Haiku #20 I think it is time for dessert...

My husband and I just got back from a very lovely night away. With having three young kids, our couple vacations are only a night here and there, but they are worth it.

Well, as we rounded up a good day of running together, shopping, and vietnamese for lunch, we decided to stop at one of our favorite places for gelato.  I have ALWAYS loved gelato.  It seems more creamy and more fully flavored and I live for the experience of eating it with a little tiny spoon. Please forgive the car shot above, I like eating ice cream in the sun-warmed car.

We stopped at a favorite little place called, Sweetaly and chose an amazing trio of Almond gelato, Frallino (like shortbread) gelato and dark chocolate gelato to share.  I was in heaven.  But, what made it heaven for me was the creamy flavors mixed with dark chocolate.

 I LOVE  dark chocolate. In fact I was that weird kid who used to go through the hershey bag of miniatures and pick out all the special dark bars.  No one liked them but I did.  I loved the bitter flavor mixed with the initial sweet taste.  It was a miracle.

I got hooked on darker chocolate choices after college when I began buying Guittard chocolate bars from my favorite hot chocolate shop Hatch Family Chocolate Company.  I also quickly became obsessed with their vegan hot chocolate.  It became clear to me the darker the better.  Which meant more cacao.  I loved anything from 60-75%.  Then I tried some chocolate that was like 90% and it tasted like soil.  Now, I practice balance. But, dark chocolate happens to still be my go-to when things are rough.

Just for fun, here are some of my favorite store bought chocolate choices...

-Lindt Truffles, blue or black wrapper
-Ghirardelli squares dark chocolate 60% or chocolate with sea salt
-Cadbury dark chocolate bar (my usual choice)
-Dove's Dark chocolate bar is fairly good too
-Dreyers Slow Churned Double Fudge Brownie Chocolate ice cream (not too bad for you but super rich in chocolate flavor!)

All of the above are perfect for a chocolate craving or they provide a reasonable way to de-stress after a really stressful day. If this goes well, maybe I will blog about my marshmallow obsession!

Dark Chocolate
by Kate Cowan

Dark, soft, and melting-
the day's sharp edges are smoothed
by the bittersweet.