Valentines Day—Meet Dr. Atkins
Twenty more pounds to go.
My cholesterol is holding.
Thirty pounds gone……………………and Valentines Day is steam-rolling at me.
I love chocolate. I love food. Carbohydrates are wonderful creatures.
Fanny Russell …………………….I should have named my first born Fanny. My second child should have been Stover Whitmans.
(Can’t wait for Child #1 to read my blog……………..HA! I shall call you Fanny…………….)-(That won’t fly.)-(Anyone remember Fanny Farmer candy?)
I did have a cat once named Cadbury…………………..he was brown.
I also had an Irish Wolfhound named Godiva…
*****(Sorry Lola———I promised not to digress.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But back to chocolate………
Wow, what great stuff!
I’m not a cream-filled person.
Or the cherry-cordial type. 
Liqueurs should be in their own glass to be savored on their own merits.
But, I will kill for chocolate dipped russian nougat or caramel…………………..don’t get between me and a tray of that dark-chocolate-coated-pink-nougat-stuff. They disappear first.
Then, it’s a hit on the milk chocolate-covered ones.
Then, it’s on to the caramels. 
Then the nuts (starting with hazel, then almond, then walnut, forget the peanuts…………I can get those at the movie theater……………and then I’d pick the Raisenettes anyway).
Don’t bother with the orange-cream-filled ones…………………that’s just a waste of chocolate.
But wait. It gets better.
**********One day, I met a Brit**********
And my future Husband………………………………
I went to visit him in his country———–
I discovered “their” chololate……..
OMG—-OMG—-OMG—-OMG!
And their idea of a chocolate bar! IT’S THE SIZE OF A ROOF SHINGLE!!!
Their potato chip bags (crisps) are tiny (even the “Family-Sized” ones are inhumanely small), BUT they make up for it with their idea of a personal-portioned chocolate bar!!!
They are confectionary planks of perfection.
They put entire meals and food groups in their gigantic chocolate bars. Fruit & nuts & cereal………………….aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh…………………..chocolate…………………good chocolate……………………….well worth the calorie consumption catastrophe!…………..so well worth it…………….aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!
And, back to their Turkish Delight…………………they coat that in chocolate too!!!!!
I’ll pass by a minuscule bag of prawn-flavoured crisps any day.
But I will arm-wrestle any Beefeater for that chocolate……………………..(good gin, by the way…)-(sorry, Lola).
However, don’t be confused by the chocolate bars with the same name, made here in the States………………huge difference……………….huge!
But, made over there——————–there’s just NO comparison………………………
When I was in Brussels, (pre-children) working at my profession in sports medicine, on the corner of each city block there was a chocolatier.
In London, you get a pub on each corner…………….in Brussels it’s a chocolatier’s shop………………….(both good stop-offs in my book).
Sigh.
I don’t know what we do to European chocolate when we make it here………..it’s not the same…………….such sadness.
I mean…………….I would NEVER pass by my American russian nougat, immersed in dark chocolate…………………
Let’s face it.
I would NEVER pass by any chocolate. And probably because of that weakness…………………….
………………THAT is why the closest thing to Valentines Day chocolate that I will be consuming while Dr. Atkins and I are reducing…………………..
is a heart-shaped sausage patty…………or maybe a Celtic-knot-heart made of bacon.
That sounds so pathetic, even as I type this………..
(There’s a Russell Stover’s Outlet just up I-75 at the Wildwood exit………..and it’s open until 9:00PM daily…)-(just saying…)
