I’ll be writing about chocolate from time to time. It’s good for you, it’s delicious, and I'm a bit of an addict...so I quickly volunteered for the assignment as soon as Chiseled in Rock guru Gusto Dave suggested the topic.
A chocolate tour is in the works. Alas, I won't go to every single location in person. My network of chocolate lovers in the field will help me out. If you have a great chocolate company or chocolate-themed cafe in your town, let me know.
The Chocolate Café in Fort Collins, Colorado will be my own first real-time stop on the tour. I’m thinking very seriously about blowing three or four days’ calories on the Espresso Tower: A Light and Fluffy Dessert with a Chocolate Cake base, followed with an Espresso Mousse and topped with Ganache. Whatever I choose, I’ll take a picture for you before I take a bite.
Adopting a chocolate theme for a restaurant or coffee shop is not unique to Fort Collins. There is a Chocolate Café in Columbus, Ohio; Café Chocolate in Lilith, Pennsyvania; The Chocolate Café in Eastham, Massachusetts; Lily O’Brien’s Chocolate Café in Waterford, Ireland; Laurent’s Café and Chocolate Bar in Singapore; 100% Chocolate Café in Tokyo; Chocolate Café in Smolensk, Russia; Chocolait in Melbourne, Australia; and that’s only a tiny sampling from my Internet search. The world loves chocolate.
Chocolate is a big international business. Godiva was founded in Brussels, Belgium. Ghirardelli was founded in North America by an Italian immigrant. See’s is based in San Francisco. Lindt (my personal favorite) is a Swiss company that expanded using an Italian recipe. The list of great chocolate companies is never ending. American companies are big like Hershey’s which produces assembly line treats or small like the wonderful Lowery’s Candies in Muncie, Indiana which produces homemade candy in relatively small batches.
Chocolate becomes a reward when we writers want to celebrate and a consolation prize when we’re disappointed.
A writer without a stash of chocolate is like a cat without catnip, like a dog without a bone, like a baby without a pacifier…
How would you finish that sentence?
10 comments:
Pat - Ahhh....chocolate! Many people believe it ought to have its own major food group category. I grew up not very far from Hershey and I've always liked that company's business practices. Glad you mentioned them :-).
A writer without chocolate is like a writer without caffeine. :)
That bar of 90% dark is tantalizing! I love dark chocolate... especially if it's dark chocolate wrapped around bacon!
Hi Margot -- I've heard the whole town of Hershey smells like chocolate. Is that true?
Giles, never in a million years would I have thought of chocolate and bacon together. Chocolate and coffee, however, is like a double espresso. Coffee is my other addiction.
Dear Lord! No chocolate? That's just criminal. And I would finish...like a heart without the beat!
I'm going to go seasonal with "like a witch without a broom."
Enjoy the Chocolate Cafe! It's amazing.
I didn't realize there were so many chocolate places!
Pat - Maybe not the whole town, but when the wind is right, there is a deeelicious scent in the air!! :-).
Kathryn, I do think my heart would stop if someone said no more chocolate.
Jenny, a perfect finish for the season. As for the Cafe, I've been wanting to do that for ages and now I have the greatest excuse ever...RESEARCH!
Alex, I just scratched the surface.
Margot, I wonder if Hershey residents ever get sick and tired of the scent. I don't think I ever would.
You always get the "sweet" assignments!
Looking forward to more...stories and chocolate!
Yes, I do, Dean. And thanks!
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