The coolest clock in the world, best chocolate shop in Toronto

Happy birthday to my friend, Joey Shoji!

My friend Parki, a.k.a. Brian Parkinson. has made the coolest clock in the world. This model is called "Prayer." It's ethernet enabled (http, ntp, osc). Parki has a knack for turning ordinary household items into works of art. You can see the clock and other of his amazing creations -- and like the clock, some are for sale -- at his site:

Push-Pull-Twist-Turn.com

Jeff and I went to a party last night in honour of Parki's impending departure on a mega motorcycle trip across Canada as well as the birthday of our friend Roxanne. Before the party, we dropped by Soma.



Soma (55 Mill St. (at Cherry St.) Distillery District, 416-815-7662) is one of Toronto's best-known chocolatiers, and according to this review is the only chocolatier in Toronto to make chocolate straight from the beans.



In addition to a wide variety of chocolate made in the shop and imported chocolate, Soma has a cafe area in which you can order from a variety of hot drinks, including their famous Mayan Hot Chocolate (voted "Best Hot Chocolate" by Toronto Life Magazine) while nibbling on fregolata or other baked delicacies.



Soma also offers homemade gelato. Yesterday's flavour offerings included pomegranate, Ontario blueberry, milk chocolate, mango, roasted almond, Thai coconut, pistachio, caffe latte, dark Venezuelan chocolate, lemon sourcream, Madagascar vanilla, and roasted hazelnut.



But the focus, of course, is the chocolate. Jeff and I don't tend to visit Soma often because of its upscale prices and somewhat inconvenient (for us) location, but the chocolate is well worth the occasional treat. As far as I'm concerned, a visit to Soma qualifies. :-)



My favourite: Butter caramel dipped in Venezuelan dark chocolate with a sprinkle of Fleur de Sel.



I allowed myself to have ONE of the above mouthwateringly amazing chocolates. As I've mentioned before, I've been told by my doctor that I need to lower my blood sugar, so I'm reserving real chocolate for special occasions.

So I was delighted to discover that Soma makes sugar-free chocolate:



I had a tiny piece last night after we got home...it's VERY GOOD!

It's been about a month, by the way, since I started cutting back on refined sugars. So far, it's been easier than I expected. I used to crave sweets after every meal, but now I only crave it occasionally. There are far better sugar-free alternatives than I expected, but I'm never tempted to over-indulge because of side effect warnings. I'm eating more fruit to satisfy cravings, but I also don't deprive myself of sweet indulgences completely.

I'm exercising more and my form-fitting clothes are a tad looser. But I'm also well aware that the coming months will be the real test, to see whether or not I can successfully adopt my new eating habits as a (potentially) lifelong strategy. So far, the payoffs have been well worth it.

Anyway, I made it through a visit to my favourite chocolate store in Toronto with only one "real" piece of chocolate (though sorely tempted), so I figure I'm doing okay. :-)



I created the illustration above for Illustration Friday. This week's theme: "Citrus."



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