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Feb. 23rd, 2015 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestA good weekend at Redemption, although the programme was a bit sparser than I'd have liked, and a bit oddly logicked, or so it seemed to me.
I did my customary face-painting, by which I mean, I sat in the Zocalo and painted my own face andnopseud's. And had nice chats with nopseud and R, which is always worth doing. Offered my set of Avengers mugs for sale but got no takers, boo.
Then scurried along to run a Chocolate Tasting, which on the whole I think went well. A responsive group, and lots of opinions about the chocolates, which were:
Nestles Milky Bar
No-added-sugar white chocolate from Mr Simms (ie an obscure brand sold by a local specialist sweet shop)
*
Hershey's Kisses (milk)
Cadbury's Dairy Milk Buttons
Galaxy Milk Choc
Green & Black's Milk (35%, I think)
Hotel Chocolat 65% 'Supermilk' chocolate
*
Sainsbury's Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate 70%
Sainsbury's Peruvian Dark Chocolate 70%
Green & Black's 85% Dark (a mistake, I'd intended to get 70%)
Hotel Chocolate 85% Ghana Chocolate
I did the white chocolates as a contrasting pair, the first four milks as a 'guess what this is and rank them' with the Supermilk revealed in advance of tasting, then paired the 70%s and 85%s. A reasonable selection of choices and contrasts, and I think the participants had fun. They certainly ate most of the chocolate! Someone suggested a Cheese Tasting for next time, which is an excellent plan.
The place seemed oddly quiet, possibly in part because it was so easy—and desirable—to go out of the hotel to find food. A new selection of tiny eateries had sprung up between the hotel and Sainsbury's (about a hundred yards away). Since nobody in the hotel was prepared to sell me a sandwich or other bar snack, out we went. On Saturday evening I went to what was supposed to be a session on 'Have All The Positions Been Filled' which boasted all of five people and petered out. Eh.
Sunday morning saw my proposed discussion of 'Turgid Meat and how to avoid it' (inspired by guess what?), which seemed an odd time for something that plainly called for fortification by alcohol. But it was quite lively, which is all I really ask of my panels. I found a Cards Against Humanity game setting up right afterwards, which was time well spent. And we had to stay late because I was scheduled on the very last panel of the evening to discuss 'When a villain jumps the shark'. Which would have been better in the morning, I think!
We were unable to find a way to pay for our parking, so it was free, which was nice, but the hideous rain and wind for the journey home was not nice at all. Still, here we are, back home, still waiting to sell the house. Grrr.
I did my customary face-painting, by which I mean, I sat in the Zocalo and painted my own face and
nopseud's. And had nice chats with nopseud and R, which is always worth doing. Offered my set of Avengers mugs for sale but got no takers, boo. Then scurried along to run a Chocolate Tasting, which on the whole I think went well. A responsive group, and lots of opinions about the chocolates, which were:
Nestles Milky Bar
No-added-sugar white chocolate from Mr Simms (ie an obscure brand sold by a local specialist sweet shop)
*
Hershey's Kisses (milk)
Cadbury's Dairy Milk Buttons
Galaxy Milk Choc
Green & Black's Milk (35%, I think)
Hotel Chocolat 65% 'Supermilk' chocolate
*
Sainsbury's Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate 70%
Sainsbury's Peruvian Dark Chocolate 70%
Green & Black's 85% Dark (a mistake, I'd intended to get 70%)
Hotel Chocolate 85% Ghana Chocolate
I did the white chocolates as a contrasting pair, the first four milks as a 'guess what this is and rank them' with the Supermilk revealed in advance of tasting, then paired the 70%s and 85%s. A reasonable selection of choices and contrasts, and I think the participants had fun. They certainly ate most of the chocolate! Someone suggested a Cheese Tasting for next time, which is an excellent plan.
The place seemed oddly quiet, possibly in part because it was so easy—and desirable—to go out of the hotel to find food. A new selection of tiny eateries had sprung up between the hotel and Sainsbury's (about a hundred yards away). Since nobody in the hotel was prepared to sell me a sandwich or other bar snack, out we went. On Saturday evening I went to what was supposed to be a session on 'Have All The Positions Been Filled' which boasted all of five people and petered out. Eh.
Sunday morning saw my proposed discussion of 'Turgid Meat and how to avoid it' (inspired by guess what?), which seemed an odd time for something that plainly called for fortification by alcohol. But it was quite lively, which is all I really ask of my panels. I found a Cards Against Humanity game setting up right afterwards, which was time well spent. And we had to stay late because I was scheduled on the very last panel of the evening to discuss 'When a villain jumps the shark'. Which would have been better in the morning, I think!
We were unable to find a way to pay for our parking, so it was free, which was nice, but the hideous rain and wind for the journey home was not nice at all. Still, here we are, back home, still waiting to sell the house. Grrr.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-25 04:34 pm (UTC)Shame about the negative stuff, though.
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Date: 2015-02-25 07:57 pm (UTC)