The most wonderful time of the year...and I'm not talking about Christmas

Ciao my friends!  I haven't gone into a chocolate coma yet, however I'm probably teetering on the edge of one.  I'm not even ashamed to say that I had chocolate for breakfast this morning.  It was delicious.  I wish every morning could start in such a glorious way.  And in case you're wondering why I'm making such a fuss about chocolate, let me remind you that this weekend was the CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL IN VICENZA!  

It's my favorite time of the whole year.   Rain couldn't keep me away, and neither could mono.  Which, by the way, if there is suddenly an epidemic of this fun virus in Northern Italy, I apologize.  We'll just call it "even", Italy.  

Heidi and I put our game face on and ventured out in the early afternoon.  I meant serious business.  Within the first five minutes I had already consumed the first of many chocolate treats.  One stand I raved about last year makes these little cups of layered white, milk, and dark chocolate mousse.  I didn't get a picture last year because I ate it too fast...well, the same goes for this year.  It was just too good.  It was gone before you could say "Instagram".  

But don't you worry.  Not five minutes after our Cup-O-Mousse (remember, we've only been at the festival for like 10 minutes at this point) we stumbled upon this treasure.  Fresh strawberries, in a cup, with warm chocolate poured on top?  Go ahead and give me three.  They are healthy, right?  The mousse had curbed my hunger for chocolate long enough for me to remember to take a picture of these...but they didn't last much longer than that. 

After the strawberries, we did about three laps of the festival, trying to make a game plan.  I wanted everything and I needed to take it slow and think logically about some decisions I had to make.  For example,  how could I make enough space in my apartment for the chocolate makers to move in?  What pieces of furniture would I need to get rid of in order to store the millions of truffles I needed to buy?  Would John Ralph be upset if I used his credit card to purchase all of the chocolate at the festival?  

In my opinion, these were decisions would best be made after enjoying the calming effects of a warm, frothy cappuccino.  (We'll ignore the fact that my mono had me feeling a little loopy and that I really just needed to sit down and recharge.)  The cappuccino did help clear my head, and I decided instead of purchasing the whole festival, I would settle for half.  

We ventured back out into the sights and sweet smells that filled the square, and I started small by purchasing four truffles:  coconut, hazelnut  Nutella, and pistachio.  Then I headed to another stand and got a few more.  I couldn't possibly settle for four.  After the second stand, I went to another stand and got some other pretty things (seen above).  And finally I headed to another stand where I got John Ralph some chocolate covered dried fruit.  Forty euro later, I had a delicious assortment of treats.  

I'm not going to even tell you how much is left, because I don't want to be judged.  I will say it's more than zero, but way less that 40 euros worth.  Surprisingly, the chocolate covered fruit will make it to John Ralph.  I wasn't going to make the same mistake I made last year, buying him things I like and having to save them.  That was brutal.  But I don't have time to waste on chocolate covered dried fruit.  I'm only interested in chocolate covered chocolate.  

I'm a little sad that this wonderful festival only happens once a year.  I think it should at least be bi-weekly, but I guess it's best for my blood sugar and weight that it isn't.  It surely didn't disappoint, and I'm already starting to count down the days until next year.  When it comes to chocolate festivals, Italy knows what's up.