Chocolate - Our Gather' ing Love

I LOVE CHOCOLATE!  It is definitely an addiction.   

And I am looking forward to the approaching Valentines Day!  Everyone is on a diet now a days, so I cannot wait for the day after Valentines when everyone to brings their chocolates to work to be finished off.  I cannot tell whether it’s the phenylethylamines that have been reported to raise spirits (and even improve their sex drive – wink wink).  Maybe it’s the flavonoids that have been attributed to good health.    

And I am not alone.  The history channel  reports that there are 1,241 manufacturers of chocolate in the US, and Answers.com says that we eat 2.8 billion pounds of chocolate annually.  

So, I am taking a break from my warmongering military studies articles that I usually write and have decided to wander around Gather to see what I could find about chocolate.   Searching by TAGS, I found 29 pages of articles about chocolate.  The first three pages were published just this month.  Wow!  I knew I liked this community!  So l decided to confine my research to articles written this month, and this is what I found: 

First, Shannon " Gainin' New and Improved Connections " W. wrote a nice article  giving everyone a little background into chocolate from a cooking perspective. 

Quickly my research discovered that Shannon was going to quickly become my new best friend when I saw that she was the most prolific writer of chocolate recipes on Gather: Chocolate Nut Brittle , Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Truffle Cake , Five Minute Fudge , Chocolate Rum Bundt Cake , Mexican Red Mole , Chocolate Rum Bundt Cake , Easy Almond Joy Fudge Brownies ,Chocolate Pizza , One-Bowl Chocolate Cake , Chocolatey Banana Empanadas , Peanut Butterey Fudge "Muffins" , Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Cake , 3 Chocolate & Caramel Apples , Cranberry Chocolate Crumble , Chocolate Explosion , Raspberry Chocolate Brownies , Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake .  But she was not alone as Sue S.  contributed Dove Unconditional Chocolate Ice Cream;  Nichole K  provided us with  Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake , Chocolate Orange Supreme Cheesecake and  Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake;  Michelle O.  tempted us with Rocky Road Truffles , Truffle Tarts With Raspberries , Chocolate Ricotta Pie , Valentine Brownie Cupcakes;   Pamela E.  courted us withChocolate Tiramisu , Banana Crunch Bars and Deep Chocolate Brownies;  Sandy S.  seduced us with  Marshmallows and Chocolate Cherry Pie;  Patti W.  stimulated us with 3 Chocolate Terrine and Mocha Cherry Cake; and lastly, Penny H. entices us with Whopper Chocolate Cake  

Good stuff!   

Now desserts weren’t the only thing I found!   Four Gather members combined chocolates with another of my favorites, booze! Patti W.  made a pate with  Chocolate and Rum, Donald H.  made a Pecan pie with Chocolate & Guinness Stout, and Kurt Michael Friese  had us make a mousse with port & chocolate.  Lastly Shannon W. showed us how to enjoy a Berry Chocolate 'tini, or maybe instead an  almond chocolate coffee.  

But wait, there is more.  Chocolate has other uses as reported by Gather members:

Sandy S.  shows us how to make chocolate lip gloss, and Jon Scharf writes how we can use chocolate to get more sex.     

Lastly, Jim H.  provides us games where chocolate is mentioned: Name anything to do with Valentines Day starting with the letter 'C'. , Name anything to do with Valentines Day starting with the letter 'B'.  , Name a dessert starting with the letter 'D'. 

Ahhh, CHOCOLATE.  This Gather community is all right!!