Saturday, February 18, 2012

Basic Goodness...Chocolate

And on a lighter note…

Yes, I’ve been a little heavy lately so today’s post will be devoted to the beauties of one of life’s most wonderful gifts: chocolate. I think chocolate is part of basic goodness. A term oft used in Tibetan Buddhism, “basic goodness” describes the natural Buddha nature of people. While I have my own theology regarding human nature, original sin, etc, I do think chocolate is one of those good things in life that rises above morality.

As I stood in my kitchen the other day eating some home-made chocolate mousse that one of my sons made for me for Valentine’s Day, I had to force myself to eat it slowly and calmly – as opposed to wolfing it down with perpetually rotating wrist, dipping into the glorious goo and swiveling back up to my mouth. The popular book French Women Don’t Get Fat came to mind and I pretended to be French, savoring each bite, appreciating the pleasure of the chocolate flavor. Eating slowly is, I understand it, part of the French way of eating unlike the American way of inhaling food. Why is it that sometimes rich chocolate can sometimes be like crack – just can’t get it in fast enough. I’m happy to say I only had half a ramekin and stopped thereafter. Okay, that was all there was left so I didn’t have a choice, but I did feel satisfied and wasn’t craving more. After all, mousse is rich and this particular recipe has just two ingredients fabuleuse: dark chocolates and heavy cream. Does it get any better than that?

Chocolate gives me endorphins; I’ll take that over the Stairmaster any day, even if I don’t have a smokin’ bod. Studies have shown that chocolate can release certain neurotransmitters, the happy ones like endorphins and other opiates that reduce stress and lead to feelings of euphoria. And all the wonderful news about dark chocolate actually having antioxidants and being healthy is so very welcome to chocoholics, I mean Lovers of the Cocoa Bean. And yes, I know it's supposed to be 70% cold-pressed cocoa made with unprocessed, unalkalized (whatever that is) cacao, and natural unprocessed sweeteners to be truly beneficial.
We want the antioxidants not the fat and calories.Yadayadayada..

Mousse is loaded with all of the above, the good and the evil (fat, calories). But the great thing about mousse is it’s so very rich that you can’t have too much or you’ll live to regret it.

So, thanks be to God for His gift of chocolat and we can be like those femmes Française and indulge in little bits sans guilt.

Pourquois pas?




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1 comment:

Gene S. Wheeler said...

The first duty of wine is to be red. That of dessert is to be chocolate.

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