My second Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Chocolate Being a diehard chocoholic, the thought of popping a delicious morsel of chocolate into my mouth and letting it melt and slide down my throat is never far from mind. So in honour of chocolate, this week I am going to list down 13 reasons I have for indulging in chocolate! 1) The TASTE - just the thought of toe-curling, skin-tingling, mouth-watering, tongue-bursting, ecstacy-filled, mind-numbing taste of rich, sweet, creamy, smooth chocolate melting in my mouth is enough to get me hooked! Need I say more? 2) It's the time of the month - we all know we crave sugar just days before the time of the month when we bleed out so what better reason than to get the sugar craving fulfilled with a bar of chocolate! PMS is a time when I go a bit crazy and practically rip anyone in my way apart so the only way to appease me is with a nice bar of plain dark chocolate. 3) Variety - as they say, variety is the spice of life and mmmm, mmmm, there are so many variety of chocolates out there from those filled with nuts, liquer, fruit creme, dark, milk, rich, sugar-free, low fat to those quirky weird ginseng and herbal kinds. What better excuse than 'Hmmm, I've not tried this cherry-filled, almond covered, sugar-free chocolate so might as well buy one and try it!' I am determined to try as many types of chocolate as I possibly could even if some tasted so horrible it almost (but did not succeed) turn me off chocolate. 4) No disease / virus - what with the bird flu, mad cow disease and sea pollution, it is difficult to eat anything from chicken to fish without worrying about the diseases and contamination that seems to have infiltrated into every delicious food EXCEPT chocolate! So, if you are worried about catching the bird flu from chicken or mad cow disease from steaks, forget about those. Have a bar of chocolate instead! 5) Great companion - whenever I am bored and alone at home (which is very seldom but it happens!), nothing beats having some chocolate over for company. They are great listeners, they don't talk back to us, they don't comment on the size of my hips nor frown down on my tattered 'at-home' look and most importantly, they don't ask awkward personal questions like when I plan to have another baby or when I last shave my legs. Oh, of course, they expect to be eaten slowly so that I can have a really wonderful time! 6) Wonderful de-stress food - oh, we all have those dark stormy days of stress, depression and more stress. So I always grab a bar of chocolate, any chocolate, to rid me of all that tension and stress knotting up my shoulders, neck and brain. Nothing beats the sugar rush and almost orgasmic feeling after a bite into scrumptiously rich, creamy chocolate. 7) Gives me warm and fuzzy feelings - The one main thing which really won me over to the Harry Potter books is the part where those who came face to face with Dementors had to consume chocolate to get the warmth back and fully recover afterwards.Well, I may not have seen any Dementors around but hey we never know right? It is better to keep one by our side, just to be on the safe side. LOL. 8) Cures colds - okay, so it does not really do that but some sinfully, saliva-inducing Belgium chocolate never failed to make me forget about the puffy eyes, blocked nose and general lousy feelings associated with colds. 9) Available everywhere - whenever I go on vacation anywhere, be it a paradise island or some God-forsaken unknown jungle, chocolates can be found. So if the local foods of the place seemed suspiciously deep-fried-insect-looking, I don't have to worry about starving to death because no matter where, the airport always have a store selling chocolates. Worse comes to worse, purchase from the ridiculously expensive inflight airline store. 10) Universal - I am not a linguist and could not speak hundreds of different languages but I do know one thing though. Most of the people I met in foreign countries understand the word chocolate so I can often find the local chocolate store without any problems! 11) No cooking required - there are days when I am too lazy...er..busy...to cook or bake or slave away in the kitchen so chocolate is what I reach for to fill the growling stomach. Just tear off the wrapper, put in mouth and let it melt. Simple. 12) Versatile - there are also days when I am extremely hardworking (ahem!) so it is simply amazing the things we could cook, make and bake using chocolate from chocolate pies to cookies to ice cream to shakes. It is desserts galore! 13) Good for health - Aha! Finally, the scientists have discovered "preliminary evidence that cocoa and other chocolates may keep high blood pressure down, your blood flowing and your heart healthy". What more can we ask for? Disclaimer: The chocoholic blogger is not a qualified scientist so these reasons are merely her own observations and she is not liable for any sugar/chocolate overload among readers after reading this post.

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