Chocolate-Rose Bark Recipe, & release of Mead botanical perfume

I've been living in a rose colored world this month.

Roses, Mead, Sun, and growth.

Every year my mom makes Rose petal jam and rose chocolates.

I won't even pretend to know her chocolate rose magic touch much less her secret recipe, but when I strained my rose petal infused virgin coconut oil, I knew I couldn't waste the flowery, delicious marc.

So I did what anyone in their right mind would do.

I made it into chocolate.

First, when your strain the roses from the oil, you'll need to pick out any calyx parts because they are too hard to chew, and not yummy. 

Then you put a bunch of your favorite chocolate bits into a double boiler, on the low side of medium heat.

I used salted caramel and hazelnut fair trade chocolate bars.

( and it more fun to do while you're talking on skype to your favorite girlfriend :)

When the chocolate starts to get melty, add your rose petal coconut marc.

Stir as needed to get everything creamy and well blended together. 

You can add coconut flakes, chopped dried fruit, or macadamia nuts for extra goodness.

Once incorporated, pour onto a plate, and use a spoon to even it out somewhat into a layer. Place it into the fridge for a while to harden up. 

Then, simply use a butter knife to cut and lift sections from the plate, and enjoy! 

(You'll want to keep the finished bark in the fridge or it will be too soft.)

The roses are stronger than you might expect, so a ratio of 1:1, like I did, was a bit to floral for some of my friends to enjoy. My daughter on the other hand, loved it to such a degree that I earned myself a public appreciation announcement from her on facebook :)

Now, from a 15 year old daughter, I'm marking that as a damn good success. 

And good impetus to make more chocolate.

~~~

The other sultry alchemy happening in my Apothecary is the completion and release of 

~ MEAD ~ 

Botanical Perfume for Hopeless Romantics

for which reviews are trickling in as I write. 

For me, personally, I am proud. I'm proud of this sweet, rich, melodic blend, which took me several mood swings and phases of the moon to perfect. It's a blend of relationship, beauty, wonder, and lust.

{and a special thank you to my friend Dena, for enlightening my world with your effervescent homemade black birch honey mead. oh holy goddess nectar, I bow!}

Below, are some words from others who have tried ~MEAD~......

"~ MEAD - with its woodsy, rich notes and sacred, tingling whispers of fragrance ~ takes you to a tropical, most spiritual paradise ~ where the gentle, singing heart ~ meets the rich, quiet Awakening of the soul ...   ...  ~ MEAD ~ is a gift from the gods and goddesses ~ who gently take you to a world you barely remember ~ yet have longed to return  to ~ called *Home* ...... from another magical time and place... a time of gentle innocence ~ and deep passion ~ MEAD ~ is your soul calling to you... Grounding ~ Centering ~ Healing  and Empowering ~ MEAD ~ is your Journey within ~ and your journey Home..."

~Danita Wind Song, Sacred Steps Healing

------

"Close your eyes. Imagine veiled beauties gathering with anticipation at the Palace right at dusk. They immerse themselves in carefully blended aromatic preparations for a mysterious and romantic encounter. 

MEAD envelopes them like the fragrant waters they bathe in.

MEAD is like the rare and precious jewels they are adorned with. Sultry, brilliant rubies and black diamonds gifted by a lover.

MEAD'S balsamic and sweet aroma warms the skin, filling the air with the promise of nights to come. The scent penetrates deeply through the subtle channels, while the fruity lingering notes open your heart to melodious joy. Sing along and bathe in its crimson light!

Rare and precious notes carefully selected to entice both the knowledgeable collector and the novice alike."

~Tiziana, of Fairy Bling on Etsy

Love Sonnet 116

-William Shakespeare 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds 

Admit impediments; love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O, no, it is an ever-fixèd mark,

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand'ring bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his heighth be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

~~~~~~~~~

xoxo