My Current Favourites
Chocolate Bar
Erable, miso & riz or Maple, miso & rice
This bar has drawn me in lately with it’s sweet, salty and umami flavours. A little of everything. It is so munchable, I shoudl have bought the larger size from Etat de choc.
Snack
Chocolate chunks and cacao sea salt on cookie
As spring is arriving we are still baking on cool days and topping cookies with cacao sea salt or chocolate chunks has been a recent fav here.
Pass Time
Working on my 100 Cacao Pods
I have been enjoying the 100 day project I began in February. You can see it’s progression on Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers.
A true chocoholic, you may know me, Cyndi, as @CanadianChocoholic. I bring my love of chocolate to the world through my skills as a goldsmith, having a line of chocolate-themed sterling silver cacao pods and cacao beans. Using various techniques, I hand craft and create unique, wearable art.
Creativity has always been a major force in my life and I love sharing that with other chocolate lovers around the globe through jewellery, art, The Chocolate Notebook, fabric, masks, tea and chocolate pairings and Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers.
I design and make jewellery, drawing on my professional training and experience as a goldsmith. My two years of school in metalsmithing taught me so many skills that I use to create my sterling silver, bronze and gold cacao inspired pieces of jewellery. My favourite techniques include lost wax casting, construction and enameling. Visit my shop page to see what is currently available.
2023 Begins
2023 began with some thought and reflection as I dream of what is ahead for Canadian Chocoholic. So far I am hoping to write 2 blogs a week to share all about chocolate, art, taste, and creativity with you, hoping you find joy and inspiration in my thoughts, creations and sharing.
2022 Looking Back
2022 has been a year of going with the flow. Some time in Calgary, Winnipeg, Paris, and Montreal was sprinkled with trips to chocolate shops or cafes to buy or eat chocolate. Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers has been so fun and so much of my creative energy is going into making it amazing. I met one of my favourite chocolate friends in person finally, and I sat down to drink hot chocolate at Hummingbird Chocolate under a cacao tree. The Ottawa Chocolate Show happened and was great fun. Want to read more about 2022? Go check out the blog about those Memorable Chocolate Moments.
2021 and new beginnings
In 2021 I stepped away from my full time job due to some health issues that are still in the process of being pinned down and moved to working more on the art and chocolate side of things.
I launched Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers in March of 2021, a monthly subscription that allows me to share my creativity and love of chocolate with other chocolate lovers. You can subscribe to receive digital happy mail, a physical postcard with a personalized note written on it, or an envelope in the mail full of chocolate themed goodies each month. You can read more here!
In the same week I also launched a new business with my friend Ji, a tea and chocolate pairing box we have been talking about since the end of 2019. Everything finally fell into place and we now offer monthly curated tea and chocolate pairing boxes through Synergy Tea & Chocolate. Ji is a tea expert and I am a chocolate expert so together we have used our talents to create a great pairing box. Sadly Synergy didn’t work out as it was a bit of a crazy time.
2020, what a year!
In 2020 I launched a line of handsewn, silk screened face masks that allows chocoholics to wear their love of cacao amidst the pandemic. When I couldn’t find fabrics I loved, I designed my own, and then created other sewn products and produced fabrics with a chocolate theme including tote bags, zippered pouches and masks.
I was also the sponsor of Cacao Magazine issue 3 #womeninchocolate and have an article about my work with jewellery in it. A magazine about all things bean to bar chocolate.
In 2020 I also joined The Chocolate Notebook team for edition 2 of The Chocolate Notebook, an atypical calendar/planner/notebook that takes you on a journey through the year with a focus on chocolate. All the illustrations in the book are created by me, and its cover features the cacao pod that is a favourite on #masksforchocoholics.
Chocolate was always my favourite. It has always been nearby. On Vancouver Island I worked as a chocolatier, becoming more interested in chocolate. Since then I have taken tasting classes (through Ecole Chocolat and the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting, led chocolate tastings, judged the International Chocolate Awards and always continue to learn and read about chocolate. I am a chocolate sommelier/certified chocolate taster and am always happy to create custom tastings and pairings for all occasions and group sizes. I now offers tastings online for any size of group, send a message in the box below to find out more.
I also do consultant work in setting up pairings, offering education around chocolate, or finding the perfect chocolate to go with your product.
Being a maker, I have an appreciation for small batch, one-of-a-kind, local products, produce and small businesses. I share the joy of chocolate with others through chocolate tastings, sharing bars, reaching into my purse, and my handmade jewellery.
When not busy eating chocolate, you can find me posting often on IG @canadianchocoholic and writing my blog at www.CanadianChocoholic.ca