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I’m on deadline, so that’s why this review is older (written in 2008), but it’s still true!!

I warn you, this is very pricey, at an outrageous $4.99 a pint! (on sale at Gelson’s which is the only store that has it that I know of.) Normal people shouldn’t have to pay this much. But I decided to splurge one evening last year, and now that I know it’s the best, I keep watching for sales, and hope they’ll get it in other stores at a more reasonable price.

Greek Gods Honey Pomegranate Pagoto Ice Krema.

The website says:

In the 4th century BC, it was well known that a favorite treat of Alexander the Great was snow ice mixed with honey and nectar.

Okay…well-known???

Greek Gods decided the best kind of marketing is the kind with no separate photos, so I uploaded this cheerful one from Fancy Flours.

But everyone does know the benefits of pomegranate juice by now, a powerful antioxidant. I don’t think everyone knows how great honey is, though; it was used to cover wounds in the battlefield during WW 1, before antibiotics were invented. I myself remember clearly that when I was 8, I was so sick, lying on the couch while the grownups played cards, and my grandmother’s friends made me honey toast. I wasn’t even hungry, but I ate it and got well within the hour. Really. (I collect honey cookbooks and booklets, but I think it’s hard to bake with – it doesn’t have the same binding qualities as sugar, or some technical cooking thingie.)

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Yes, we have free choice, but there are consequences. Eating the good things in life is a blessing, but one also wants to fit in nice clothes!

I’ve only read a few food blogs. (Same with cartoons: I don’t like to read other peoples’ cartoons about a topic until I know what I’m going to do – I don’t like to be influenced!)

But one thing they never mention is weight gain. Come on. Eat a lot, (especially sweets or chocolate, and that’s what I’m talking), gain weight.

Well, even when you get fat, there’s still hope. My own philosophy is eat, but then don’t feel guilty, exercise. In moderation, of course.

Caption: Girl on exercycle in gym: Ten more minutes and I can have two desserts tonight.

In a more affluent year than 2009 my brother and sister in law gave me chocolates from fran’s, in Seattle. (They live in Seattle, too.)

I had heard of fran’s years ago (but what’s with the lowercase name? In elegant wedding-announcement type script, yet?)

frans caramels, photo from frans

There were only 6 chocolates in the box. I ate them all, and forced myself to limit it to one a day, to savor them.

But here’s that name thing again:  Gray and Smoked Salt Caramels. Hmm.  I know salted candy, chocolate covered pretzels, etc,  have been hot for a few years. Salt and sugar is always a rush.

But why would you call something that’s a deep rich brown, “gray”? I don’t want to eat anything that’s gray. What food is gray? And the smoked is reminiscent of smoked salmon. Do you think it’s the Seattle/harbor/fish thing there? Here, have a gray, smoked caramel. Ugh. So this is a bad name for a real treat!

This was a delicious and distinctive candy. I thought the grays were best. Wish I could remember why, but they disappeared too quickly, and it’s been 2 years.

It looks like it was available on Amazon at one point – Fran’s Chocolates Smoked Salt Milk Caramel Gift Box – 20 Pieces, but not now. 8chocolate.com has a longer review about this candy, and says the Obamas ate this candy on the campaign trail! I’m a political cartoonist, however, and let’s just say…maybe. In any case, definitely try these.

I have a bad carbon footprint for making toast.

On the other hand, I switched from white bread to grainy or dark bread years ago, so that part is good. For me, that is. (I like bagels and English muffins  and crumpets to be grainy, too!)

I like bread hot and cooked, but I don’t like toasters. Too slow.

Or toaster ovens. (What is the point of them again? I think I’m going to toss mine.)

Microwave is fast, but where’s the slightly burnt/toasted edges?

That leaves my big electric stove. That’s right,  just to make toast, I turn it all the way up to broil, slice the bread and put it down on a piece of tin foil, wait 30 sec, turn it over and put some butter on so it melts just right, and Bob’s your uncle!

Honey is optional, along with the guilt. Trader Joe’s had some EXCELLENT honey, with honeycomb, called Honey with Comb, until a month ago. That’s right, right when I needed to get more, they’ve tossed it. Typical TJ, who are really not reliable if you like food.

And I thought Buster Brown only made shoes! Buster Brown Breadphoto through Flickr Creative Commons Photographs by Derek Farr (Detroit Derek). Thanks Derek!

It comes in hunks. Slabs. It smells up the whole bag you carry it in, and you want to keep sniffing it.

Baking chocolate is when quality really counts. But unless you bake two similar items, at the same time, using different chocolates – and I’m not a scientist – it’s a little hard to compare them.

is this how you cut up baking chocolate?

I can’t remember the details, but I bought a 10 pounder at Trader Joes a couple of years ago and it was okay, not great. Great price, but TJ is always great on price, just mediocre on desserts.

I was given a big bar of baking chocolate at the Western Foodservice Convention one year (unfortunately not this year – I don’t think they even had a booth this year ) and that was one of my favorite freebies that year! I hated to start cutting it up – I felt richer just having it in my cupboard! I didn’t have a blog then, so I can’t remember the name, but I’m pretty sure it began with S. Scharffen Berger? I just don’t remember, but it made extraordinary icings and brownies. Amazon has some rave reviews for their cocoa: Scharffen Berger (Scharffenberger) Natural Cocoa Powder in a cute tin. Next time I’ll take notes.

The movie, Fatal Attraction, is kind of old now, but passion isn’t.

And an ice pick is the only way I know how to cut up baking chocolate. Is there another way? I rarely find chocolate chunk cookies store bought that taste right, but I’m still looking.