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Chocolate healing.

Box of ChocolatesMy son told me an interesting fact this weekend, and I verified it on the ‘net:

4. “Illegal for a man to give his sweetheart a box of candy weighing less than fifty pounds.” I don’t know, this might be a smart law, not a silly law. Yes it would be expensive. Yes it would be heavy. But what woman wouldn’t like to get fifty pounds of chocolate! Talk about being able to pick and choose your favorite pieces!

From: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1523712/idaho_laws_top_five_silliest.html?cat=17

That begs the question: What wife or girlfriend became so angry at her cheap husband/boyfriend that she decided to get the required signatures and petition for a new law to be put on the books? Okay, aside from finding this fantastic writing prompt, the real reason I’m writing about chocolate this morning is because I owe people. A lot of people.

My friend stepped in for me BIG TIME yesterday. My other co-workers always have my back. My husband went back to the store for ME when  he was already home because I was too tired. This morning, a heavy bronze crab sculpture I have in my bathroom fell (yes, I am the owner of a heavy bronze crab sculpture) and my husband asked me if I was okay.

I was kvetching that no matter what I do, I don’t get it all done. I still didn’t finish training myself on a new reading program I must start today. I still didn’t get everything I needed from the store. I still didn’t have time to clean this morning. What I really needed to do was just shut up and consider how lucky I am.

It should be a law that I must reciprocate with no less than 50 lbs. of the best, smoothest, most delicious chocolates for all of these people in my world I cherish, love, and appreciate. The best I can do for now is to say, “I love you, and I am so grateful for you.” And I’ll try to throw in a few Hershey’s kisses, too.

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Roald Dahl was inspired by a chocolate factory….


See Writer’s Almanac:

It’s the birthday

 

 

 

of Roald Dahl, (books by this author) born in Llandaff, South Wales (1916). He was sent off to private boarding schools as a kid, which he hated except for the chocolates, Cadbury chocolates. The Cadbury chocolate company had chosen his school as a focus group for new candies they were developing. Every so often, a plain gray cardboard box was issued to each child, filled with 11 chocolate bars. It was the children’s task to rate the candy, and Dahl took his job very seriously. About one of the sample candy bars, he wrote, “Too subtle for the common palate.” He later said that the experience got him thinking about candy as something manufactured in a factory, and he spent a lot of time imagining what a candy factory might be like. Today, he’s best known for his children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

http://www.roalddahl.com/

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Towns and Cities We Love…

Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco, September 2008 

My husband and I went on an anniversary trip to San Francisco. One of the prettiest places was Ghirardelli Square, and it was chocolate land! It smelled good, and there was a really beautiful mermaid sculpture.

I had one of the best chocolate shakes I’ve ever had — it was smooth, creamy, and truly chocolaty. I wonder if Roald Dahl got inspired to write Charlie and the Chocolate Factory based on a real candy maker.

 

http://www.ghirardellisq.com/ghirardellisq/index.htm