Linnea and the Chocolate Factory

Today it was time for a school excursion, it felt like a while since I'd been on one so I was excited! Especially since the theme of this excursion was chocolate!
The Reception classes went to the Empire Hotel & Country Club, to see how they make their famous pralines, and had asked for some parent helpers to come along. Well - they got plenty of help alright! Nearly one adult for every two kids! Fab!

A very nice lady from the Empire did a little demonstration for us all. She showed us how they make their fillings for the chocolates, and also some of the decorative finishing touches of them too. It was very interesting, and it smelled so goooood!



45 little Reception children, all ears AND eyes:



Melting the chocolate, mixing it with cream, glucose and butter to make a nice filling:



Mrs Harris brings around the hollow chocolate pieces to show how they look before they get filled:



Our cute girl. Smiling!



Everybody got to get up close to see how the lady filled the hollow chocolates with the chocolate mixture she had just melted and mixed together:




Here she was putting a milk chocolate "lid" on the chocolate pralines, so that the filling which was still soft and runny, wouldn't spill out.



Next she prepared the filling for the white chocolate pralines. The filling was flavoured with saffron - made the chocolate all yellow and nice. (I tasted one of these later on, and uuuhhhmmmm... yum-yum!)



Linnea getting a close look of how the lady rolled the chocolate ones in more milk chocolate:



And this is how lovely a full box of finished pralines can look like!



The line quickly formed to get to now actually taste the chocolate!



Hm... which one to choose...



With the mouth full of yummy chocolate!



Group photo!



After the chocolate demonstration, it was time for a bit of a snack down at the Pantai, and then the children got to go to the E-Kids Club, which is the Empire Hotel's Kids Club.
Linnea has been there many times, on different birthday parties but also just for swimming. This time they were got to do some art - each painting their own fan:



They all really enjoyed this, and sat still for... at least a couple of minutes!



And, the E-Club mascots Timmy Turtle and Honey Hornbill came out, to the kids' big joy!



They soon got attacked by all the kids, who by this time were on a sugar high after the chocolates!



Sebbie and Linnea:



Some of the colourful fans:



It was such a lovely morning, I so enjoy being with the kids on these school excursions!