The Munchies Blog

The other day, I discovered a new chocolate brand in a shop in Bochum: shokomonk (German website, but they have an English leaflet in the download section).

Shokomonk makes chocolate bars (50g each) in quite a lot of nice varieties: white chocolate crisp, coconut, raspberry, poppyseeds, or blueberry; milk chocolate with caramel, peanuts, walnuts, or small waffle pieces; dark chocoloate with jalapeños, orange, ginger, latte macchiato or peppermint.

So far, Andreas and I have tried the white chocolate with blueberries (delicious, but too sweet for Andreas’s taste) and the milk chocolate with caramel (both of us didn’t really like it). But I like the concept and I’m quite sure I’m going to try some more of their chocolate bars :)

Last week, I signed up for DFssgF 1, the German version of Euro Blogging by Post. I’d already given up hope that my parcel would arrive today — and then the doorbell rang and a neighbor delivered a parcel for me :) I was at home all day, so I guess the parcel delivery guy got scared away by all the scaffolding around the house and didn’t even try to deliver it directly.

Anyways, back to the parcel. Unfortunately, all I know about the sender is that he’s someone called Jens, and that he’s from Bonn. I had kindof expected to find the link to the sender’s blog inside the parcel… There’s one thing I can guess about Jens though: he seems to like Korean food.

At least, that’s what I got: a weird mixture of probably even weirder Korean food. Me, who’s definitely sceptical about Asian food! Oh well, that’s a chance to try out something new, I guess ;) And Andreas is quite happy.

The contents are (on the picture, clockwise starting from top left):

• Roasted Seasoned Laver.
• A can of Sweet Cinnamon Punch (on the side of the can, it says “Expired Date Prints On The Bottom”)
• Two tinfoil-wrapped, erm, rice rolls wrapped in seaweed? Or something? Seriously, I don’t have a clue about this stuff.
• A bowl of instant noodles. Without a single word I understand on the packaging (well, except for “bowl noodles”). And a picture that promises something like chilli peppers and something red as the flavor. Hmmm. I guess I’ll give this one to Andreas and watch from a safe distance…
• A very pink package with miniature chocolate-filled cookies. They’re nice. And all gone already :)
• A package with, hm, chocolate-covered cookie sticks, or something. The ingredient list says “wheat flour, sugar”. No mention of chocolate. They look good too, though.

Well, thanks a lot Jens! I think you would have made me even happier by sending me at least some instructions on what to do with the food though… Additional thanks go to Rosa for organising the whole thing and to Svenja for mentioning DFssgF in her blog.

For a round-up of DFssgF 1, go here.

Oh, and one more thing: I’ve been told that this blog entry doesn’t sound too enthusiastic. I’m sorry — I managed to catch a bad cold and find it fairly difficult to write cheerful things while my head feels like it’s wrapped in several layers of wool… I’m definitely happy about the parcel!

And another update: the sender is this Jens.

I just signed up for DFssgF 1 (”Deutsche Foodblogger schicken sich gegenseitig Fresspakete”), a German version of Euro Blogging by Post. That means that in a few days I’ll get the address of a fellow German foodblogger — and then I’ll have to come up with a few nice things to put into a parcel and send off to him/her. Of course, I will get a similar parcel in return. Whee, food surprises ;)

One thing to visit when you’re in Cologne is, of course, its famous Cathedral.

But as this is a foodblog, even the most impressive Gothic architecture is more than slightly off-topic. What’s more interesting in this context is that Cologne also has a chocolate museum.

One part of the museum shows the process of making chocolate, from the cocoa plants to various cocoa-based products. This includes a small greenhouse (which you can safely leave out if you’ve ever been to a greenhouse before). Another part shows historic devices used for chocolate consumption — mainly mugs and bowls from the Maya, Aztecs and Olmecs and special chocolate pots (like a teapot, just for chocolate) and cups from the 18th century.

The part I personally like best is the working chocolate production area. In this area, you can watch (and smell!) chocolates being made. There also is a chocolate fountain where they hand out small waffle pieces dipped in warm chocolate. I remember that on my first visit to the museum (I must have been around 14), my best friend and I swapped jackets after getting waffle pieces for the second time whithin 5 minutes because we thought they then wouldn’t remember us when we came back for a third time…

The last time I was there, they also had a temporary exhibition on the history of associating chocolate with erotic settings (like in Baroque paintings), which was fairly interesting (and perfectly family-safe, in case you’re wondering).

Officially called "Imhoff-Stollwerck-Museum" after the chocolate manufacturer Stollwerck, a large part of the exhibition areas has a strong focus on the products and the history of this company. This includes chocolate advertisements from the 19th and 20th century and some old chocolate vending machines. While these might be interesting for some visitors, they take away space that could have been dedicated to — exactly, chocolate ;) Together with the rather high entrance fees (currently, 6 € for adults and 3.50 € for students etc.), this left me slightly disappointed. Parts of the museum just feel more like an interactive advertisement for Stollwerck than like a place to learn more about chocolate.

Even if you’re not interested in the museum itself, it might be worthwile to go there: The museum’s shop (accessible without paying entrance fees) has a nice assortment of chocolate and usually also an interesting assortment of confused tourists from various countries. Be prepared to leave some money there — the prices are normal compared to other shops, but if you’re like me, there are just so many things you want to have ;)

The chocolate museum is located on an artificial peninsula in the Rhine (map) and can easily be reached on foot from the cathedral by walking southwards along the Rhine for some 15 minutes.