random cruft. also, chocolate

[rmd]

christmas was pleasant after i got back from work. hung out with my brother for a few hours, then he wandered off and i had a few visitors, then a bit of time when i thought things had wound down, then more visitors. much tea was had. also, cookies.

still getting used to the macbook here at home. so far, so good. decided i hated the bluetooth mighty mouse. i'd love to find a bluetooth trackball, but i'm using my plain old wireless-to-usb-wired-receiver one that i also use with my old xp laptop.

thanks to drbitch, i have been informed of the existence of rutabega curling. i had no idea. that's pretty awesome, right there.

i finally got around to following the links from this metafilter post about a nazi apocalyptic cult. wtf. wtff. wtgdmff.

noka chocolates are apparently the most expensive retail chocolates available. a dallas food blogger takes a look and debunks much of the self-created hype around their product.

Comments

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

noka chocolates are apparently the most expensive retail chocolates available. a dallas food blogger takes a look and debunks much of the self-created hype around their product.

Wow. This article was the best. Thanks for posting it. I'm a chocolate geek myself, and as much as I like the fact that single-origin chocolates are starting to become available in the US, I don't like the characteristic American-foodie-oh-look-what-I-just-invented preciousness and price markups. I mean, sheesh, ten years ago I was buying Lindt single origin bars for a few francs apiece in a French hypermarche -- like buying it in the Stop and Shop here.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah, i loved the detective work he put into figuring out who their supplier was.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was some real dedication. Talk about taking one for the team. Heh.

I'm a huge fan of Michel Cluizel, BTW. Great stuff, dunno any retailers around Boston who carry it.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

i often find Valhrohna and Michel Cluizel at Trader Joe's, usually for around $2 for ~4oz bar. any trader joes in boston?

One in Brookline, another in Cambridge, but I've yet to find Michel Cluizel at them. They have a fair-trade milk chocolate that I'm fairly well over the moon about, though.

I wouldn't have bought this Noka stuff anyway, but I would probably have taken their shuck and jive about sourcing the beans more or less at face value -- obviously there are companies that are both chocolate-makers and chocolatiers, like the aforementioned Cluizel and Valhrona. I'm glad they got pantsed in public.

[wren13.livejournal.com]

"i have been informed of the existence of rutabega curling"

Leave it to Ithaca to throw vegetables as a sport. I miss that town.

[johnromkey.livejournal.com]

I fucking hate Apple's Mighty Mouse, to put it mildly. The thing doesn't fit in my hand and the whole "we're going to pretend one button is really more than one button" thing is simply childish.

There's a Logitech keyboard and mouse that I use with my Mac that I'm very happy with... I'll write it up sometime soon... I can't remember the model number off the top of my head.

I'm very very fond of LA Burdick (http://www.burdickchocolate.com/) for chocolates... and they even have that little cafe in Harvard Square with the hot chocolate that'll almost stop your heart.