Whether it’s an intimate summer get-together with family and close friends or an extravagant gathering with many guests, entertaining can be a fun, rewarding experience but can also be quite a stressful endeavor too. What better way to entertain than with chocolate, that hypnotically addictive food that draws so many to its decadence.
To assist with planning and preparing your get-together or party, we offer reviews of four popular, chocolate-based recipe and party planning books.
"Chocolate Bar: Recipes and Entertaining Ideas for Living the Sweet Life"
by Alison Nelson & Matt Lewis
Wine aficionados have long had wine tasting parties to select and test new vintages, and now, the same type of devotion has come to chocolate! Chocolate Bar is an innovative idea, opened in New York City, which is hailed as the grown-ups candy store, with chocolate tasting parties, chocolate drinks, and more, bringing some of the world’s finest chocolate delicacies and treats under one roof.
Its creators have come together to offer this unique 191-page book with the same name. Not only is Chocolate Bar a guide to decadent chocolate creations, but it is truly an entertainer’s guide to special and even unique chocolate products, including a chocolate body scrub, which is said to be very healthy for the skin.
The focus of this book is not necessarily on the recipes or creations themselves, but more on how to throw special entertainment functions such as chocolate tasting parties, chocolate martini soirees, and even hot fudge and chocolate sundae parties for a blast back into childhood days.
Chocolate Bar contains helpful information, amusing anecdotes and sidebars, and has a witty conversational tone that keeps the reader engaged while also offering ideas and insights into how the chocolate lover can explore the more indulgent side of chocolate and entertain their chocolate loving friends with the unique ideas inspired by this book.
