Welcome to The Joy. Our new weekly blog bringing you literal joy on a Friday morning. If you want The Joy direct to your inbox, make sure you sign up to our mailing list.
Each week, we'll be profiling someone who brings us joy, and what cool stuff they are doing, our non-alcoholic drink of the week recommendation, and more.
As it's World Chocolate Day on Wednesday 7 July, our inaugural The Joy interview is with Samanta Bakker, Head of Production and Chocolate Maker at Melbourne-based chocolate company, Monsieur Truffe.
- You have a pretty cool job, we're pretty jealous to be honest, why do you love what you do?
I love food. Good food makes me happy. Life is short, that is why I believe that you should do what makes you happy.
- What are you working on at the moment?
I’m always making new products. The thing that I enjoy the most is to create new flavour combinations. One of my favourites is working on custom chocolate bars with Alasdair from The Boroughs. This Brunswick store is a design store; they do different exhibitions for different artists and I design chocolate bars for them. The flavours are inspired by the artists’ work. I’m also part of the Urban Eats exhibition at the Counihan Gallery in Brunswick, Melbourne.
- What are you watching at the moment, and why do you like it?
Detective Conan/ Case Closed and Lupin III I love mystery. My favourite novelist is Agatha Christie. I read so many of her books when I was in primary school.
- What are you reading at the moment, and why do you like it?
Aphrodite by Isabel Allende.
It’s a fascinating book about the intimate relationship between food and sex. I like that it has an approachable format and puts the joy back into eating and loving.
- Who is inspiring you at the moment?
I find inspiration in a variety of people and things. I like people that keep their message authentic. I really like this quote from Steve Jobs: "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life."
- What do you drink when you're not drinking alcohol?
I like mocktails, a lot. One of my favourites is coconut water with lychee and kaffir lime, or coconut water with pineapple, mint, lime and ginger. I also drink a lot of different teas and I can’t live without my daily coffee.
- What is your favourite chocolate flavour and why?
The thing that I enjoy the most is to create new flavour combinations. I have so many favourites… Probably the one that I eat the most is the 37% with caramel and almonds
- What has brought you joy this week?
The answer is always food. Eating good food makes me happy.
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World Chocolate Day
As it's World Chocolate Day coming up, our drink recommendation this week is this delicious Plus and Minus Pinot Noir. We all know that wine goes perfectly with wine, and non-alcoholic wine is no different.
Pair a pinot noir with a creamy milk chocolate with caramel, curl up on the sofa and you'll be in your bliss zone after the first sip.
You've still got time before Wednesday, so jump online to Monsieur Truffe and grab Samanta's favourite which pairs perfectly.
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Joy Story... what made us smile this week.
A Tasmanian woman had a pleasant surprise recently when she was digging up her garden and found an emerald and diamond ring.
Ms Ambrus, a keen gardener, was digging into clay soil beneath her lawn when she found the ring. “I thought it was just a little piece of tin or something,” she said.
“There is a lot of rubbish in this soil here, which is why I use raised beds,” she said. “When you dig down, there are lots of broken pots and things like that.”
However, she never expected to find a piece of jewellery.
Read the full story on the ABC Website.
Looks like everyone with back gardens should be getting out the shovels, just in case a gold mine awaits.
We hope this has brought some joy to your life, we know we're now hunting down some chocolate, which always makes us happy. We're excited to be bring more joy to you every week, so stay tuned.
The Killjoy Team x