Not Your Ordinary Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory

This afternoon we had the pleasure of being invited to a Chocolate Party. I have never been to a chocolate party and do not know of anyone who has, but I can tell you this was NOT your typical chocolate party (if there is even such a thing as a typical chocolate party)-this was a Chocolate Extravaganza. ***An added note after talking with people today who didn't understand the concept of having a party just to have a party and not having someone trying to sell you something.*** This was not a "come to my party and buy something from me", this was Nolan and Stephanie being the kind, generous souls they are inviting friends over to "just enjoy yourself...have as much as you want, eat til your heart is content...thanks for coming" party. So...as we walked into Steff and Nolan's there was a sea of chocolate and oh how you could smell it in the air. We're talking coffee from The Roasterie (the best coffee in town) with chocolate from Christopher Elbow's, Chocolate Stout Beer, chocolate candles, chocolate soap to wash your hands, two chocolate fountains (one with milk chocolate-one with dark chocolate) flowing with marshmallows, dried mangoes and pineapple, pretzels, twizzlers, animal crackers and I can't remember what else. There was chocolate covered popcorn, chocolate nuts...oh Lord...please help me not remember all I ate today! They had chocolates from all over the city. It was an amazing spread.

Doug and his Chocolate Stout Beer. This may have been after a couple (notice the squinty eyes).

Just a FEW pieces from Christopher Elbow's. There were trays and trays.

Doug's favorite...the Mousse Alps from Andre's. They were dark choclate filled with chocolate mousse. Doug says the mousse tastes like ice cream that doesn't melt. I would have to say my favorite was the Aztec Chocolate Bark from Annedore's. It was dark chocolate pieces flavored with a sweet-hot blend of cocoa, cinnamon and chili. I would never have thought to put spicy chili in chocolate but I love it! It was such a great new surprise! Along with other surprises was another favorite from Christopher Elbow's-cinnamon chocolate and the chocolate with lime and spice...and..and...I could go on forever. Now, I had to draw the line somewhere and that was when it came to the chocolate bacon. I couldn't get mysef to try it as there were too many other things I wanted to eat.

And the take home loot was out of this world...

Lets see...what do we have here? In our take home goodie bag we got:

An 'Indulge' Memo Pad with a chocolate covered strawberry on the cover

'Fabulous' Hallmark Notecards-one of my trademark words

Chocolate Mint Pedicure Bombs from The Merry Chocoholic

Chocolate Mint Foot Balm from The Merry Chocoholic

Chocolate Mint Foot Soak from The Merry Chocoholic

Milk Bath Teas for the Love of Chocolate...sink into a creamy milk chocolate bath with just a hint of cinnamon...mmm...

Chocolate Pear Swirl Bar

An 'i love chocolate' pink pin

A box of Russel Stover's assorted chocolates with some Hershey's Kisses...another nice 'local' touch

A Hershey's Kisses Milk Chocolate Scented Candle (HUGE)

And some Ganache for Lips All-Natural Gourmet Chocolate Hazelnut Lip Balm

This DOES NOT include the chocolate we took home. Steff and Noland sent us home with NINE Mousse Alps...NINE...along with I don't know how many Baby Cakes of all assortments from 3 Women and an Oven AND a ton of chocolate pieces from Andre's, Annedore's and Christopher Elbow's.

I think we're toast for the evening. I'm so stuffed, at one point in time I thought I was going to end up in a chocolate induced coma.

Thank you Steff and Nolan! You are the best hosts in the city! There's not not a lot of things better then spending time with great company, sipping great coffee and gorging on THE BEST CHOCOLATES EVER!

***Another added note today after talking with others...no, I do not know how much money they put into this party and no, I don't want to know. All I know is Stephanie put her heart and soul into this and to her (and me and a lot of others) it was worth every penny.