YUMMY to all of the above. I was just thinking, they say you are what you eat....If thats true, I would make a wonderful meal for a cannibal as most of my body must be solid chocolate by now. I'm ppositive at least my left thigh and entire rear end is anyway, lol....

my ex used to have a shop that sold gourmet chocolate. He sold all kinds including Lindt which was good, but the absolute best were Belgian, especially the truffles. My favorites were dark on the outside, dark and creamy on the inside. Eating one of those was the most satisfying chocolate experience you can imagine and spoiled me completely. Compared to those, Hershey's tastes like water!

Vicki, See's CHocolate is onlyl here prior to Christmas. They have a kiosk in the mall for about 6 weeks. They give free samples when you walk by. I walked back and forth one day and got two! They were sharing chocolate brickle. My mouth is watering just thinking about them.

DJ, don't go talking about my Hershey's like that! I'm a Hershey's MILK CHOCOLATE FREAK. I've had many different kinds of chocolate, but love Hershey's the best. I'm Plain Jane... even when it comes to my chocolate!

The company I work for uses a translation company that is located in Belgium. We always look forward to when they visit the states and Christmas because we always get a box of Belgian truffles and they are the ultimate!

I'm in Meredith's camp -- DARK chocolate all the way. And for those who like secrets, here's one: Godiva chocolate is in fact made right here in my home town in Pennsylvania -- but it isn't for sale anywhere in this town. It's a BIG secret. It's made by the Wilbur Chocolate factory and is nearly industry 'insider' news. There's only one other person I know who knows this and everyone else thinks I'm cracked!

As for Hershey's -- hmm. Yes, sorry Dots - WATER! I live 40 minutes from Hershey. It's the town where my son's medical center is. I can't tell you how many times I've been to Hershey Park, Hershey Chocolate World, etc. But Hershey's isn't the upper tier, baby!

I even used a Hershey's - Godiva comparisson in a recent book review I did of Dawn River's Baker's The Rise of the Phoenix! Ha!

Anyway, growin' up in Lititz meant growin' up beneath the smell of chocolate. It permeated everything. I am one block from the factory and have been all my life. You got so used to it people would come into town and "ooh" and "ahh" over the smells and you'd be wondering what their main malfunction was.

But on certain days...no matter how long you lived here...you would certainly know they were roasting the beans. It was especially nice in winter...whetted your appetite for that hot cocoa we would go buy for a dime out of the machine at the local laundromat in the alley after sledding all afternoon.

Sadly, a few years back Wilbur moved the roasters to another of their sites in Mount Joy. Now Lititz no longer smells of Chocolate but rather of asphault trucks with leaky stoppers.

Times change.

Garrie, I live not too far from McCormick's Spice Company. There are times the neighborhood smells like your spice of choice. The aroma makes mymouth water. It's a good thing I', not smelling chocolate!

Meredith, my two words are:

milk chocolate!

Chocolate, any kind, shape or form and in anything. Did you know Baskin Robbins(sp) has no sugar added? The last month they had something similar to Mudd Pie.
Maggie

YUMMMMM!!! A chocolate story ....ok...I have one. My husband and I went to Florida to visit his ex-in-laws (thats a story in itself) We were doing our touristy thingy and we came across a fudge factory. I love fudge. We sat and watched them make this creamy stuff for an hour. Pouring the hot melted mixture on a marble table and spreading it out to let it cool and then cut it up in pieces for the display counters. We decided to buy a couple of pounds of some fudge. We took it to his in-laws to have as desert after dinner. We figured we had bought enough fudge to last the week. The next night after dinner I was craving some of that fudge and asked for some. The two in-laws looked at me and liked we never brought it into the house. They just ignored me. I kept asking for some and they continued to ignore me. Finally my husband and I came to the conclusion they must have ate it all or hid it. That was a lot of chocolate. I only got a tiny piece of that batch. We laugh about that. I know now not to give me them all of the fudge next time...hehehe.

Dark chocolate is my favorite. The darker the better. I love Godiva..especially the "open shell oysters". I had a friend that would send me a small box of them for my birthday in the mail. Well one year he sent them and over the weekend and I received nothing but a chocolate gooooo. It was a mess...all the chocolate had melted over the weekend sitting in the warehouse waiting to be delivered. They did send another box the next day that was much better.

Another story....my husband loves Gold Brick eggs that comes out at Easter time. But its a hunt to find them every year. Not everyone carries them. We have found them at different Walmarts...(not every Walmart has them). So this time every year its an Easter Egg Hunt to find this brand of chocolate egg. Well the other day we were in Walgreens and he found a whole box of them. He bought them...the eggs were eaten in a week. So he went and bought two more boxes to put in the freezer to store them up. We hit the jack pot this year. Next year will be a different story.

I too am a DARK CHOCOLATE person, however I don't seem to turn down milk chocolate. There are so many stories about chocolate, where does one begin. I grew up in DC and there was Gifford's Ice Cream. They had wonderful chocolate, especially on their sundaes. No one has mentioned Giradelli Chocolate, the one from San Francisco. I've only been there once, but there chocolate is many places, Graul's in Baltimore. As the the Baltimore Berger Cookies, they have become my husband's favorite. I keep a box in 1 special cupboard, and 2 of my sons friends go directly there when they arrive. I've also been known to send these cookies to my sons at college and even some of their friends and my cousins children who are in college at exam time. Of course you can't include the cup of cold milk, but they can get that. I love chocolate and mint, anykind, and my favorite candy bar is Mounds and Peppermint Patty's. The girl scout Mint cookies are good also, especially frozen. I also make a mean chocolate cheesecake, that was published in Southern Living Nov. 1981. My sons have become proficient at it also. Of course there are the coconut macaroons dipped in dark chocolate sold at both Grauls and Eddies. I could go on and on, strawberries dipped in chocolate, etc. Help now instead of dinner I seem to have a craving for chocolate. Yum Yum....

Oh good...I can talk about liking chocolate; I've just never had chocolate that sent me over the moon <g>. Peanut butter and chocolate - yum! That mint & chocolate that gives you a sensation...what's it called? Something patty... I especially like bittersweet chocolate and the chocolate coating on Dove ice cream bars. I've had Godiva and it's good, my girlfriend *loves* Godiva but I don't get it. It's good but not great, ya know? Mini M&M's in the freezer; peanut butter chocolate frozen pie <great recipe for that one>, Ghiradelli cocoa and bittersweet chocolate bars...