World Chocolate Day

World Chocolate Day celebrates the anniversary of chocolate's introduction to Europe in 1550. The day was established in 2009. On this day, candy stores and local suppliers offer their best chocolate treats for people of all ages to enjoy. Leastways that's what Google told me.

Today is World Chocolate Day.

Until today I had never heard of World Chocolate Day.

Having just read up on the subject I have discovered that other Chocolate Day celebrations exist, such as National Chocolate Day in the United States on 28 October. The U.S. National Confectioners Association lists 13 September as International Chocolate Day, coinciding with the birth date of Milton S. Hershey (September 13, 1857). Ghana, the second largest producer of cocoa, celebrates Chocolate Day on February 14. In Latvia, World Chocolate Day is celebrated on July 11.

I love chocolate. How can anyone not?

However I will not be celebrating World Chocolate Day any more that I celebrate World Football Day (December 10th); International Joke Day (July 1st); International Day for the Prevention of Violent Extremism as and when Conducive to Terrorism (February 12): International Day of Happiness (March 20).

I could go on and if anyone is eager to see what day it is on any particular day then HERE is a good place to start.  

So far as I am concerned there are 365 or 366 Chocolate Days and as for the rest.....I didn't know about them before and I'm not really sure that I need to know about them now.

Coffee and Strawberries

Last year I grew my strawberries outside. Big mistake. The blackbirds get up at first light. Given that during the strawberry season we don't have total darkness at all 'first light' for a blackbird means anything after 0330. So I never saw any of my strawberries and attempts at covering them were futile. Anyway I like blackbirds and I forgave them.

This year I grew them in the polycarb from last year's plants. Everything seemed to be going well. They were not huge but were fairly plentiful and very very tasty. I ate many of them with a box of rather luscious chocs I was given for my birthday. I limited myself to one choc per day. The strawberry harvest lasted about 3 weeks worth of coffees. The chocs were supplemented by my favourite chocolate orange segments.

However the strawberries suddenly stopped growing much bigger than a large pea. They appeared healthy but were throwing out runners at an alarming rate. So a few days ago I trimmed them all back and decided to leave them for next year. In the meantime I bought another 5 plants of various varieties to see if I could get a second crop. When I asked about a second crop I discussed with the owner of the market garden the fact that my crop had suddenly come to a rather unexpected end. "Ah! You're growing them in a polycarbonate tunnel are you?" Indeed I am.  Apparently it's been far too hot for "indoor" strawberries the last few weeks. Despite keeping windows open and using  a large fan the temperature in the polycarb has often got into the 40s ºC. The strawberries just go into survival mode and throw out runners instead of fruit. One lives and one learns.

If it gets warm again I shall ensure that I have a blackbird proof home for the strawberry plants. That's a job for tomorrow. 

It'll Soon Be Easter

Are we wishing our lives away? What happened to living for the moment?

Easter Day is the 12 April 2020: 97 days away.

I went into the Coop in Stornoway on the 2 January and was met with.....you guessed it, Easter eggs. Okay not a full blown display but enough to set the stage for things to come. Despite having a grandson I don't think I've bought an Easter egg for at least 4 decades. If ever there was a really silly way of buying chocolate it's in an Easter egg.

As a recovering chocoholic of 20 years who rarely eats more than two pieces of chocolate a day (one with each of two cups of coffee) I'm fairly immune to the constant availability of really good chocolates. However I have to admit that it has taken some willpower not to eat quickly chocolate gingers from Hotel Chocolat that I was given.

I used to be accused of being 'ya boo' in relation to Christmas but, with so many people on that bandwagon, I think I'll turn my efforts onto Easter. Except that, in reality, apart from the huge number of people making money out of it, few people will actually care.

Note: for those who care I used to get annoyed by the commercialisation of Christmas because it was supposed to be a Christian festival. Ditto Easter. Now I leave that to other people.

Chocolate from France

Viv is visiting from the Lot-et-Garonne Department of France (which, for those of you who may be interested is named after the Lot and Garonne rivers in the South-West of the country).    Viv brought chocolates from a chocolatier near where she lives.  I like chocolates.  I like people who bring chocolates.  Using a simple syllogism: I like people who bring chocolates; Viv brought chocolates; therefore I like Viv.  Easy.  Good to eat too.  The chocolates - not Viv.