Chocolate.
We wrapped our final day of shooting yesterday – on location at Bernard Callebaut of all places – it was no accident that I took several takes – dozens, even – to get it right. I haven’t eaten so much chocolate since Christmas, and certainly not so much of the best stuff (in my humble opinion) on earth at one time. They were good enough to donate it all to my cause – standing amid all that chocolate, at the nexus of the chocolate universe, chomping on a giant dark chocolate “J”, it occurred to me that I must have saved a basket of drowning puppies or something in a previous life.
Because I saw on our shooting schedule that we’d be finishing up with chocolate, I planned of course to celebrate proper. (And yes, I do celebrate with food. Not exclusively, but I don’t believe in segregating food from emotions, sticking them in opposite corners of your brain lest they get together and gang up on you. Food is emotional; we eat to celebrate, to socialize, to calm and comfort ourselves and each other. If food wasn’t more than just a substance used to keep us alive, there would be no restaurants, no Food Network, no Gourmet magazine, no food blogs! Have I said this before? Anyway, it makes sense to enjoy your “sometimes food” at times such as the night after spending 18 days in front of a TV camera.)
Knowing I’d likely be downing plenty of the stuff straight up while I was there, I planned to take home a jar of BC chocolate hazelnut spread to eat with a spoon whilst lying down on the couch. Oh yes. Their chocolate-dipped pretzels didn’t even make it all the way home in my car.
Nutella lovers, take note: Nutella is not the wholesome blend of hazelnuts and skim milk it purports to be – the first two ingredients are sugar and modified palm oil. So really it would be more accurate to call it a not-so-wholesome blend of sugar and modified palm oil, with hazelnuts and powdered milk. Bernard sells a chocolate hazelnut spread made with chunky toasted hazelnuts and Bernard Callebaut chocolate. Pure heaven in a jar.
So dinner last night was mostly chocolate. I got home at dinnertime, fed M & W the last of the I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby pie, and we all ate a big bowl of salad. (With the exception of W, who screams and runs from fresh greens.) Shockingly, I hopped on the scale this morning and found I had finally crept past the 200 mark (in the right direction this time), marking 20 pounds lost! A little surprising considering the sheer quantity of chocolate I consumed yesterday, but proof positive that a day of eating chocolate and pastries will not undo the good you’ve done. (I can only conclude from this experiment that Bernard Callebaut chocolate is an effective weight loss aid – I prescribe as much as possible to combat the effects of too-tight pants. Worth a try.)
Tonight, dinner will be skipped (for me, anyway) due to a late lunch (I got to play mom today – made cupcakes with W and then went to gymnastics, and had the gang back for lunch afterwards) and the fact that I’m judging the Lawson Lundell Celebrity Hors d’Oeuvres Competition tonight. That means tasting everything – generally 40 or so hors d’ouevres, served up by the best restaurants in town – starting at 8:30. I think I may have written about it last year. Yes it’s a good gig, but a little eclectic, especially after 30 or so entries… I’m full just thinking about it.
By the way, have you seen the new Subaru ad with the sexy car wash Sumo wrestlers? I so downloaded that song onto my gym playlist. My only worry is that I may start grooving on the elliptical trainer. I do feel mighty svelte thinking about all those Sumo wrestlers. (If you’re looking for it, it’s called Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six. Wow, that almost makes me sound young and hip.)
Welcome back FREE STUFF FRIDAYS!
I think some B. Callebaut chocolate is in order here (sorry, you can’t have my BC hazelnut spread – not that you’d want half a jar anyway), and I thought I’d go ahead and get a waffle iron to put up, since so many of you don’t appear to have one, and it’s not exactly the sort of thing you tend to go out and buy yourself. I don’t have it yet, so don’t have a photo, but I’ll make sure it’s a nice one. Thanks so much for sticking around while I was MIA.
Question: What’s your favourite breakfast, when you have time? (Those who answer “waffles” will not be given preferential treatment…)
February 20 2009 | leftovers | 119 Comments »
