How could I possibly have dreamed that I could get through this whole new-mom, no-sleep, hormonal-tsunami time in my life without chocolate?
I was so determined to begin to lose weight and to resume cooking and eating more healthfully after I came out of those first comatose weeks, that I actually went through the cupboards and threw away perfectly good chocolate! Dark chocolate Dove bites, a Hershey's truffle collection I got for Christmas, a couple milk-chocolate Hershey bars, and a couple of dark-chocolate Hershey's after-dinner chocolate sticks. I must have been mad. I compromised by buying some fat-free, sugar-free chocolate pudding cups. Those are fine, don't get me wrong. I also use Ovaltine (no caffeine, lots of vitamins and calcium) to get some chocolate in me. But there's something about the mouthfeel of chocolate, to paraphrase the oenologists. Not to mention the sugar/caffeine boost. Yes, I must have been mad.
So I have to go now and replenish my chocolate stores. The women's magazines all suggest that you have one bite a day, of the darkest chocolate (with the highest concentration of cacao) you can find, in order to obtain the beneficial antioxidants and get a "fix", but I don't find that remotely satisfactory. For one thing, really cocoa-heavy chocolate is chalky and, of course, more bitter. I'll get my antioxidants from blueberries and tomatoes and omega-3s and walnuts, thank you. For another, one tiny bite a day is not enough. When I eat chocolate, I want soft, buttery, melty goodness, and plenty of it. I think I might have to resort to Sarris chocolate.
Sarris is a chocolate company from Canonsburg, PA, which is about a twenty-minute drive from my hometown of Washington, PA. Sarris has a delightful shop in Canonsburg, a chocolate and ice-cream shop that overwhelms the eye and nose with chocolates and sweets from floor to ceiling. At Christmas and Easter there are enormous chocolate castles centrally displayed. You can buy a peanut-butter ice cream sundae with a hard-chocolate sauce that will make you want to eat nothing else for the rest of your life. You can buy chocolate ice skates, hearts, teddy bears, Harley-Davidsons. You can buy icebergs of bulk chocolate, or gilt boxes of delicate truffles. You can try the most delicious chocolate-covered pretzels in the world. My personal favorites are peanut-butter meltaways. My mother could probably eat three pounds at one sitting of their coconut easter eggs.
I wanted Sarris for my wedding favors, but it's difficult to ship chocolates in the middle of July. Now, however, it's frigid and icy outside -- perfect! When I'm done posting, I'm going online shopping.
p.s. Hello, Dave! It's almost Valentine's Day . . . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment