

Tonight is the night I was looking forward to for months... Rachel and I will be revealing the 3 chocolate bars we've been developing, concocting and tasting together all summer. I was so excited getting everything ready last night that like a little kid before the 1st day of school - I was unable to fall asleep...

We titled our event Chocolate Fairytales, because we both have fairies in our logos and together, the bars we created, go beyond the experience of any other chocolate bar, even a spectacular one. The flavours are layered and each bar has depth and intensity yet a very subtle and elegant personality. It's as if each one of them tells a sensory story - and of course it reflects the perfumes that inspired this multi-sensory project, and the two women behind the scenes. Working on them was a true team effort and we both put our passion into these bars, both in concept and in reality (Rachel is molding the bars for tonight as I type this).

A couple of years ago, I was invited to a party where everyone were expected to read a poem in front of everyone else. The only thing I dread more than reading poems in public is reading things I wrote in public (perfume ad copy included!). I brought a bowl of my scented, hand-rolled truffles instead and when it was my turn, I exclaimed - there is my poetry. You can read it.

I hope these bars will have that kind of effect on you. And I'm thrilled that unlike the truffles, they are so much easier to store and ship. And I'm also excited to be able to continue offering my whimsical truffles in various seasonal and limited edition flavours, alongside the chocolates - so that you have more of a variety to choose from.

I will tell you all about all the WH questions regarding the chocolate bars after the launch event. I just don't want to ruin the surprise...
For now I will answer these:
How many: 3
Who made them: Rachel of CocoaNymph Chocolates & Confections, and Ayala of Ayala Moriel Parfums

And the event details:
Where:
CocoaNymph Chocolaterie
3739 W. 10th @ Alma

When:
Tuesday, November 16th (today!)
7-9pm

Guilt, Revamped

Orange And Chocolate, originally uploaded by ♥babybee.

Today I blended a 2nd batch of my revamped Guilt perfume. It really needed more orange in it, to make it sparkle and less powdery. I hope the new version will be more warmly received, as it matches perfectly the new chocolate bar that was inspired by the truffles that were inspired by the perfume that was inspired by all guilty pleasures of chocolate and orange indulgence...

The idea of revamping came not only from the chocolate, but also from the sugar scrubs, which temporarily colour the skin with rich red-brown hues (very temporarily: it easily washes off :-). This yummilicious sugar scrub is packed with sweet orange zest and juice essences, which make you practically want to lick your arms during and after bathing with it. Pure indulgence.

To the original formula of Guilt, which has cacao absolute in abundance, gourmand amber with dark cassia and honey undertones, orange blossom, a hint of jasmine and rose - and now also very generous amounts of blood orange (there was only minuscule amounts before), orange juice essence, blood orange and bitter orange. It bursts with pleasure and happiness, just as the chocolate bar's citrus nuances burst in your mouth and leave a trail of lighthearted joy behind.

So welcome new Guilt, which will be exclusively offered at the CocoaNymph boutique beginning Tuesday, November 16th - after our official launch of our scented chocolate bar trio! You can come by this weekend to try them out as the testers are already on display and the stock will be arriving at the store very, very soon!

Chocolates in the making

Visited with CocoaNymph this afternoon to work out the final details of the packaging, put together a display of my Gourmand perfumes at the shop, and plan our event on Tuesday, when we will launch the 3 new chocolate bars!


This is going to be a fine evening of chocolate & wine tasting paired with the perfumes that inspired this unique chocolate collection. The molds are lovely, and look as if someone in the chocolate molding business was just sitting there at their drafting table thinking of a bar shape especially for us...

Just looking at those bars all wrapped up made me giddy with happiness... I just can't wait to share them all with you on Tuesday!

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Location:CocoaNymph Chocolates & Confections