"The Bowl" if you buy a Theo bar with any mix ins, it has gone through this bowl.

Good Morning Everyone!

So our day began early yesterday morning, as we had to be at the Chocolate Box by 8:30. Since we spent the first couple of days sleeping in until 8 am, having to leave our hotel that early was a bit rough, but totally worth it! The first thing they gave us was hot chocolate (REAL hot chocolate, not the crappy powdered stuff). The tour is both informative (we learned quite a bit about how chocolate is made and about the industry itself) and tasty (we got to eat a lot of chocolate). The couple that owns the Chocolate Box also owns Simply Seattle (a souvenir shop) and 106 Pine (a wine shop next door to the Chocolate Box; they also do wine tours, which we have added to our list of things to do on the next trip). Our tour guide was fabulous, although George did have to correct him about Pantera being thrash, and not death, metal (there is a stern difference, and apparently death metal is crap). On the tour, we went to three different chocolate shops in the Seattle area. The first stop was Theo’s (the only certified organic and certified free- trade chocolate producer in the United States. Theo’s is also one of the only bean-to-bar shops—meaning, it is both a roaster and melter. The chocolate plant uses old German (40s-50s) machinery to roast the beans and make chocolate. Theo’s also makes some very unusual flavors, like Buttered Bread Chocolate (which was good, with the salty sweet combo) and Coconut Curry (which we did not care for because of the curry...in fact, on a personal level, it was pretty nasty and the after taste was difficult to kick). Our next stop was O’s Chocolate, where we “learned” (they really did not teach us anything) how to hand temper chocolate. I was not fond of the process as far as results go, but it was sure fun to work with the chocolate! Our third stop was at Fran’s. If the name is familiar to you, it might be because President Obama was asked in an interview what his favorite chocolates were and he responded, “Fran’s smoked salt chocolate caramel.” Yeah, for nostalgic (and apparently geeky historical purposes) George hasn’t eaten his free sample yet. Dork! The tour ended at106 Pine (the wine shop), where we were given iced hot chocolate with chocolate whipped cream! Yum! All in all, the tour was completely worth the early wake up!

For lunch, we went across the street to Zaina, where we had probably the best Gyro’s ever! After, we walked down the hill to the Seattle Aquarium, where we got to see all kinds of local marine life. While they have less jellyfish than the Monterrey Bay Aquarium (and no white shark) it was definitely on par. We got to go to the dome under the Puget Sound, just in time for afternoon feeding! That was pretty cool!

In the evening, we drove around and ended up in the International District for dinner. We ate at the food court, definitely not our best meal. I take the blame, or at least George is making me L After dinner, we drove through downtown (almost up and down every street for a last look) and the waterfront again. We are sad to be leaving Seattle, as we both really like it here, but we are excited to see other places. And, we know we will definitely travel back here to do all the things we have missed.

Love,

George and Johanna

Again for more pictures look on facebook! :-)