A World of Chocolate

 

 

 

 

October 5, 2008

Anyone who knows me even slightly knows that I am a great lover of all things chocolate. Rachel commented when we we were in Vienna that for me, living with Jean, was like a heroin addict living with her "dealer" as Jean always has an abundance of chocolate available (and Jean's body, unlike my own, shows no evidence of her addiction). Each night we ate chocolate into the wee hours of the morning (with Rachel abstaining) while we watched not just one but two (!) seasons of "The Closer" on DVD, an addiction far less fattening than chocolate- but really, what's one without the other??

And as were flying back home to Italy I sure was happy that I hadn't wasted too many minutes worrying about my weight or my cholesterol. Nearly dying of fright has a way of putting things into perspective. Flying over the Alps was like being on a roller coaster and while the entire plane full of passengers were nervously laughing (except for a group of kids who were pretending they were on a real roller coaster ride and squealing with delight) I was sure we were going down. Despite knowing turbulence isn't dangerous, I have always hated it, and while normally I am not a nervous flyer, I do "whiteknuckle" turbulence and grip Rachel's hand so tightly that I likely hurt her in the process. Even Rachel admitted later she was scared- and she can count on just one hand the times that she has really been afraid on a plane. Nauseous, anxious and with my heart still wildly palpating, Rachel, I, and the other passengers burst into applause as we safely landed in Milan. I sure wished I could have had one bite of chocolate in celebration but Jean's last gift to me was safely packed away.

As a new resident of Alessandria I felt it was my civic duty to make sure Rachel and I got back from Vienna in time for the 3 day Festival of Chocolate, an annual event here, and only minutes away on foot from our casa. We missed the first day so we had to make up for our loss on Saturday and Sunday. The weather was perfect- cold and sunny in the mornings warming up to about 60 degrees with a clear blue sky in the afternoons. No melting chocolate here except for the cioccolata calda that was pure hot thick exquisite liquid chocolate that, once sipped, sent me right over the moon- and I'm not sure I've come back yet. Even Rachel was swooning! And in addition to chocolate there was a tent for wine tasting (now BOTH Rachel and I were in heaven- one addiction per person satisfied). Of course, both wine and chocolate were purchased.

Once home we ran into many of our neighbors in the courtyard. We were able to passionately exclaim our happiness with the chocolate (and wine) festival. They themselves were just then heading off to indulge. Barbara mentioned that we must come over one Friday night (NOT on a work night) and have our chocolates with grappa as it's tradition. You, savvy blog reader, are very aware of our great fondness for any Italian degustazione (tasting) tradition and we wouldn't be true to ourselves if we began refusing now, would we??