Happy American Chocolate Week!...

According to the National Confectioners Association, this week (March 14-20) is American Chocolate Week. Other desserts have their days - for example, Nov. 26 is National Cake Day - but chocolate deservedly gets seven in a row to itself. Alice Medrich and Jacques Torres went a little farther, each thinking enough of the sweet to devote a whole cookbook to a year's worth of recipes.

I read cookbooks like most people read novels, but I also frequent several blogs about desserts. One of my hands-down favorites is Cakespy, the award-winning Seattle-based blog by Jessie Oleson. She recently posted a list of chocolate-themed links and facts in honor of American Chocolate Week.

Now, some people list coffee as high as chocolate on their list of vices. For them, the French company Le Whif (I kid you not) may have found the answer, according to the Digital Journal. Last week, the organization introduced breathable chocolate powder, and this week has put breathable coffee on the market. Perhaps this gives new meaning to the phrase "coffee/chocolate is like crack to me." :-P

Chocolate and beer...

Don't scoff. According to a lot of my foodie news sites, that is the new "it" combination. Think about it. The same countries - Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Holland - known for their beer production also produce some pretty good chocolates. Really, though, how can you go wrong?

Yahoo! News reported on the new analysis of a range of beers. The study concluded beer is a good source of dietary silicon, which is good for bone density. The researchers tested 100 commercially available brews and came up with the recommendation to drink in moderation to improve bone density. Apparently "hoppier' beers are better for your bones, as they contain more silicon. So maybe kick back with an IPA the next time you turn on ESPN?

CNN.com posted a video interview with Tom Aspirino, a New England-area mortgage-banker-turned-candy-peddler. Sick of the mortgage field, he went into business producing Rhode Island Rocks - chocolate-covered pretzel clusters. This is an excellent example of a small business succeeding in a recession. Aspirino seems to be following a passion, so good for him.

Time Magazine has an article on the new revolution in Peru - chocolate. Previously known as a major producer of cocaine paste, Peruvians increasingly have been turning to producing cocoa beans. Peruvian chocolatiers even earned a prestigious aroma certificate from the Salon du Chocolat in Paris. Peru is the second-largest coca producer after Columbia, but the Andean nation increased cacao exports over 400 percent in the past decade. This year the output will be around 35,000 metric tons, which would make Peru among the top ten cacao producers in the world.

(Photo courtesy of Time)

Natural wonders...

As I look out my window and see bare trees or, worse, nearly bare trees - kinda like that friend you have who refuses to admit he's bald and just shave the rest already - I thought I would take today to remind myself (and anyone else who needs the help) that even though winter is fast approaching, nature is not always so bleak.

There is no place better to start in triumphing over bleakness than Iraq. The New York Times posted an article last week on the elaborate gardens emerging in the war-torn state as peace creeps forward. Prior to the war, the citizens were fond of topiary gardens and beautiful plants and flowers. When war came, people were unable to expand those gardens but still took refuge there for some normalcy. Now they are venturing back out to the nurseries again to turn their brown and blasted neighborhoods green.

The Times' City Room blog had a post late last month on rooftop gardens and vertical farms in US cities. In places like Chicago and Detroit, there are plenty of vacant lots and spaces for urban farms and community gardens, but in New York City space is at a premium. Buildings like churches and schools are employing architecture and landscaping firms to develop these new green spaces. An environmental group is quoted in the article saying there has been a 35 percent increase of green roofs in the US, around six to 10 million square feet total.

Not to be outdone, the NYT political blog also has gotten into the sustainable act with a post on the homemade honey on the South Lawn of the White House. For the first time in the history of the United States (which I find hard to believe as there was a large amount of time people who inhabited the WH "ate local" because there wasn't a choice about it), a hive of bees is being kept at the Executive Mansion. The inaugural harvest amounted to 134 pounds of fresh honey - far outstripping the beekeeper's original estimate of 30 pounds. The honey even made it into the shortbread cookies that were part of the Halloween giveaways to the trick-or-treaters last weekend.

(Image courtesy of the New York Times)

Eat good food, drink good coffee...

The title of this blog has become my personal motto over the last few months. I might add "own good bedsheets" to it, but that is probably just me. 

I'm not sure if it is religion-based or philosophical or what, but it seems the prevailing wisdom has been doing without is more admirable and right than allowing yourself to sink into any type of pleasure. To fully appreciate anything more than the essentials is selfish and gluttonous, "they" say. 

To that, I say pbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbt. And stick my tongue out for good measure. Stoicism is all well and good for Spartans, but this is not Sparta. Give me liberty AND 600-count Egyptian cotton sheets! We only go around once (that I know of), and I intend to enjoy the ride. So what if my singleton monthly grocery bills exceed that of an average family of four? My chocolate chip cookies contain Valhrona chocolate feves, and I don't leave a crumb on the plate. I just bought a handmade Persian rug (granted, it was from Building 19), and I enjoy walking across my otherwise bare dining room every morning on the way to the kitchen. 

But I have never had a shred of evidence to back up my epicurean lifestyle to non-believers until now. The Daily Mail had a story on all the benefits of some of the things we've been told are bad for so long. The Mail extols the virtues of anger, swearing, lazing about, and fidgeting, among other things. 

In an article in the Ottawa Citizen, our dear neighbors to the North have published findings that say teetotalers may have more of a risk of depression than moderate drinkers. The study examined the drinking habits of 38,000 people and found that individuals who drank no alcohol over a two-week period were more likely than moderate drinkers to indicated symptoms of depression. So here's to that occasional glass of wine with your gourmet, locavore dinner!

And who could forget the favorite vice of 99 percent of people on the planet: chocolate? It is still somewhat puzzling to me there are people in the world who do not like sugar. I understand it empirically, but it just makes no sense in everyday life. I had to go off chocolate for a few months last year due to health reasons, and I went stir crazy. Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald, on the Huffington Post website, gives seven healthy reasons why chocolate should not only be included in your diet but celebrated!

Mmm...chocolate. And other good ideas...

Most of you know I am not a giant fan of driving. I don't really know why, but I've just never seen the appeal of road trips, and I really don't like being stuck in a car for hours on end. I will make trips that are four hours or less simply because the hassle of flying (which I actually hate more than driving) is too much for me. But maybe what develops out of the following story will improve my dim view of motor vehicles. I mean, how can the addition of chocolate make anything worse?

Researchers from the University of Warwick in England have built an F3 race car out of biodegradable materials that can go up to 145 mph, and it runs on chocolate factory waste. Seriously. I found in on msnbc.com, so it must be true. : ) Can you imagine, driving down the Mass Pike and all you smell is chocolate? That would make my trips surrounded by Mass-hole drivers much more bearable. Maybe in this time of the restructuring of the car industry, the people on top will take notice that it is possible to build a fast, environmentally friendly car.

Yahoo! announced the winner of the most-publicized job search in the world yesterday. A British man is the lucky one chosen for the "World's Best Job" - blogging about northeastern Queensland, Australia. He gets free accommodations in a gorgeous locale for a year just for blogging about how terrific the reef is. He also gets paid $111,000. This guy sounds perfectly suited - having ridden an ostrich and kissed a giraffe. Yes, Virginia, dream jobs do still exist...

Yahoo! this morning had the final story for today. Clayton Homes has created the "i-House" - a prefab, "green" home that is so far from a trailer that it's not funny. It has bamboo floors in addition to solar power and other energy-saving appointments. It has a V-shaped roof which holds a roof-deck, and at $100 to $300 per square foot, it's much cheaper than green AND conventional alternatives. I'm not really a fan of modern architecture, but this looks appealing, even to me. 

(Photo credit: msnbc.com)

Bright news for a rainy day

It's kind of gloomy here in Boston today. Gray day but at least the weather is mild. After the 96 feet of snow we've gotten this winter, I'm just glad the precipitation is not frozen. : ) 

I found three more newspapers taking Brian Williams' lead in soliciting good news. The Detroit Free Press is trying to lift the gloom off Detroit, while the Shelby Star in North Carolina has already started posting the good news sent in by readers. Bob Wooten of the Northern Virginia Daily News is taking a stab at it himself in his column. Most of his items are local events and the coming of spring, but it's a start.

More good news for Detroit, depending on your opinion of the man. Jay Leno is coming to town to do a free show for the state's unemployed (Reuters). The city, one of the hardest hit by the recession, has a reported one in eight citizens unemployed after the auto industry crumbled and housing prices dove. Billed as "Jay's Comedy Stimulus Plan," the late-night host will have an hour and a half show on April 7 in the Palace.

This next one is yummy on several fronts. As reported in the Independent, Cadbury Chocolate has partnered with Fairtrade farmers in Ghana to source its chocolate. Forty thousand of Ghana's 700,000 cocoa farmers will benefit from Britain's biggest-selling chocolate brand making the move to Fairtrade.

This last one is a real heart-warmer. In Arizona, a set of conjoined twins were born in January and had an intricate surgery that same month to be separated. The two boys had health problems at first but are now doing just fine, according to the Arizona Republic. Read all the way down to the last line. It's probably the best of the article. 

more animals

I really just can't resist posting these pictures. They crack me up every time. And no, Joel, I'm not that much closer to cat lady. Pbbt.