I'm Bored

Elongate the vowel sounds, add a little whine, and there you have it – my kids’ summer theme song. I typically respond with a dramatic eye roll, but who can blame them? If you live in New England, your child is longing for outdoor activity during what has been a very dreary, rainy start of summer.

In an effort to prove that boredom can spawn creativity and imagination, we’re making a list of “Fun Things To Do When It’s Raining” - and in this economy, “inexpensive” is inferred. Of course, some of the obvious activities made the list such as visit the library, read a good book, play a board game, and my addition, take a nap. (Insert child’s dramatic eye roll.)

I was pleasantly surprised when the kids added ideas such as try a new recipe, learn to type, and organize their bedrooms. We can all benefit from such an assignment. It’s a great way to circumvent monotony, and you might even discover something new in your area.


Manchester, New Hampshire residents can add “Tour Van Otis Chocolates” to their lists. Tours are offered at the Elm Street facility every Wednesday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. during the summer season (June – August). Kids and accompanying adults will learn about the process of handmade confections and the best part – it’s FREE! For additional information, visit http://www.vanotischocolates.com and select “upcoming events”.

Who's Your Daddy?

Hopefully you’re not living the Mama Mia experience, and you read that as a rhetorical question - but I digress.

I honorably scoured the internet for statistics to support the following assumption – finding a meaningful Father’s Day gift is a pain in the caboose for most of us. No such research exists so I’m proclaiming my statement as fact.

Most men are hobbyists. Whether they fish, golf, hunt, boat, bike, hike, garden, read – you get the picture – they typically have outfitted their interests with all necessary equipment and accessories. It’s natural to want to purchase a gift that recognizes the hobby and professes your gift-giving prowess, but often we’re forced to bestow a specialty store gift card or bobble-headed icon with “World’s Greatest (Insert Hobby)”. There’s just nothing left to buy. He has it all.

Buying a gift for my dad is even more problematic; Father’s Day, his wedding anniversary, and his birthday all fall within a 3-4 week timeframe. Thankfully the saying, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” applies to my pop. Van Otis offers specialty items that recognize the hobbyist and his sweet tooth. I’m seriously considering the 9 oz. solid milk chocolate frame. By inserting a picture of myself, I’ve given him his two favorite things – chocolate and me!

I hope my sister doesn’t read this.

Warning: This Article May Contain Traces of Nuts

Our party hosts decided to make this past New Year’s celebration more interesting by having a wine tasting competition. Each guest was instructed to bring a covered bottle of wine from a specific country. The wine was to be accompanied by a food item and guests judged the best red, best white, and best wine/food combo. Wine-themed prizes, such as bottle openers and wine glass tags, were awarded to the winners.

This may give you the illusion of a sophisticated sort sipping expensive glasses of wine while discussing stock market trends. Honestly, it was a bunch of rural neophytes trying to branch out. Most of the crowd had a beer readied to wash away the real potential of a bad tasting vino.


There were some clear winners, and we all agreed that the food accompaniment really aided the standouts. The simplest combinations of red wine and chocolate, and one of my favorites, red wine and cashews were the best.


If you want to impress guests at your next party (or win the unfortunate set of wine glass tags that won’t wrap around your beer stein), strategically place dishes of Van Otis cashews near the conversation clusters. These cashews are extra large, giving them a well-deserved position in the appetizer category. They are also incredibly sweet; there’s no burnt or bitter aftertaste that you experience with most exaggerated shelf-life, retail nuts.

Cheers!

Strung Out on Chocolate

That old saying, “Life is like a box of chocolates - You never know what you’re going to get,” may not be 100% true!

While touring the Van Otis kitchen for the first time, I found stringing to be one of those “Oh, cool!” moments. I had never really looked closely at the chocolates I ate; they usually just go from box to mouth and don’t spend much time in between. What I learned was that as the chocolates come off the enrobing (coating with chocolate) line, they are individually – and still manually – marked according to what’s inside them. For example, “R” for raspberry, “O” for orange, “L” for lemon, “P” for pineapple, is initialed by a gloved hand on each and every piece. Sometimes they’re given colored toppings like the pistachio creams, which are sprinkled with green coconut. (There are too many fillings beginning with “P”, forcing creativity!)

At Van Otis this process is still done by hand. At other companies, where the chocolates are mass produced, equipment is used where a chain is dragged across the chocolates to create a particular design.

Stringing is typically a way of marking the chocolates to indicate what’s inside, and “drizzling” is a way of decorating the chocolates with opposite chocolate types (white on dark, dark on milk, etc.). Drizzling is done by dipping a dowel in melted chocolate and…well…drizzling it over another confection. Drizzling techniques are used to decorate Van Otis’ chocolate dipped pretzels, the Van Krispie and Van Oreos, etc.

Now that I know each Van Otis chocolate was created with individual care, I pause just a millisecond longer before popping it into my mouth. Mmmm…