The loving continues...
A Little About Allison: Allison and I grew up in the same town and even went to college in the same town. Though a lovable goof, she is tres intelligent and is now in Arizona where she intends to receive her DMD, Doctor of Dental Medicine. Coincidentally enough, she too is a Dutch American like me.
Commence Wooing
Hey, baby, I think there's something in my teeth, do you think you could get it out for me? No, you won't be needing any of those silver tools, hot shot! ;-)
Notice anything different about me? That's right, I brushed my teeth just for you, this morning! Now I don't want you to think I'm some sort of dandy or anything, but I also flossed! Wait, what? You're supposed to do that every day? Oh...
Dream Date: First, we would make pannenkoeken, which are kind of like crêpes, except thicker and with things embedded in them. Then I would take her to a night club where we would have fun dancing. And if it were my dream date and not our dream date, the night would conclude with a make out session in a dentist chair, but I understand you don't want to mix work with pleasure. So, I think we'll end the night by making exquisite sundaes involving hot fudge and bits of marzipan.
Okay, so the last entry gave advice to single people, so I feel like I owe a little morsel to my lovers out there who already have other lovers.
When I was in tenth grade, a girl asked me what romantic thing she could do to impress her boyfriend. Here's what I came up with:
Everybody expects chocolate on Valentine's Day, maybe even more so than flowers. Luckily, they're conveniently packaged in hearts to let our significant others know “I love you AND I remembered that you love chocolate!” But lovers of the world, you can do more.
Not too much more; you don't want to exhaust yourself silly before your big date. But here's a simple way to take a very standard gift and make it your own.
Go ahead and buy one of those heart-shaped packages and make a list of reasons you love your significant other. There should be as many reasons as there are chocolates in that package. Write those reasons on little pieces of paper and place one under each chocolate. That way, each time your lover picks up a piece of chocolate to eat, they get to read a new reason why you love them!
And the best part is that if you can't come up with a reason for each chocolate, you know it's time to move on and find someone new!
Link: http://www.verdibrugge.com/
One last day in Bruges.
August 21, 2008. Thursday.
Fans of Belgian chocolates will be pleased to know that our first activity to the day was a visit to the Chocolate Museum. In addition to featuring antique devices used for making and processing chocolate, it featured ancient Mayan and Aztec art. We learned about the famous Belgian pralines: chocolate shells filled with nougat. From what I gathered (if I gathered anything from the plaques), a Greek chocolatier named Leonidas helped pioneer the praline industry. He married a Belgian woman and started the famous Belgian chocolate company with his namesake. Unfortunately, the upstairs of the museum was one of those poster museums, where the whole exhibit relied on posters and plaques.
The downstairs was more exciting. They had chocolate arts. One Russian artist created many beautiful sculptures out of chocolate, including a Puss in Boots.
Picture taken by Stephanie
After walking through the chocolate art museum, we saw a chocolate demonstration. The chocolatier narrated the process in English, Dutch, and French. First you pour chocolate all over the chocolate mold, then you freeze the mold. The chocolate hardens after a couple of minutes, so you can fill the hard chocolate with nutty nougat. Then you freeze them again to harden the nougat. Afterwards, you close the shells by pouring more chocolate over the nougat. And then freeze again. Freezing ensures that the chocolate shell stays separate from the nougat. The samples were the best chocolates we had the whole trip. I would recommend this museum to anyone who wants to try really good chocolate, even if it is only at the very end of the tour.
After the chocolate museum we headed to the Heilig Bloed Basiliek, or the Bailica of the Holy Blood. That's right. Jesus' blood. There is an upstairs and a downstairs chapel. The downstairs chapel had a very unique, old, dark look. We circled the chapel several times until we realized that the blood was kept in the upper chapel.
The upper chapel was very grand, with stained glass featuring more modern clothes. This is because the Upper Chapel had to be rebuilt after the French destroyed it at the end of the eighteenth century. Luckily, the Basilica still has the original phial of blood... we think. This phial was brought here from Jerusalem in 1150 during the Crusades. I was out of small change, so Stephanie lent me a Euro to go see the blood. I was also allowed to touch it, but I was nervous to, because I was a protestant and I didn't know whether it was right or not. I regret not touching it. 
Anyway, it looks like red rock candy, but apparently it becomes liquid in times of great stress.
Our next excursion was at another church, this one housing the only Michelangelo sculpture to leave Italy during his lifetime. Madonna and Child (1504-5) sits in Onze Lieve Vrowekerk, or the Church of Our Lady.
For dinner, we ate at Verdi, a tearoom very close to the Markt. The decor featured dark wood and green trim and booths. We both ordered pannenkoeken. Stephanie ordered a sugar pannenkoek, and I ordered the Brugse pannenkoek, Verdi's specialty. It had apples. We also fittingly had tea.
Then we took one last stroll on the streets. This was our last night in Bruges. We decided to look at one of the four remaining ports at the city limits. We saw Smedenport, which features a bronze skull, a copy of a real skull that once hung there. At night, the ports always stayed closed. One night in the seventeenth century, a traitor to Bruges tried opening the gate to let in an army laying siege to the city. He was executed and still serves (or his likeness does) as a reminder to this day. Now the gates remain open so cars can pass through. We walked through the passenger part of the gate. I got goosebumps, wondering if the traitor still haunted the gate.
When we came back to the hotel, the sky looked so beautiful and painted over the canal. I wish I could have preserved it on my camera, but none of the pictures turned out.
Link: http://www.cocio.com/
"Cigarettes and chocolate milk, these are just a couple of my cravings..." - Rufus Wainwright
Chocolate milk is a wonderful drink, but it always runs the risk of tasting too much like milk and not enough like chocolate. Last night after the show, the Romeo & Juliet cast went to the Route 9 Diner and ate. I ordered a chocolate milk. There was nothing chocolatey about it! It was slightly brown milk. I should have just bought a Yoo-hoo at a convenience store. That would have made me very happy.
Yoo-hoo, while being delicious, is not actually chocolate milk. True chocolate milk aficionados will want to try Cocio, a Danish chocolate milk. It has a smooth, malty, distinctive flavor. The ingredients listed on the bottle are: cocoa, reduced fat milk, and sugar. It is by far the best chocolate milk I have ever had. One can purchase it at the Cushman Market and Cafe, located in North Amherst.
P.S. I don't smoke
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