Woke up this morning with no power. (!!!!) Fortunately, it came on again after a few hours. But my sweetie and I were already up, and had already kind of declared this a snow day.
We got between 6-8 inches out at the property. And more is slowly coming down. I’m spending at least today, and possibly much of the week, at the main house. The heaters in the tiny house really can’t handle this level of sustained cold. Particularly not with the snow piled up around the edges of it.
This weekend was the wine and chocolate party. I had a good time, and I believe the people who attended had a good time as well. There were lots of different types of chocolate, lots of wine, and lots of interesting conversations.
I always give people the opportunity to vote on their favorite chocolates, wines, and pairings. (Introvert thing – give people something to do so that the social thing isn’t as scary. I’m very serious.)
For the last couple of years, the dark brown butter chocolate produced by Alter Eco has won. https://www.alterecofoods.com/products/dark-brown-butter
In a surprise upset, this year, the Panama extra dark by Equal Exchange Chocolates beat it out. https://shop.equalexchange.coop/collections/chocolate-bars/products/organic-panama-extra-dark-chocolate-80-cacao
I’m linking to the manufacturer’s pages, but you can find these chocolates lots of places. Many of the chocolates I bought this year came from either Fred Meyer (a chain owned by Kroger/QFC) as well as one of the local coops (PCC).
Part of the issue I think was because the dark brown butter wasn’t as amazing as it’s been in the past. It honestly smelled better than it tasted, which surprised me. While the Panama was extra smooth this year, with a lovely toffee finish.
It took me all day yesterday to recover from the party. I figure that was because while I’m well, I’m still building back my strength.
The good news was that I didn’t end up with a headache. I’ve *always* ended up with a massive headache the day after the wine and chocolate party. Didn’t this time, despite the number of carbs I consumed.
I figure a number of elements went into that. I always get really good chocolate – there’s no soy in any of it. We had a hummus dip, which, while carby, also had no crap in it. I mostly got wines that I knew were okay and wouldn’t cause me problems. And I was heavily in ketosis the morning of the party, and had been mostly in ketosis for the entire week before.
So while I was tired, I really didn’t have a sugar hangover, which was kind of awesome.
I spent much of the day resting, though I did finish going through “Circle of Air.” I will spend today and tomorrow going through “Circle of Fire”, then start writing “Circle of Water” on Wednesday.
The current plan is to write one of the Witch’s Heart books, then the next Wind-Stone-Sea book, then the last of the Witch’s Heart books, followed by the last of the Wind-Stone-Sea books. That should take me out to June, possibly the end of June. Then I have no idea what I will write.
I hope that your Monday is going well, whether it’s a snow day or a regular day!
Tell me about YOUR favorite brand of chocolate!