Friday, November 13, 2009

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...the original...

So I know most Americans, including me, has at one point in time had a "Seinfeld moment" or a "Friends moment"

You know the moment...you are doing something and then all of a sudden you realize you are doing the exact same thing or experiencing the exact same situation as one of your favorite characters on TV...

Well today I had a "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory moment"...A first for me, I promise!

How did this moment come about...

Well...some of you may know that I LOVE, absolutely LOVE dark chocolate...personally, milk chocolate isn't even worth eating because it just has no flavor compared to a nice piece of dark chocolate...

Well...Uganda isn't really a dark chocolate kind of place...and well...I tried a few of the milk chocolate bars that were made in Kenya and ugghhh...They had to add so much wax to make it not melt on the shelf that it was more like eating a candlestick than a piece of chocolate...

I pretty much gave up hope of ever eating a good piece of chocolate again until about 2 months ago when I saw an imported bar of dark chocolate with hazelnuts! I thought I may have been having a dream...wondering how in the world such a wonderful thing had ever found its way into the store...I was about to pinch myself when all of a sudden I noticed the price on that fabulous piece of candy...

10,500 shillings!

That's about $5.50...

Ohhh...I cant tell you how long I stood there with my mouth wide open...it would have been better to never see such a thing than to see it and realize there was NO way you could EVER justify a $5.50 candy bar!

I was SOOOO very sad! Every time I went shopping I would slowly walk by the candy, looking at it...imagining how it tasted, looking at the price, hoping that by some small chance it would have reduced greatly...but no luck...it taunted me!!

Kind of like Charlie now that I think about it...the poor kid wanted to buy just one bar and it was near impossible for him to justify such a purchase when he didn't even have money to feed his family...

So, I sadly put the chocolate bar out of mind and moved on with life...

So here comes the weekend...My friend Tiff had a birthday on Friday and her and her hubby wanted a weekend away from the kids (they have 5!)...

As a birthday present to her, I babysat the kids for them...We had pillow fights, hosted a going away party, baked cookies, had pedicures, watched movies, cooked meals....


Overall, a great time...so as we welcomed Tal and Tiff home with a home cooked Mexican food meal Tiffany pulled out a thank you gift for taking care of the kids...

AND YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the dark chocolate with hazelnut candy bar...I was besides myself with joy!

This afternoon I thought about a sweet afternoon thought and well of course it had to include a bite of my wonderful surprise...

I excitedly walked out of class towards my house, went to my room, looked at the bar and imagined how wonderful it was going to taste, then slowly, without ripping the paper, peeled away the outer wrapper and the silver lining. I looked at it, smelled it...ahhh...Just like Charlie!

Then I broke off a few squares, and carefully folded the silver liner and wrapper back. I slowly put it into my mouth and let it melt...it was AMAZING! No nasty waxy taste...just pure dark chocolate that melts in your mouth! I am hoping I can make it last for at least 2 weeks...I cant wait to eat a square or two tomorrow...

So yes...Its possible to be like Charlie and have chocolate moments....Hopefully you wont judge me to severely for my excitement for a little chocolate pleasure :)

Did I mention that it was AMAZING!

Yummmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 comments:

Neil and Courtney said...

mmm. That makes me REALLY happy (and really hungry)!

No one's judging you here, sister. Every girl knows what sweet relief it is to put a piece of perfect chocolate in your mouth. I don't care how good of a missionary you are--that wonderfulness never goes away!

Enjoy every bite!!

kboden said...

Lena, I am wondering if we need to send you $5 so you can go buy another bar of chocolate. I love you, friend, and I could almost taste the chocolate melting in my mouth as I read this entry.

PS. Dark chocolate is also my favorite.

paul moelker said...

Lena,what a cool story, but I say enjoy every opportunity you get to eat chocolate, you never know when the next time will come.