The Rules of Chocolate

I found this list on Smile of the Day, and actually, I think I received it in a forward once . . .

So. These are the rules of chocolate:

1. If you get melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating it too slowly.
2. Chocolate-covered raisins, cherries, orange slices, and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.
3. The Problem: How to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in a hot car. Solution: Eat it in the parking lot.
4. Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It will take the edge off your appetite and you will eat less.
5. A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Isn't that handy?
6. Money talks. Chocolate sings.
7. Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger.
8. Chocolate is a health food. Chocolate is derived from cacao beans. Bean = vegetable. Sugar is derived either from sugar beets or cane, both vegetables. And, of course, the milk/cream is dairy. So eat more chocolate to meet the dietary requirements for daily vegetable and dairy intake.
9. Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you will get one thing done.

Can you think of any other chocolate rules?

Can You Guess This Candy?

It is the best-selling confectionery item between January 1st and Easter; over 200 million are sold annually, 3 for every person in the UK.

Yep, that's right -- the Cadbury Creme Egg.

The Cadbury Creme Egg plant at Bournville can produce more than 1.5 million eggs per day. If you laid all the eggs made on the Creme Egg plant end to end, they would stretch all the way from the Bournville factory in Birmingham UK to Sydney in Australia -- that's 12,000 miles.

Besides these interesting facts, the Cadbury Creme Egg site tells us this about the history of the Cadbury chocolateers:

In the 19th century the Cadbury family were members of the Society of Friends or Quakers, one of the many non-conformist groups developed in the 17th century in protest against the formalism of the Established Church. Quakers held strong beliefs and ideals which carried into 'campaigns for justice, equality and social reform, putting an end to poverty and deprivation'.

As nonconformists, Quakers weren't allowed to enter the Universities, which in the 19th century were closely linked with the Established Church. So entry into the professions was impossible, and pacifist principles precluded the military as a career. Their energies and talents were therefore directed towards business, social reform and the transformation of social and industrial society in Victorian Britain.

And so, the Cadbury's got into the chocolate business. Maybe it's a good thing they weren't allowed to enter the universities?

And the Survey Says . . .

Okay, I think it's about time that I post the results of my chocolate blogpoll. It's been up for about 2-3 months, and it still only got a grand total of . . . wait for it . . . 14 votes! (Looks like it's time for me to start paying attention to my chocolate blog!)

So the question was: Which is your favorite chocolate combination? Chocolate and mint? Or Chocolate and peanut butter? Here are the results:

1. Chocolate and mint -- 9 votes, 64.3%
2. Chocolate and peanut butter -- 5 votes, 35.7%

Chocolate and mint won! That's the one I voted for. For one main reason: Chocolate and peanut butter is a brilliant combo, no doubt. One of my favorite treats is to eat Hershey's Kisses with a dollop of crunchy peanut butter. And who can doubt the power of the Reese's Peanut Butter egg at Easter? It makes my mouth water. But then the memory of the special Christmas mint M&M's pop into my head . . . They're just little, unassuming red and green candies, but they are the most addictive junk food I've ever put into my mouth. I wonder if mint is addictive . . . I'll have to do some research on that . . .

Anyway, mint is the winner. And this is a very scientific survey . . .