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Today, I have Julie Lynne Hayes visiting my humble blog. She's here to talk about The Belgian Chocolate Remedy. When she first mentioned it I thought I would actually get to eat chocolates but unfortunately it's only a book. However, as chocolate is one of my favourite things I hid my disappointment and focused on the book. Unfortunately nothing that follows is actually edible but it might inspire you to go make chocolate, or melt it and drizzle it on...well whatever you like :)
Thanks for having me, Nephy! I’d like to give back to your readers, so let’s have a giveaway! If I get 25 comments or less, I’ll pick a winner to receive anything I’ve written. 25 to 50 comments, there’ll be two winners. Over 50, I’ll give away to 4 readers, and one person will get a $10 Amazon gc! Don’t forget to leave your email addy. No addy – no win!
Here’s the link for The Belgian Chocolate Remedy – enjoy!
What’s one word that’s sure to grab people’s attention, make
them perk up, and put a smile on their faces?
No, I don’t mean sex.
Chocolate! Who doesn’t like… no,
I mean LOVE chocolate? I can count on the fingers of one hand the people I know
that don’t like this delicious treat, and have fingers left over! So, it’s
pretty universal, this love of chocolate. And it isn’t a recent phenomenon. No
indeed, it’s been around for a long long time!
Chocolate has been around the Americas for a good three
thousand years. It was fermented and used in beverages to take away the
bitterness of the cocoa bean. The Aztecs
called it xocolātl , from a Nahuatl word that meant ‘bitter water’. They also ate chocolate, and used it in
religious ceremonies. Wow, what a great
incentive to go to those, right?
It’s only appropriate to discuss chocolate during the
holiday season because it makes such a great gift—not just for the people on
your gift lists, but for yourself as a treat for running yourself ragged with
holiday rituals—cleaning and cooking and shopping and wrapping and decorating,
the whole nine yards!
There are different types of chocolate, and each is
determined by the amounts of cocoa powder, chocolate liquor and sugar
involved.
Cocoa powder is for baking, and doesn’t taste good on its
own. Unsweetened chocolate is also called baking chocolate or bitter
chocolate. It is pure chocolate liquor,
made up solely of ground cocoa beans. It’s not meant to be eaten solo, but
forms the base of the other chocolates, except for white chocolate.
Dark chocolate has
chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla and leicithin, with a
cocoa content ranging from 30% to 70-80%. This category also includes
bittersweet chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate.
Bittersweet chocolate has at least 35% cocoa solids; most
contain at least 50% chocolate liquors, some as high as 70-80%. Since there is
no regulation on the amount of sugar, the taste can vary from manufacturer to
manufacturer.
Semi-sweet chocolate contains at least 35% cocoa solids and
is primarily an American term, popularized by Nestle and their Toll House morsels.
Usually, it’s darker than sweet dark chocolate, but sweeter than bittersweet.
Sweet dark chocolate has a high percentage of sugar and is
sweeter than other dark chocolates, and might have only 20-40% cocoa solids.
Milk chocolate, besides containing cocoa butter and
chocolate liquor, must contain condensed milk or dry milk solids. While it’s
easier to overheat, it’s a very popular type of chocolate and has a rich creamy
taste and texture.
White chocolate has cocoa butter but no chocolate liquor or
other cocoa products. Not surprisingly,
it has no actual chocolate taste, and may taste like vanilla. It must contain
at least 20% cocoa butter, 14% milk solids, and no more than 55% sugar. If you
see white chocolate that contains vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter, this
isn’t really white chocolate, and won’t taste the same.
·
I
I have a new release with Museit Up Publishing, my first
with them. It’s just out today, actually and I’m excited to tell you about it.
It’s called The Belgian Chocolate Remedy. There’s that chocolate theme
again!
Milan is my Belgian chocolatier.
He and his brother Ludolf came to America, after Milan had studied hard in
Europe to become a chocolatier, and they ended up settling in the Midwest, in a
small town in Indiana. The plan was that Ludolf would help fix up the shop
where Milan would make the chocolates, and they would make a good life for
themselves. But life doesn’t always work out the way you want it to. On the other
hand, there’s Jesse, who has no interest in his life since his boyfriend dumped
him. He lives in St. Louis, but comes to Lafayette, Indiana, at his best friend
Reggie’s request (read demand!). They’re going to help her friend Milan get his
booth ready for Outfest. Has Reggie got something else in mind?
I hope you like the story, and it wouldn’t hurt to eat some
chocolate while you read it, maybe drink some
too!
Excerpt
Milan had gone
back to his last batch of chocolate—unscathed and unburned—and removed it from
the burner, where it was cooling. “Would you like to brush the molds with
chocolate?” he asked.
“Sure, I guess.”
Jesse shrugged. It didn’t seem that difficult, at least in theory. “What’s it
for?”
“To coat them.”
Milan pulled a pastry brush from a drawer. He already set the molds out; they
were simply waiting to be used. “I have
some in the freezer already done,” he explained, seeing Jessie’s questioning
look. “This is not all I have.”
“Okay,” Jessie
said, “just show me what you want me to do.”
“Here.” Milan
carried the pot of chocolate to the center of the work table. “Set a trivet
there, will you?”
“A what?”
“A trivet,” Milan
repeated, nodding to the counter behind Jessie.
“That blue thing there. I will set the pot on it so it does not burn the
surface.”
“Sure.” Jessie
laid the round blue object onto the table, as Milan set the pot. “Take the brush and dip it like this.” He
demonstrated just how far into the chocolate he wanted him to go. “Then lightly
brush over each mold, like so.”
Jesse admired the
ease with which Milan worked, as if he’d been born to do nothing else. He had
very nice hands, he noticed. How would those hands feel on Jesse’s cock? Would
he touch it with the same care? His breath caught at the thought.
Milan offered the
pastry brush to Jessie. He shook himself from his reverie and took it, pushing
the forbidden image away. “So you’re selling these tomorrow. At Outfest.
Right?”
“That is correct,”
Milan replied. “You are coming, yes?”
“I am unless I
want Reggie to tan my hide.”
Milan smiled.
“She would, you
know,” Jesse continued, “You ever see her get mad?”
“Yes, I have,”
Milan admitted, “I would not care to be the object of her anger.”
“Me either.”
“A little lighter,
please.” Milan had been watching Jessie work. “Here.” He laid his hand over the
other man’s. “Like this. Just enough to coat it. I will fill it in after we put
in the fruit.”
Their eyes met and
for a moment their hands stopped moving, each acutely aware of the other. Milan
broke away first. “I will do this one,” he offered, “then we can do the first
freeze.”
“First freeze?”
“Yes. We are
forming a shell so it will hold the weight of the candy.”
“Okay.” Jesse
thought it made sense, but what did he know. He dipped the brush into the
chocolate again, making his strokes lighter, earning a “bon” from Milan. He
knew enough French to know that meant good. He relaxed a little at the praise.
Once they had set
the molds into the freezer, Milan removed the completed candies that waited
there. He showed Jesse how to unmold them, and how to put them into their
little paper beds, and into the waiting boxes. Then he let him apply the second
coating himself.
“You are doing
well,” he encouraged him.
“Thanks.”
A few minutes of
companionable silence passed, Jesse concentrating on the task at hand, Milan
stealing surreptitious peeks at the brunet. Whether he was willing to admit it
to himself, he was glad for his company. Jesse’s presence was pushing the
shadows away.
“Milan?”
“Yes, Jesse?”
“This is your
place, right?” Jessie encompassed the kitchen with his glance. He couldn’t help
but feel a lot of love had gone into making this room the place it was. More
than a kitchen, it was Milan’s haven.
“It is, yes.
Mine.”
“When are you
going to open, then? Reggie said you were going to open your candy store after
Outfest, right?”
Milan paused in
the act of retrieving a container of raisins from the refrigerator. It was a
legitimate question. It’s what businesspeople did—they opened for business. So why
was he so hesitant to set a date? Maybe because he didn’t see it ever
happening, without Ludolf’s guidance.?
“I do not know,”
he mumbled, setting the bowl on the table, not meeting Jesse’s eyes. “There is
work that needs to be done, construction work and…and licenses…and I do not
know what, I mean I just do not know…”
Jesse reached out
his hand without thinking, but Milan had already turned away. Jesse’s heart
ached for the other man—he sounded so alone, so lost. Jesse wanted to gather
him up in his arms, comfort him, soothe him, stop his tears, and end his pain.
And yes, he wanted to get naked with him, too—to touch him, feel him, and lose
himself in Milan. He wanted to taste his lips and take away his misery.
His feet moved, as
though his thoughts had manifested themselves into action. His fingers brushed
across the top of the table as he edged around it, toward Milan. He had no
clear purpose he simply needed to be closer to him.
Milan was a few
inches taller than Jesse, he discovered, as he came up behind him. Jesse’s lips
were at about the level of Milan’s jaw, and he found it hard not to simply kiss
him there, to stop his shoulders from shaking, to stem the tears he suspected
were falling. He reached up his arms, wanting to hug Milan to him tightly, to
take the first step—
The tinkle of the
shop bell. Jesse retreated, stumbling back to his side of the table. In his
haste, his hand knocked a spoon off the table. It clattered onto the floor.
Milan spun around, dabbing at one eye with his right hand. He left a small smear of chocolate on his
cheekbone. Jesse bent to retrieve the spoon, resisting the urge to wipe the
chocolate away. The moment passed; he felt like a coward.
My Links:
My blog: http://julielynnhayes.blogspot.com
My facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=527332074
My Publishers:
Museit Up Publishing: http://museituppublishing.com/
Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_222
