Married to Chocolate Flirts with Half Hour Meals

So this is what it's like to be on the other side of things...

Penny Hawkins of Half Hour Meals called my blog flirty... and I think I like that!

I was invited to join this nifty web site in October. It's cool because it fits my cooking and baking philosophy perfectly—the quicker, the better. Seriously, cooking shouldn't be rocket science! Less time in the kitchen means more time on the dining table.

And guess what, I'm the featured blogger this month! Read an excerpt from the interview below. Thank you, Penny!

Half Hour Meals Member Kris lives in New York and writes a fun, flirty, blog dedicated to her all-consuming love for chocolate. One look at this fun and lighthearted blog is enough to convince you that this lady is serious….she really loves chocolate! In fact, her blog profile states that her first love is chocolate and her second is words, which explains why she lists her profession as “journalist/chocoholic”. Read on to learn more about Kris and perhaps join her in her devotion to chocolate:

If you could eat your favorite chocolate anywhere in the world with anyone you wanted, where would you go, who would you take, and what would you eat? That's a loaded question! Eating chocolate is such a normal occurrence to me that I can't really isolate it into this single momentous event.. but I'm dying to go to Tuscany to meet chocolatiers Alessio and Cecilia Tessieri of Amedei. I've been salivating over their pralines for some time now. And I would probably take my favorite guy in the whole wide world with me-my three-year old nephew Logan. He's a little chocolate-lover too!

You obviously love chocolate in pretty much any forms and flavor. If you could have only one thing that is chocolate from now on, what would it be and why? One thing? Wow. I'm actually not a fan of all flavors of chocolate--I appreciate the creativity but I'm not crazy about the spicy ones.  I also tend to favor chocolate I can chew (hot chocolate is purely a Christmas indulgence for me). That said, if this nightmare were to come true, I would have to choose dark chocolate truffles--the soft ones--dusted with cocoa please.

White chocolate. Is it really chocolate or not? No it's not and that's exactly why I don't like it! I take my cocoa content seriously. I like my chocolate deep and dark.

So what’s your obsession with Red Velvet Cupcakes all about?  The reason why I love Red Velvet Cupcakes--and this I found out after I fell in love with them--is because they have cocoa in them. Figures! And hello, cream cheese frosting? What's not to love? To me, it's just one of those flavors that works. Pure genius.

I just love your “No-Bake Mondays” posts…each one featuring a delightful way to enjoy a no-bake chocolate treat! Where do you get the inspiration for your no-bake recipes? I once lived in a studio apartment with a tiny kitchen. I had a toaster oven but it couldn't do hardcore baking so I had to be creative.. I was also a student then and I couldn't exactly splurge on Callebaut chocolates and whatnot. I look at recipes, strip them down to the basic ingredients, and play mix and match. I like recycling leftovers (leftover Halloween candy or cranberry sauce) and turning them into quick and easy desserts. No-Bake recipes have limitations (like no eggs, usually), but once you know how to work around them, there is so much you can do with ingredients that are probably already in your cupboard. I really believe no-baking is an underrated art- you just have to use your imagination!

Do you see yourself still blogging several years from now? I would like to think that as long as there is chocolate in the world, Married To Chocolate would be around. In the future though I do want to develop this into a full-blown chocolate extravaganza with a full editorial team of chocolate-obsessed people like me. I need someone to split the calories with.

Read the full interview on Half Hour Meals! They have some good stuff on there... check out this Pots de Creme recipe. Chocolate with rum? I'm there!

- Kris Alcantara