Tennis ball Cream Puffs at BETA5

It's in an industrial zone because BETA5 Chocolates was initially a chocolatier for hotels and such. Only later did they open a chocolate shop. I think they also added another oven to keep up with the ridiculous cream puff demand.
Despite the location, the exterior is clean and in the interior is a bit spartan and hospital-warehouse-chic but also clean and reassuring. And you can watch the oompa-loompas do their thing through the glass window. Keep an eye out for the curious spray-station.

Can you go to a renowned chocolatier and not buy any chocolate? Apparently you can. Or at least I did--The closest I got to getting chocolate was a small free sample of chocolate with pop rocks in them. Yup, it's fireworks in your mouth. Neat, but, er, didn't make me desperately want to buy them. Maybe because I don't have bratty kids to shut up.
Anyway, I went yesterday and just got some cream puffs.

Which, from looking at the pictures and from I-don't-know-where-it-comes-from estimates I thought would be the size of ping-pong balls.
Turns out they are more like TENNIS BALLS. So when I opened the box of four, I was like, "Holy Shit!"
And at $16 for four (i.e., bulk pricing of $4 a piece), it is a ridiculously good deal for these artistic delicacies.
Sure, they're mass produced, but they still look gorgeous.

Each cream puff has the same hollow crispy shell that seems to stay admirably crispy for quite a while. And because the shell it quite thin, you can get away with carefully cutting them in half (but you will probably need to take off the cap) to share. Most have cream, but if you are going to cut-and-share, be wary that some items have gooey fillings that can pour out.

My friend and I tried...

Maybe because I'm partial to citrusy stuff, I liked the Blueberry Yuzu the best. Second was the Banana Cream Puff. I liked the Walnut + Apricot one the least because the titular flavours didn't come out so strongly for me, especially after the thin dark chocolate pieces topping this one (it seemed natural only to remove them and eat them first and separately because they stuck out).

What they all have in common is a creaminess that does not convey that fatiguing heavy feeling you can get when having something rich in cream, dairy, fat, or butter. This means the cream puffs are dangerously easy to consume one after the other. Their size, however, makes it more sensible to share, although cutting them requires a bit of patience and a lighter touch.
Cutting them also gets you a more manageable portion that is less likely to squirt cream out in an inconvenient direction. Plus you can lick at whatever cream flavour interests you to isolate.

Mid-week days are best if you want to try a walk-in to try the cream puff flavours. We were there on a Wednesday at maybe 2pm and all flavours were still available!

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 3

A picture from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. I can't remember why I had this couple in the picture, but I do vaguely remember this to be in London, on the first official day of the tour group getting together. Their insistence on my helping them take a picture caused the three of us to be late getting back to the bus. The local tour guide had a "rule" about lateness, that we had to buy chocolate to share with everyone. As it turned out, later in the trip, on at least two occasions, we were stuck on the highway on either a long commute or a traffic jam, and I had chocolate and chocolate-covered marzipan to share. About the chocolate-covered marzipan -- Apparently we were in Austria just as they were celebrating Mozart's birthday with special marzipans wrapped in foil with the famous composer's picture. I'm pretty sure it was Mirabell Mozartkugeln . Anyway, there were enough to go around the en...

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 10

The last of my pictures (at least the ones that survived the cheesy disposable cameras) from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. Below is the obligatory group photo. Not sure everyone's in it, actually. I'm pretty sure this one was taken by the tour director, Mike Scrimshire as I'm in the back row, on the right side.

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 9

More assorted couples on my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. An American couple who joked about being from "the land of the giants" -- and with good reason, because both of them were really tall! A cute Jewish mother-daughter pair who ducked out part-way to divert to Israel. I vaguely remember the issue of the daughter being an orthodox Jew was highlighted in France when, to make things easy, she just declared herself vegetarian for the wait staff. I also remember there was some logistics error in France because our party size was way underestimated or simply relayed incorrectly, and there was a shortage of food at dinner. Dessert came as an unopened can of yogurt. It did not seem like they tried to make it up to us later, either. Plus there was smoking every which way in France, and I had a helluva time with that. We were also in a hotel that seemed tucked away in the burbs, and not walking distance from anythin...

Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

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