building my little house here in the desert now
I have to admit, I never really understood the (inter)national obsession with chocolate. Sure, I like chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, and used to eat it if it was around, but I pretty much avoided it after I went on WeightWatchers. The problem was that I basically had two modes of chocolate consumption: if it was put away somewhere, I never craved it, so it would end up forgotten and stale; if it was out, I would gorge myself on it and end up consuming approximately 15,000 calories in a sitting and feeling slightly ill. So it seemed better just not to have it in the house at all, and I really didn’t miss it. I never lusted after it feverishly as I did, say, extra sharp cheddar.
Here in California, however, I have discovered: 70+% cacao chocolate. Holy fuck.
I realize that intense dark chocolate was no doubt available in Madison. Here, however, you cannot enter a retail establishment of any freaking kind without encountering a random chocolate display. It’s EVERYWHERE, along with the wine. Chocolate and wine. The Targets here have a WINE AISLE. Nobody smokes here and there are very few overweight people, but I tell you it is a realm of hedonists. There are people at my job who routinely wander around barefoot.*
I really like it. The 70+% cacao dark chocolate and the $5 Yellowtail at Trader Joe’s** and the ubiquitous murder-suggestive oleander and the sunshine and the fact that I can wear jeans unremarked pretty much anywhere I desire to go. I love the Bay Area. I do not want to leave.
Although the kicky suede boots I ordered from the Amazon sale, which turned out, according to their tag, to be “designed and engineered in Canada to meet and exceed the needs of Canadian winters,” are not so appropriate for this environment. They should, however, come in handy in Cambridge this winter. And I am looking forward to working with people at MIT. I just think I would really like to come back to California.
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*When I got the nurse’s information sheet in my intern orientation packet, I assumed that “Wear shoes at all times while in the building,” like “Call your parents! They miss you!”, was directed at the undergraduate interns. So far, however, the only people I have observed flouting this injunction have worked here, I assume, for well over a decade.
**Even if, mysteriously, they carry every variety EXCEPT my favorite vintage, the shiraz-grenache blend.
September 12th, 2006 at 4:13 am
You clearly haven’t seen the 85% stuff….
September 12th, 2006 at 6:44 am
It does seem that California is treating you well.
I am the same when it comes to chocolate (minus the gorging) I tend to be able to take it or leave it but every now and then I get a craving for it so I keep some in the fridge for just such an occasion.
September 12th, 2006 at 7:19 am
I DON’T keep chocolate in the fridge because when we do, any day could become such an occasion. Ask my husband what happened to the mohrenköpfe he put there.
It’s not that I have no self-control. Unopened packets are safe from me.
Although I think I would wilt in Californian heat, I would like a job where I could routinely walk around barefoot. Admittedly I’m wearing sandals today, in the rain, but I think total barefootedness would be considered a little eccentric.
One of the only Californians I’ve ever known was a fellow-student in Stratford-on-Avon in England. She had some trouble adjusting to choosing her outfits for the day’s weather, which she’d never really had to do before (or not to the extent you do in Britain). Footwear seemed to be a particular problem; she appeared to own no socks, and came in to college wearing thong sandals in December.
I’m not suggesting she’s typical or anything! But it would be odd to live somewhere where the temperature is sufficiently constant that you don’t even need different clothes for summer and winter…
September 12th, 2006 at 7:59 am
So you, too, have been sucked in by the extreme bliss of the 70% cacao. I like mine with vodka.
So glad you like California. I’m extremely jealous of you having a Trade Joe’s.
September 12th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
Yes, the 85% stuff is really nice. Actually, I’ve been eating this regularly for a while, even here in the fartland. Lindt 70 and 85% bars are available at Schnucks (pause for people not from around here to have a quick chuckle) and even at EvilMart. The 85% is particularly good with Cabernet.
September 14th, 2006 at 10:24 am
Dad: Well, there’s certainly plenty of Cabernet available here, as well.
Shelly: Apparently Madison will have a Trader Joe’s by the time I get back. AND they just opened an H&M there, which is supposed to be awesome. I’m sort of thinking I might not be there much longer in any case, though, once I finish my last semester of coursework.
K: It took my father quite some time upon moving to California from Florida to figure out how sweaters worked. Apparently he didn’t understand layering. Also, as he has recently reminisced, when he rode his bike to school in Florida in 50 degree winter weather, he did so in a ski mask and goggles to prevent frostbite. :p
Matt: Yeah, I’ve started keeping it around now, too, and I find that with the really dark stuff I’m able to exercise a bit more restraint.
Palfrey: I’m working my way up, man. Don’t want to OD. :p
September 26th, 2006 at 11:31 am
H&M is definitely your sort of place, I’d say. You have to do a bit of searching to find the good stuff - their designs are, um, quite diverse - but there’s always something good and it’s fantastic value. I own far too much stuff from there.