World Chocolate Weekend

 

WORLD CHOCOLATE DAY

Every year on July 7th, World Chocolate Day allows chocolate lovers around the world to indulge in their favorite treat without any guilt. The day also celebrates all kinds of goodies made from chocolate, including chocolate milk, hot chocolate, chocolate candy bar, chocolate cake, brownies, or anything covered in chocolate. 

#WORLDCHOCOLATEDAY

Chocolate comes from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia and grows in Mexico, Central America, and Northern South America. The earliest known documentation of using cacao seeds is from around 1100 BC.  

Since cacao tree seeds have a very intense, bitter taste, they must ferment to develop the flavor. Once fermented, processors dry, clean and roast the beans. After roasting, the shell is removed to produce cacao nibs. The cacao nibs are then put through a grinding process creating cocoa mass, which is pure chocolate in rough form. The cocoa mass is usually liquefied through a process creating chocolate liquor. During this process the chocolate liquor is made into two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter. 

4 Common Types of Chocolate

1. Unsweetened baking chocolate – cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions.
2. Sweet chocolate – cocoa solids, cocoa butter or other fat and sugar.
3. Milk chocolate – sweet chocolate with milk powder or condensed milk.
4. White chocolate – cocoa butter, sugar, and milk but no cocoa solids.

Most people love chocolate. In fact, nine out of ten people love chocolate. About 1 billion people eat chocolate every day. Besides the fact it tastes so good, there are some health benefits of chocolate. Chocolate increases serotonin and dopamine levels, which helps to boost the mood. Dark chocolate can also be especially good for you. Dark chocolate is a powerful source of antioxidants, plus it helps to improve blood flow, lower blood pressure, and reduce the risk of heart disease.  

HOW TO OBSERVE #WorldChocolateDay

Celebrate by eating chocolate! Other ways to participate include:

• Visit your favorite restaurant and indulge in a delicious chocolate dessert.
• Host a chocolate tasting party and invite friends to bring their best chocolate recipes to share.
• Learn about chocolates from around the world.
• Read your kids a book about chocolate, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Candy’s Chocolate Kingdom, or The Chocolate Touch.
• Be sure to post photos of your favorite chocolate treat on social media tagging #WorldChocolateDay. 

WORLD CHOCOLATE DAY HISTORY

It’s unclear who came up with this yummy food day. However, we did find out that the day is celebrated on July 7 because the first World Chocolate Day was celebrated in 2009. 

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Happy 4th..!

 Except for parties, your critters will try to flee during fireworks 🎆, keep pets close, safe, and hydrated! 

And have an awesome Independence Week! 

  

    

  

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Rain & heat

 It stormed for a week, then sleeted, then baked a cloudless sky over 100 degrees for a week, now it’s supposed to rain all next week. 

The heatwave was especially brutal and caused so many delays. 

Should be back on track this Monday. 

       Have a safe weekend!  

           

                               

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Summer sleet?

 It sleeted the other day..!?! 

It was a hot day under 100 degrees and it decided to sleet. 

All different shapes and sizes of ice and even tho they weren’t big, it was loud! 

No damage, was interesting, and glad I could capture it for u here. 

 

 

    

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Have an awesome weekend!

1. I spent a lot of time, money, and effort childproofing my house… but the kids still get in.  
2. Why is it a bad idea to iron your four-leaf clover? ‘Cause you shouldn't press your luck. 
3. What do you call a beehive without an exit? Unbelievable. 
4. Why do vampires seem sick? They're always coffin. 
5. How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it together! 
6. Which days are the strongest? Saturday and Sunday. The rest are weekdays. 
7. What do you call a fake noodle? An Impasta! 
8. What happens when it rains cats and dogs? You have to be careful not to step in a poodle. 
9. What’s the difference between a poorly dressed man on a tricycle and a well-dressed man on a bicycle? Attire.
10. We all know about Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong will go wrong. But have you heard of Cole’s Law? It’s thinly sliced cabbage.  

                                        Happy Fathers’ Days..!  

     

    

                      

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I admit, I’d sign up…

 I don’t make enuf from my tiny route, but if I could, I admit, I’d sign up. 

Gourmet Chocolates

For $50 a month, it sounds quite luscious. I still have fond memories of my book-of-the-month club as a kid, the revolutionary makeup box subscriptions as a teenager, and QVC to this day. 

World Chocolate Day is coming up in July, not so great for the deep summer of the Northern Hemisphere, just fine for the cool summers of the Southern Hemisphere. I don’t know how economies are fairing there, but I do hope and pray the chocolate vending route makes it thru another hot summer! 

   

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Summer is here!

 Summer is officially here, and remember that candies can ‘sweat’ in the heat. 

When they cool down, the cocoa butter solidifies outside M&M shells and although it alters the appearance, it doesn’t affect taste or freshness. 

Feel free to keep me updated here so re-placement can be planned in time, thanks..! 

Likes? Loves?

? The homepage used to have several Likes but seems to have re-set :-/ 

Ever since I updated the Contact form, which updated beautifully, the Likes button reset and doesn’t accept new Likes :-/ 

I’ll try to fix or change it. In the meantime, feel free to Likes this blog and always eager to read comments! 

                                                      

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Toys Galore!

 There are candy vending machines that are solid metal, heavy, and colorful. 

They can either vend gumballs, candies or toys, which vend in capsules so they can move easily thru the machines. 

There’s no mistaking they are toys, mostly because the capsules will have bracelets, fuzzy toys, small spinners, or bouncy balls in them and are never mixed with candy so there’s no confusion. 

Since I’ve moved away from vending machines over to honor boxes, I have a backlog of toys which virtually last forever, and although vending candies usually have an incredible shelf-life, they aren’t imperishable like toys are, so I’ll either be donating my remaining toys stock, tossing previous favorites, or will specify on the honor boxes that the items are either toys or candies. 

Thanku for your patience. 

 

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Happy Mother’s Day weekend!

 

For my dear mother in heaven, I wish you’d stuck around a little longer, okay, a lot longer. 

Until I see u again, my thoughts are specifically with u this weekend. 

I went bluebonnet hunting and was told they could be found at a nearby park. 

I didn’t see them and will have to find out when and where they might be. 

Although I didn’t find bluebonnets, I found some fun critters on a lovely walk. 

For my Mama on Mother’s Day; 

These tiny white flowers were everywhere on bushes over 12 feet tall! Very lush place!  

 

A friendly squirrel 🐿 going about his business. 

 

A tiny, tiny bunny waiting for his mom to return… 

 

A beautiful family of ducks :-)  

The drake immediately swam over to his hen, who was eyeballing me with caution. 

They both watched over their brood who were happily oblivious during their meal. I guess they feed on algae and seed…

 

Random patches of these light pink flowers can be found just about anywhere there’s greenery.  

 

Happy Mother’s Day  

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