85% pure bliss

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Chocolate. Just the word sends waves of glee through a crowd. The mere mention of a chocolate dessert of any kind signals an "ooooooh" response almost always.

I am a chocolate afficianiado, to put it mildly. I cannot imagine life without the stuff. I was raised on Hershey's Kisses ("silver bells," or so-termed by Grandpa) almost religiously. Even as a young squirt, I could tell the difference in the quality of some lesser chocolates such as cheap chocolate Easter bunnies or rice-crisp chocolate "coins." I guess you could say my chocolate snobbery started early. It has only grown from there. Today, I have become even more of a critiquer of chocolate, though fine chocolate is a rarity (it ISN'T cheap). Yet when I do have the finer versions of this luscious, dark treat, I can honestly make it last three months in my house before it runs out.

The chocolate bar above is a fine example of such. Ken bought that bar for me for Valentine's Day. "But it's August already!" you might interject. Precisely my point. He actually bought me two identical bars of this chocolate. The first was finished off last week or so. This one has yet to be unveiled.

What exactly is it that makes me adore this confection so passionately? Perhaps it is the fun and childlike feeling I get when I fold over the wrapper for the first time and see that twinge of gold foil ("I've got a Golden Ticket!" I sing it EVERY time.). Perhaps it is the fact that the dark flavor of such high-cocoa-content chocolate makes me feel like I'm sipping a thick, French cappuccino on a riverbank in Europe (the flavor resemblance is uncanny). Perhaps it is the simple way that a small 1/10th of a ounce of this wonderful food can satisfy my sweet tooth craving after a meal...and nothing else can. Perhaps it is true that chocolate really does release endorphins, setting us on cloud nine.

I don't know. All I know is that it is living like a queen to let this fine chocolate melt slowly as I take a 40-second vacation in my own kitchen. Sometimes you don't have to know WHY you like things.....you just know that you do.

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