Le Chocolat

I thought I was an elitist when it came to chocolate. Apparently, I have nothing on the French.

I remember during French class spending five minutes practicing the correct pronunciation of

"le chocolat." My professor justified this tangent by claiming that mispronouncing this word is offensive to French ears. I thought his was exaggerating a smidge. But then I tasted gourmet French chocolate this weekend and realized that it was no exaggeration. My brother-in-law was kind enough to share his birthday chocolate that just arrived from Paris.

A box of chocolates of world renowned chocolatier, Christian Constant

I never had the pallet for dark chocolate - or so I thought. Apparently I was not eating the right kind of chocolate. Now eating milk chocolate just tastes too sweet. I love the texture of Christian Constant's chocolates - they are so smooth. He also takes the most interesting ingredients - by interesting I mean it sounds disgusting - to make the most complimentary tastes. For example, I enjoyed the rose and raisin chocolate. Sounds disgusting, right?

Au Contraire, Mon Frère

It was incredible.

A bar of chocolate from La Maison du Chocolat

They polish each individual chocolate at this establishment.

So I am a convert to French chocolate. As for pronouncing "le chocolat" perfectly, I wouldn't want to offend French ears because then they might not give me their chocolate.