This is real chocolate

I picked this up at a Whole Foods in Charlottesville, Virginia. Yes, I had to go all the way there to find the El Rey brand. It is the finest Venezuela brand with which I am familiar. I picked up a small sample of each, and brought them home. Then I sliced the up and ate them.

The milk chocolate was the Caoba milk. It had a real fruity flavor. Almost as if it had been infused with prunes or very ripe raisins. I enjoyed it, it was not too sweet. The Caoba is 41% cocoa butter. It is made with dried or skim milk solids. That helps me understand the lack of creaminess for me. Still, I enjoyed the chocolate. It was chocolate!

The semi-sweet was their Bucare. It was a 58% cocoa butter dark. It wasn't my favorite dark, but I wouldn't turn it away. All in all both were worthy of a second purchase.

The El Rey was at a disadvantage in the tasting realm. I also had purchased some of the new Lindt 70% chocolate infused with Pear. Wowzer. That one will be a regular on my shelf!

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What can you do?

I get emails and comments about okay, you have my attention but what can I really do? Many people believe it is useless to get fired up about changing something we don't feel is right. They believe that the government is going to do what it is going to do and we are such small pieces of it that you just frustrate yourself trying. I say baloney.

I am a taxpayer. My voice must be heard. If I say nothing, the powers that be will think I am okay with what is happening. So where do I go, what do I do?

Begin with the internet. Use the resources available to you to do some research. Find out what is really happening. Is the FDA and the chocolate industry really trying to change chocolate? Holy smokes! They really are! But, the FDA wants to hear from me and my friends before they make up their minds.

I go to their site make my comments and then I tell my friends. Please. Go do the same thing. But does it stop there? No. I now move on to my legislators.

Who are they? How do I find out who represents me? You can go here and it will tell you who your representative in your district is for the House of Representatives. Then you can go here to find out about your congressmen are. Now that you know who they are, begin writing letters.

Write letters, emails or simple messages to them voicing your concerns. Keep them short simple and to the point. Address only one issue at a time. Ask them for some feedback and you'll actually get some. I wrote to my congress person, even though I know they don't agree with me on an issue, and let her know I expect her to keep me in mind when deciding on how to vote.

When you and your congress person don't agree is when you really have to represent yourself by mail or email well. Letters that show you are informed and educated on an issue will get you farther than a ranting letter demanding action. Be kind, it'll get you more attention. You do not want to be labeled as the loon in your town.

Next you can dig a bit and go through a few bills waiting to be made laws. Yes, it is tedious, but it is also enlightening. If you know your subject, but not a bill number or who is introducing it, try googling the subject matter. Try something like: cloning bill introduced in congress. You'll get all kinds of leads. Click on a few until you have what you're looking for. There is also a great place to start if you don't want to try google. This site is a favorite of mine. It is the glossary for congressional bills. You start here and there are all kinds of information and click able links for your education on bills before congress.

Once you are satisfied with your search, and letter writing, then take action. You've become schooled in the topic of choice. Tell your family and friends, ask them to lend support.When you're standing in line at the grocery store, strike up a conversation with a stranger and tell them what you've learned. Talk about it whenever you have the opportunity. People will begin to look to you for guidance and then you too will become an advocate.

One person I know is on a first name basis with her legislators. Lisa has been thrust into this world of speaking about subjects she knew very little about a few years ago. She has taken the necessary steps to become involved and educated about subjects that are important to her. She is now looked to as a person to take action and speak when the need arises. She has become a leader in her community.

You too can become a person of change. Try it, you may just walk the halls of congress yourself someday as an advocate for an important cause or two.

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Thinking Bloggers

I was paid quite a compliment by Melissa of Book Nut fame. She hand picked me in her post about thinking bloggers. I have to say thank you! I'm glad someone out there (quite a few someone's thank you!) finds me to be a critical thinker at times.

Evidently there are those out there who are trying to define the thinking bloggers in the blogosphere. I have been chosen to represent the food bloggers. Yay. I am not a regular food blogger. I guess it's because of my place in the industry. I spend my time behind the scenes getting myself grimy and leave all the fun posts about what dinner or an outing was serving for others. Don't get me wrong those are the fun blogs! Those people actually have a followership to speak of. On the other hand, if I get you to think about the how and why of food I've made a friend and made a difference. Posts have been sporadic lately, but that is going to improve, I promise.

I do love reading thinking bloggers and yes, Melissa, I would count you as one! Your book reviews have led to me the library on more than one occasion.

Thinkers don't always look like thinkers though. Sometimes those erudites that like to think they're thinkers are just wolves in sheep's clothing. They spout off about this or that and don't really make a case for reading them. I like thinkers that are also human beings. Those people who think deeply, yet live everyday lives just trying to pay the bills and make it to the end of the month with money. Yep those kinds.

One of my favorites just passed away in fact. Cathy Seipp has been blogging forever. I've been reading her for 4 years or more. She was a right wing blogger who also wrote for the National Review Online. Her column "From the Left Coast" was a favorite of mine. Mostly because she was from Los Angeles, but also because she was a conservative woman living in LA and was wild and crazy too! I loved her style. She just passed away on the 21st of March from Lung Cancer. She was not a smoker. And from her travail with cancer I learned some things I didn't know before. I learned that half of the people that die from lung cancer never smoked. I also learned that lung cancer kills more people than any other form of cancer. What I learned most though, is that life is meant to be lived. That in the face of intense fear you can still live, make a difference and love. Cathy leaves her daughter, a freshman at UCSD this year, and her mother and a myriad of friends behind. I will miss her writing. She was a thinking blogger for certain.

Other thinking bloggers would include S'mee. She doesn't think of herself as a thinking blogger, but she thinks about the good stuff. How life's injustices affect us, and why thinking about the hard questions is an important thing to do. In fact, I think this post should be sent to every family court judge nationwide.

Then there's Stephen. Stephen writes in a way that allows each of us to think. He takes you places you don't especially want to go sometimes, but it is always worth the effort.

Other thinkers I enjoy are Tony, Mike, and Kirsty. I know plenty of other of you that think, think, think all the time. If you want to be included, just add yourself to the list and let us know. Also if you've been tagged they've got a button to add to your sidebar.

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And if I can't get you with chocolate

I'll stoop to this, it wasn't hard though the FDA helped! The pet food debacle can be laid at their feet. Pets have been dying since December. They waited until March to announce a recall. Today it was extended to dry pet foods. They say, and when I say they I mean the FDA, that it is an insignificant amount of pet food that will be recalled. That there is plenty of good food still out there to buy. That it affect only 1-2% of the pet population. They only admit that about 20 animals have died. They must be gathering information from squirrels! I know 20 people right here whose pets have been adversely affected. Call your vet and see how many patients he has seen in past few months. Newman's Own is one pet food that is called safe to purchase.

I never thought I'd be more trusting of a liberal actor than my government.

Now that was the dumbest thing I've ever said.

We need to do something about the FDA. Now.

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Oh My Goodness! The FDA is at it again!

This time with my love of all loves! When I went to DC last month I looked and looked for the big building that housed them and I did not locate them. They are lucky I tell you!

Big corporations need to be collared! Once again they are trying to change things we love and adulterate them to make them more cost effective. It'll be easier to manufacture a product if we can cheaply make it. What are they trying to change?

Chocolate. Yes, the very best in life. They want to make a vegetable oil processed amalgam, nothing like real chocolate at all.

The U.S. Chocolate Industry, through its Chocolate Manufacturers of America (CMA), and in collaboration with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, have petitioned the Food and Drug Association (FDA) to change the current requirements for chocolate.

What they want to do is replace cocoa butter with vegetable oil and real milk with milk solids. Nice. It's bad enough the percentages are already at the lowest level of any civilised country in the approved use of cocoa butters, but now they want to completely eliminate any at all. It is criminal! If you want an unsolicited comparison see the post at Not Martha post. She compares Cadbury eggs purchased in Canada to those purchased in the U.S. There is definitely a difference and the U.S. does not win the comparison test by any stretch of the imagination.

And of course the FDA is considering it because they have not heard from consumers. We aren't even aware that the negotiations are taking place! If you are at all a consumer of chocolate please click on the link below and take action.

It seems strange that we continually have to police the policing agency we pay taxes to protect us!

Don't Mess with Our Chocolate!

The window for commenting ends on April 27th. Don't wait, do something now!

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Let's hear more of this!

The folks over at True Food have alerted us to this story. The Memphis Commercial appeal is reporting that one of the key patents Monsanto holds has been rejected! Yay! Go over to the link and read all about it. You may want to contact Bill Freese over at CFS and thank him for his work on our behalf!

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Something to add to pineapple mania

I couldn't believe my eyes! This is a must buy for spring! I can only imagine the wonderful crunchy carmely bits on an individual cake! Mt friend Grettir will just have to pick one of these up. Or maybe Kate, good friend that she is, should pick it up for him as a gift! I am sure he'd agree.
Think of all the parties you could use this for! I know I get invited to luaus all the time nd this would be the perfect dish to bring. The pan is made by Nordicware and I found it for sale at Kitchen Krafts and at cooking.com. It was $31.95 - $32.00 kind of pricey.

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