September 30th, 2019

Hope you guys had a great weekend!  We surely did.

Remember that long list of events that we could choose from?  I posted it on Friday in case you missed it you can always go back (readthybook.com).  We Chose The Chocolate Fest!  Of Course We Did!  Silly.  How could there possibly be any doubt.

Tim and I have been to other a couple of other food festivals in other states, but never here and never before a chocolate festival. So we walked in with no preconceived ideas.  Just the plan to enjoy ourselves.  Always a good place to start.

The first surprise was that it was held inside.  Makes sense here in Florida.  While it's no longer the extreme heat and humidity that held us captive during the summer, it's still warm out.  Shorts and sandals warm.  Not a good idea with chocolate.  So inside with air conditioning makes Perfect Sense!

It was held at a mall.  Why not.  Plenty of parking, air conditioning and lots of room in the middle part.    We found a good spot for the car and entered hoping we could find where we were supposed to go.  

As it turns out, it was not an issue.  Follow the massive crowd. Holy Cats!  It turns out that there were signs but we couldn't see them because of the masses of humanity that were completely blocking them!  Its ok. We figured it out.

Second surprise was that everyone was very well behaved even though there were lines and lines and then lines of lines.  We got in the longest (and therefore most likely line) and I held our place while Tim scoped the situation out.  Turns out there was a second line elsewhere to buy the tickets.  Tim bought the tickets and then joined me once again. And we waited.  And we waited some more.  

While we waited, a highschool marching band performed so at least we had music to wait by.  

At long last, the line began Very Slowly moving forward.  When we, eventually reached the front, Tim gave his name to the nice lady at the desk and she smiled and handed us each a large take-away box with a Dove brand chocolate at the bottom of it.  I smiled back but had no idea what to do next.  She said something that I couldn't hear as the band broke into another rousing song and pointed behind herself.

My eyes followed her pointing finger and I saw a line of other people also holding take-away boxes and so we wandered over and queued up behind them.   That when we realized how it worked.  

Situated in a very large loop were tables loaded with various different sorts of goodies behind which were the people who gave them to us.  It felt a little familiar but I couldn't quite place it at first.  Then I realized,  it's like Halloween!  All we had to do was walk in a giant circle holding our take-away boxes in front of us and people filled them up with yummy stuff!  Awesome!

Confectioners, bakeries, restaurants and caterers offered their chocolately goodnesses to us and all we had to do was listen to their little spiel and accept what they gave us.  Not bad.  Sometimes there were things we had to choose from. Oh So Hard To Choose!  Other times there was no choice. Doens't matter. It was still chocolate. And that is always a good thing!

Actually some booths weren't even chocolate.  Two different places had coffee and one had iced tea.  Which, after all that chocoate was a nice thought.

Shockingly, we didn't eat ANY of it while going through the line. None.  That takes restraint!  But we did breathe it in.  Yum.  Who knew that there were that many different ways to present the goodness that is chocolate.  There is dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate to begin with. Cakes, puddings, pies, cookies, donuts, candies and ice cream. Yes I said ice cream.  Actually that was the one booth that we, sadly, didn't take advantage of.  How could we eat ice cream while holding those boxes of goodies?  Just couldn't figure out that one.  So we opted out.  

By the time we finished the loop we each had a box filled so full of chocolate stuff we could barely close them, loads of coupons for future chocolate stuff, reuseable market bags, soaps (??) and pens.  Wow!

Tim, who is a real smarty britches, thought to bring an insulated bag loaded with ice packs for the trip home so nothing melted!  YAY!  

We have very slowly begun the tasting.  I had a couple of the cookies, one adorable teensy little brownie and the best one which was a cheesecake/brownie yummy combo.  So the fridge is still loaded with yummy things to tempt us.

In fact, I think I really like these tiny bites of things. I still get to satisfy my sweet tooth which is a HUGE fan of chocolate, but with one little teensy thing.  I think each is intended to be one bite but if I'm really disciplined (and I can be at times) I can make each one be multiple itty bitty bites.  And then I smile coz I'm so very happy!

The proceeds of the event, by the way, all went to helping people who cannot afford treatment get the necessary care they need for Cancer.  Sooooo in short, a very good cause, some really awesome chocolate and a fun time!

What did you do this weekend?