{"id":34622,"date":"2016-01-29T22:27:07","date_gmt":"2016-01-30T05:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=34622"},"modified":"2016-01-29T22:27:07","modified_gmt":"2016-01-30T05:27:07","slug":"looking-for-chocolate-in-palm-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/looking-for-chocolate-in-palm-springs\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking for Chocolate in Palm Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PS<\/a>The city of Palm Springs<\/strong> is unexpectedly small. I don\u2019t know the population, but it is nestled between some mountains and, at least in November, falls into the shadow of the mountain every day around 3 PM. There is an inviting downtown shopping area along Palm Canyon Drive that is easily walked in an afternoon, even with stopping in a few stores. Though on a\u00a0relatively small scale, it has a nice variety of shops and restaurants, which includes four candy stores. Three of these have significant chocolate on sale. They are:<\/p>\n

Palm Springs Fudge and Chocolates<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/span>,<\/p>\n

Brandini Toffee<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span>, , and<\/p>\n

See\u2019s Candy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The internet search had only shown me one unique chocolate shop, but that was enticement enough. My mother-in-law agreed to go with me. She wanted to take just a minute and look for a favorite live theater from years gone by. Unfortunately, it had shut down the year before, but right next to it\u2019s vacant building was a pleasant man handing out samples of lightly candied popcorn. We accepted and immediately knew we needed to go into the shop, Brandini Toffee. (click on any photo to enlarge)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/a>
Inside the posh black and white Brandini Toffee shop. The clerk, Stephen Tifft, was very nice to talk to.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The shop displayed variations of toffee and two basic kinds of popcorn. Inside, we were offered a sample of what was being called chocolate popcorn. I was dubious, but the chocolate in the popcorn was both light and scrumptious. We bought a bag to have with our movie in the condo that night.
\nWe also bought some chocolate and nut covered toffee, which was good. However, it is hard for me to rate toffee without bias, since several people in my family, my mother-in-law included, make excellent chocolate covered toffee and feed it to me fresh. The Brandini toffee compared well to all the good toffee in my life, but what would get me back, should I visit Palm Springs again, is the special popcorns.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Brandini Toffee seating area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost everyone knows about See\u2019s, so that is all I will say other than I had fun practicing my Chinese when we dropped by. You can read about that over at Practice Speaking Chinese at the Chocolate Store<\/a><\/span> on my blog funlearningchinese.com<\/a><\/span>. And I will mention that See\u2019s still has the marzipan I like best.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
One section of what is available inside Palm Springs Fudge and Chocolates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Palm Springs Fudge and Chocolates was the shop that was the overall winner of the day for several reasons. First of all, they had a huge variety of not only gourmet quality chocolates, but also many other kinds of fun chocolates, fudge, and ice cream. Many of the chocolates are made on site by the owner. The ones I tried were very pleasant to the palate. They weren\u2019t as fancy looking as some specialty chocolates, but tended to be of more uniform shape, without fancy embellishments of colored tops or embossing. Instead, their appearances were more dictated by ingredients or process. This didn\u2019t make them taste any less good.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Norah,<\/a>
Norah, the owner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The owner, Norah, was working the counter when we went in. It was fun to hear her story. She is from Bangledesh, coming over about 10 years ago without knowing how to speak English. She worked for her brother in the same shop until 2 years ago, when she bought it from him. Her English is very good now, and I found her distinct accent made it musical, but did not muddle my comprehension.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
More of Palm Springs Fudge and Chocolate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

There was one very original candy in the fudge section that I tried. Made of sesame seeds, with a consistency similar to fudge, it was interesting and might have made a good trail snack, but was not my idea of a delicious candy. I\u2019m not sorry I gave it a chance, though.<\/p>\n

\"These<\/a>
These are the chocolates I bought from Palm Springs Fudge and Chocolate Shop, except the light colored bar in the upper left is the sesame seed creation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There were many other kinds of non-chocolate candies in this last shop, as well, but though they are colorful and fun to look at, it is chocolate I am always looking for! I heartily recommend all of these shops for your chocolate enjoyment should you get to visit Palm Springs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The city of Palm Springs is unexpectedly small. I don\u2019t know the population, but it is nestled between some mountains and, at least in November, falls into the shadow of the mountain every day around 3 PM. There is an inviting downtown shopping area along Palm Canyon Drive that is easily walked in an afternoon, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,79],"tags":[53,80],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34622"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}