My “Lucy in the Chocolate Factory” Moment

As I shared last month, I’ve really enjoyed the past year of blogging. One of the pleasant surprises has been finding a community online of other (mostly female) bloggers. Even though most of them are in the same town as me, I haven’t had much opportunity to meet anyone in real life. So tonight has been an extra treat, to meet some online friends in person, and to preview the opening of a new See’s Candy!

Here I am meeting “Mama Maggie” of In Mama Maggie’s Kitchen, a super sweet food blogger and recipe developer who posts some amazing looking food.

See’s Candy just opened a new location at Fashion Valley in San Diego. Tomorrow (Friday) is their grand opening. Tonight they had a special preview night for local bloggers. See’s is known for passing out yummy free samples (they give away one BILLION, with a “B”, pounds of chocolate each year) and tonight was no exception. Another piece of trivia I learned: the classic “Lucy in the Chocolate Factory” scene was filmed in See’s chocolate factory in San Francisco.

Several years ago I had a similar “Lucy” moment when visiting my best friend, Brooke, and her family’s vineyard, Parsonage Valley Vineyard. It was bottling time and I hopped on the assembly line to help bottle their Cabernet Sauvignon. My job was to put the foil over the cork and then pull a lever that tightened it. It was fun just being there as part of the process. There was a cool spinning wheel that filled up each bottle with a strong spout of wine. Then the bottler asked me, “Do you like wine?” “Um, yeah, especially Parsonage wine.” He then held an empty water bottle up to the spigot and gave it to me. My assembly line duty then became: place the foil, pull the lever, sip the wine. :)

Tonight, See’s challenged us bloggers to another Lucy moment in a contest to see who could pack a box of chocolates the fastest. They invited us behind the counter to race in heats. It was harder than it looked to get each truffle in the little paper cup! I may not have had the fastest time, but I got to take home my box. Winning!

If you are in San Diego, check out the grand opening at Fashion Valley tomorrow. They have a lot of fun activities and giveaways planned. And for everyone, everywhere, check out this round up of my favorite chocolate recipes!

Chocolate Espresso Pecan Pie:

Caramel Torte with Cajeta, Chocolate and Pecans:

Chocolate Goat Cheese Truffles: