Holiday Giveaway! Free Chocolate! – CLAIMED OUT. It’s Over.

This is the last giveaway for 2008, and it’s a good one. What I’ve got for you is Amano Artisan Chocolate. You may remember Amano since I’ve given it away before. I love this stuff, and it’s still some of the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted (including the Vosges I just got for Christmas). This batch of Amano is actually very special, and quite rare.

JEMBRANA is the name they’ve given this bar. Jembrana is a small regency on the southwest coast of the Indonesian island of Bali. Why am I giving you this geography lesson? Well, my buddy Art (he owns Amano) is the only guy in the U.S. that’s importing cacao from Bali. That means that if you win a bar, you’ll be part of an exclusive group of chocolate lovers who are lucky enough to savor Balinese chocolate.

Taste and giveaway notes below.

Tasting Notes

Amano is known for dark chocolate – we’re talking 70% cacao here people. Good dark chocolate is nothing to be scared of. Exquisite dark chocolate (like this) is not bitter, but smooth and enchanting and not at all intimidating. The Jembrana bar has a smart snap, and mild citrus notes. It’s divine.

Giveaway Instructions

I’ve got 100 bars to give away (1 per Sooper Hero). To win, comment on this post AND click the following link and complete the form: CLICK ME TO WIN A FREE BAR OF CHOCOLATE

This giveaway is first come, first served. Once I’ve received 100 valid Sooper Hero sign ups, it’s over! Good luck! Happy holidays! Enjoy your chocolate!

There’s more…

The rest of this post was written by my buddy Art (he owns Amano) in remembrance of the Rio Grande Cafe.

The Rio Grande Cafe is a family owned cafe that serves authentic regional New Mexican food. Started in 1948, the Rio Grande Cafe catered to the natives from Espanola as well as the physicists and other scientists from on “on the hill” who would often pilgrimage from Los Alamos. Some of the world’s most famous physicists (and my childhood heros) such as Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Neils Bohr, Hans Bethe, Enrico Fermi and other great minds who either worked at or visited the Los Alamos National Laboratory would make the 30 minute trek to the Rio Grande Cafe for Taco’s Green, Pasole, Green Chile Stew, Sopapillas, and other regional fare.  The food wasn’t fancy — but it was comfort food — New Mexico style — done right.  One Los Alamos scientist and friend pilgrimaged to the Rio Grande Cafe every Tuesday since 1952 for a plate of Tacos Green.  But the Rio Grand Cafe was not only a haven to those from Los Alamos and Espanola but also to the great artists from the local Pueblo’s (most notably Maria the Potter whose pots are now highly treasured and collected).

I started eating at the Rio Grande Cafe when I was very young — in fact, I don’t even remember the first time. I made a point to eat there almost every time I visited Los Alamos and the friends I grew up with.  I always ordered the same thing — Tacos Green with extra sopapillas and it always brought me back to my New Mexican roots. The Rio Grande Cafe most definitely formed a huge step in my culinary career teaching me that food does not have to always be fancy to be good as long as it is made with care and the heart of the chef.  Just recently, the Rio Grande Cafe closed and the chef who has cooked for some of the greatest minds in the world as well as the local Hispanic, Native American, and Anglo communities has retired.  Clearly, there are some big holes to fill — not by upscale “Southwest” or “Santa Fe Style” restaurants but simply by those who truly care about the food they cook no matter how humble.

-Art