Success!

I can honestly say that Thanksgiving happened in the Rivera-Merritt house.
Somehow I found the energy to go to Trader Joe's (yesterday) and buy most of the ingredients, including the boxed, boneless Turkey.  I forgot the sage and milk, but Kristin & Dad picked that up this morning.

The only thing I made from scratch was the adobo and the stuffing.  The stuffing ingredients: sausage, bacon and clams.  I think it was a hit with the family.

An hour before the meal, I hit my ceiling and my energy level was zapped.  Luckily Tom & Kristin popped in to finish up the mashed potatoes and the gravy.  Tom pretty much was in charge of the boxed Turkey and did a great job.

I'm glad the day happened, even though I wasn't truly myself.  Now back to "True Hollywood Story: Friends".

E

Turkey Tonight

It's Thanksgiving Eve and I'm sick. Seriously.

But I'm still attempting some kind of feast -- by cheating. I'm not big on Turkeys. I made the bird 2 years running, but this year I have no strength for the overnight brine and the all out kitchen war. So I went to Trader Joe's to get this awesome creation. I don't think my sister, Dad and Tom will mind.

I'll let you know if it's good.

E

WP Plug-in Problems

For whatever reason, I cannot upload any WP Plugins.

I tried a Flickr album plugin, then I tried this Contact Form.  In fact, aside from the Site Templates, none of the WP-Plugins have ever worked for me.

This is very frustrating and it's almost 1am.

Goodnight.

-E

Chocolate Review 10 - El Rey Apamate Dark Chocolate 73.5%

I always want to like every chocolate I eat. I even expect to like every chocolate I eat. However, that doesn't always happen.

This chocolate comes from Venezuela. Inside the wrapper, you find this declaration:

"Venezuelan cacao is the most aromatic and flavorful in the world, period."

I have tried other Venezuelan chocolate that holds up to this statement. Just not this time.

Its taken me three days to finally put my thoughts on this bar in this blog. It does smell really, really, really good. In the looks department, it's matte and has a healthy snap. So far, so good, right?

Unfortunately, the good stops there. Maybe I had high expectations, but the taste was just average to me. It's a little dry and flat. I've pretty much tasted this before in a bag of semisweet chocolate chips from Ghiradelli or Nestle. I don't hate it, but there's nothing new a revolutionary about it. I won't say that's it's "blah", but there's nothing that sets it apart from your average chocolate. It's a basic dark chocolate and that's not a bad thing.

Price: $4.95

Rating: 2 out of 5 cacao beans

Chocolate Review 9 - M Dark

From a distance I swear it looks like the brown one says "M Dork". Maybe that's what I am for reviewing this item, but hey, it's chocolate!

I have to say the first bite didn't exactly rock my world. But (as a dark chocolate lover), I will buy this pack of M&M's before I buy the original.

You know those semi-sweet chocolate chips you can buy in a bag for use in chocolate chip cookie batter? Well, that's the taste you get within that familiar shell. I'm not sure what percentage of chocolate is in each morsel, but it can't be more than 68%.

It's fun for any M&M fan, but dark chocolate fans may be slightly disappointed. At least it's cheap!

Price: $.50

Rating: 3 out of 5 cacao beans