Chocolaty Goodness

Recently I have been lucky to find some good chocolate around.

Trader Joe's has begun carrying dark chocolate covered cacao nibs. They're very good, and they're cheaper than the ones that Cost Plus carries.

The best surprise was coming to work Monday (after the job cancelling muddy site), and finding a piece of 91% cacao Venezuelan Theo dark chocolate.

I had some Trade Joe's lemonade with them. I like TJ's lemonade because it's so sour, but the chocolate was bitter enough to make the lemonade seem sweet.

It's like when you eat a bunch of Warheads candies in a row and then drink water. Even plain water seems sweet.

Shopping

Because I didn't get enough shopping on Friday, I did a little more on Saturday (comic books), and then Jennifer and I did even more today.

Our first stop was Transports in Oakland where for the first time I tried on some FiveFinger Shoes. The store in Oakland did not have the Flow, but they did have the KSO. I tried them on for size, and liked them, but they didn't have them in black. But their store in Berkeley did.

So we drove over to Solano Avenue, and bought a pair of the KSOs there. I tried a pair of the Flows, but the big toe on that one is a little bit smaller, and it was uncomfortable to wear. Plus I think the shoe of entire neoprene (or whatever) would be a bit hot over time. I also got a pair of toe socks which I am very happy with as they keep the shoes from sticking to my feet.

We hit a few other stores, including The Xocolate Bar, which had some amazing chocolates which Jennifer and I both highly recommend.

Seattle - Sunday

Oh the distances travelled on foot this day...

Sunday began with a walk uphill on Queen Anne to a cool breakfast place that was originally a house. I had a waffle this time, and while it wasn't very warm, it was good and came with some really good bacon.

Then we walked down Queen Anne, back to Seattle Center and went to the Science Fiction Museum. I made a long list of books that I want to read, and enjoyed lots of cool props from television and movies.

And so, we went back up hill.

We stopped for a snack at Chocolopolis. They had a wide selection of chocolate bars, and then some crafted pieces of chocolate. I got a bar of 94%, a dark chocolate truffle with nibs, and a butter chew with gold flakes.

And then down hill (a little) and across the Highway 99 bridge. Under the bridge we saw the Fremont Troll, and then we headed down hill to the Fremont Sunday Market. We walked through the market, and headed around to Theo Chocolate. That's Theo, short for Theobromine. And at Theo, they had borken up samples of every bar they sell, all for the tasting. If I had not jsut bought some 94%, I woudl have bought their Theo Venezuela Dark Chcolate 91% bar. But I had enough samples to carry me through. I did get Jennifer a Dark Chocolate With Orange bar, a bag of roasted nibs, and two peanut butter confections that turned out to be like butter fingers.

We walked back through the market, adn I found a Herkimer diamond with two little crystals growing on it's side. When i get a picture taken of ti, I'll be sure and post it. Dian immediately asked what I plan to do with it.

...

I said figure a way to display it with the other two that I ahve.

After the market we had lunch, and then walked to the Gasworks Park. At teh top of a hill there is a human sun dial where you stand at a specified location depending on the day of the year, and your become the gnomon for the sundial. It's very pretty with bronze inlaid in concrete in the form of signs of the zodiac.

From the gasworks we walked to the University, and hit several bookstores including two comic book shops.

And we then walked back to the apartment taking the lower Fremont Bridge back to Queen Anne.

Total round trip at least 12.5 miles.

Here and here you can see my blisters if you really want to. The one on my right foot had a little blood in it.

I put band-aids on them to protect them, and we went to see Monsters vs. Aliens. I enjoyed it, and now I have to take Jennifer to see it too.

Chocolate Quest

Searching for proper cacao content.

Found for me many content percentages, and Sweet Riot.

Found for Jennifer fruity dark.

Found for another bits of paradise.

Then I had bits of each of mine with port.

Bliss.

Addiction

It's a good thing I don't do drugs. The latest food addiction I have is all thanks to my Uncle Keith.

For Christmas, my side of the family had to make lists (Yes, had to. Have you met my mother?) One part of the list was chocolate preferences. I mentioned that anything that was not M&Ms and less that 70% cacao content was not worth my time.

Enter my uncle and the two tins of chocolate covered crack substitute. Also known as sweetriot.

Specifically what he gave me were two tins of flavor 70.

I discovered the magic of cacao nibs after a visit to Scharffen Berger Chocolate in Berkeley. Then at Trader Joe's, I found Slate of Bliss chocolate which had high content cacao and nibs sprinkled on the bars.

Now I have sweetriot. As the description says, flavor 70 has cacao nibs covered in 70% cacao chocolate. With a hint of espresso.

I don't even like coffee. I think Irish coffee is a waste of whiskey (not liking whipped cream either).

But ohhhhhhh...

I've been trying to limit myself to three at a time. And I just finished my first tin.

Must. Find. More.

Must.

All is well, all is well...

So Jennifer came home from Portland/Yamhill yesterday... and almost immediately left again. This Isagenix thing is really doing well. But she's home tonight. And now we're sitting across from each other online. She's catching up on her LOLcats and LOLdogs, and reading the captions making me laugh.

Pom is so frustrated with us laughing loudly out loud (yes, LOLing at teh LOldigs and LOLcats) that she has left the room now.

Of course the driving factor of the laughter is an imperial-pint size Bloody Mary for her and a Screwdriver for me. I've followed it up with a Petite Syrah, dark chocolate truffle from Lava Cap Winery, and a small port from Single Leaf Winery.

Now I has a happy.

Lazy boy

Yeah, I missed posting last night. I was having a party. We only had seven guests, but that made nine of us in the house, and we had a good time. We did all the St. Patrick's Day stuff with beer and corned beef and cabbage. And people were here until after one in the morning.

We drank (beer, whiskey, and some strange green liqueur), we laughed, we played games (Mad Gab, Balderdash, and Apples to Apples), we told bad jokes, and we talked about geeky things.

But for now, let's talk chocolate.

Friday night while I was writing my post about HAZWOPER classes, I was drinking a Christopher Moore zinfandel and eating dark chocolate. The bar was 88% cacao, and Hachez "Premier Cru". I ate about a third of the bar and while it wasn't great (being slightly flavourless) it was still good with the wine. And then every now and then I would break it up with a handful of M&Ms. That's when you realize how really sweet those candies are.

I have a tendency to look for new dark chocolate when I go shopping. Trader Joe's is a great place, but I've found some others as well. TJ's Traveler's dark chocolate used to be my favorite, but it has become too sweet for me. Scharffen Bereger semi-sweet (62%) is quite good, but it is also sliding to sweet. That's probably why I was enjoying the Hachez. I have several other bars in a plastic bag ready for sampling.

I've got a Hershey's Cacao Reserve at 65%, Cafe-Tasse at 77%, See's Extra Dark at 62%, Michel Cluizel Grand Noir at 85%, and a Green & Black's Organic Bittersweet at 70%.

They go well with port and brandy too.