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moar chocolate

So I’ve been sampling local hot chocolates. Well, today I went to Starbucks because a co-worker had a coupon for free coffee. And I’m afraid their hot chocolate might be the best of the lot. It was the least sweet and possibly the most flavourful. A medium, however, was $2.94

And then I had three 30g chocolate bars from Dolfin:

  • Dark w/ pink peppercorns from Brazil – I’d had this one before and adored it. One of the things I like is the occasional crunch of a piece of peppercorn. It’s a nice balance of spicy and intriguing flavor.
  • Dark – white pepper & cardamom from Guatemala – surprisingly tasty. This one was a bit of a risk for me, since I’ve had bad cardamom experiences in my past, but it ended up being quite tasty; it did not taste at all like chai to me. Sorry to get poetic, but it kind of tasted like dancing.
  • Milk w/ green tea and jasmin from Morocco – I love how people have discovered that the bitterness of the tea makes it go better with these dark milk chocolates instead of with dark chocolate. It makes these (by which I mean this one and the Vosges bar) incredibly sensuous, and it makes me unwilling to eat them with any restraint at all. As for the Jasmine? That flavor was subtly there, but I didn’t think it changed the character of the bar much.

food list

What I have
Produce
carrots
a few spears of asparagus
1 pt bean sprouts
1 orange bell pepper
hot peppers
broccoli
broccoli stems
3 small-ish eggplants
napa cabbage
limes
green beans (composted)
a very few snow peas
2 pears
scallions

Dairy
tail end of a container of heavy cream
1% milk
plain yogurt in need of being eaten
onion & sour cream dip

Meat
leftover pork roast
peking duck carcass (for stock)
a little chicken stock

Miscellaneous
Thai sweet-spicy garlic sauce
Dumpling dipping sauce
frozen dumplings
chinese mustard
plum sauce
1/4 pecan-topped chocolate pie

Meals
Monday, April 14
leave work promptly – stop by The Bridge and pick up comps from film festival
steam some dumplings – nom nom nom
cook up 1 cup of red rice

Tuesday, April 15
volunteer at closing night party, and fill up on free food.

Wednesday, April 16
make fried rice from veggies, pork, and red rice
thaw container of raw beef/pork

Thursday, April 17
Stir fry broccoli, meat, and cabbage, with black pepper sauce – with noodles.

Friday, April 18
random things dipped into onion dip – crackers & veggies

Saturday & Sunday
passover

If Vosges had a cult, I’d probably join

I walked from my place to the theater on Sunday (~4 miles), so I stopped along the way at my coffee/tea/chocolate place and bought some chocolate.

I am becoming a big fan of Vosges Chocolate. They are not afraid to use milk chocolate, and they end up with wonderfully balanced flavors that I gobble up like two dollar chocolate instead of savoring because they are just that seductive.

Macha Bar – Just slightly bitter. It’s that powdered green tea that’s used to make green tea ice cream, but this doesn’t have any powdery taste to it. And the deep milk chocolate the pair it with is fatty enough to rough out the flavor nicely, but it’s still dark enough to be all sleek and sexy and have no obvious milk flavors. This was a repeat purchase – because it’s yummy!

Barcelona Bar – grey sea salt and hickory smoked almonds. With big chunks of salt that crackle on your teeth. A simple bar made very sexy.

Red Fire Bar – ancho & chipotle chillies & ceylon cinnamon. At first this 55% cacao dark chocolate just tastes a bit smoky and spiced, but afterwards a nice burn builds on the tongue. It’s just the right amount of heat. I’d get this again.

I’d get all of them again.

I want a trash can

It’s a pretty small studio apartment, and there have been things I’ve been doing without besides counter space.

I think it’s time I bought a trashcan. I have been living these past 4 years or so by just dangling those plastic grocery bags off the back of a chair, but I think it might be time to have a real trashcan.

What’s more, I finally figured out where in my tiny apartment one would fit.

So I’ve decided I want one just like this: tall, slim, and secretly holding a smaller bag (so I can still use the grocery bags instead of buying plastic bags – since that’s even stupider for the environment than the grocery jobbies). And then if I want something tall that still hold a little bag, there’s no reason not to have a recycle compartment underneath.

But – when did trash cans from target start costing $100? Right, so this one only costs $50 (50!), but that’s because it’s crap and three of four reviewers received the thing damaged. I would like one in metal. For $30. Where can I find that?

ETA: Oooo! This! I want this. For $30 – bitches. /ETA

Speaking of my tiny apartment, I am stuffing it to capacity (or over) this weekend. I have successfully managed 8 people with 2 tables for bridge before. I have even managed 8 people with one spectator before. I might have 10 bridge players and up to 2 spectators this Sunday. Yikes! Hopefully the weather will be nice enough that we can spill out into the back yard.

And I haven’t stocked up on snacks or drinks at all.