California and Chocolate

Here's the scoopage on the trip to San Diego!  Thanks, Sorbet Sistah Sassy for hiring me!

As soon as I landed, I got my hands on a rental car and went to Cabrillo National Monument:

It's named after Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo - the first European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the United States.  (I'd never heard of him before. Sad, huh?)  Look at the gorgeous view of San Diego:

This is the Old Point Loma Lighthouse which is very cool because you can go in and see how the lighthouse keeper and his family lived back in the day.  I couldn't have handled it (so tiny inside and you had to be there all the time) and would have probably gone completely insane.

Now this lighthouse (the new one), I could handle!  Gorgeous.

After that I drove up to La Jolla and pretty much chilled to adjust to the jet lag.

But I was up bright and early the next day to drive out past Escondido to the nut farm!!  I mean, really, when I discovered there was a nut farm nearby and they were having a Fall Festival the weekend I was in Cally - well, it must be fate, right?

First thing I noted was that my GPS has made my brain turn to mush.  I didn't have one in the rental car and had to navigate for myself.  Wow - I was surprised how much I rely on that thing.  If you use one regularly, I bet you'd be surprised too.  It's kind of scary, actually.

But I did manage to find Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center, California - and the place was packed!  Look at all these pumpkins:

People were getting tons of huge pumpkins.  I didn't think Southwest Airlines would be too excited about that, so I didn't get one.  There were also hay wagon rides, a corn maze, a huge petting zoo, an arts and crafts fair, those blow up things kids jump around in, and loads of food vendors.  I didn't see any nuts growing anywhere.  I still am bitter about that.  But all the employees were swarmed in the massive retail outlet and I thought they might call security if I asked to see the nuts growing.  Here's the gift shop:

I spent a small fortune myself - check out this haul - barbecue and honey roasted almonds, mixed nuts, macadamias, pecans, walnuts, salted almonds, trail mix and butter toffee cashews:

And there's more - caramel balls, chocolate covered banana chips, peanut brittle, a giant pecan roll, toffee almonds, dark chocolate coated almond, dates (not pictured - I ate them all in CA and date rolls - not good - I pitched them in CA):

And these blocks of toffee were GIANT!  Think the size of a hamburger - and a good inch thick.  Wow!

Here's their peanut brittle:

It wasn't very peanutty.  Too brittley.  And get this - they had so-called Virginia peanuts and they were tiny!  True Virginia peanuts rock!  Those were impostors and the resulting peanut brittle was lame.

I had to get these because I'd never had them before - chocolate covered banana chips:

I thought I would hate them, but they were pretty good.  Tasted like chocolate (no real banana flavor - the chocolate overpowered it) with a nice crunch in the middle.  Good, but not great.  Would be better if you could taste banana.  The combination of textures was great though.

I bought so much stuff people in the parking lot commented on it.  And these people were using wheelbarrows to carry their pumpkins to their cars.  So, I had two huge bags of nuts and candy.  What's wrong with that?

After I navigated my way back to La Jolla with my loot, I decided to hike in Torrey Pines State Reserve.  (Yes, our hotel was right next to it AND on the 18th hole of the famous golf course.)  (Sassy - you rock!)

A famous Torrey pine - this pine exists no where else in the world.  Yes, I hiked EVERY tail (took three hours) and went to the ranger station and watched a cool video.  Yes, I am a geeky weirdo - but I wouldn't trade it for anything!  Look at the views:

What a perfect day!  What a gorgeous, gorgeous place!  FireStar (my company) always takes me to the greatest places.  I am so lucky!!!

I think when you find your calling, it's the greatest gift in the world.  Have you found yours?  Don't stop looking until you do - the world is waiting for you.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Chocolate Bark is basically a flat slab of chocolate into which nuts and dried fruit and other things are placed. I've reviewed Bissenger's awesome pumpkin bark which is a giant slab of chocolate with delicious pumpkin swirled in. I also reviewed berkshire bark's Pretzelogical Bark which I didn't care for. But berkshire makes other barks:


http://www.berkshirebark.com/


and the big thing is the ingredients are all natural - no preservatives.


Here's Mocha Buzz:

Mocha Buzz has Belgian milk chocolate, roasted almonds, cocoa nibs, crushed coffee beans and caramel. If you like coffee - you'll love this. I don't like coffee and I loved this! The chocolate really is excellent and it's packed with almonds. The caramel must have been really light because I didn't notice it. The bitterness of the nibs and the coffee beans balance it all out. Outstanding!!

Here's another coffee influenced bark - Jumpin' Java:

This one has Belgian dark chocolate, roasted almonds, Espresso toffee, crushed coffee beans and caramelized cocoa nibs. Again coffee lovers would adore this - but so did I! I was shocked!! It must be the toffee and the almonds that offset the bitterness of the coffee beans. This was a damn fine bark!

You don't see much done with white chocolate (really not chocolate at all, but you know I'm no snob!). This one is called White Lightning:

It is made of Callebaut white chocolate, roasted cashews, fresh lemon zest, ginger and sea salt. This is a good bark, but it doesn't have the depth the others do. Cashews are a sweet nut and with the white chocolate - well, it was too bland and sweet for me, especially compared to the others. Not bad in any way, just not as good.

Here's Tropical Heat:

This one is Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate, macadamia nuts, mango, papaya, pineapple, coconut, Ancho chili powder and cayenne pepper. I thought I would really like this bark. I found the chili powder and the cayenne pepper too strong - overpowering the fruits. Maybe a milk chocolate would have helped restored the sweet balance. I am so bummed - I bet I would have worshiped this bark if it didn't have the chili powder and the pepper. Wah!!!! This was my least favorite.

And finally, there is Midnight Harvest:

This one has Belgian dark chocolate, roasted almonds, roasted hazelnuts, dried cranberries, fresh orange zest. Outstanding!! A great fall bark - packed with nuts and fruit.

These are so much better than your average candy bar - you can really taste the quality of the ingredients. And the flavor mixes are creative and interesting without being weird (well, except for Tropical Heat - I just don't like my chocolate to be so peppery). If you're a chocolate lover, you owe it to yourself to try and track these barks down.

Once again - the things I thought I wouldn't like (the coffee barks), I did and the things I thought I would like (the white chocolate and the fruity tropical heat), I didn't. Keep trying new things - you don't really know what you will (or won't) like until you try it!! And this goes for people, music, places, activities etc. etc. etc. - not just chocolate. I keep saying it because it's so true for me - the hardest thing to keep open in this life is your mind.

Release the hounds of habit!! Try a new bark. (Bwah, ha, ha!)

Male Ego Delusion, Fruit and Nuts

Hi Gang!! Happy Friday or Saturday! (Or if you're reading this on Monday - I hope you had a great weekend!) I've got a date lined up with the guy I like, so keep your fingers crossed. I'm taking it slow and trying not to get my hopes up - which is hard! In the meantime, I am still hearing from the match.comers. One man simply will not give up. He kept e-mailing me so I finally decided to respond. (I usually just ignore men I'm not interested in.) But he wouldn't give up - he was sure if I saw more pictures of him working out (I kid you not) I would want to go out with him.

He's 50, not a bad looking guy, but he's already got a shirtless pic on match.com and I really don't need to see anymore. There seems to be a lot of MED (Male Ego Delusion) on match. The profile is what always either gets me to give the guy a chance (funny ALWAYS gets a chance) or not. This man's profile was a total turn-off. Besides talking about how physical he likes to get and how much he likes to kiss (I mean puleeze - save that - it's just creepy in a profile), he wrote "I'm looking for a woman who wears high heels with almost all of her apparel." You have got to be kidding. This guy is 50 and that's the best he's got?

So I decide to tell Mr. MED the truth - I e-mail and say "We're not a match - I don't wear high heels with most of my apparel." I don't. I spend a good 25% of my time in gym clothes. And I don't want to date a man who's looking for any bimbo in heels. I bring WAY more to the table than that.

Would you believe he doesn't give up? He says the profile was written quickly and the high heel thing really isn't a requirement. (Hmmmm....they why the hell did you write it?) I don't want a guy changing his profile so I'll take the bait. He should hold out for his high-heel wearing dream girl.

Another man called me today - he said he saw I was speaking in his area and had also seen me on match. Holy smokes - that's a little scary that he tracked me down, but okay, I can handle it. We talked a bit, he's a professional and was complaining how hard it was to find women who could fit in both his professional and personal worlds. And you know how he determined this? If the woman knew what to wear. Short skirts and heels for business/after hours events. Me, the queen of blunt and upfrontness, says "I don't wear short skirts to business functions." He said, "Well , you know what I mean - I like girlie girls." I told him, "I'm not a girlie girl - I'm an athlete, I'm a business woman." (Now, I have a backless gown that will bring a man to his knees, but I'm a woman, not some Barbie doll for these freaks to dress up.)

I'm not saying men don't want these things, but if that's the best you can come up with for what you're looking for, you are way too shallow for me. If a man were to ask me what I was looking for, I'd say something crazy like "someone who can make me laugh" or "someone who likes to travel" or "a guy who's active". I figure most adult men know how to dress and I just don't worry about it. If I'm attracted to a man's personality and looks, the last thing I'm worrying about is what's he's wearing. Good grief.

Since we're talking about fruits and nuts, let's get back to the EGGSTRAVAGANZA!

I know I've sworn off Russell Stover, but I had never tried anything strawberry or raspberry filled. And even though they weren't wearing high heels, I decided to try them:

Well, they certainly seem to know how to dress. Lovely! Very appropriate.

Now, this is what I really think men care about - how they look naked (strawberry is the milk chocolate on the left, raspberry is the dark chocolate on the right):

After autopsy, you'll see how pink and fluffy strawberry cream is. Raspberry is pretty fluffy too - raspberry whip.

All I can say is "Whip it good!" Raspberry Whip is awesome! I was dumbstruck! It tasted like real raspberry! I was aghast! I don't even love raspberry, but I loved this.

Strawberry was sweet, but it didn't really taste a lot like strawberry. Typical RS. But hey, who cares what's on the inside? It knows how to dress!

Now we need to talk about some serious eggs. See's (check out their Easter candy) just doesn't mess around with these things These babies are gigantic! The Rocky Road Egg weighs 9.5 oz! It has 1200 calories! And it has cute frosting and yellow flowers. I accidentally knocked off the white frosting, so you won't get to see how pretty it really was. Guess that's the problem with clothes - eventually they come off:

The smaller Mayfair egg is 4.2 ozs and has 480 calories. Both are pretty!! And look what's inside!!

This egg is PACKED with marshmallow (fluffy, good marshmallow), walnuts, and layers of milk chocolate. It's pretty damn good. I also have a can of See's nuts - and they are some of the best EVER! I am not kidding you. It's a nut assortment with no peanuts. I hate it when you get assorted nuts and they are packed with peanuts. Cheapskates. Not See's. The walnuts in this egg are delicious! And good for you - Omega 3s! (Well, that's probably offset a little by the quarter ton of marshmallow and chocolate, but what the hell.)

Look how great the Mayfair Egg looks:

My first bite - I thought it was too sweet - those cherries were a little overwhelming. But I wound up eating the whole egg. (So much for my abs.) And there can be no better endorsement than that! The walnuts were great, the chocolate good - this is a real Easter treat. I suggest sharing this and not gobbling the entire egg yourself.

Now look at these - these are the last two left from the four pack (with peanut butter and cocoanut). The sprinkled one is Bordeaux, the other is chocolate butter with walnuts:

Aren't they gorgeous? Bordeaux is a delicious, creamy mixture of brown sugar and butter cream. It almost tastes a little mapley. There's no maple in the ingredients list, but that's what it tasted like to me. The creamy texture and the sprinkles are irresistible.

Chocolate Butter is way rich - it's really like chocolate fudge. Without the nuts, I think it would be too much. The nuts really help balance the sweetness. If you like fudge, this egg is for you!

Let me go put on some heels with my short skirt - my pimp daddy says it's time to get to work!

Round and Round We Go

This has been a challenging week on the dating front. (A fantastic week on the business front, however, just so you know I'm not a total loser.)

I met a man in the real world - i.e. not on match.com. He seemed okay, not scared by the big personality. He seemed to have quite a big personality himself. We talked for a while and he asked me to dinner - all good. But, since I am trying to learn from my mistakes, I asked how long he had been divorced. (This apparently is the money question!) Aw, shucks, dear readers, guess what? Not divorced. Separated.

Let's recap - the Afghanistan Affair resulted in me waiting for nine months for a recently DIVORCED man who upon his return decided he needed to date more. Well, after that, there's no way in hell I'm going to start dating people who aren't even divorced yet. I don't want to be the transition person (or whatever I was) again! I say - get your party on! Play the field! Go wild! Don't bother me until there's at least a remote chance of an actual relationship.

So I tell this guy - oh - sorry - I only date the divorced. He didn't want to give up at first - called me twice, sent e-mail, but I did not give in. I know the only person who's got my six is me. I gave my heart away too easily last time - I will not do it again.

Tonight I went out with a man who is successful, handsome, and you would think, a good catch. Only problem is that when he talks, he is engaged. When I talk, he immediately checks out. Since I blather about myself endlessly in this blog, you all probably think I do the same thing on dates. Not so. How else do you think I find out about things like restraining orders? I listen.

If there is a chance to share something about myself, if I like the guy, I will. Tonight we were talking about travel. When he talked about his travel - I listened and asked questions. (For example I know how much his boat cost, how he decided to buy it, if it was hard to learn to drive, and many other details.) I mentioned that the last big trip I took was to Australia. He leaned forward and looked at the clock across the restaurant. I stopped talking. That's all he knows about my travel. This makes me sad. I would really like to meet someone who would like to know who I am. Sigh. This blog is now my diary. Just call me Bridget Jones.

After dinner we took a salsa lesson. I learned something. You should never take dance lessons with someone you are not into. You have to touch them. It is creepy.

And depressing. I left thinking how awesome it would have been to take that dance lesson with a man I was into. Another deep sigh.

Okay - so let's look on the bright side. I am not getting involved with someone who is actually still married and I have some new hot dance moves. (At this rate, I'll have a relationship about the same time we pay off the federal deficit.)

Thank GOD there is chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are rounds from The Chocolate Fetish. Many chocolatiers do chocolate bark - this is Fetish's version. I like the concept here - not as thick as bark or a bar, these are nice and thin. But I wasn't as blown away by them as I expected to be. They are about the size of a large saucer.

This one looks gorgeous - it is peanut butter swirl:

My comment won't surprise you - not peanut buttery enough for me. WAY too subtle. It looks fabulous and like it would really taste peanut buttery, but the swirl is very thin resting on a thick base of chocolate. : ( Sad face, very sad face. Not creepy like the dancing, however.

This one looked great also - it's Rocky Road with milk chocolate:

Nuts, marshmallow, rice crisps - sounds great. I say - eh. Not as amazing as it looks. I'm not sure what I think it needed. Marshmallow and rice crisps are kind of bland. This just didn't rock my world. Not bad at all. But I like Baby Ruth bars better if that tells you anything. Now this chocolate blows the "chocolate" on a Baby Ruth away, but as a total confection? ZZZZZ Boring! (Apparently like my conversation.)

Now look at this! Like a work of art! Look at that thin drizzle! The mix of textures - like lacework over the cashews!

And I adore cashews - I thought this would be delish! But the chocolate overpowered the nuts. And there is some type of caramelized stuff on the cashews. Again - not as good as I had hoped. Maybe if the divorce papers were signed.......

Now this one was my favorite:

An outstanding dark chocolate - the word lovely comes to mind again. It's just so smooth and not bitter - it's quite amazing, really. And those giant lumps are toffee - like in Heath Bars (which I adore) but better. More buttery. THIS did live up to my expectations and was fantastic. I guess I like my men like I like my chocolate - tall, dark, a little rugged, but with a sweet side. And okay with the idea that I might not want to share them.