ChocolateBet: October 18, 2007

Chocolate of the Day:

1/2 bar
Redstone's
Jalapeno Bar (with Peanuts)
Very Good
Weight: 1.5 oz. / 3 oz. total bar
Calories: 220 for 1.5 oz. serving (1/2 bar)
Cost: $4.75
Purchased from: The Texas Store ("Everything in Texas is Bigger"); Austin, TX

This Redstone's Jalapeno milk chocolate bar with salted peanuts was very good. The milk chocolate was good; the salted peanuts added some crunchy texture and helped balance sweet and savory flavors; and the jalapeno pepper gave the bar a bit of a zing.

I'm still in Texas on business. In between meetings and marathon email bouts, I'm eating chocolate (brought from home). I have found some local (Texas) fare. For example, I stopped at Rudy's Barbeque in San Antonio, TX, before driving back to the hotel. The day was sunny and warm, and perfect for eating BBQ outside on a wooden table and bench. Soaked up as many photons as possible.

I happened to read an article in the local paper when I was in the hotel waiting for my computer to boot up - about chocolate and pets. This got me thinking...I need to research this whole topic of chocolate's toxicity as it applies to some of our furry and feathered friends. Stories seem to vary in terms of how toxic chocolate is, in part because it depends on the size/weight of the dog, and the type (cacao content) of the chocolate.

Today's Chocolate-Related News: by BJ Darnell: Chocolate can kill...
Catoosa County News - Ringgold, GA, USA

Halloween is just days away, and you need to think now about the safety precautions you are going to put into place to keep your pet, as well as your children, safe. Rules are the best for everyone when we have people out there who delight in the misfortune of others.

All candy is not created equal, but whether it is artificial or the real thing, chocolate can and will kill your pet. I have people all the time tell me that they give their pets chocolate and it has not hurt them.

Sorry folks! You must have been living right, because you are going to do that once too often and suffer the consequences of your actions.

Dogs especially love chocolate; the more the merrier, if you would believe them. The majority of the time, you are just too late realizing how sick your pet really is and do not make it to the veterinarian in time.

I personally do not think you should even buy treats or chewies that taste like chocolate because it will just cause a drive in your animal to acquire it by whatever means it can.

I have heard stories of animals climbing onto chairs to get to whatever is on the table they smell. Dog need more help, ordinarily, than cats, who can, flatfooted, make the top of the table and the counter in one bound. Remember, candy dishes should have tops and be placed where small children and pets can not have free access to them.

ChocolateBet: October 17, 2007

Today's chocolate: Chocolates from Texas

Redstone's
"Red Chili" - Chipotle Dark Chocolate bar (1/2 bar)
"Made expressly for Redstone Foods, Inc." (which is based in Carrollton, TX)
Very Good Weight:  1.5 oz. (42.5 g.) in 1/2 bar / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 220 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $5.75 for 1 bar
Purchased from: "The Texas Store" in Austin, TX

I'm still in Texas on a business trip. So, it only seemed right to try to eat some chocolate from Texas. I bought two Redstone chocolate bars in The Texas Store*, in a mall in Austin -- the Red Chili bar for today, and a Jalapeno bar for tomorrow.

I'm not sure who manufactures these bars for Redstone. The packaging contained a statement that read: "Made expressly for Redstone Foods, Inc." (Carrollton, TX ).

The Red Chili bar was somewhat spicy, but good. The base dark chocolate was of reasonably good quality.

*The Texas Store was next to a cell phone accessories kiosk -- where I was buying a cell phone charger (that I desperately needed after our two pet bunnies apparently chewed into one of the cell phone cords at home -- right before I left on this trip). There is really no connection with this and the chocolate news story that follows, other than rodents nibbling on things and chocolate.

Chocolate News Story for the Day: The Chocolate Jesus has returned.
(My favorite part of this story is imagining the sculptor repairing damage caused by mouse nibbling.)

From AM New York
Artist bringing 'Chocolate Jesus' back
By David Freedlander, amNewYork Staff Writer dfreedlander@am-ny.com
October 17, 2007http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/am-chocolate1017,0,7355154.story

Last spring's "Chocolate Jesus" has been resurrected, but this time the artist hopes the controversy has melted away.The life-sized sculpture will be included as part of the "Chocolate Saints…Sweet Jesus" show at the Proposition Gallery in Chelsea timed to coincide with All Saints Day on Nov. 1. The show also will feature eight chocolate sculptures of Catholic saints.

The art space is expected to mail invitations next week featuring a "scratch n' sniff" on the breasts of a likeness of the Virgin Mary. (Comment: designed for maximum uproar and publicity no doubt)

Related links'My Sweet Lord' chocolate Jesus statue Photos
Is Chocolate Jesus a publicity stunt?
"It sounds pretty sick to me," said John Horvat, a spokesman for the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. "Obviously this man has an agenda. He's targeting very revered religious figures."

The gallery director said critics misunderstood the artist's intentions."I see it as basically a show about healing," Ronald Sosinski said. "The sculptures are extremely traditional when you see them in their use of material. When you first see them they look like bronzes.

"Last March, the Lab Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel in midtown planned to display "My Sweet Lord" in a ground-floor window. In addition to being fashioned from a confection, it is "anatomically correct" and lacks the loin cloth that traditional depictions of Christ have.

The sculpture set off howls of protest from the likes of Cardinal Edward Egan and others, who objected to what they saw as a deliberately provocative artwork. The sculpture was never shown.

"The timing was appalling," said Kiera McCaffrey, a spokesperson for the Catholic League. "That was an upfront assault on Christian sensibilities during Holy Week.

"The league, she said, would not protest this exhibit because "it's going to be limited to galleries and people who expect and like that sort of thing. We don't approve of it, but it's a far cry from what we had last spring," with such a public display.

Cosimo Cavallaro, the Canadian-born artist, did not want to reveal where the sculpture has been stored because of threats, said it had to be repaired after mice gnawed at its fingers, toes, and nose.

He also insisted he's not trying to be sensational.

"As an artist I try to be honest with myself," he said. "When I wake up in the morning everything relates to food. I accepted the world of food and ever since then I've been a lot freer.

"He also hopes that portraying an anatomically-correct, chocolate Jesus calls people's attention to the fragility of life and the lived experience of Christ.

"Depictions of Jesus in plastic or wood are what I find offensive," he said. "With my work, you don't want it to melt, so you have to be more aware of the time you have with it. It's more alive."

ChocolateBet: October 16, 2007

Chocolate of the Day:

1 package/box
Godiva 
chocoiste
Dark Chocolate Almonds
Weight: 2 oz. (57 g.) total package/box
Calories: 310 calories in 1 package/box
Cost: $
Purchased from: Macy's department store, Sunnyvale, CA

Yum (highest rating). I really enjoyed eating these on the plane flight out to Texas. 

I purchased these Godiva dark chocolate almonds during an after-work evening dash to the mall to buy a few suit jackets -- after our two kittens damaged another one of my blazers. Argh. As luck would have it, the suits I wanted were on sale. This fact + these chocolate almonds made me feel much better about this business trip. 

ChocolateBet: October 15, 2007

Chocolate of the Day:
1 piece
Shaw's
Coconut Cream - Dark Choc.
Good+
Wt: ~.4 oz.
Calories: ~ 70
$0.51
Purchased from: Shaw's, Millbrae, CA

ChocolateBet: October 14, 2007

Chocolate of the Day:
1 piece
Shaw's
Boysenberry Cream - Dark Chocolate
Good+
Wt: ~ 0.4 oz.
Calories: ~70
Cost: $0.51
Purchased from: Shaw's, Millbrae, CA

ChocolateBet: October 13, 2007

Chocolate of the Day:
1 piece
Shaw's
Lemon Cream - Dark Chocolate
Good +
Wt: ~ 0.4 oz.
Calories: ~ 70
Cost: $0.51
Purchased from: Shaw's, Millbrae, CA

ChocolateBet: October 12, 2007

Chocolate of the Day:
2 pieces
Richart (Paris)
1.) Neroli Ganache - Very Good +
2.) Wildflower Ganache - Very Good - Yum
Wt: ~.33 oz. per piece
Cost: $47.00 total for both herbal and floral boxes/assortments/collections. Very pricey, but what you get is also above average.
Purchased two small (herbal and floral) assortment(s) from: Richart chocolates, San Francisco, on Sutter Street, near Union Square

One could spend a small fortune trying all the various collections here. Herbal flavors include: Jasmine Tea Ganache, Basil Ganache, Thyme Praline, Anise & Fennel Ganache, and others.
Floral flavors include: Rose Ganache, Ylang Ylang Ganache, and Lavender Ganache, among others. Both of today's chocolates were from the floral assortment.