A Year of Blogging: July 7, 2011

July 7 was Chocolate Day. Such an easy day to celebrate! I will admit, I'm a chocoholic. I have always loved chocolate. Chocolate is a favorite flavor in our family. Dad loves chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream. My sister loves chocolate pudding. And all of us appreciate a decadent chocolate dessert. Dad used to go deer hunting in the fall. He took off opening day and spent the day in the woods. There were certain rituals that had to be followed. He wore a red and black checked shirt, green wool pants, and rainbow suspenders. He had a bright orange hat. Mom made breakfast that morning for Dad and any of his friends who wanted to come: a nice hearty breakfast of pancakes and sausage. But perhaps Dad's funniest ritual was the chocolate. Mom had to buy a box of Hershey bars so he could take Hershey bars in his backpack in the woods. Thankfully we did not depend on his hunting for food. He would get a deer once every 15 years on average. We often joked that he just enjoyed going into the woods and eating his Hershey bars in solitude. I have always loved chocolate. Chocolate has not always loved me. As a teenager, if I ate too much chocolate, you saw it on my face. That's when I discovered white chocolate, which isn't actually chocolate because it doesn't contain cocoa solids. The white chocolate was tasty, and fulfilled my cravings for chocolate, without making my face break out. I like all chocolate. White, milk, and dark. The only kind I don't like is the kind with really high cacao content. Erich loves chocolate with 75% or more cacao content, but for me, it's a little bitter. I also don't like chocolate ice cream, unless it has something like cookies or brownies in it. If we're out to dinner and ordering dessert, 9 times out of 10 I will go for the chocolate dessert over something like carrot cake or something with maple. A few years ago, I cut my caffeine intake. I stopped drinking Pepsi and flavored iced coffees. But I cannot bring myself to give up the chocolate. Some researchers have suggested chocolate is a migraine trigger. I decided to take the chance. Life without chocolate would be rather dull! Of course, there are people who do not like chocolate. So for those people, July 7 was Strawberry Sundae day. Those among us who do not like chocolate (and we must not judge. Chocolate is a vegetable after all, and we all have our vegetables we do not like), they can celebrate the day with an ice cream sundae topped with strawberries. Today sounds like a day to keep everyone happy!