sunset from my window

late night impressions

late fall day

braiding

just a short note:

as lili is growing older and getting bigger.. her hair is also getting more out of control.. though, i love it... she has some crazy hair... a real mix between reg's and mine..

so, yesterday, on christmas day, as i was getting lili and myself ready to go over to the poyau's, i thought i could try to make some corn rows on lili... as i am still very inexperienced and lili not very cooperative... i tried my best.. and actually i was surprised how well it came out... so, i wanted to share this first attempt... of course the hair style did not last too long, as lili was pulling on it... but i managed to take a cute picture of her while she was trying to call someone....

chocolate - my favorite snack

so, as lili woke me early this morning and i had to drag myself out of bed, tired and sleepy, i came to the living room and dug into my chocolate drawer to fish out a nice piece to comfort me... chocolate has become so much more than a snack for me.. seriously, i cannot be without it for even one day.. yesterday, christmas day, i backed one of my chocolate cakes... mmhh... it came out great.. it just seems that i can not stop myself from eating chocolate or making nice chocolate desserts...

this morning i read an article that discussed the topic chocolate and touched upon the fact that in recent years chocolate has become a luxury item.. in stores you can see that chocolate is being packaged in fancy ways and made to look better and more delicious, as well as more ethical in terms of fair trade... i agree that there needs to be a certain pleasing aspect to the look of a chocolate bar, but in the end it is really taste that matters.... for me, a really good chocolate also looks somewhat nice from the outside, although there are some that look very nice and are awful.. i have yet to try one that looks bad and tastes great..... as you can see in the picture... i prefer swiss chocolate.. well, well.. i cannot deny my swiss side when it comes to chocolate... but as the article states, chocolate can be an inexpensive treat that most of us can afford even in rough times.. yet, one needs to keep in mind that chocolate is made with cocoa beans and they only grow within 15 degrees of the equator and so, fair trade is an important aspect of the chocolate business as a general concept a consumer should be familiar with.. to be honest.. i don t even know if the swiss chocolate lindt subscribes to fair trade..actually, i don t think they do and that is a shame, really... i should stop buying and eating their chocolate!! when i buy my chocolate from whole foods, i look out for that...

i do believe that there are different qualities of chocolates, but then again i don t think that some of the so-called high end chocolates are really worth all that money... godiva taste good, but really their price is too high....

above all, though, for me flavor and taste are really what dominate my decision in buying chocolate (as with lindt, this is not the most ethical decision, shame on me... :( , i might have to let go of lindt..)... plain milk chocolate from lindt is incredible... but their intense orange is also amazing... i suggest you try out some.... and make some nice desserts... i have come to realize that for baking it really does not matter what chocolate you use...as long as you like to eat it, it will also taste great in a cookie, a cake, a brownie.... or even your own chocolate creation...

if interested, here is the article i talked about

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/weekinreview/20severson.html

vini e olii

just a few first lines... i just came back from a lovely dinner at locanda vini e olii.. one of my favorite restaurants in new york... if not my most favorite one.. i had a few glasses of wine, 3 to be exact, and i feel a bit woozy... but in a good way.. i am about to enjoy a nice coffee to digest the food... the only thing that is missing is my lovely daughter being sound asleep.. she has been teething very badly for a the past few days and a) does not want to go to sleep, and b) wakes up several times... anyway.. things are great.. she is in good spirits.. and luckily we have nowhere to be tomorrow morning..