Chocolate: The Indulgence of Many

I'm not gonna lie, I love chocolate. This morning, I ate more chocolate than I'd like to admit, and that's saying something for this choco-holic. Today and tomorrow mark Chocolate Fest 2008 held at the World Forestry Center here in Portland.

We decided to make a family event of it and go enjoy some of the sweetest delicacies around. And we were certainly amazed. First of all, we drove through the rain to get to the MAX (Portland's light rail public transportation system) station so that we wouldn't have to deal with the horrors of parking when we arrived at the renowned Chocolate Fest. But when we got there, it was snowing like crazy!

Now snow is not typically a characteristic of Portland - rain is. But since the Chocolate Fest was held at the World Forestry Center which is at a higher elevation, we got some snow! And lots of it. Of course, we threw snowballs and I enjoyed some of what I like to call "Extreme Walking."

We marveled at all of the festivities and varieties of chocolate that they had. There were chocolate-covered strawberries,

the world-renowned Fountain of Chocolate,

and even a new world record for a piece of chocolate: a 243-pound truffle made by this creative chef. Are you kidding me? A piece of chocolate that is almost twice my weight??? Now that's ridiculous. But cool. They had white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate-covered beef jerky and chocolate beef rub for grilling (what?!?!), chocolate-covered blueberries, lots of assorted chocolate fudge, a spray paint-covered woman who was supposed to be a ladybug (what?!?!? again), chocolate milk, cocoa popcorn, exfoliating chocolate mud body wrap from a local day spa, chocolate spreads, African chocolate, South American chocolate, North American chocolate, and even a flute player for ambience. Of course, there were also wine samples and other assorted chocolate accessories, including a balloon artist wearing a balloon hat. Now that's a chocolate party! It was fun, but now my belly aches. I guess this is the prequel to the Super Bowl party, eh? Maybe. Maybe not.

Go Giants!