Tuesday, 2/2

 I guess that may count as strike two.

I wrote in here a week or two ago about how I felt I was starting to tire of eating chocolate. Or, at least, starting to tire of eating chocolate with crushed-up candy canes in it. Well, I had another piece of chocolate yesterday and, for the second time this year, it made me question reality. It made me question if I actually want to keep eating chocolate.

Maybe the world really IS coming to an end.

This time around it's actually another piece of chocolate we were gifted over the holidays. If you recall, almost EVERY gift we received had chocolate as at least one component to it, and we've been trying to sample as much as we can without blowing up, figuratively and literally. One of the gifts was milk-chocolate covered gummies in the shape of the UP. It's kind of a cool idea, and I was looking forward to trying them out.

However, the gummies come in a variety of flavors, one of which was watermelon. I don't know who thought a milk chocolate covered watermelon gummy in the shape of the UP was a good idea, but just let me say, as someone who's eaten his fair share of chocolate and who tries to keep an open mind about anything that has to do with it--

No. Just no.

I'm not quite sure why someone would've thought that a chocolate covered watermelon gummy would be a good idea; after all, you don't drizzle chocolate sauce on freshly sliced watermelon, do you? And since most gummies amp up the sour factor (one reason, in all honesty, why I don't really eat many), having a really sour candy covered by a really sweet chocolate (such as milk chocolate) really, really doesn't work.

It's like brushing your teeth with mint toothpaste, then drinking a glass of milk, and then eating an orange, all in a 10-second span.

Admittedly, the cherry-flavored and orange flavored UP gummies were quite good covered with the chocolate. However, since they all look the same covered in chocolate, and since you never knew which one you'd be getting—watermelon, orange, or cherry—it was kind of like playing Russian Roulette with your taste buds.

Not an experience I'd recommend.

So now twice since the turn of the year I've questioned my relationship with one of my favorites foods. Of all the things I hoped would be ushered in with 2021, this was NOT one of them. With the way the world is these days I can't say I'm 100% surprised, but this was definitely not one of them.

(jim@wmqt.com)