Sundays.

Rainy Sundays are my favorites!

Cuddling up on the couch, reading, visiting a museum, making home-made chocolate – and for the evening I have a great family movie recommendation!

- The first hydrangeas are available at the market:

I buy a whole load of them and distribute them in single stems in large apothecary jars from the flea market, instead of putting them all in one vase together.

The same works also with big mason jars and glass pitchers!

- Last week Noelle grabbed her camera, her brother and a bunch of clothes and asked me to drive her out to a field – where the two of them had great fun with a shooting after sunset.

I explicitly mention this, as Ben starts fooling around, as soon as I even think of taking a picture – for Noelle, however, he would do anything!

All I managed to get were a few quick pictures, whereas his sister’s instructions were followed to a T, for hours and with the patience of a saint (and with obvious delight about the whole thing).

More on Noelle’s blog soon!

- When I saw this picture I had to rush to the kitchen immediately!

A little preliminary info:

Cocoa is generally one of the most high-grade and nutrient-rich foods: brimming with magnesium (heart + circulation and enhanced energy), iron, regulates cell growth and has 30 times as many antioxidants as green tea.

The secondary phytochemicals in cocoa inhibit the growth of bacteria responsible for tooth decay and stop the build-up of dental plaque.

Additionally the cocoa bean is a mood booster: it stimulates the production of dopamine and serotine in the body – the Aztecs chew on raw cocoa beans to prevent depression (!).

In short: cocoa is a real super food!

Important:

The cocoa bean provides all these effects only when ingested in its raw form, in other words: not heated above 107°F.

Adding milk, sugar and heat destroys most of the positive aspects – industrially produced chocolate is usually heated to 266°F.

So, if you wish to enjoy all the wonderful characteristics of cocoa you have to eat the so-called raw chocolate.

Admittedly:

If your taste buds are used to store-bought candy it will take a while until raw chocolate will actually taste good.

As, however, it is so full of wonderful properties:

Give it a chance!

How about simply making your favorite kind at home?

If you make just a small amount, you can even use fresh fruit and slowly get used to the full-bodied, somewhat tart taste.

Noelle has gotten to a point where she loves raw chocolate a lot.

(I only eat small amounts, which is all I can tolerate. Ben is hopelessly Nutella-contaminated anyway.)

For this version a little maple syrup is added – so it’s a somehow tentative approach;).

Raw Chocolate:

1.6 oz cocoa butter

1.6 oz white almond butter

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 pinch of sea salt

a little bit of vanilla seed (freshly ground)

2 Tbsp raw cocoa

Additionally:

Nuts, almonds, dried fruit or fresh berries

Melt cocoa butter in a pot, take off the stovetop and mix in all other ingredients.

Pour the mixture into a dish, sprinkle with nuts and berries and place into the refrigerator.

The ingredients are enough for two of these dishes.

Thank you, dear Fräulein Kußmaul, for this fantastic recipe!

- A DVD tip for a family evening:

if you liked Little Nicholas, you will love this movie!

My children and I laughed so hard that at times we were hardly able to follow the storyline – French cinema couldn’t be any more beautiful and entertaining than that (and no boring stretches in between).

Even for adults a real pleasure, recommended for about 10 years and up, in order to understand the humor.

Sources of supply:

Tine K. home throw: geliebtes Zuhause

Small china bowl: LaMaison

You will find the ingredients for raw chocolate in well-assorted natural food stores or online:

Raw cocoa: HERE

Cocoa butter: HERE

Almond butter: HERE

(everything via Amazon)

Love

Joanna

Thank you, Ginnell Studio, for translating this post!