Fondy returned from her business trip to Las Vegas last night bearing gifts – toys for the dogs and chocolates for me. I dedicated last night and this afternoon to sampling the impressive selection of Vosges truffles. After all, it says right on the boxes: “Please consume within 2 weeks of purchase”. Two weeks. Two days. Whatever.
Now, I’m familiar with Vosges as I’ve featured their deliciously inventive creations at both of my chocolate soirees. Still, they’re continually experimenting and releasing new flavor combinations and I was delighted to personally discover how they’re coming along. Besides the various chocolate bars (and the VERY intriguing Mo’s Bacon Bar!), the seemingly endless possibilities on this day were provided by four different collections: exotic-flavored dark chocolate truffles, exotic-flavored milk chocolate truffles, dark and white chocolate truffles infused with Spanish saffron, and peanut butter bonbons.
I’ve eaten so much chocolate that I feel as though I’m suffering from hypoxia. So, before I pass out, allow me to make mention of a few of the highlights:
The peanut butter bonbons: Rich, milk chocolate-draped organic, fresh-pressed peanut butter crowned with Himalayan Mountain sea salt. Sweet and savory and seriously tasty.
12 year old balsamic vinegar and roasted Sicilian hazelnut dark chocolate truffle.
Horseradish, lemon zest, praline, and cocoa nib dark chocolate truffle.
Applewood smoked bacon and bacon morsel dark chocolate truffle (!!!)
Buttermilk banana pudding and vanilla milk chocolate truffle.
Sweet churned butter ganache and fleur de sel milk chocolate truffle.
Despite today’s chocolate-high, I did manage to finish Excession, so I’ll be kicking off this month’s book club on Monday by weighing on both it and Hogfather.
And speaking of chocolate highs, that Valhrona Gran Couva dark chocolate bar I had yesterday had me hallucinating. Check out the last pic on today’s blog. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that looked just like…
Today’s pics: Vosges chocolates! And my hallucination.
Today’s video: WTF?! Caught through the window of the Apollo bridge – a UDO (unidentified dancing object).
Today’s mailbag:
Anonymous #1 writes: “do the atlantis team get captured this year? by wraith, asurans or anyone of the sort?”
Answer: Possibly.
Graham writes: “Will Chuck the technician have a bigger role in season 4?”
Answer: Nope.
Padawan Aneiki writes: “Hey, for those of us who haven’t got the funds to bid tons of bucks for the duffel, is there another way I could donate for Trey?”
Answer: I don’t know whether the production has anything organized beyond this auction. I’ll ask when I’m back in the office on Monday.
Elf Ears writes: “What do you look for in following a show? The writing? The acting? the stories? The by play between the characters?”
Answer: First and foremost is the writing – which translates to all other aspects of the show. Is the story interesting/believable? Are the characters interesting/believable? Is the dialogue interesting/engaging? If, for the most part, yes – then I’ll be watching.
Charles Schneider writes: “With such an evolved show/cast, what roles do Brad and Rob serve now versus when they first spun Atlantis off?”
Answer: Brad and Rob had their hands full with the movies but have made it a point to be involved as much as I can – reading scripts, watching cuts, and sitting in on spinning sessions.
Scarimor writes: “Which of you is/are the World of Warcraft players?”
Answer: None of us. Martin researching WoW through a friend who plays.
Glennh73 writes: “How do you deal with the fact that at anytime SCIfi channel can call up and say Atlantis is canceled and you no longer have a job. How do you deal with that stress and wonder where the next pay check will come from?”
Answer: The fact is we’ve been very lucky on Stargate. It’s almost unheard for someone to be employed on a show for as long as we have so, when the end does come, we can’t be all that upset. Still, in this line of work, you have to be prepared for feast and famine. Think twice about buying that Aston Martin and buy out the Audi A4 instead. You never know.
Royal Nonesuch writes: “ If you weren’t so busy already, you’d have to join Ivon Bartok in making the beind the scenes stuff.”
Answer: Actually, I did a very exciting special feature with Ivon in which I’m on location searching for my on set Executive Producer chair. Thrilling stuff. Check it out.
Susan the Tartan Turtle writes: “How did Jelly get her name?”
Answer: She was named after the late Joe Vitelli’s character in Analyze This.
Les Fez writes: “Is there any way to have both Carter and Weir as regulars in season 4?”
Answer: Since we’ve almost finished filming season 4, I’ll have to answer no.
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