When I was at university, I was addicted to hot chocolate from the cafeteria (oh yeah, I knew how to party….. mild style) but since a lot of the sweet, chocolately kind of cocoa has whey or some type of lactose or milk powder in them, I had to put a stop to my hot chocolate habit. It was a sad time. A sad, liquid-chocolate deprived time. I tried boiling pure, unadulterated cocoa powder in hot soy milk, but it turns out that while yummy in cakes, it has a pure, unadulterated taste of burnt dirt when made into a drink. (Okay, maybe I should have added sugar next time, but if *you* drank boiled dirt, would you want to try boiled, sweetened dirt next time on the off-chance it was better? I would not, and did not)
But the realisation came a month ago when I got gifted a box of chocolate Oatly. Arghgmamamwyum. Chocolate Oatly, meet microwave, and become that which you were always meant to be; a delicious mug of joy and happiness. The pinnacle of human genius. Chocolate…that you can drink!
So yes. Try chocolate Oatly if you miss hot chocolate, and like me, did not think of this glaringly obvious solution 
There’re a few themes running through this blog. 1). I *heart* polymer clay 2). OMG Lampworking rox!!!eleventy11!!! (yes, that’s tongue in cheek) 3). Go vegans! and 4). Yumnmnmnmnchocolate. Today’s blog post is on the first and fourth themes, although before you get excited, no, I did not combine them.
First, the chocolate:
I haven’t yet managed to find vegan choc ices, so last week I finally took matters into my own hands, scooped out little balls of Swedish Glace ice cream, and dredged them in melted chocolate. Oh. Wow. It’s seriously the best chocolate treat I’ve had in a while* and the chocolate cools around the ice cream on impact, making a delicious little shell with creamy coldness inside. So today I got out my chocolate moulds, pressed the ice cream in, and once they’re refrozen, poured on the chocolate. Even better than before. Next up – putting a swirl of Sweet Freedom syrup inside the ice cream. Then it’s on to glace cherries, a dab of jam, and maybe (get ready to have your mind blown) chocolate, inside of ice cream inside of chocolate inside of ice cream, ad infinitum or until I end up with a chocolate ice cream boulder the size of a football.
On to the polymer clay. The results of the first stage of the Beads and Beyond Jewellery Maker of the Year came in, and since reader voting is over and I didn’t get past that round anyway, I can show my entry – it did make it to the top ten, which, considering the photo, was pretty great *G*:
I’ve just finished off my last bag of the most perfect chocolate food in the world. It’s very sad 
Mainly because to get more, I have to go through mail order and pay largish postage charges. On the other hand, it’s worth it: it’s akin to a Crunchie, but more chocolatey, more lush, gooier and crunchier all at the same time. And, of course, it’s vegan:
Golden Crunch
The Vegan Store – where it’s sold – is awesome in terms of bringing Cola Bottles and Mini-Eggs to the vegans. It’s expensive, yes, but unfortunately a lot of vegan non-essential foods are too. One of the ‘perks’ of being vegan I guess 
Erm…here ends my ode to chocolate.
