Chocolate and cheese

We had a fun hour at the Auckland University of Technology’s School of Hospitality and Tourism this afternoon.  As part of the AUT Winter Series we attended a session on “Chocolate and Cheese - Can Opposites Really Attract?”.  It was a lot of fun and we got to taste some interesting chocolate and cheese combinations, as well as a risotto that included chocolate as one of the ingredients.  The pièce de résistance was the heart-shaped chocolate we were given as we left - a Parmesan Chocolate Bonbon, which was absolutely delicious.

We were given a chocolate sensory wheel and a cheese sensory wheel to help us identify which cheeses might go with which chocolate (e.g. white, milk, dark {50%} and dark {72%}.  As we sat down, the “table” in front of us had a sheet of paper on which were placed a tiny cup containing hot chocolate, a square of chocolate cheesecake, a square of Hershey’s milk chocolate (US) and a square of Whittaker’s milk chocolate (NZ). Below these were the nine chocolate/cheese combinations we tasted and rated on how much we liked them, the mouth feel, the compatibility and what type of chocolate and cheese they contained.  Following this exercise, we were given the freshly-made risotto, which I rather liked - but then I like most things containing chocolate.

The two sensory wheels and the tasting items are shown in the blip.

The “top of the south” is completely and utterly devastated.  There have been at least 350 slips across the region, many roads have been severely damaged and the main road between Blenheim and Nelson is impassable.

There are 2,706 new community cases today, and the seven-day rolling average is 3,655 compared to 4,230 last Monday. The number of people in hospital is 432, including 9 in ICU. The seven-day rolling average increase in total deaths attributable to Covid-19 is 10 and 1,824 deaths have been confirmed as either directly attributed to Covid, or with Covid as a contributing factor.