A mouth-watering fundraiser

Sitting at the table Sierra Scroggins of Carson City stared at the plate in front of her, she didn't know where to begin. Slowly she began maliciously picking at the heaping plate filled with chocolate concoctions.

She started with the M&Ms cookie and soon had sampled the entire array. After devouring each creation, she stopped to lick her fingers as if not wanting to waste a single morsel.

Her favorite, the shy 8-year-old said, was the chocolate cupcake, while her mom, Sunshine Flores, listed the double chocolate cake as the best dish.

"We came because we love the chocolate. I think it's just awesome and it's all for a good cause," Flores said.

The family was among the approximately 300 people Saturday who took in the seventh annual Feast of Chocolate at the Nevada State Library and Archives. The event is put on by the Capital Branch of the American Association of University Women as a fundraiser for scholarships.

"Someone's mother had an event like this in California. So, seven years ago we put it on not knowing how it would turn out and it has flourished," Flo Bedrosian, event co-organizer, said. "It's a fun family event. It's chocolate, so people of all ages love it."

Along the buffet line were chocolate-dipped strawberries, raspberry brownies, double chocolate cake, white chocolate with pistachios, truffles, candy and several different types of cookies. Patrons could wash it all down with bottled water, coffee or ice-cold milk.

The advanced classes from Carson High School's Culinary Arts Program created items for the event along with 15 local businesses that donated items.

"The culinary arts program at the high school did just a wonderful job in coming up with 12 to 15 really good items," Pam Suchsland, event co-organizer said.

The most popular item by far was the chocolate eclairs, which were gone just an hour after the feast began, but that didn't stop Scott Ryan of Carson City from indulging.

"It tastes so good, this is the best breakfast I've had in a long time," Ryan said.

A few tables over, Rex Norman said his two daughters have been coming to the feast for the last four years, but he and wife alternate who comes with them.

"When you get to be 50 years old, you can only take this kind of chocolate once every two years otherwise it could be fatal, so we switch off," Norman said.

The event also featured a raffle of items from other local businesses and harpist Wanda Perschnick of South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

The event, which raised about $2,000, is one of only two fundraisers the AAUW does annually, with the second being the sale of pecans in November. Both events raise money the group gives out to women and support the group's national foundation.

"(The foundation) does educational research, provides scholarships for advanced degrees and offers community action grants with the funding," Bedrosian said.

As others returned to the buffet to restock their plates, Sierra seemed content with her plate, happy to savor her own personal feast of chocolate.

-- Contact reporter Jarid Shipley at jshipley@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.