MOST LOVED/HATED...

by Linda Robertson

We don't have any particular direction to take our love/hate week. Could be as basic as our favorite colors or as complex as our favorite part of quantum physics.

Ahem.

There will be no brainiac facet to my post.

LOVE:

Since Valentine's Day is fast approaching, let me tell you about my discovery of a certain CHOCOLATE confection that I just LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Sure, Hershey's is fine. Ghiradelli and Godiva are better. I know some folks who are connoisseurs of the stuff. To me it's not just the chocolate, it's what you do with it.

Pause.

Now stop it, just because I said 'what you do with it' and I mentioned Valentine's Day does not mean I'm talking about the fun things you can do with Hershey syrup.

I'm talking about the glorious awesomeness that is chocolate ganache. (Apparently that weird word is a French term meaning the smooth and velvety texture of chocolate mixed with cream.)

I love this stuff. I first had some at a bed and breakfast, and when they sat this thin slice before me I thought, "Wow, they better bring me another cause that little bit just won't do it." I carried my dessert plate with the half-eaten sliver of ganache to the kitchen and asked the chef what the heck was in it--I'd never had chocolate that DEFEATED me (as in I could not finish consuming what was served me) ever before. She told me it was chocolate, cream and butter. So simple? I scoffed. I pressed her to know what brand of chocolate it was...I had to know. She showed me the bags of chocolate chips--it was a non-brand name generic chocolate.

I shit you not.

(Picture me stupefied...go on, it isn't hard.)

The internet is laden with recipes. Go check 'em out!

HATE:

Is there a chocolate that I hate?

Indeed.

I loathe cream-filled chocolates, especially ones with cherries, coconut goo, or some kind of fruity flavored filling. *cringe* Leave my chocolate alone...unless it's peanut butter mixed with startling amounts of butter and confectioner's sugar that you're snuggling inside of it.

BONUS: NON-CHOCOLATE LOVE AND HATE ITEM:

I used to own a guitar MOSTLY like this one.

It's a B.C. Rich Ironbird. I love black guitars. I love the shape of this one. It screams bad-ass...

Unfortunately, mine was an NJ series, which means it was made cheaply and the tremolo mine had SUCKED. Couldn't use it--or barely touch it for that matter--or the damn thing would go out of tune.

I loved that guitar. But it took only a few short months to come to hate that guitar.

So I sold it.