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	<title>Shirleys Blog &#187; Dark Chocolate</title>
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	<link>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com</link>
	<description>Sharing my packet of Life with ya...</description>
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		<title>Willie&#8217;s Chocolate bars are really&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/willies-chocolate-bars-are-really-678.html</link>
		<comments>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/willies-chocolate-bars-are-really-678.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:44:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Opinions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chocolate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dark Chocolate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willie Harcourt-Cooze]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/?p=678</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I wrote a blog before about Willie Harcourt-Cooze and I slated him.  Well I kinda take that back now&#8230;  because I went to Selfridges one day a few months ago and I saw his chocolate bar for sale.

I proceeded to purchase it for a whopping&#8230;

When I got into the bus, I felt the urge.  I took [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I wrote a <a title="The blog I wrote " href="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/willie-the-chocolate-guy-224.html" target="_blank">blog</a> before about Willie Harcourt-Cooze and I slated him.  Well I kinda take that back now&#8230;  because I went to Selfridges one day a few months ago and I saw his chocolate bar for sale.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-679" title="Willies 'Peruvian 70' Choc bar " src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03004-50-1024x768.jpg" alt="Willies 'Peruvian 70' Choc bar " width="538" height="407" /></p>
<p>I proceeded to purchase it for a whopping&#8230;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-680" title="£3.49 for a chocolate bar!" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03005-50-1024x768.jpg" alt="£3.49 for a chocolate bar!" width="545" height="401" /></p>
<p>When I got into the bus, I felt the urge.  I took it out of my bag and had a little look at what all the fuss was about.</p>
<p>Nice packaging.</p>
<p>Nice logo.</p>
<p>Nice little note underneath the seal, telling me to &#8216;tuck in&#8217;&#8230;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-681" title="Willie's telling me to tuck in!" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03146-50-1024x768.jpg" alt="Willie's telling me to tuck in!" width="549" height="407" /></p>
<p>Two slabs of chocolate wrapped in gold&#8230;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-682" title="Two slabs wrapped in Gold!" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03147-50-1024x768.jpg" alt="Two slabs wrapped in Gold!" width="553" height="415" /></p>
<p>I put it back in my bag.</p>
<p>It was far too fancy to eat on the bus.</p>
<p>Eating a bar of this caliber required a bit of fuss.  I needed a cup of tea and a comfortable seat.  I needed to put my feet up.  I needed a few cushions.  I needed a punkah wallah.  I needed&#8230;  well, i just needed to get off the smelly bus so I could really savour these glorious looking chocolate slabs of delight that lay seductively before me&#8230;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-685" title="Nice... nice... Gimme some of this..." src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03149-50-1024x768.jpg" alt="Nice... nice... Gimme some of this..." width="552" height="399" /></p>
<p>When I got home and made myself comfortable, I tucked in to what is now, most definitely my favourite chocolate on the planet. </p>
<p>The texture is like, sort of harder than fudge but the same kind of soft quality to it, your teeth sink into it.  It&#8217;s not like all those plasticky type dark chocolates on the market that make that cheap &#8217;snap&#8217; noise when you crack a piece off&#8230;</p>
<p>The taste is so rich and tangy.  It boasts of subtle tropical fruit tones, and it delivers them with every bite.  The after taste has a zing too and you just have to wait before taking the next bite because the experience continues on in your mouth after&#8230;</p>
<p>It was so good, I had to buy two more today!</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-690" title="Willie's Chocolate Bars " src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03145-1024x768.jpg" alt="Willie's Chocolate Bars " width="510" height="389" /></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Chocolate Tasting&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/chocolate-tasting-577.html</link>
		<comments>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/chocolate-tasting-577.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:55:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Opinions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dark Chocolate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shopping]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/?p=577</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I was telling you last week that I bought these three Chocolate Bars&#8230;

I couldn&#8217;t wait to get home and tear the covers off em and ram em down my throat.
I restrained myself though, as these are sophisticated creatures of delight.  I knew I had to play it cool with these&#8230;
I really had a bit [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So I was telling you last week that I bought these three Chocolate Bars&#8230;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-576" title="Three Chocolate Bars " src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03078-1024x768.jpg" alt="Three Chocolate Bars " width="516" height="387" /></p>
<p>I couldn&#8217;t wait to get home and tear the covers off em and ram em down my throat.</p>
<p>I restrained myself though, as these are sophisticated creatures of delight.  I knew I had to play it cool with these&#8230;</p>
<p>I really had a bit of a pain in my head trying to decide which one to eat first.  I pondered over them and fondled each of them one by one.  I read their wrappers and took in what they had to say about how they were made, what they were made of and where in the world their innermost beans came from.</p>
<p>I decided by eliminating one from the list.  I decided to leave the Mora Mora Bar &#8217;til last, for two reasons;</p>
<ol>
<li>It was the most expensive &#8211; It cost a whopping £3.21</li>
<li>It says this on the wrapper:</li>
</ol>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-579" title="Mora Mora Chocolate Bar" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03086-768x1024.jpg" alt="Mora Mora Chocolate Bar" width="484" height="645" /></p>
<p>&#8220;Worlds best Chocolate Winner &#8211; Silver Award 2007&#8243;.</p>
<p>I thought it must be pretty good tasting stuff and best kept for last.  I placed it carefully back in the fridge.</p>
<p>So it was a toss up between the other two.</p>
<p><em>Seeds of Change</em> just seemed to beckon me with it&#8217;s pieces of figs, so I went for it.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-580" title="Seeds of Change - Dark Chocolate, Orange &amp; Fig" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03081-768x1024.jpg" alt="Seeds of Change - Dark Chocolate, Orange &amp; Fig" width="538" height="717" /></p>
<p>My God.</p>
<p>My God is all I say.</p>
<p>This is one flippin&#8217; mouthwatering piece of chocolate.</p>
<p>Look at the bits of fig in it:</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-581" title="Fig pieces in the Chocolate - Oh lordy!" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03084-1024x768.jpg" alt="Fig pieces in the Chocolate - Oh lordy!" width="581" height="436" /></p>
<p>The whole thing was just perfect.  The texture was divine and I didn&#8217;t want the consumption of it to end.  I wanted more when I had finished, so I moved onto my second conquest.</p>
<p>The <em>Chokolit Dark Orange &#8211; Biting Back Bar</em> with the pic of the cute chimp on it.  He kinda looks sad&#8230;  hmmmm&#8230; anyway&#8230; </p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-582" title="Biting Back Bar - Chokolit" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03079-768x1024.jpg" alt="Biting Back Bar - Chokolit" width="538" height="717" /></p>
<p>This chocolate was just beautiful. </p>
<p>It had the perfect consistency.  I&#8217;m no professional taster; I can&#8217;t go on about the fruit tones and the flowery essence and all that waffle.  I&#8217;m just a simpleton who knows what I like in a bar of chocolate.  I know I like this one.  The texture is perfect.  It&#8217;s got a hint of orange, you&#8217;d be a pure eejit to miss that cuz it says it on the wrapper too.  It was just another magical experience.</p>
<p>The Mora Mora Bar was consumed on the next evening.</p>
<p>It was a momentous build up&#8230;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-586" title="Chocolate " src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc030881-1024x768.jpg" alt="Chocolate " width="502" height="377" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-584" title="dsc03089" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03089-1024x768.jpg" alt="dsc03089" width="499" height="350" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-585" title="First bite" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc03090-1024x768.jpg" alt="dsc03090" width="502" height="377" /></p>
<p>What an anti-climax.</p>
<p>This was really disappointing.</p>
<p>A glorified Bourneville.</p>
<p>It was hard and plastic-y tasting like Bourneville too.</p>
<p>I wouldn&#8217;t recommend it at all.</p>
<p>What a rip off too&#8230;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Adventure at Sainsbury&#8217;s and mean Irish man&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/adventure-at-sainsburys-531.html</link>
		<comments>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/adventure-at-sainsburys-531.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:32:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Happenings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[People]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Places]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chocolate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dark Chocolate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[London Living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Observations about Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shopping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stress]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/?p=531</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Went grocery shopping last night, walked down to Sainsbury&#8217;s with the trolley, it was a lovely evening for it.  The trolley fits really nicely under the Sainsbury&#8217;s Shopping trolley too.  See the trolley&#8217;s there on the right hand side?

They&#8217;re the &#8216;half measure&#8217; trolley&#8217;s.  Well those are the ones that our shopping trolley fits under.  It stores [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Went grocery shopping last night, walked down to Sainsbury&#8217;s with the trolley, it was a lovely evening for it.  The trolley fits really nicely under the Sainsbury&#8217;s Shopping trolley too.  See the trolley&#8217;s there on the right hand side?</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-532" title="shopping-trolley-stack" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/shopping-trolley-stack.jpg" alt="shopping-trolley-stack" width="576" height="432" /></p>
<p>They&#8217;re the &#8216;half measure&#8217; trolley&#8217;s.  Well those are the ones that our shopping trolley fits under.  It stores it out of the way so you don&#8217; t have to be carrying it around while you are shopping.  Not many people know of this.  People watched me store it under there too and you could see that they were well impressed with my finding such a storage space for it.</p>
<p>I went over to the stack of trolley&#8217;s anyway, I had a pound coin in my hand. </p>
<p>There was a man putting his back and he was kinda loitering there for longer than it takes. </p>
<p>He turned to me in a gentlemanly manner and said something along the lines of &#8220;Here you go&#8230;  here is a trolley for you&#8221;  I was feeling a bit dozy and said &#8221;Oh right, so how does this work, I give you the pound and you give me the trolley&#8221; and he said &#8220;you can give it to me for 50 pence if you like as it&#8217;s second hand&#8221; I laughed then and he smiled at me, I felt a connection with the man, as he too was Irish. </p>
<p>I looked at him as he walked away across the zebra crossing and out of my life.  </p>
<p>I just kind of studied him for a split second, the way you do when you have an interaction with someone for the first time, you kinda take them in, don&#8217;t ya?  You kinda make a judgement about them based on the way the hold themselves in their skin, their clothes, their walk and their shoes&#8230;  you can tell a whole lot by someone&#8217;s choice of shoes. </p>
<p>I snapped out of that anyway and got on with my grocery shopping.  I bought this lot with my money:</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-533" title="My weekly grocery shopping!" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc00251-1023x248.jpg" alt="My weekly grocery shopping!" width="604" height="147" /></p>
<p>What you don&#8217;t see clearly in the above picture is my little chocolate collection for the week:</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-536" title="Posh chocolate" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc03078-1024x768.jpg" alt="Posh chocolate" width="590" height="442" /></p>
<p>I have turned into a terrible chocolate snob altogether.  I spent £9.00 on the chocolate bars in the photograph above.  I never tasted any of them before and wanted to try them out.</p>
<p>I finished my shopping anyway and paid for what i bought.</p>
<p>When i tried to return the trolley to the stack I discovered that the pound coin was jammed in there and it wouldn&#8217;t let me take it out.  I swear to God, i was cursing that man.  What a sneak&#8230;</p>
<p>When I looked back in hindsight, I remembered that he was attempting to take his coin out of the slot before i came along.  Way down deep inside the bowels of my psyche, there was a part of me that twigged it too, but I never kind of allowed that feeling to surface.  I guess it was an instinct. </p>
<p>He had a sneaky way about him too and he palmed it off on me, that gammy trolley.  He ripped me off&#8230; So out of principal, I decided to queue up at Customer Services to get my pound back.  I was waiting in line for about twenty minutes.  For all of those twenty minutes I was seething.  I was thinking evil thoughts about that man and was also thinking how strange it was that i walked into that situation all knowing.  There was a part of me that knew exactly what was happening&#8230; and that intrigued me. </p>
<p>There was a Greek lady with a moustache in the queue in front of me. </p>
<p>She turned around and we had a brief two way conversation about city life and she said she has been living next door to the same neighbours for twenty five years and she doesn&#8217;t know them and in Greece it isn&#8217;t like that.  The conversation then went into a one-way conversation and I just kept saying &#8220;yeah&#8230; yeah&#8230;. yeah&#8230;.&#8221; but couldn&#8217;t tell you what she was saying, she was kinda hard to understand anyway. </p>
<p>I wasn&#8217;t in the mood for chit chat.  I just wanted my pound back&#8230;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-543" title="Got my pound back" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/one-pound-coin-01.jpg" alt="Got my pound back" width="316" height="238" /></p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Thirty minutes in the life of Shirley Walsh&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/thirty-minutes-in-the-life-of-shirley-walsh-496.html</link>
		<comments>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/thirty-minutes-in-the-life-of-shirley-walsh-496.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 10:18:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Photos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chocolate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dark Chocolate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lindt Excellence]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/?p=496</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_497" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 471px"><img class="size-large wp-image-497" title="The contents of my fridge this morning" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc02958-50-768x1024.jpg" alt="The contents of my fridge this morning" width="461" height="614" /><p class="wp-caption-text">10:00am</p></div>
<div id="attachment_498" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 471px"><img class="size-large wp-image-498" title="My favourite Chocolate bar" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc02959-50-768x1024.jpg" alt="My favourite Chocolate bar" width="461" height="614" /><p class="wp-caption-text">10:01am</p></div>
<div id="attachment_499" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 471px"><img class="size-large wp-image-499" title="Beautiful Chocolate bar" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc02960-50-768x1024.jpg" alt="Beautiful Chocolate bar" width="461" height="614" /><p class="wp-caption-text">10:02am</p></div>
<div id="attachment_500" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 471px"><img class="size-large wp-image-500" title="Addiction is hard to beat" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc02961-50-768x1024.jpg" alt="Addiction is hard to beat" width="461" height="614" /><p class="wp-caption-text">10:12am</p></div>
<div id="attachment_502" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 472px"><img class="size-large wp-image-502" title="Savouring the moment" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc02962-501-1024x768.jpg" alt="Savouring the moment" width="462" height="345" /><p class="wp-caption-text">10:22am</p></div>
<div id="attachment_503" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 624px"><img class="size-large wp-image-503" title="None left" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc02963-50-1024x768.jpg" alt="None left" width="614" height="461" /><p class="wp-caption-text">10:35am</p></div>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Willie the Chocolate guy&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/willie-the-chocolate-guy-224.html</link>
		<comments>http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/willie-the-chocolate-guy-224.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:59:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[People]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cacao]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chocolate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dark Chocolate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lindt Excellence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Orange Intense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Willie Harcourt-Cooze]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/?p=224</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This guy Willie the Chocolate guy, have you ever seen him?

He is a deeply annoying human being.  I hate the way they continue filming him when he has chocolate all over his face after one of his fancy chocolate tasting evenings.  It just looks foul.  Channel 4 obviously think his passion for chocolate surpasses any need [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This guy Willie the Chocolate guy, have you ever seen him?</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-225" title="willie_s_wonky_chocolate_factory_001_003_002_001" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/willie_s_wonky_chocolate_factory_001_003_002_001.jpg" alt="willie_s_wonky_chocolate_factory_001_003_002_001" width="374" height="246" /></p>
<p>He is a deeply annoying human being.  I hate the way they continue filming him when he has chocolate all over his face after one of his fancy chocolate tasting evenings.  It just looks foul.  Channel 4 obviously think his passion for chocolate surpasses any need for personal hygiene.</p>
<p>Despite this, I still find myself watching him when he is on TV, to be annoyed is to be entertained.  </p>
<p>Since watching his Documentary/Series thingy on chocolate making, I have been buying good quality chocolate, sometimes with 70% cacao in it.  I am turning into a bit of a chocolate snob&#8230;</p>
<p>Anyway, I bought this bar today&#8230;</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-226" title="Chocolate" src="http://blog.shirleywalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc02770-50-300x225.jpg" alt="Chocolate" width="300" height="225" /></p>
<p>and let me tell you, it is very very satisfying! </p>
<p>Go out and buy it and taste it and tell me what you think&#8230;</p>
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