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Saturday, January 05, 2008
Chocolate Immunity
By Julie

The red hearts started going up the day after Christmas. I noticed them during the after-Christmas sale. At Target it was just a small aisle full of red heart-shaped bowls and the like. The chocolate hadn't been put out yet. It's just as well.

I have a confession to make: I'm immune to the allure of chocolate. It's not that I don't like chocolate or that I don't understand the difference between inferior chocolate and "real chocolate", it's that given the choice, I usually prefer other types of candies and desserts.

Most people don't know about this quirk of mine, even people close to me. It's just not considered normal. When I was younger and more self conscious, I even considered fabricating a food allergy to respond to the awkward questions that come up when I turn down offers of chocolate. These days I'm a lot less reticent. When the office holiday party cake turned out to be a chocolate one, I declined.

"No thanks, chocolate cake is not my thing." When pressed, I admitted that neither are truffles, fudge, or anything else chocolatey.

"You're a freak," said a friend who knew she could get away with saying it. I know, I said. "I wish I had an immunity to chocolate," she continued, forking a bite of chocolate cake into her mouth.

The only times I've ever craved chocolate were during my pregnancies, but the craving diminished with each one. With Alex I was devouring pounds of dark chocolate. With Ana, I had a standing order at the local doughnut shop for chocolate chip muffins. But with baby #3 the craving has been sporadic and negligible.

Forkful

So what does a guy like Kevin do on Valentine's Day with a wife who doesn't go gaga over chocolate? Dinner for two always gets a favorable response, whether home-cooked or at a restaurant. Flowers are always appreciated. As for other treats, here are a few of my favorites:
  • wine! (unfortunately that's not an option for several more months)
  • Dewar's peanut butter chews
  • tiramisu
  • cream puffs
  • cheese cake (no chocolate drizzled on top!!!)
  • fresh fruit tart

How about you? What are some of your favorite non-chocolatey treats?

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3 Comments:
  • At 1:26 PM, Blogger Sheree said…

    I'm not a chocolate fanatic either. Only once in a while do I actually crave it right before my period. And during pregnancy, it's an aversion for me (along with coffee). When I'm not pregnant, I do enjoy from time to time an especially rich piece of chocolate cake with coffee, flourless chocolate cake, or a Snickers bar.
    As for non-chocolatey treats, I like soft-serve ice cream, vanilla cheesecake, pumpkin scones, fresh strawberry pie, and fruit snacks!

     
  • At 7:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    i actually prefer vanilla to chocolate. i rarely crave the stuff, but i will have it. my weakness is for pastries and milky drinks :

    croissants
    muffins
    pies
    scones
    cream puffs
    donuts
    chai lattes
    barley milk bobas
    papaya bobas
    german stollen!
    moose munch

    i don't like cheesecake and i can say no to birthday cake fairly easily. everything sweet needs to be taken with an americano. =) cyn

     
  • At 5:34 PM, Blogger Rita said…

    Huh! This is funny--that you got called a freak for not liking chocolate? I wish I had more friends who loved it the way I do.

    Maybe that's b/c I'm friends with you and Sheree. And, and, and. ;)

    I don't like to eat any snacks that don't contain dark chocolate. That's where I spend my calories.

     

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