Month: January 2009

How To Determine The Best Gourmet Chocolate

How To Determine The Best Gourmet Chocolate

For many people the best gourmet chocolate is a new experience for them as most people have never had gourmet chocolate. To many people chocolate is a luxury that probably should not be taken too seriously but for the people that make the best gourmet chocolate it is a very serious business indeed and if you find yourself wanting to decide on what would be the best gourmet chocolate for you then you need to know what parameters to use to compare chocolate and especially compare gourmet chocolate.

The best gourmet chocolate is usually decided on more than just taste as the classification of gourmet indicates that everything that has to do with preparation and presentation is taken into account. Not only should the best gourmet chocolate taste like no other chocolate you have ever had before but it should look like a piece of art that you think looks too good to eat.

The first criteria to determine the best gourmet chocolate obviously is taste. This is a very subjective criteria because everyone has their own ideas of what the perfect chocolate taste is supposed to be. A recommendation is to expose yourself to as much gourmet chocolate as you can and determine which one tastes the best. If you prefer milk chocolate then try as much gourmet milk chocolate as you can to determine which is the best taste for you.

When you are looking for the best gourmet chocolate you want to try the chocolate without any fillers or added flavors so that you can get the best chocolate taste without anything interfering with the taste. Once you have determined what you consider to be the best gourmet chocolate by taste the next thing is to use your eyes.

It Looks Too Good To Eat

When manufacturers set out to make the best gourmet chocolate they pride themselves on presentation as much as taste. A piece of gourmet chocolate with a marble look to it can sometimes look too good to eat. However it is these combinations of flavors, along with an expert presentation, that make the truly best gourmet chocolate. So be certain to use your eyes as much as your taste buds when you are trying to find the best gourmet chocolate because the dedicated and talented makers of gourmet chocolate spend years perfecting every aspect of their craft and they want to be sure their customers are enjoying the complete experience and not just the taste.

Playing It Safe: Hiking and Camping Safety

Observing simple hiking and camping safety tips will help to ensure that the best camping and hiking trip is experienced by all. Camping and hiking trips require careful advance planning in order to have all of the clothing, food and supplies needed for the duration of the trip regardless of the weather encountered. When camping in places where there is an abundance of wildlife, especially wolves and bears, there are additional hiking and camping safety precautions to take to help ensure that there will not be run-ins with these creatures, or if there are, the camper is prepared.

Tips

One hiking and camping safety tip is to always have a medical supply kit packed with the gear. This kit should have bandages, tape, scissors, gauze, anti-biotic ointment, and other first aid supplies so that if an injury occurs, first aid can be immediately applied while waiting to get the individual to safety. Many of these kits will also come with instructions on how to deal with injuries in addition to wounds, such as splinting a broken bone or making a sling for a dislocated shoulder.

Another hiking and camping safety tip is to always bring along a food storage bag that can be hung from a tree. These food storage bags are specially made so that animals cannot detect the smells of the food contained within and will not be as attracted to the bag to try and get the food. Even so, these food bags should be hung outside of the camping area so that if an animal, such as a bear, decides to try and get to the food, they are not near to the campers themselves. A camper should never keep any type of food inside of the tent with them, even snacks or dog food, since bears and other animals will be attracted to it, ruining the tent and possibly harming the camper.

Not only should food be hung in these special sacks, but any other food storage or trash should also be hung in a separate bag, apart from the camp, for hiking and camping safety. It is also a good idea to have a whistle or a bell so that if an animal comes into the camp, they can be easily startled by the loud noise and frightened away before any damage is done.

A simpler hiking and camping safety tip is to make sure the backpack chosen before the trip is properly fitted to the person’s body, ensuring that the weight of the pack is distributed on the hips rather than the back so that no back injuries occur. In addition, the fuel for the stove should also be stored properly so that it does not leak on other supplies or have a chance to get near to a heat source that could cause an explosion or fire.