The Chocolate Notebook®: Second Edition and Self-Care for 2020 and beyond
It’s not just about the chocolate…
Chocolate has a deeper meaning for me than a PMS craving or Valentine’s Day gift.
In Deep Thought
When I think of chocolate, I am reminded of our connection to nature, people, and thousands of years of history. Questions always run through my mind when I open a new bar: Where did the cacao come from? Who grew it? Who made it into chocolate? Why are they making chocolate anyway? Why do cacao origins taste so different? Does that matter? Why aren’t more women making it when they are the biggest consumers? Why is it so hard to run a profitable chocolate business? I write down ideas and opinions in my chocolate notebook as I contemplate the answers to all these questions.
The notebook grounds me.
It brings me back to the heart of what I enjoy most about cacao: the enjoyment of tasting chocolate in community.
My Self-Care
Especially this year, with daily parenting struggles, personal loss of dear loved ones, and the never ending routine of being stuck at home; I have felt disconnected and isolated from the world. With all the chocolate festivals, retreats, conferences canceled, I recognize the privilege of having attended any of those in the first place.
Virtually connecting to the chocolate community, allowing me to continue this journey and love for cacao has been the cure to my chocolate loneliness. The internet is that critical link to engage, learn, and experience chocolate remotely. Online learning brought me back to how I first embraced cacao and chocolate 9 years ago. Through these experiences, I have traveled the world meeting people across time zones, language barriers, and nationalities; documenting all my feelings, and experiences while sitting at my dining room table. I am now even more hopeful and excited for 2021 knowing that there will always be a path, fulfilling my never ending eagerness to learn, share, and connect in chocolate.
Record, Reflect, Repeat
The Chocolate Notebook has been there through it all: It is a journal, a keepsake of the joy I experience in a moment in time. When I sit and taste a bar, bite into a bon bon, or sip drinking chocolate I am present; for those few moments I am not a mom, caretaker, wife, or employee. I am a woman connecting to her inner spirit, reveling in the miracle of a complex divine food. The second edition of the notebook has been completely redesigned to align with ones own chocolate dreams, plans, tastings, and schedule. The flow is intentional, reflective, spacious and as creative as you want. Whichever way you choose to enjoy chocolate, regardless of your background, interests, style, or preferences, the notebook is accommodating, and forgiving.
The notebook is deeply meaningful, and profoundly personal, right there with you as you journey through the complex and never boring world of cacao.