Spring and chocolate orders

pink and white flowering dogwoods

If you take out the covid-19 issues we are all dealing with, this was a perfect spring day.  My flowering dogwoods ( I have two different - one pink and one white) have just put out blossoms in the last day or two.  They look amazing, especially when gazing straight up into the sky from underneath.  The blossoms will still increase over the next handful of days, and for a while anyone driving down the road will get a nice view of these stunning colors in the spring sun.  Flying in and out of these dogwoods today and up through the huge silver maple which is only yards away were lots and lots of birds.  Many goldfinches, lots of downy woodpeckers (who love to sip out of the hummingbird feeders which are already out since the hummers are just now reaching the Kansas City area in their northerly spring migration), and many other kinds of birds were all zooming in and out of the yard, stopping at all the feeding stations I keep for them.  They were quite vocal today in the warm spring afternoon especially.  

Today I had only a couple piano lessons (done via Skype rather than in person due to social distancing needs and the non-essential business restrictions currently in effect), so I spent some time outside in the sun casually neatening up a couple planting areas, got some donuts that my son and I gobbled up, did a little piano practice of my own, and then watched Ocean's 11 while I prepped some things in the kitchen for cooking tomorrow, and finally froze a batch of ice cream.  I made mint chocolate chip ice cream earlier this week and it was just about gone, and then I had an idea, a slight tweak to the recipe that I decided I wanted to try.  Fortunately I still had enough cream even after making ice cream a few days ago.  I tend to keep a fair amount of cream on hand since I use it in so many different things.  And of course I think anything is improved with a dollop of whipped cream on top, so it never hurts to have plenty at the ready.

Being spring, I'm also getting ready to do a fairly large order of chocolate.  I acquire much of my chocolate online from a place called Chocosphere.  They are on the west coast, in Oregon.  And they get chocolates from all over the world to distribute to their customers here in the US.  So whether you are wanting chocolate from Switzerland, France, Belgium, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana, Mexico, or anyplace else, they probably have it there at Chocosphere.  I usually do a large order in spring, before the summer heat sets in, and then another in the fall.  So this week I'm putting together my spring order.  It's always great fun to do, and I always try to add in something I've never tried before.  But of course, I have my "tried-and-trues", varieties that I get again and again because I use them consistently in certain foods I make. 

For anyone who is reading this, I wish you a pleasant weekend and a happy spring.  Eat some chocolate, light a bonfire, watch the birds, or do whatever else you find rewarding in the spring.  I will go make my chocolate order, watch Ocean's 12, and eat the salmon which is cooking away in my oven, brushed with olive oil and seasonings and which will get a final touch of pink Hawaiian sea salt as soon as it's put hot on my plate.