Saturday, February 14, 2009

Chocolate

Rules of Chocolate:
1) Any chocolate is better than no chocolate. Even a 'lowly' Hershey's bar can bring back childhood memories of being allowed to pick one out at the grocery store checkout and of the many ways to eat it. If you ever get one of those cheesy heart shaped boxes from the drug store, be happy! Okay, he didn't go to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for hand dipped, but you know how parking is there and at least he thought of you on the way home from work when he stopped in for athlete's foot powder and that is better than most women get most days. Savor that chocolate and treasure the box forever. Keep old handkerchiefs or love notes or dried rose petals or funky costume jewelry in it, but never throw it away.
2) Good chocolate IS better than ordinary chocolate. Buy the best you can afford at the time. Savor it to realize its full value. If you can't afford the box at the fancy place, get just one or two. Take it home and treasure it; don't snarf it down in the car. Put it on a nice napkin on the table, as sort of a little shrine to chocolate, while you make a cup of coffee or even a nice glass of fresh ice water. Sit down. Take a careful bite out of the side, and let that bite melt around in your mouth before you move on to the next.
3) Truffles are THE best form of chocolate. Fancy flavors and nuts and fruits are fine, but truly, the best is a creamy chocolate filling inside a milk or dark chocolate coating. The quick melt of the cream and the slower melt of the shell make the sensation last. If you can alternate a bite of truffle with a bite of fresh raspberry, you know what the idea of heaven was modeled after.
4) Never expect to get chocolate from anyone ever. That makes the getting just a regular thing. Always be surprised and always be grateful and always open it right away and share one with the giver. Then SNAP that lid back shut pronto and hoard the rest to be shared or savored later!
5) On occasions where you might have expected chocolate but now no longer do per my wise advice, buy it for yourself. This is a good thing. YOU get to pick out what brand and what form and dark or milk and what added textures or flavors. You can savor it on your own time, then, and enjoy a feast or make it last. It is yours and yours alone. Or you can chose to share, with the whole family or just one special person. It is best to have a balance in ones life of shared chocolate moments and private chocolate moments.

4 comments:

Mom Cat said...

Eldred says "We don't need it" so I buy the good stuff for myself & hide it for my personnal enjoyment! "We" may not need it, but "I" do. Yeah, even the lowly Hershey bar although Dove pieces are great when you tuck them in the roof of your mouth & let them melt slowly.

goprairie said...

Define 'need'. Do we 'need' flowers or music or hugs? Tell him you had a coupon.

Chuckles said...

Hershey's are pretty darn good. I've had Ghiradelli and Panache and they weren't that much better. When I was growing up the baseball park was right behind our house. My folks used to run the "concession stand" and I knew I would always have hot dogs after a game. When I was older I would "shag" foul balls and I worked my way up from "outside the fence" (dark and dingy) to "inside the fence" (right behind home plate). My favorite thing to do was to get a Hershey's from mom or dad, stick it up under my shirt for an inning or two, then, when it was incredibly soft and creamy, wash it all down with a 7 oz Coke. Hmmm. Good. Thanks for reminding me... P.S. I'm off to Wal-Mart tomorrow for some chocolate-covered cherries - a family tradition that is only slightly modified due to the current Great Depression...

goprairie said...

My sister and I would slide the wrapper off the Hershey bar - remember when there was a foil layer and a separate paper sleeve? - and cut the letters apart and rearrange them into different words - I am really good at Scrabble - with H and E and R and S and Y.
Walgreens here marks candy down half price for a few days then 75% of then as low as 90% off. Last year I got big bags of tiny bags of conversation hearts for 90% off!