Kat's 9 Lives

This past Sunday was hot hot. Summer is starting now and boy was it the wrong time. I guess since we are located in SF and expected the day to be reasonably cool. I was wearing long sleeves and thick pants, needless to say I was burning up. We volunteered at the EHC LifeBuilders Charity Event, River of Chocolate, down in Santa Clara. It was held at the Santa Clara University and the flowers were all in bloom that leads you to feel as if you were strolling down the Elysian Fields. We arrived a little bit before our time slot, so we rushed through the chocolate festival.Luckily I signed up for a later time than Ms. Lin so I browsed around longer and brought chocolates to Ms. Lin. Everyone there was super friendly and there were tons of chocolate and wines for sampling. Unfortunately it was fairly warm outside and the strong sun beating down did not do the chocolates any favor. A lot of them were deformed, melted, or melting. More reason to just grab them and down the hatch they go. O=P There were very few salty treats, but along the way we found a station that was serving Roast Pig but with a kick. It was the last snack Ms. Lin grabbed before heading back to the volunteer area. Salty food was needed to balance all the sweetness.Whilst Ms. Lin was away I discovered a delectable treat, of course I brought her some and chocolate covered strawberries I made. At first the name was somewhat confusing because it is after all a chocolate festival. The pastry chefs had a special drink made, Hot Truffled White Chocolate. At first I thought about black or white truffles but I had to take a step back rethink the title since chocolate truffles were everywhere. It was a superb hot white chocolate infused with black truffle flavor. All I can say is BRAVO! Top notch and unique! I think when I get home I am going to make some Angelina's hot chocolate I brought back from Paris and infuse it with the black truffles that Burumun gave me! YUM YUM! And before anyone leaves a comment, I am not inviting anyone over to share! O=p Tee hee!We have so much chocolate now. I brought back a nice one for Burumun and Tofu, if I don't eat it first. O=) The event was a lot of fun and I helped the Live Auction. There was this one guy that cracked me up. He kept bidding and bidding, his wife had to block his arms from raising his number. The first thing he bid on was the flowers delivered every month and the auctioneer goated him into bidding. At first he stopped because it was already over $600 and he was in the middle of trying to get more wine. The auctioneer stopped and said that he will wait until he fills his glass, the more the better. It didn't seem like he was going to bid, but at the last minute he threw his hand up and said "F@*k it!" Lets just say he won the bid and not the last of the day. If you could only see his wife's expression every time he bid after that! It's all good because it was for a good cause. You have to respect the organization and people who help adolescents who are lost & in need of help. A great day was had by all and the generosity people showed was tremendous. It was a great success!