some like it dark

Contrary to what it may look like, this is not the window-display of a chocolate store, it is the humble (dark) chocolate-collection TD and I currently have at home. And, no, I did not buy them just so I would have something to write about for the blog. We just really like dark chocolate and people know we like it so dinner guests often bring some instead of/in addition to wine or flowers as a gift for their hosts. Many of this year's Christmas presents also included some novelty chocolate.

I am - unfortunately - a very "categorical" person who jumps to hasty conclusions all to often and has this kind of mental check-list when sniffing people out for their friend-for-life-potential. Needless to say, the highest score can be achieved if candidates' answers mirror my own preferences in such fundamental issues like:

• dark chocolate vs. milk chocolate [white chocolate is only butter and therefore not even an option]
• cats vs. dogs
• town vs. country [as in: where would you like to permanently live]
• reader vs. non-reader
• shopaholic vs. shop-abstainer
• Sex and the City lover vs. "How can you watch this?"
  
  etc., etc.

You get the picture. In case you were in any doubt, I go for the first option in all of the above. Now I do have friends who are allergic to cats and therefore loathe them, are not adverse to a bar of butter white chocolate and who don't find Sex and the City remotely entertaining but you just can't disagree with me on all counts and expect me to still love you. That's just not on! If you must clog your arteries with white chocolate you should at least have some connoisseur attitude about it and be able to name a minimum of 3 brands of your preference.

TD's definitely not the reading kind but apart from that he did really well on that list of mine. Above all, he could argue about the individual merits of his favourite brands of dark chocolate for hours, as could I. Chocolate-bores that we are, we get really excited when we discover that new acquaintances are dark-chocolate-aficionados as well. It's like belonging to some secret masonic lodge obsessed with cocoa content and the quest for foreign brands in elegant pitch-dark wrappers and embossed writing. Conversations abound with reverently whispered code-words: Valrhona! Lindt's 70%! Michel Cluizel! Our current favourites are dark chocolates by "J.D. Gross" which allegedly is a sub-brand created by the German company Rausch for the LIDL supermarket chain according to this article (in German). I don't care who's behind the name and personally find they taste much better than the Rausch products proper but those J.D. Gross bars truly are orgasmic. The fact that at a little over 1 € per bar they are very reasonably prized as well isn't so much a priority as I've paid obscene amounts for premium chocolate in the past without batting an eyelid.

Visitors who see our permanently well-stocked chocolate treasure trove always express their disbelief that we a) don't raid it all in one go and b) don't look like the Michelin Man yet what with all those calorific temptations around. While we're both generously padded - thank you very much - and definitely are not given to chastening ourselves we do actually enjoy it in (relative) moderation. Don't worry, though, we'll see to it that it won't go off.

Lunch-break-purchases: I indulged in shopping-by-proxy today when FCN bought a gorgeous down-coat. On the way back to the office I only bought some birthday cards and a funky letter opener (to be added to my present-depot). Tomorrow I have a lunch-date at Starbucks so brace yourselves for another purchase-less day. Just please don't give up hope yet. I promise to be good and revert to my money-squandering ways. Soon.