CHOCOLATE TASTING EVENT AT IZARD CHOCOLATE

Earlier this month, John hatched a super fun idea, and on Tuesday evening, it all came to fruition.  His birthday is coming up next week, and he said that this is how he wanted to celebrate.  You know I love any excuse to party, so I was totally game on, especially when the planned evening checked so many of my favorite boxes.

Great Friends ✅
Delicious Food ✅
Local, Bean to Bar Chocolate ✅ (turns out, this is one of my favorite boxes)
Tasty Drinks ✅
Specialty Cheeses ✅

I've many time sung the praises of Little Rock, and we have found one more reason to love our city: Izard Chocolate.  John found his way into Izard Chocolate a couple of months ago, and as I've cut back on my overall sugar intake, I have increased my dark chocolate intake, because antioxidants and health, of course 😜.  My go-to chocolate has become the Izard Dark Chocolate and Almond Bar, and I probably grab a square of it at least twice a day.  Okay - probably more than that.  I hide it from the kids, so you know it must be good.

John started talking to the proprietor, Nathaniel Izard, and asked if he would ever be willing to do a chocolate tasting/demonstration for a group.  He was, and so John's birthday party was born.  When we pitched this idea to our friends, we realized that three other people in the group had birthdays right around John's, so we turned it into a joint birthday party at Izard Chocolate.



We started the night at our house with sushi and other light fare.  I didn't want to spoil our stomachs for all the chocolate that was coming later.

(Quick and easy party tip: grab a roll of cute wrapping paper and use it as table runners everywhere to tie things together and jazz it all up!)

From our house, we caravanned to Izard Chocolate in Hillcrest where we found this delightful setup awaiting us.  I think my exact words were, "Well, this looks magical." 😍

(Isn't that the truth?)

Nathaniel had given us a list of wines that would pair well with his different chocolate offerings.  There were palette cleansers in the form of almonds, crackers, artisan cheeses, mineral water and strawberries to have between trying various chocolates and drinks.  He explained some of the differences in the chocolates and what to be looking for as we sampled them in turn.

After working our way through our papers - and let me just say that I sampled and LOVED every single thing on there, we were treated to a walk through the space and how chocolate is made.  As a life-long chocolate lover, this was fascinating!

  

All in all, this was a most delightful way to spend an evening, and we thoroughly loved the entire experience.  Thanks so much, Izard Chocolate!
(For more information about Izard Chocolate, check out their website.  You could even contact them to get your own tasting/demonstration scheduled, which I highly recommend!)