Teri and the Chocolate Factory. A True Story. (In Smell-O-Vision.)

Can anything make you happier than looking up and seeing this on the side of a building?

So don't be shy! Come on in! We did. We walked RIGHT through that door, because Lisa is the WONDERFUL friend who BOOKED a tour for us. Of a chocolate factory. A TOUR THROUGH A CHOCOLATE FACTORY!

When you open the door, you are lovingly caressed by the scent of chocolate. It's like a wall of good-smell. It's like walking into a dreamy version of SMELL-O-VISION. If heaven exists, this is it. And I've been there. Because my brilliant friend picked up the telephone and MADE IT SO.

You'll find stacks of delicious organic free trade chocolate bars here. And even better, you will find batches of chocolate samples at every turn!

And so WHAT if you have to wear nerdy little hair nets? You also get to sample coffee. And who doesn't LOVE chocolate and coffee? (that's a rhetorical question)

Paully is giving me stink eye here, because I felt compelled to document every step of our journey. And who could blame me?

We got to trounce through a chocolate factory. Specifically, we got to trounce through the Theo Chocolate factory, the ONLY organic, fair trade, bean to bar chocolate factory in the United States! Here we go, to see what happens when the beans arrive on their doorstep.

We learned how the beans go through some nifty looking machinery to be mushed and mashed and ground-up and stirred and wrapped in love....

Until they come out of the big green machine looking like this. Liquid. Liquid gold....

And finally this:

I bought lots of things for wee Christmas gifts. And I bought myself one of these. I haven't opened it yet. I'm saving it for a rainy day. And wouldn't you know it? It's pouring out there today....

Did I mention that Theo Chocolate does MAIL ORDER? Even to CANADA apparently (though I haven't quite extracted the details on that from their website).

I'll leave you with this action shot. There's a slight wiggle-action in this shot because I was holding the bowl in one hand and my camera in the other (my hand is on the left, clutching the bowl for dear life). And then Mister Man puts his big ol' paw in there (on the right) and tries to yank the bowl away from me saying "come on now - people are waiting for their sample". Silly Mister Man. As if everyone hadn't eaten their weight in chocolate samples by that point on the tour!