Tuesday, September 08, 2020

A Bit of Chocolate, A Bit of Gamache



" All you need is love. But a little chocolate
now and then doesn't hurt. "
CHARLES M. SCHULZ


The morning is cool and blustery. And while tree boughs bend and sway, laundry is swirling in its soapy cycle. I meant to have the September edition of the Woman's Daybook ready for yesterday—first Monday of the month and all—except I completely forgot about it. The blank draft stares at me with doleful eyes. My excuse, I'm in the midst of preparing a guest post on InScribe in which I share authors I consider my writing mentors. It goes up on the weekend and I'll post a link once it's available should you want to read it.

Oh, I finished Louise Penny's newest novel in which we find the Gamache family altogether in Paris, France. I loved it! All the Devils Are Heretitle based on a quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest—is full of twists and turns, with lots of opportunities for growth and consternation as characters must choose who to trust and what to believe when sorting out truth from fiction. The story was most satisfying on all fronts. 

I bought a small bag of dark chocolate covered almonds. They were meant to be tiny treats over several days. Haha -- fat chance. It did say the bag was resealable, but as my niece noted, it was put there optimistically, not realistically. With eyes glued to the book, my hand kept dipping into the bag and soon every last morsel was gone. So much for decorum and discipline. But, oh, they were so smooth and crunchy and delicious.

As I have no almond treats to offer you—I know it's no substitute, but here is an excerpt from the book:
“Life can be cruel, as you know. But it can also be kind. Filled with wonders. You need to remember that. You have your own choice to make, Armand. What’re you going to focus on? What’s unfair, or all the wonderful things that happen? Both are true, both are real. Both need to be accepted. But which carries more weight with you?” Stephen tapped the boy’s chest. “The terrible or the wonderful? The goodness or the cruelty? Your life will be decided by that choice.” ~ Louise Penny, All the Devils Are Here
  
* * *

" Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that,
as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain. "
DAVE BARRY


* * *

Wishing you a beautiful day.

Heart Hugs,
Brenda
xox



Photo (top):  Image by Myriam Zilles from Pixabay




17 comments:

  1. Really really good! Not just the chocolate but your post and the quote from Penny book

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  2. Brenda, loved this. The book sounds most interesting and as for chocolate, I bet I could have eaten your chocolates quicker than you did. HA!

    Have a great week, my friend.

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  3. Delightful and satisfying describes your blog well, Brenda. Reading here, I got the call to dig into my own stash of dark chocolate, which may not be as high class, but, let me see. . . Aw! I am working on a Ritter Sport Bar which I bought at our local Co-op. It is made with “quality ingredients” and “whole hazelnuts.” The Sport Bar is in line with our watching of the Blue Jays since they edged past the New York Yankees. Yes, they won last night’s game, which means I’m allowed two small squares in celebration of the win. Any more than that and I will have skin eruptions, those dreaded dermatological phenomenon. And I am decades past my teens, let me tell you! Thanks for the great quote tucked in with your blog.

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  4. Oh, what a beautiful and profound passage! Oh, that we would all focus on the good, instead of the bad. I hear ya about scarfing up the whole bag of dark chocolate almonds. Yes, you could have saved them, but that would take simply too much willpower!!

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  5. Hi, Brenda. I bought the book with my gift certificate from your blog.I read it on Amazon Kindle. It was different with the Paris setting with neighbourhoods that I know well. The childhood background of Armand filled in a lot of gaps in the series. I am often distracted by the peculiarities of the neighbours but I felt that I came to understand the Gamache family better in All the Devils are Here. I'm reading Girl, Woman, Other right now and it is posing lots of interesting questions to me. I think that I might need a bit of really good chocolate too.

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  6. My mom is gifted tons of chocolate for Christmas which she'd generously share with me to enjoy throughout the year.

    Your chocolate almonds makes me nostalgic for the boxed chocolate almonds that we use to sell as part of school fundraisers many decades ago. LOL.

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  7. Chocolate covered almonds are too much for me to resist, so I don’t allow them in the house too often.

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  8. Louise Penny's latest arrived just yesterday at our house and I'm not opening it until the weekend. Too many other things calling me, and I want to take considerable chunks of time to savour and enjoy it. Perhaps some chocolate covered almonds will enhance the experience! I look forward to your post on Inscribe - I've recently rejoined.

    That's a lovely quote from the book and is something I've been thinking about lately - focusing on the positive and good and beautiful - and it's something I want to pass on to my students. I'll be responsible for daily devotions this quarter and am hoping to convey much of this thought to these young people.

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  9. I am so looking forward to reading this latest offering from Louise Penny! I think I shall have to lay in a "small" supply of chocolate almonds too--double the fun and all that, hehe.

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  10. Oh Brenda, that chocolate looks FABULOUS. mmm mmm mmm Thanks for all your visits. Love them and they do touch my heart. Hope you have a good week. Susan

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  11. Well no wonder the chocolate is all gone! Sounds delightful. Dave Barry? That Dave Barry?

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  12. I have 20 pages to go in the book. I have to go now...

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  13. I agree with your chocolate philosophy!

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  14. Brenda, I love this post! And the excerpt from the book makes a beautiful point for any time, but especially now. About polishing off all the chocolates—I learned years ago to never eat anything from the package. Put a portion in a dish, reseal the resealable bag (clever niece!) and put it away, preferably on a very high shelf that will require you to get out a stepstool!

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  15. There's nothing more satisfying that reading a good book...with some tasty treats! I can't wait to read this latest book. I am in love with Armand G....but aren't we all! Enjoy your day!

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  16. Hahaha to the Dave Barry quote. So true! I too totally forgot about the Daybook post. Oops! I keep working on blog post drafts but haven't finished anything. I can't seem to get my thoughts organized enough to want to share them. Enjoy your weekend!

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  17. I really must start these books. I like that quote. As for chocolate covered almonds...Swoon! There are favorites of mine!

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To My Beautiful Readers,

Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same. ~ Franz Peter Schubert

Thank you so much for leaving your 'footprint' here in my comment box. I do appreciate you taking a moment to share your thoughts today.

Brenda xo