We have latent yuppie tendencies that manifest themselves from time to time. Like that coffee they call Panama Esmerelda. We sampled a little in Peet's one day, amused by the fact that they were charging $25 for a half pound of coffee beans. But it was so good, we bought a bag for a friend as a Christmas gift, and another for ourselves. We had some of it over the holidays, and it tasted so fine we had a second cup. We were up until around 4 in the morning.
Then one day a while back, we read this article, about some rare cocoa trees discovered in Peru. The beans were so exquisite that the author raved about them. If only we could try some! Then we saw that Portland's own Moonstruck had bought up a bunch and were making chocolate bars out of them. We mentioned to the Mrs. that we'd have to get over there and buy one.
Our to-do list is long, however, and the whole thing had slipped our mind until one day last month when the Mrs. came home and presented us with a bar.
Twelve bucks, she said it cost. We opened it carefully, broke off a tiny sliver, and popped it into our mouth.
Holy cow. They were right. Fruit, nuts, coffee -- it's all there, but in the chocolate itself. Here's to the Peruvians! And we've gone back and nibbled, one awesome little square at a time, and been wowed every time.
And so, along with our boast of sometimes drinking $50-a-pound coffee, we now can say that we sometimes eat $100-a-pound candy bars. Hey, life is short.
Comments (9)
I've tried all sorts of chocolate. Trader Joe's has something called "the dark Chocolate Lover's chocolate bar -- 85% cacao." You get two 1.75 oz. bars for something like $3. The box it comes in says, "smooth and fruity from the Tumaco Region of Columbia."
Fruity is right. It is the best chocolate I've ever had. Don't be put off by 85 percent -- it is sweeter than it sounds. (I'll eat 92 percent if that's all there is, but normally prefer about 75 percent.)
I don't mind dark -- the blacker the better. Have a bunch of 83, 85 this and that. No Trader Joe's, though -- that's a chick thing. Perhaps the Mrs. will bring us some.
Lindt has a 90% bar that you can pick up at Freddy's for about $3. Some super-high percentage bars are sort of dry, but this one has a great melt and mouth feel, and also has rich flavor with fruity overtones.
That said, I'd love to try the Fortunato some time!
'Love chocolate but I'm influenced by what I've seen traveling abroad in poor countries. I'm frugal but at least part of the time I pay about $15/lb for Divine and Theo, both Fair Trade chocolate bars. The chocolate is good enough and I know that the poor people who grow and pick those cacao beans are getting a fair deal. That makes the chocolate taste better to me. They're both available at Freddies in the Nutrition Center. Theo is made up in Seattle, Divine is processed in Germany.
I had some dense, dry, not very good chocolate recently from Theo. We just discovered a good chocolate-ish experience- Tempt, the company that brings us the only good hemp milk on the market, has branched into hemp "ice cream" and the coffee-chocolate biscotti flavor is very good, especially considering it has 65% of the fat and calories of regular ice cream, and is made by a local girl who is definitely set to become very, very rich.
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 26
At this date last year: 66
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (9)
I've tried all sorts of chocolate. Trader Joe's has something called "the dark Chocolate Lover's chocolate bar -- 85% cacao." You get two 1.75 oz. bars for something like $3. The box it comes in says, "smooth and fruity from the Tumaco Region of Columbia."
Fruity is right. It is the best chocolate I've ever had. Don't be put off by 85 percent -- it is sweeter than it sounds. (I'll eat 92 percent if that's all there is, but normally prefer about 75 percent.)
My pantry has about ten boxes of this stuff.
Posted by antiplanner | May 21, 2011 4:22 PM
I don't mind dark -- the blacker the better. Have a bunch of 83, 85 this and that. No Trader Joe's, though -- that's a chick thing. Perhaps the Mrs. will bring us some.
Posted by Jack Bog | May 21, 2011 4:57 PM
...and you'll be up until 4 am - but happy.
Posted by Tom | May 21, 2011 5:08 PM
Lindt has a 90% bar that you can pick up at Freddy's for about $3. Some super-high percentage bars are sort of dry, but this one has a great melt and mouth feel, and also has rich flavor with fruity overtones.
That said, I'd love to try the Fortunato some time!
Posted by Michelle | May 21, 2011 9:05 PM
'Love chocolate but I'm influenced by what I've seen traveling abroad in poor countries. I'm frugal but at least part of the time I pay about $15/lb for Divine and Theo, both Fair Trade chocolate bars. The chocolate is good enough and I know that the poor people who grow and pick those cacao beans are getting a fair deal. That makes the chocolate taste better to me. They're both available at Freddies in the Nutrition Center. Theo is made up in Seattle, Divine is processed in Germany.
Posted by Don | May 21, 2011 10:51 PM
I had some dense, dry, not very good chocolate recently from Theo. We just discovered a good chocolate-ish experience- Tempt, the company that brings us the only good hemp milk on the market, has branched into hemp "ice cream" and the coffee-chocolate biscotti flavor is very good, especially considering it has 65% of the fat and calories of regular ice cream, and is made by a local girl who is definitely set to become very, very rich.
Posted by gaye harris | May 22, 2011 10:46 AM
oh, and she has to import all her hemp from Canada because of our RIDICULOUS drug laws.
Posted by gaye harris | May 22, 2011 10:47 AM
Go for it! You only live once!
Posted by Portland Native | May 22, 2011 11:46 AM
Kinda hoity-toity for a mayoral candidate, doncha think?
Oh, wait - this is Portland...
...it fits!
Tant pis, Jean.
Posted by cc | May 22, 2011 11:09 PM