VANCOUVER DAZE showcases and highlights the lifestyle and cultural scene of our beautiful city, uncovering all the INTERESTING THINGS, misadventures, and shenanigans beyond social functions and local happenings. We fiercely promote all the fun times, food, culture, and entertainment the city has to offer, along with the creative minds behind them. Follow more of my work/coverage over at RICKCHUNG.COM and on Twitter at @RICKCHUNG. You can pitch me HERE.

Volume 87: CocoaNymph East chocolate making workshop in Mount Pleasant on September 17, 2012. Photos courtesy of Grace Cheung and Crystal Hendrickson. More photos available on Flickr and Tumblr.

This MINI adventure is all about chocolate. Fall means chocolate season for my sweet tooth. Conveniently enough, CocoaNymph, the local chocolate factory of sorts, is expanding.

As a part of this chocolate making adventure, I travelled there in style in my Countryman from MINI Richmond.

Ahead of their second location’s grand opening, I (along with Grace Cheung, above) were invited to take one of CocoaNymph’s special chocolate making workshops.

There’s just something about local, handmade and crafted foods (especially desserts) that I find so immensely appealing (thanks to owner and chocolatiere Rachel Sawatzky).

We got our hands dirty and made our own chocolate truffles from a whole ganache dipped in a small vat of dark chocolate. It’s harder than you think.

The hot chocolates (or as they refer to them as “drinking chocolates”) were superb. These finely mixed chocolate liquids (dark on the left and milk and the right) were smooth and creamy. I’m a fiend for chocolate drinks.

This was some sweet, delicious work making our own fine chocolates. Be sure to drop by their official grand opening this Saturday in Mount Pleasant and check out their own hidden golden ticket contest (Charlie would be proud).

It was a delightful, sweet time learning about the chocolate making process.

Enter to win your own (non-chocolate) #MINIadventure package HERE (share on Twitter and Facebook).