25th October, 2006
Gourmet Chocolate
by
One thing I like about the fruitcake business is the pounds, no kilograms, of chocolate that are in the house at all times. I recently had a huge order of Callebaut chocolate slabs delivered, and hence have literally an endless supply of chocolate. It is lovely when melted and used for making bark. I add roasted pecans from my huge store of those.
I’m never without chocolate, so incorporate it whenever I can. The other night I made a lovely chocolate rum mousse for dessert. Everything is so much better when made with the gourmet chocolate. The other day I was thinking, no wonder I’m as fat as a pig with all of this chocolate around me at all times!
As a kidney stone sufferer, one food I should avoid eating is chocolate. I’ve nonetheless decided that the enormous pain of a kidney stone is worth it, so I guess that means my attachment to chocolate is irrational. Kidney stones are listed as one of the Seven Great Pains in Medicine (child birth and heart attack being on the list as well). Oh well, into every life a little rain must fall.
When I was growing up in Osoyoos I would look forward to Saturday afternoons with great anticipation. My grandparents would drive into town for the weekly shopping, and would always arrive home with some food that my parents would never buy. I would put in an order for something like Pop Tarts, and my granny would buy it for me. Each week there’d be a couple of chocolate bars, too.
Nothing was bought in huge quantities like today. Nothing actually came in large plastic vats. So, when I had a chocolate bar, I would eat some of it, wrap the rest in the foil wrapper, and the next day I would eat the rest. In those days, we were truly gourmets and not the gourmands we are today.
On those Saturday afternoons, after unpacking the groceries, I would settle into a blissful hour of the Bugs Bunny Show, starting at 4:00. Sadly, once it was over, only stupid old hockey was on (we only had one channel) so I would have to go and play with my Barbies or else make my granny and grandpa play cards with me to pass the time.
I guess I must’ve over-associated chocolate with blissful experiences, as now I use it as a natural tranquilizer. Last night I needed quite a lot of it as Luke has announced that he’s moving back home! He wants to take the welding course into which he’s been accepted by the local college. Denis is away, and when he comes home, we will all get the full “Mad Dad” performance, complete with spewing foam when he learns of the newest development in our lives. This should be fun. I think I’ll meet him at the door tonight with a beer and a slab of semi-sweet chocolate.