The Best Chocolate Cake I Ever Had Hands Down. You'd never believe it.... Yesterday I went out with my friend Sandi to eat. I'd been dying to go to Follow Your Heart in Canoga Park. It's the oldest Vegetarian restaurant in the SFV. It's a vegetarian health food store with an attached cafe. They make "Vegenaise" which you may have seen at your local Whole Foods. I decided to have a Vegan Rueben which comes with a tofu cottage style "cheese". When it arrived, I swear, it was as big as my head. I could have cut the sandwich into 4 smallish meals or 2 large meals. The rye bread was toasted, with Seitan pastrami, sauerkraut, vegan 1000 island, tofu cottage cheese and vegenaise. Yum Yum Yum. The tofu cottage cheese was really good. It reminded me of ricotta cheese with some herbs in it. I ended up buying some from the market. I've been on a sweets/dessert kick for the last 2 months and I spied a Chocolate Vanilla Cake. Just last week I had had a Chocolate Cake w/ Peanut Butter Icing from Native Foods. It was ok. Kind of soggy and dense. But this cake, OMG, it was beautiful. It came with a Chocolate Glaze which reminded me of those Fondant glazes that come on Wedding cakes. It was a 5 layer cake with a vanilla pudding/custard filling, a chocolate mousse filling, and 3 layers of cake. The first bite was heavenly. It was a rich dark chocolate, but not too sweet. The vanilla custard layer and chocolate mousse layers were very good too. I had to buy the Follow Your Heart cookbook to get the recipe. Unfortunately the custard and mousse are not in the book. However, I was told that the custard was nori based and they sold it in the market. Though I couldn't find it. Anyway, I would recommend this place and the cake. And you wouldn't believe it, the cake was VEGAN!

Okay, so when I was a kid, I didn't really like chocolate.  I preferred Skittles, Starburst, and fruity candies over Hershey's bars, Nestle bars, etc. 

Then one day, my roommate Anna from UCLA gave me a milk chocolate Ghiradelli bar.  From that day, I was hooked.  Anything chocolate, I would eat.  Even Hershey bars. 

Last week my boss gave me a bag of See's Milk Chocolate Foil Hearts for Valentine's Day.  Pretty good.

The problem with chocolate is that when I have one, I can't stop.  Unless I have Amazon Herb chocolate.  One 35 calorie ball, and I'm satisfied.  They are pretty darn expensive though.  But they do provide you with health enhancing herbs and I eat less of it that I don't have to spend extra money trying to lose the weight! :)  Plus they support the indigenous peoples of the rainforest through sustainable harvesting instead of destroying or selling off their rainforest parcels to wood loggers.  http://www.lc.amazonherb.net/

So today I stopped at TJ's and picked up 3 Dark Chocolate Bars.  I was thinking of switching over to dark chocolate since it's less pleasant for me to eat and I hope that it will keep me from over-indulging.  Plus I guess it has higher anti-oxidants and it's kind of good for your heart.

I thought I'd give you my review in case anyone was a chocolate fan.  I'm new to this so cut me some slack!

Bar # 1: Trader Joe's Reserva Chocolate Sao Tome Varietal $2.99 7oz.

"This outstanding dark chocolate is made using coca beans from the island nation of Sao Tome.  Situated off the Western coast of Africa, Sao Tome has the ideal climae for growing cocoa beans of the highest grade.  The quality of beans results in superior chocolate.  Trader Joe's Sao Tome Reserva Chocolate is 72 ocao, delivering strong yet balanced cocoa flavor for the serious chocolate lover."

Ingredients: Cocoa Mass, Sugar, Soy Lecithin (emulsifier), Cocoa 72inimum.

Smells kind of fruity and sour.  Not very sweet, slightly bitter, slightly sour taste. Very snappy/hard chocoalte.  Doesn't melt very fast in the mouth.  This could be due to lack of cocoa butter. The bitter taste reminds me of coffee.  Very clean floral/jasmine aftertaste is a plus.  I never really liked Hershey's or Nestle because of the sour/sweet sticky after taste left in my mouth.  Yuck.

Bar #2: Scharffen Berger Pure Dark Chocolate 60% $1.99 2 oz

This bar uses non-GMO Soy Lecithen which is a bonus.  And it's Kosher-DE.  This company is located in Berkeley, CA and was recently purchased by Hershey. 

Ingredients: Cacao beans, sugar, cocoa butter, non-GMO Soy lecithin (an emulsifier), Whole Vanilla Beans.

Smells a bit sour, a little lighter and sweeter than the Sao Tome.  It could be because this one has vanilla beans.  Sweeter tasting dark chocolate, just a slight sour taste.  Smoother and better at melting, could be the cocoa butter.  A little bit gritty and dry.  Clean aftertaste with just a bit of sticky sweet/sour coffee taste. 

Bar # 3: Trader Joe's Organic Dark Chocolate 73% Super Dark. I don't have a price because after reading the receipt, I realized the clerk didn't charge me!

"This bar is not for the faint of heart.  If you're truly serious about your dark chocolate, this one's a good pick.  With a whopping 73 acao this is one premium chocolate bar.  And it tastes simply super."

Ingredients: Organic dark chocolate (organic cocoa mass, organic evaporated can juice [sugar], organic cocoa butter).  Dry cocoa solids: 73inimum.

Slight vanilla smell, less sour smelling, and softer than Sao Tome.  Slightly fruity, slight sour.  Melts well, smooth.  A little powdery contributing to a dry end.  But then leaves the mouth a little sticky in the back.  Less clean aftertaste than the others. More of a tea aftertaste. 

So I went with my friend this last Saturday to a Bikram Yoga class.  For those of you who are not familiar with Bikram, it involves doing yoga for 90 minutes in a humidified 105 degree room. 

So it's kind of like a sauna, but not as hot.  I started to get light-headed and I thought I was gonna toss my cookies.  Thank god for Savasana. 

At the end, when we were in Savasana, I went into a Kundalini state.  Interesting.

I  have a headache from it now, but I think I'm going back tomorrow.  Anyone else ever feeling like barfing from Bikram?

So since going to Bikram, I've tried to eat clean, stay healthy. I tried a few new things this week. I've been trying to go vegan, but it's been difficult. I have some reviews of tasty veggie stuff.

1) Dr. Praeger's Tex Mex Veggie Burger - I got these from Trader Joe's. I read on a the Hungry Girl's newsletter that they were pretty good. They were really easy to make. 5 minutes on each side in the toaster oven on broil. It said to preheat. I neglected to preheat because I was lazy and oops, I kinda charred one side a bit. But it just made it kind of like blackened style. It had large chunks of veggies and they were really bright and fresh looking. Kinda spicy and really good. I highly recommend!

2) Native Foods - Rue"Bruin" Burger - Native Foods is a vegan restaurant in Westwood.  The people there were very nice.  I ate there once a couple of years ago and it was just okay. This time was a much better experience. The rueben was made w/ blackened tempeh patty (blackened seems to be the trend today) and cashew cheese. Yum! It kind of reminded me of a Gardenburger, but much better. It came with a thai cole slaw that I could have lived without.

3) Organic Carrot Juice - Trader Joes - This stuff is pretty good. I've had some slightly bitter carrot juices before, but this one is sweet and smooth. I like the fact that it's organic.

4) Organic Carrot and Greens - Trader Joes - This stuff is also good. There is supposed to be spinach, parsley, and celery with the carrot juice, but I can only taste a hint of the celery. The greens give it a clean fresh taste because it cuts through the sugar of the carrots. I would have this again.

5) Super Greens Juice - Trader Joes - This has wheatgrass, celery, spinach, spirulina, etc and looks super dark green. I was kind of scared because I thought it would taste really awful. But it is mixed with fruit juices and I couldn't taste the greens at all. That being said, I think the fruit juices are very overwhelming and super sweet. I wouldn't go out of my way to drink this again.

6) Carrot Juice and wheat grass - Jamba Juice - The carrot juice at Jamba is fresh made to order. It was really sweet. I think they peel the carrots so the bitterness of the skin didn't cut the sweetness. I prefer the Trader Joes.

I had talked to someone about wheatgrass shots and they told me that they heard it was pretty gross. I decided to try one. It came with an orange slice. Bright green, a little foamy, 1 oz size. I took a little sip before chugging it. It wasn't gross. Then I slugged it down. It was kind of sweet. Almost saccharin/artificial sugar tasting. I wondered whether they added something to it. It reminded me a little bit like raw broccoli, but not as strong. I would have it again.