little feet, big sky

I was recently reading an article on how in pregnancy, and it got me started thinking on chocolate. While I have had a bit of a sweet tooth while pregnant, it’s mostly been for fruits and smoothies. I’ve been overjoyed since discovering that Trader Joe’s stocks canned lychees, something I’ve only previously seen at the Chinese supermarkets like Ranch 99. (Seems like a few others were just as excited! , , 3) I keep them in the fridge and when I want some, I open the can, drain out the sickly-sweet syrup water, fill it back up with filtered water and let it sit for a half hour. Then I drain that water out, toss it in a bowl and chow down.

Oh, but this entry was about chocolate, right?

(Hmm.. chocolate-dipped lychees – that might require some experimenting.)

While the spouse likes dark chocolate, I’m a milk chocolate snob. Sometimes, I’m even a white chocolate advocate, but usually only for things like white chocolate macadamia nut cookies or Cadbury’s white chocolate buttons. (Does anyone remember English-made white chocolate mice?) Most of the time it’s milk chocolate and the good stuff, which though I hate to say it, is rarely American-made.

While I’ve been a fan of Scharffen Burger for a time, and even though I once swore that Telluride Truffle was the only chocolate I would consume until I died, I must admit there’s another chocolate maker that beats these two hands down: BonBonBar.

makes handmade candybars, and I tend to think of them as a replacement for crap like Twix or Hershey bars, rather than floofy chocolates you’d bring out only for company. (Though we do bring them out for company (or give them as gifts) and knock the pants off our guests everytime.) They’re locally made here in Los Angeles, as organic and local as possible and never with artificial ingredients, like high-fructose corn syrup.

My favorites are the Caramel Nut Bar ($5) and the Malt Bar ($5) in milk chocolate, though they have it in dark chocolate if you’re into that. available starting at $15 – a great idea to treat the next pregnant lady you’re looking to gift! There’s even hand-delivery available to certain areas of L.A.

And now that I’m done writing this, I’m going to finish off my last milk chocolate Malt Bar. :-) Time to get more!!