DEEP TASTING: CHOCOLATE & WHISKEY by Rev. Dr. R.M. Peluso

by Mark Christian | Dec 7, 2017 | Book Reviews, Middle Shelf

Wine & chocolate pairings form ruinous marriages that quickly sue for divorce in the court of oral chambers. Conversely, chocolate & spirits – whiskey, cognac, armagnac, et.al. — succeed fabulously well together. So well they hook-up in palette porno....

BREAD WINE CHOCOLATE by Simran Sethi

by Mark Christian | Nov 27, 2017 | Book Reviews, Bottom Shelf

Eat Pray Love meet Bread Wine Chocolate. In a rousing book, arousing both envy & pity, Simran Sethi re-tells a saga with updated vignettes, narration, & an impending tick-tock doomsday scenario. Unfortunate subtitle – The Slow Loss of Foods We Love — for...

This Tuesday’s Takeover: An Invite to One of Chocolate’s Truer Settings; Best of the Latest Reviews; Still to Come… the Really Big One

by Ariel | May 21, 2017 | Newsletters

Many thanks to Marisol Slater & all her colleagues at the Chocolate House DC for hosting the DC Chocolate Fest last month, & to everyone who participated in our wild presentation. Speaking of which, besides traveling to DC, we’ve been developing what could...

Deep Tasting: A Chocolate Lover’s Guide to Meditation by Rev. Dr. R.M. Peluso

by Mark Christian | Dec 16, 2016 | Book Reviews, Middle Shelf

Seek & Ye Shall Find: Faith, Chocolate, & Enlightenment Buy it Here FULL DISCLOSURE: Rev. Dr. R.M. Peluso is a contributing editor to the C-spot®. The book reviewed below mentions the C-spot® & discusses her work with, & the relationship to it. Other...

2016 March

by Mark Christian | Mar 18, 2016 | Newsletters

   Crushpad Newsletter   Newsbites for the Chocoscenti March 2016, Issue #25 — Issue #24 here Heirloom Chocolate Series: The D7 Collection HCP (Heirloom Cacao Preservation) continues to add designations to its rolls. One issue though: availability… leaving...

Arms & the Man, George Bernard Shaw (1894)

by Mark Christian | Mar 17, 2016 | Top Shelf

Bookcase Location: TOP SHELF – Essential Buy It Here Arms & the Man; George Bernard Shaw (theatrical play, 1894; published book 1898); basis for the 1908 operetta Chocolate Soldier (later made into silent film in 1915 & Broadway play 1947) With apologies...

The Jaguar & the Cacao Tree by Birgitte Rasine (2016)

by Mark Christian | Mar 17, 2016 | Book Reviews, Top Shelf

Get it Here Faulkner noted “fiction is often the best fact”. Little wonder metaphors suit Mayan cosmology better than archeology & anthropology. Just as lines of great poetics break the sentence & suspend meaning, the Mayan world in which reified becomes...

2016 January

by Mark Christian | Feb 20, 2016 | Newsletters

 Crushpad Newsletter   Newsbites for the Chocoscenti January 2016, Issue #24 — Issue #23 here Miss us? Miss you! Been just over a year since the last newsletter. Decided to take a break. We prefer something to say rather than just saying something. There’s no...

2014 December

by Mark Christian | Dec 14, 2014 | Newsletters

 Crushpad Newsletter   Newsbites for the Chocoscenti December 2014, Issue #232 — Issue #22 here White Christmas… Just Add Cocoa Butter Last month we covered the Top 100s. Now we add in a forthcoming 100% – Åkesson’s Criollo. They’re coming from all directions...

2014 November

by Mark Christian | Nov 18, 2014 | Newsletters

 Crushpad Newsletter   Newsbites for the Chocoscenti November 2014, Issue #22 — Issue #21 here Chocolate P.R. — Around the World in 47 Bars This month we add one more cacáo source to the map, heretofore untasted by just about, well, everyone: Puerto Rico....