I'm still a die hard chocoholic and although I'm not currently sitting in the Martini Bar throwing back those chocolate martinis, it doesn't mean I'm not thinking about them...and everything else that was covered in chocolate that I encountered, while we were traveling.
My love affair with chocolate started at a young age, and although candy in our house was in short supply, except for the very obvious times of the year, it didn't mean I loved it any less. The old saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" didn't refer to my longing for a boy (that is, until I turned 14), my heart would only skip a beat when anything in the chocolate family presented itself to me. I counted down the days each year, patiently waiting for Christmas, Easter and my all time favorite childhood holiday....drum roll please...HALLOWEEN!!!!!
What a teenage girl wouldn't do for a bag of chocolate??? Even back then i had no shame when it came to how, when and where I obtained a chocolate fix. Love the fake eyebrows and what is left of the drawn-on mustache and beard....wow I forgot how long my hair was then...even pulled back during my transformation into a "man" it would sneak around my shoulder and give my disguise away...yikes!
When in a child's life can they indulge in all things sugar-loaded, than during the days, weeks and even months following that wonderful neighborhood "begging session"??? I still have fond memories of counting out my haul and deciding what would get eaten first, what things were second-string candy, and what pieces had the ultimate trading power. You could not be slow on the uptake, in our house the trade was on a crucial first-come first-serve basis. This is when our growing numbers came in candy, oops, I mean handy.....the more bags of goodies we collected, the more there was to trade. Six kids, with six large sacks (I think at one point we were using old pillow cases) of candy, makes for an interesting bidding war and negotiating session. After the initial flurry of wheeling and dealing was over, all bets were off and we were each on our own. Then the goal was to see how long you could make your personal stash last...I don't recall my parents being all that strict on how much we could eat. As a matter of fact, we kept the candy in our rooms, which we all know was the only way to protect our precious treasures. It probably also contributed to a few late night noshing sessions and my future addiction to the hard stuff. Wait a minute, my future addiction....who am I kidding...I was already head over heels in love with this stuff.
When I think back to those years, I realize that my only saving grace, and what ultimately kept me out of the plus size clothing racks, was the simple fact that we only indulged in the sweet stuff a few times a year. Not to say we didn't have the usual cookies and ice-cream during our normal meals, but this was all very much regulated and doled out in small portions....just enough to feed my chocolate addiction and keep my nice healthy eating regimen in check. In other words, we got two cookies a day in our lunch bag, and a small dish of ice cream covered in Hershey's Syrup after dinner. There was not a lot of baking going on in our house, and if it did occur, it was more than likely something out of a box. Again, home made cookies were a treat around the holidays, and cake was something we had for birthdays only. Not to say we didn't have plenty of those, at least 8 times a year, we were guaranteed to have a cake for dessert. At some point when I became a teenager, I just decided to start baking for the family. I was always jealous when kids at school (and again...this is soooo not about boys, yet!), would pull homemade baked goods out of their lunch bags. I recall falling in love (yes, still food related) with my best friend's mother, a yet unknown woman, who baked cookies, brownies and other assorted yummy sweets, and packed them for her daughter's school lunch (we packed our own lunches and had store bought cookies--yes, I know....I had SUCH a deprived childhood--how DID I ever survive???) This woman won my chocoholic heart, and I didn't even know her name...I am pleased to say, that she eventually became the grandmother of my two children, but that's another story.
Back to my current eating obsession and let's take a short little stroll down memory lane...you do know that this is exactly one of the main reasons I have taken pictures of my food for years, and ultimately began to write my food blog...so that while I'm home sitting on the couch, counting down the days to our next vacation, I can browse back through my photos, remembering each and every meal, and dream about the next time I'll be on board the ship indulging in my favorite past time....EATING! (during the writing of this post, I'll have you know I was eating 5.3 oz. of plain non-fat greek yogurt--with a tiny drizzle of truffle infused honey...tasty, but nothing compared to the bounty on this page)
Let's keep the drooling to a minimum...I know I'm doing my best, but this IPad screen may get a bit soppy, I'm just not going to be held responsible if things get out of control.
You probably don't recall this cute little tasty dessert because I never posted this picture. There is a very good reason why this particular photo was relegated to the "do not use" pile that day. First and foremost, it was the day of our renewal, and our lunch was pretty much forgettable. If you will recall, or maybe you won't because I failed to mention it...it was the one and only day we had lunch in the dining room on the ship. Every other sea day (we only had 4), we were either at the buffet or the Aqua Spa Cafe and for the remainder of the cruise, or we were off the ship during the lunch hour. So, this little chocolate desert is making it's pictorial debut, and if I recall correctly, is was the perfect ending to a not so great meal. We originally chose to eat in the dining room, because we were still dressed in our wedding finery. It just made more sense to be served a sit down meal rather than schlepping a tray full of food, while holding up the train on my wedding gown, as I strolled through the buffet line. We also had an hour to kill between the ceremony, our earlier photography session and our time on the bridge for our final pictures, as we cruised up the Grand Canal into Venice. We were both a bit hungry, having not eaten since early morning. It was probably the first time all day, where neither of us had butterflies in our stomachs. I couldn't think of anything better to do under those circumstances....could you?
GeLOTo (not the correct spelling, but just how I felt about the substantial portion, I was about to attempt to eat) I did eat a LOT of it....this one is especially rich and chocolatey....which, if memory serves me correctly, was a part of the "eyes-where-bigger-than-my-stomach" serving of four scoops...which I would have completely eaten if I hadn't just had a slice of pizza. Most times, the gelato was my meal...this time I really overdid it. There were a few mouthfuls left in the bottom of the cup when I sadly dumped it in the trash...sacrilege to the people who worship in the house of all things chocolate :)
A little creepy to look at, but where else would you find chocolate shaped face masks, but in Venice of course!!!! Kinda lends itself to the whole Halloween part of this story...
The bakeries in every port we visited, were truly a feast for the eyes. We have nothing that even comes close to this type of shop here in Florida...if I lived in NYC, it would be another story...probably the reason I love to visit cities, but wouldn't want to live there. Looking forward to eating some yummy stuff on our trip next Saturday to see Brian and Taryn in Chicago.
Just a couple more to tempt your taste buds...
This was one of my favorite types of special cookies I found on the ship. I was first introduced to it during our formal tea in Muranos restaurant. Then, much to my delight, I discovered them a few days later at afternoon tea in the buffet...you can be assured, that when I am once again on board a Celebrity ship, I will be keeping a very keen eye out for these delicious little babies.
My second and sadly last few bites....chewy, sweet, oatmealy goodness...dipped in chocolate...oh man...this is tougher for me than it is for all of you because I actually KNOW how good these things taste!!!!
And last but not least, and totally unrelated to chocolate...this one-of-a-kind shot. If you will recall, several of the food photos I took, were through a glass window (always a good idea to keep the addicts a safe distance away from the goodies), so therefore, more often than not, I had reflection issues to deal with. In this particular instance, it actually contributed to the overall picture. I had on a colorful dress, and the large stack of black licorice was just dark and dense enough, that the definition of the dress design reflected back and combined itself with the candy. How appropriate that my love of food and desire to share it with everyone, was captured in this unique and interesting photograph. It just goes to show you....there is always a little bit of "me" in every picture that I take!
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