More chocolate

Me, as a Jack'O'Lantern. By my niece Olivia.

Forgot to mention that Allison, Jodi and I got together last Friday for dinner. We had fun rehashing the convention. I brought CDs of all my trip photos for both Allison and Jodi, and Jodi was kind enough to bring the chocolate-covered ginger cookies that Lissa had given her, to share with Allison and me. Yum!

The recent mouthwatering discussion about chocolate has inspired me to start writing a chocolate song! Yes, another chocolate song. Unbelieveably, I'm nearly out of German chocolate already so went out and bought some mini-Kit Kat bars for further inspiration. I'm so bad, especially around Hallowe'en.

Not sure about the rest of you songwriters, but I generally have to start with music these days, or at least an interesting melodic motif or guitar riff that I can start building on. After I have that first musical idea, then I start working on the lyrics. At that point, I work on music and lyrics at the same time. This particular song was inspired by the chocolate discussion as well as Juliane Honisch's "Another Round", which we performed in one of our concerts in Germany. I'm hoping to do an a capella piece which is partly a round, with some other interesting bits thrown in here and there. I'm writing out all three parts in my music Moleskin.

On the weekend, I also did some more work on that new comic strip I mentioned yesterday. Doodled a lot, worked on the overall setting, premise. Like novel-planning, I'm a tad worried about OVER-prep, that it will kill the fun when I actually start drawing/writing, so I'm leaving a lot of leeway.

But my main focus right now is getting my novel finished and sent off to my agent. I'll keep doing nonfiction work, of course, because that's what makes the money for me. But I really really really want to get a novel-length manuscript circulating now that my tendinitis is much better and housestuff has settled somewhat.

I'm using GAfilk as a personal carrot, adjusting the length of my stay in Atlanta depending on progress of my novel. VERY much looking forward to the convention being a relaxacon, with no commitments. I'm not even sure if I'll bring my flute. Okay, maybe I'll bring my flute. :-)

I love our new house. I love my work. I feel incredibly lucky to be doing exactly what I've always wanted to be doing.

Some excerpts from the chocolate discussion/survey in which I asked "WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE BAR AND/OR KIND OF CHOCOLATE? WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE SHOP?"

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From Sibylle:

"Strawberry filled chocolate. white chocolate. plain chocolate. mint chocolate. liquid chocolate. melted chocolate you're supposed to use to decorate christmas cookies warm from the oven. chocolate filled with (add something). Uh, yes, I like chocolate. I probably like best - the one I am eating at the moment."

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We lit a fire in our fireplace for the first time since
we moved in! Fortunately, it worked and
our house didn't burn down.

From JaneG:

"I am a lover of really dark chocolate, though I agree the stuff of very high percentage is not really good on its own. I particularly like it with good quality nuts and do not like caramel, truffle fillings or other sticky fillings. And whoever came up with idea of dipping candied ginger in chocolate and selling it as edible should be shot for ruining good chocolate.

I like my chocolate hard and straight up. No, I am still talking about chocolate; what a mind you have.

Once you dilute and soften chocolate into fudge, icing, ice cream or pudding, I completely lose interest and would rather have an apple.

My brother makes great chocolates, and has even been known to use the Belgian stuff. His wife is a complete chocoholic who likes it in all forms, and often. She liked Graham Leather's Chocolate is a Vegetable when I played the CD for her.

I go looking for chocolate shops when I travel, whether that is Stratford, Ontario or overseas or just Kensington Market in Toronto.

While I cannot remember what kinds I bought, I do remember once going to a pub after buying a lot at a chocolate shop in Bath, England. Some of it was supposed to come back to Canada as gifts. Having eaten the entire purchase before leaving the pub, I had to go and buy it all over again. I cannot remember if any of that made it back to Canada - doubt it. That is the only time I have ever let myself do that. My mom helped."

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From Phil P.:

"I'm a chocolate gourmand. The best chocolate is what I'm eating at the time, especially if I didn't have to pay for it. I generally prefer milk chocolate, although as I get older I'm developing more appreciation for darker chocolate. I don't like nuts in my chocolate, and mixing raspberry with my chocolate really annoys me, though I appreciate orange and strawberry. As for white chocolate, Sandra Boynton has it right.*

It's hard to say it's the best, but certainly one of the high points of my chocolate life was when Melissa, a friend and coworker about 10 years back, made chocolate truffles. Mike Browne's truffles are good, but these were incredible. (And we got to watch her make them, which was also cool.) One of the guys who had one described it as "a chocolate covered orgasm". We were a bit shocked, because he was not someone we'd expect to say something like that, but nobody disagreed with the sentiment.

*Cartoonist Sandra Boynton wrote a book called something like The Complete Book of Chocolate. It's probably 20 years old, and I don't have a copy, but I remember one part of it pretty well. I probably don't have it word for word, but on the subject of white chocolate she says something like 'Only a true purist would argue that white chocolate does not constitute real chocolate, since it is made from cocoa butter and sugar, lacking only the chocolate liquor. The same purist might argue that fructose and water don't constitute real orange juice.'"

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This was the view above the outdoor shower
at the cottage on Thanksgiving weekend.

From Hitch:

"Well, the best I've had (so far) are the Black Forest/Kirsch truffles on sale at the Koeln Chocolate Museum. One compelling reason for me to go back to FilkContinental next year...

The Stollwerck chocolate museum is quite something, among the historical exhibits is a chocolate Gramophone, that is, an acoustic Gramophone tht played discs moulded in chocolate, when the grooves wore out, you ate the disc."

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From Mark Bernstein:

"I'm definitely one who prefers dark chocolate, and I'm something of a snob about it. Hershey's Special Dark, for example, is OK, but far, far from the best.

I'd say my current favorite bar is the Nibby Bar by Scharffenberger. Excellent dark chocolate, studded with cocoa nibs.

Mike Browne's truffles are, indeed, excellent.

Probably the best chocolates I've had came from a shop in Paris called Cacao et Chocolat. That's where I first discovered flavors like dark chocolat e mixed with cayenne and honey, or dark chocolate mixed with tequila and lime.

Best recent discovery is in the Detroit area. There's a new shop in Birmingham called Chocolat. It's not that far a drive from the Confusion hotel, now that I think about it."

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Lissa and Steve at Filkcontinental.

From Kirstin:

"Favorite Brands: Lindt, Marabou, Ritter Sport (Gubor isn't too bad, either)

I prefer Milk Chocolate from the brands above, but also white from Lindt and dark from Ritter Sport - the new sort "Feinherb a la Mousse au chocolate" is... gigantic good! I prefer chocolate with cacao proportion that is not too high, else it is too bitter!

I love to try weird flavors (as I've just seen, but not tasted yet: Dark chocolate with cherry and chili from Lindt)

I could die for Ritter Sport Baileys; Truffle Irish Cream and Marc de Champagne is good though ;-)

My favourite seasonal sort for Lindt: Punch-Chocolate (Winter)

Another deadly kind of seasonal chocolate is: Niederegger "Marzipanpasteten-Schokolade" (cannot remember the real Name) and "Cuandolé" Marzipan-Liqueur Pralines from Niederegger, too.

The only one from Milka I like is Triolade (with milk, white AND dark chocolate).

But...
...I assume I increased my weight by 2 kilograms while speaking about this ;-)"

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For the rest of the discussion (and to add your own comment), go here.


Inside Kloster Eberbach,
a monastery near Eltville (Frankfurt area).

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