Who decided that the first week of the new year was the time to scare the hell out of folks.
All the headlines concern the things that are projected to happen this year that will have dire consequences.  Most of us havent even received our credit card bills from Christmas and we are already faced with a headline that predicts a worldwide shortage of the cocoa bean and therefore a worldwide shortage of chocolate.  Personally I could live with a little less chocolate but sometimes a box or a bar of the stuff is about the only thing that will pull your fat out of the fire.  Can you imagine going to a movie without a box of chocolate covered almonds.  What is valentines going to be like without those giant chocolate coated strawberries?  I shudder to think of the chaos.  However, after some thought on the subject, I have come up with an answer.  Today, and I mean no later than, go to you local supermarket and buy two packages of chocolate chips.  Get either milk chocolate or dark, according to your preference, and squirrel them away.  Deep in the freezer, behind your clothes in the closet.  Some place where they cant be found by the chocolate craving zombies who are sure to roam the land in the near future looking for hoards of the precious stuff.  Dole them out to yourself one chip at a  time until the shortage is corrected.  This could be a trick by the powers to be in the world of cocoa production as a means to raise prices but you never know.  There could also be a fungus amung us that kills cocoa trees.  Be safe and not sorry.

I just saw a group of news clips about the celebs that were photoged on the ski slopes.  The people who choose the items to show us on such clips should be examined by professionals .  Who in the wide world of I dont give a damn cares about what Paris Hilton wears while sking.  The coldest month I ever spent in my life was 3 days in Vail Colorado in January.  Not only can you not breathe because of the altitude but you are afraid to inhale for fear that your lungs will freeze.  Any city that has gas heaters lining the sidewalks so that people can get from one ski shop to the next without dying of hyperthermia is a place I feel you ought to avoid.  And for those celebs that chose a warmer christmas season about the same applies.  Which of us cares what Gwen Stefani or Kim Kardashian looks like in a bikini?  Gwen is preggers and Kim probably is also if she went out for New Years.

On a positive note I just saw a Kitchen Daily news release that was entitled ” 6 Brunch Recipes Worth Waking Up For”.  It basically stated that you should avoid the hurried preparation of an early breakfast in favor of a more langourous ritual.  I am pretty sure Langourous means lazy.  It sounds like that is what it means.  I am going to use that word for a few days and see how it fits in.  The recipe for BAKED EGGS WITH ROSEMARY, GARLIC AND PARMESAN was pictured with someone dipping a piece of toast in an egg yolk.  I could eat that for breakfast and then have it again at a more langourous time like brunch.  How long do you have to wait after breakfast to have brunch?  If you have brunch do you then have to skip lunch?  I guess brunch people are the same folks that have tea time at four.  I am more the breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea time, dinner and late nite snack type of fellow.  And an occasional leftover meat loaf sandwich in the middle of the nite to tide you over until its time to eat breakfast again.

Chuy