Sometimes when things sound too good to be true, they are. Our family decided to take a trip up to Sedona, AZ to celebrate the new year. Each year the Los Abrigados resort hosts an event called Sedona’s Red Rock Fantasy, a holiday lights display. We were looking to get out of town and still enjoy the spirit of the holidays. We took our girls last year and they had a great time.
While our daughters where having a great time destroying the hotel beds by jumping back and forth between the two, I picked up the local magazine which had a featured article on chocolate. Being a terrible chocolate junkie, I was curious as to who had the best chocolate in town. Opting to try something different I focused on the two bakeries that offered raw chocolate. I had heard of good-for-you (and raw) chocolate, specifically Chava Chocolate, and was curious about it.
According to the article raw chocolate is full of antioxidants. Awesome! Antioxidants are great for the skin and have so many other health benefits. And raw chocolate does not have caffeine. Caffeine is introduced to chocolate when it is heated. Me and caffeine are not the best of friends so chocolate without caffeine would be heaven (or so I thought). I started contemplating how I could get my husband to take a drive to get some of this chocolate.
Without much of a fuss he agreed to check out the chocolate shop. The flavors were interesting (which should have been a huge red flag). We picked out about 10 pieces of chocolate. The total was $22; each piece of chocolate (the size of a bite size candy bar like the ones you get for Halloween) were $1.99 each! As we left the store my husband looked at me and said, “That better be some good chocolate.”
It’s not. The chocolate tastes horrible. My dreams of antioxidants and caffeine free chocolate were crushed with one bite of the raw chocolate. That is not to say that all raw chocolate is bad. I’m sure some of it does taste okay or even good. But not the stuff we bought. Oh well. I’m working on finishing the bag as I promised my husband I would. Next time I will ask for a sample before I buy too much of a good (or bad) thing. What have you purchased recently that you thought would be wonderful and it wasn’t?
by Kelly Damron
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Bwahahaha! You poor thing! Chocolate needs to be cooked. Like a potato. Never mind, grate it into hot milk, cook (stirring) for a while (mind the milk doesn’t boil over) and drink it. Might improve it somewhat. OR, use it in brownies or something.
No doubt Nan. Chocolate should be cooked. Lesson learned. I did up eating all but 1 piece of the raw chocolate. I just couldn’t stomach the last one. Oh well.
Bad-tasting chocolate!? How is this possible? That’s a crime against taste buds!
I recently bought new slipcovers for my living room furniture. They are custom, so not returnable. The color looks very different on a sofa and chair than it did on the tiny swatch — it is much brighter and more yellow. I’m not sure I like them, but I spent too much to change them! Now I need new pillow covers because the old pillows look terrible, so I’ll have to spend some more money to coordinate with the new color that I don’t like very much.
It’ll be a LOT more than $22 before I’m through, and my (possible) mistake can be seen by everyone who comes into my house!
Now I need to convince myself that I love pea green…
STL Mom, I’ve made some of those purchases too! Hopefully you can find some good pillow covers that tone down the bright colors.
We recently bought a new couch. We considered reupholstering our old couches, but we didn’t like them much because they didn’t provide enough back support. The new ones look nice, but they are too tall for my short legs. Oh well.
Man, I am so glad I read comments. I never experienced raw chocolate, never would have known it had to be cooked.
I *love* chocolate – crazy for it! My fave, right now, is the stuff from the chocolatier Vosges. Absolutely divine.
Stu, I looked up Vosges – WOW! Their stuff looks amazing and if their prices are any indication it should be wonderful chocolate. I’ll have to order something online to check them out…or maybe not so that I don’t get addicted to a good thing.
Another thing we have in common! I’m a chocoholic too!! While reading your post I dipped into my basket full of chocolate here at my desk. Yum!! My favorite is Dove DARK chocolate!!
Anywho I’m getting to be very picky about the chocolate that I eat, because milk chocolate doesn’t do anything for me in the least. However, I would have been just like you and tempted to check out the raw chocolate, and would have bought it without a second thought.
What I struggle with now is when someone gives me chocolate, knowing I’m a chocoholic, and it’s not dark chocolate. I’m touched that they know me and the thought of the gift, but I end up letting the kids eat it instead. Oh well. Good thoughtful intentions on their part, and that’s what matters.
Sherry, my hubby is a dark choco fanatic. He says he doesn’t like sweets, but he has a weakness for dark choco covered caramel and brownies!
I like both milk and dark choco, but really starting to favor dark. It is better for us anyway so I don’t feel as guilty eating it. The Dove dark chocolates are wonderful. Much better than the Hershey’s ones.