Week of Obnoxiousness: Green & Black's Dark 70%

Tornado Shelter Selfie!

Well, if I were any less skeptical I’d be looking to astrology for answers. Not that I’ve had the worst week, because I haven’t, but still. It’s been a uniquely strange few days, replete with medical complications, emotional roller-coasters, and natural disasters (Oh, my!).

It started out innocuously enough, with a comically unfortunate showing of “Singing in the Rain” at the local AMC Theater. The theater staff actually forgot to play the film, forcing us to listen to a selection of truly horrifying elevator music until Andrew finally got up to find a staff member 6 minutes after the film was supposed to start. When they finally started the film, we got to see them pull it up on pay-per-view (no joke! Check out the picture!) fast-forward through all of the pre-show content and previews that we were supposed to be watching instead of listening to the awful elevator music, and then they neglected to dim the lights in the theater. *sigh* Well, at least the show was still fun. 

 ... except that two thirds of the way through we were interrupted by a tornado warning, commenced the most leisurely evacuation I've ever seen, and had to spend 20 minutes in the industrial, concrete-reinforced back hallways of the mall until they let us out just in time to see the last 30 seconds of our film. Feeling dissatisfied, we decided to go across the hall to see the last 15 minutes of “Moana” to make up for our truncated main feature, but about a minute after we sat down, the show mysteriously blipped out, and the screen went black to very loud protestations from the audience. And then the 3D showing of “Sing” that we picked as our third choice viewing wound up not being 3D at all (although the two thirds of it we saw was surprisingly cute). Fortunately we’re a good-natured bunch, and we ultimately had a really good time.

 

The weirdness accelerated on Monday, though, when Andrew’s father checked himself into the hospital with chest pains, and they found his blood pressure was inexplicably and dangerously high. Andrew spent the evening at the hospital with his parents, playing Pavarotti for his dad and generally being sweet, but without any real explanations or answers, waiting for things to stabilize.

On Tuesday I got a phone call from my mother (who lives with me now - post on that coming up soon) on my lunch break, asking if I’d seen her car parked outside the apartment building when I’d left for work that morning, because it absolutely wasn’t in the parking lot any more, and that afternoon I had a friend and co-worker rush out of the office early because his baby daughter had been unexpectedly admitted to the hospital.

That night, in an amazing display of synchronized ding-bat-ness, I decided to stay the night at Andrew’s apartment, and then we both accidentally neglected to set our alarms, leading us to oversleep by almost an hour on Wednesday. I was also terrifically awful at the post-work game of pool on Thursday, Andrew's beloved ear buds broke, my sister came down with the flu, I twisted my ankle on my morning run, and my mother had an episode of something that was either some sort of really awful freak drunkenness or food poisoning after a single shot of vodka.

All the endings were reasonably happy – the tornadoes didn’t destroy anything beyond some highway signs and a few chimneys, both Andrew’s dad and my co-worker’s daughter are taken care of and happily restored to their homes, my mom successfully retrieved her car from the tow lot, and no important meetings were missed by our oversleeping.

In the book I’m reading, a couple of brilliant psychologists note that the human mind is typically reluctant to acknowledge that patterns always happen within the context of larger, random happenings. We think of “random” as looking a particular way (chaotic, disorderly, etc.), and whenever things happen in groups or patterns, we look for logical explanations, because we can’t fathom how an entire week could be super bizarre just because life worked out that way for a few consecutive days. I can only assume that chance has made the past few days suck as badly as they have – otherwise I may just have to start paying attention to my horoscope. In the meantime, though, I’ll simply turn to the healing power of chocolate to get me through to the weekend. This is one of my personal favorite snacking chocolates that I discovered when making birthday truffles for Andrew last year. It’s not mind-blowing, just a good, hearty, clean chocolate flavor for when you need to clear your head and just focus on something other than the cat destroying the sofa cover and the fact that you woke up with an inexplicable headache. 

Still, bonne chance, everyone - just in case the stars are feeling cranky. (At least it's Friday!)

Item: DARK 70%
Percentage: 70% (Duh.)

Made By: Green & Black's
Made In: Poland

Purchased At: Whole Foods in Arlington
Price: $5

Review: Green & Black's, like Divine, is good, hearty snacking chocolate. This bar, from their Organic line, is a little more complex than the Divine 70%, but doesn't melt quite as nicely, and they're very comparable. The primary difference between the two is that Divine uses a bit more cocoa butter, making it a bit softer and melty-er, while Green & Black's Organic line A) is organic, and B) uses raw cane sugar instead of the white refined stuff. The price point is the same, the flavor is comparable, and both companies invest in sustainable farming and use only ethically sourced cacao, but the organic factor tends to tip the scales in favor of G&B's. The wrapper touts the bar's "fine Trinitario cacao beans, providing complex fruity notes and intense bittersweet chocolate aromas," but I wouldn't take it too seriously - it's mostly just good, straight-up chocolate. The chocolate flavor here is good and strong, but also falls a bit more on the sweeter, fruitier end of the scale, which makes it great for pairing with coffee or other substantial partners since it won't overpower them. This is also my go-to chocolate for making truffles. (I have a scotch truffle recipe that I could be convinced to share if anyone is looking for one.)  I also really appreciate the note on the back specifying that it's "Suitable for vegetarians" (meaning no white sugar!).

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With love,
 - K