Top 10 Reasons to Say YES to Cacao, Cheese, Meat and Bread. Happy Valentine's Day!

10. Theo Chocolate: Specifically, Orange Dark Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Dark Chocolate and Chile Spice. Fair Trade, organic cocoa; local (Northwest, that is) cherries and almonds; recyclable (and beautiful!) packaging. 

9. Coconut Milk Chocolate Ganache. Put it on ANYTHING! I don't care what you do with it (but I'd secretly love to know). 

8. Roses!  Even better when they are Whole Trade, regardless of what kind of relationship you are in friendly yellow to romantic-creepy blood red. 

7. Take a break from chocolate and eat lamb. Cinnamon-pomegranate braised lamb. Very sexy, but don't worry, it's not on the aphrodisiac list, so you are totally safe and perv-free.

6. Still not enough chocolate and want to bake something? Use chocolate stout in this chocolate chip beer bread recipe. Beer, chocolate and bread? Sounds like a good day to me, no matter what day it is.

5. I know, you might want even more chocolate, so why not make it a single origin chocolate bar made entirely from cocoa purchased directly from farmers in the Kyela, Mbeya district of Tanzania (Fair Trade is how we roll, of course). Proceeds from every bar support education programs for school children in the district. We are talking about Whole Foods Market™ Organic Tanzanian Schoolhouse Project Milk and Dark Chocolate Bars. I gave this milk chocolate bar to my honey and so far so good. 

4. At this point, eating chocolate might just be too much effort. Maybe it's best just to sip it (switching between wine/champagne and/or bone-luge shots? Hell, why not). Might as well make it spicy too. Heat things up with some Theo Chipotle Spice Sipping Chocolate. 

3. If deer penis is hard to come by, you can easily substitute a Spanish fly almond croissant. If you live in Portland, go here for the best one. If not, well then you should come up (or down) here. 

2. Sometimes you just want to say cacao to all the fancy stuff.  It happens to me all the time. I just want what I usually want, which is a classic nuts-and-chocolate no frills combo. Something rich in cacao, with a hint of Madagascar vanilla, and let's go ahead and make that organic sugar cane with a good dosage of almond shrapnel. I will take a  365 Everyday Value™ Organic Dark Chocolate Bar with Almonds, thank you. 

1. This is a toughie, and if you have made it this far, then you deserve to have roses all up in your grill.  Which means, make Rose Petal Ricotta with Honey and Pistachios. And drink it with champagne, cause it's good for washing out the grill, yet still maintaining luxurious rose breath. 

 

10. Theo Chocolate: Specifically, Orange Dark Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Dark Chocolate and Chile Spice. Fair Trade, organic cocoa; local (Northwest, that is) cherries and almonds; recyclable (and beautiful!) packaging. 

9. Coconut Milk Chocolate Ganache. Put it on ANYTHING! I don't care what you do with it (but I'd secretly love to know). 

8. Roses!  Even better when they are Whole Trade, regardless of what kind of relationship you are in friendly yellow to romantic-creepy blood red. 

7. Take a break from chocolate and eat lamb. Cinnamon-pomegranate braised lamb. Very sexy, but don't worry, it's not on the aphrodisiac list, so you are totally safe and perv-free.

6. Still not enough chocolate and want to bake something? Use chocolate stout in this chocolate chip beer bread recipe. Beer, chocolate and bread? Sounds like a good day to me, no matter what day it is.

5. I know, you might want even more chocolate, so why not make it a single origin chocolate bar made entirely from cocoa purchased directly from farmers in the Kyela, Mbeya district of Tanzania (Fair Trade is how we roll, of course). Proceeds from every bar support education programs for school children in the district. We are talking about Whole Foods Market™ Organic Tanzanian Schoolhouse Project Milk and Dark Chocolate Bars. I gave this milk chocolate bar to my honey and so far so good. 

4. At this point, eating chocolate might just be too much effort. Maybe it's best just to sip it (switching between wine/champagne and/or bone-luge shots? Hell, why not). Might as well make it spicy too. Heat things up with some Theo Chipotle Spice Sipping Chocolate. 

3. If deer penis is hard to come by, you can easily substitute a Spanish fly almond croissant. If you live in Portland, go here for the best one. If not, well then you should come up (or down) here. 

2. Sometimes you just want to say cacao to all the fancy stuff.  It happens to me all the time. I just want what I usually want, which is a classic nuts-and-chocolate no frills combo. Something rich in cacao, with a hint of Madagascar vanilla, and let's go ahead and make that organic sugar cane with a good dosage of almond shrapnel. I will take a  365 Everyday Value™ Organic Dark Chocolate Bar with Almonds, thank you. 

1. This is a toughie, and if you have made it this far, then you deserve to have roses all up in your grill.  Which means, make Rose Petal Ricotta with Honey and Pistachios. And drink it with champagne, cause it's good for washing out the grill, yet still maintaining luxurious rose breath.