My Drug of Choice: Chocolate

I use it as an upper when I need some extra energy. I use it as a mood elevator when I'm bummed about whatever. And every night before I turn out the lights, I let several pieces of chocolate melt in a mouthful of milk as my sleeping pill. I am, you might say, a chocoholic. I am also quite an expert on the topic.

However, I am not selfish so when MomCentral sent me five big bars of Ghiradelli Luxe Milk chocolates to try, I did not hoard them all for myself. Instead, one evening I took them over to Knitique, my local yarn shop, and enlisted my fellow knitters in a Chocolate Tasting. You can see there in the background the project I'm working on: a gorgeous sweater for 5 year old Kaitlyn that may be finished in time for her grade school graduation.

I broke the five bars up on separate plates with their wrappers hidden underneath.
and sent them 'round the table. I don't think I expected the seriousness with which my fellow knitters took the job at hand. Here are two, (Sharon Jane on the left and Debbie on the right) debating the merits of several bars.
The results were as follows:

• Favorite of all: Ghiradelli Duet, a sandwich of milk and dark chocolates. I don't think my tasters realized that milk chocolate was involved because they all expressed amazement that it was so "smooth...and didn't bite like dark chocolate usually does."
• Least favorite of all: Ghiradelli Crisp, milk chocolate with "lightly toasted crisped rice." My tasters did not think the rice was lightly toasted enough. Comments were "the crispies take over the chocolate, as does the toast flavor....salty, sharp and hard on teeth."
• Split verdict: Some liked the Ghiradelli Almond; some felt the almonds overwhelmed the chocolate (however, this was the only one where there was no samples left at the end of the tasting). Others preferred the Ghiradelli Hazelnut, expressing surprise at the smoothness of the hazelnuts and the way it blended with the chocolate.
• No Opinion: Ghiradelli Milk. What can you say about milk chocolate? It's a winner every time.

I brought the remains of the evening home (just so I could make sure my notes were correct, I assure you) and tonight I will return with them to Knitique for the monthly Knit n Nosh. We all thank you....