5 Months of Wedded Bliss

I woke up pretty early yesterday and spent some time in the blog-o-sphere before making breakfast. Once I was ready to eat, I made a wheat bagel toasted with smart balance and topped with almond butter and frog jam. On the side, I had a nice bowl of watermelon. It was a nice breakfast and fueled me up for the day ahead.

After breakfast, I spent a couple of hours deep cleaning the bathrooms and the kitchen. By the time I finished, the dear husband was back from his long run so the morning timing worked out perfectly. We were heading out to run some errands and my stomach was starting to growl so I ate a banana.

We did a couple of our errands and then stopped for lunch. We ate at Spinnaker’s which is a local family owned place with a nice variety of food. They are famous for their flower pot bread so we started with that.

For lunch, I ordered the grilled chicken panini and fries. The panini had grilled chicken, spinach, mozzarella (!!), red onions and honey dijon mustard. It was so good! I ate most of the panini and a couple of the fries. For some reason, the fries were not appealing to me at all which is probably a good thing.

After lunch, we went to Barnes and Noble to look around and to get a starbucks. I got a soy caramel latte to see how it would compete with my favorite vanilla latte. It was good, but I think I like the vanilla better.

Once we were all buzzed up, we headed home to relax for the rest of the afternoon. Around 5:30, I decided to do my 15 minute clean up before dinner instead of after. I vacuumed the downstairs and decluttered a little bit. This 15 minute thing really is doing so much for our house. I have been thinking of all of the things that I can accomplish in 15 minutes and plan to make a list soon. One of the things that has really been helping me is that I am keeping in mind that I am not trying to achieve perfection just clean and tidy.

We were both feeling uninspired for dinner. I wanted to do something nice since it was our 5 month wedding anniversary and our 25 months since we met anniversary. We had pretty much decided on just going to the italian place just a mile or two away when I read this post on Jenna’s blog. They were headed to the Bonefish Grill and that sounded perfect. We hopped in the car and made it there around 6:45.

For appitizer, we started with the bang bang shrimp. I  had heard awesome things about it and it had been on my mind to try it for a really long time. It greatly exceeded my expectations! I had a light breading and then it was tossed in a creamy spicy sauce that reminded us both of the spicy mayo they use on sushi. We gobbled it down!

Then came the wonderful bread with the lovely olive oil and pesto which I could probably make a meal out of.

And then there was soup, a nice corn crab chowder that I will be trying to duplicate at home come fall.

For dinner, I ordered the pistachio crusted rainbow trout with garlic whipped potatoes and veggies. As you can imagine, by this time, I wasn’t really hungry anymore so I only had a few bites and we boxed up the rest.

When we made it home, we were both really tired so we climbed into bed with our books and called it a night.

QOTD: I have decided that I am going to start the Couch To 5K running program which requires one to run three times per week which I think I can manage. When I ran before, I ran 5 days a week and would love to be back there again. How many days per week do you run?

Frustrating Friday

As per usual, I woke up late but I was still able to cook a nice bowl of oats for breakfast. I used some 7 grain cereal cooked with hemp milk, a dash of sea salt and a mashed banana. Once it was finished cooking, I stirred in a well beaten egg and let it sit for a few minutes. Then I mixed in some ground flax seed and topped it all off with some blueberries. It was a hearty and filling breakfast to start my day off right.

I got to work and it was a nutso house. Everyone seemed to be having problems with their computers and getting those things resolved was not on my original agenda. Unfortunately, Friday is a big deadline day for me so I was really stressed out. When I looked at the clock and realized I had almost missed staff lunch, I was relieved to be able to take a break. I went downstairs to check out the pickings. It was roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and roasted green beans. Comfort food just when I needed it though I had to work and eat and work and eat. It took me about an hour to finish it. TGIF!

About mid afternoon, I was looking for a pick me up and some chocolate was just the ticket. I broke off a few squares of some endangered species dark chocolate with hazelnut toffee. It really hit the spot though I couldn’t really taste the hazelnut flavor at all.

I ended up working late so the dear husband was in charge of dinner. He made us salads with lettuce, tomato, cukes, grapes, sea salt, oil and vinegar along with and Amy’s Organic frozen roasted veggie cheese-less pizza. It was ready as soon as I walked in the door so we ate right away. The pizza is so darn good! If I am happy about eating less dairy for any reason at all, discovering this pizza is it!

After dinner, I caught up on my google reader which collected 29 posts since this morning and then I settled in with my book. I decided to skip the 15 minute clean up because I am doing deep cleaning today and the house is really tidy looking already. Around 7:30, we decided to rent a movie on demand and we ende up watching “The Other Bolyn Girl”. It was pretty interesting with lots of plot twists and the costumes were beautiful. By movies end, my stomach was growling and for some reason it was telling me almond butter and jam. So, I made an almond butter and cherry jam on whole wheat sandwich. After the sandwich, it was bed time for sure.

QOTD: How do you deal with stress while you are at work and can’t get away? Lately, I seem to be hitting the chocolate

A Rainy Thursday

I started yesterday in a rush again, so it was cold cereal for breakfast. I mixed some clifford crunch with the last of the dorset cereal. I topped it with some almonds, a banana and vanilla hemp milk. It was a nice combo but most importantly, it was fast!

breakfast

Things were busy already when I got to work, it was every ones first day back from the aerification so everyone was geared up. The bad news was that we were having torrential down pours so the superintendent closed the course. I thought it was ironic that it had been closed for 10 days and the day we were supposed to re-open the skies opened up instead. It rained and poured most of the day, I guess hurricane Fay finally made her way to VA which is good because we really need the rain.

Around 11:30 I was hungry and the staff lunch wasn’t to my liking so I rummaged my little “pantry” and the mini fridge and came up with a nice little lunch. I had some white chocolate dreams PB and a little honey on a whole wheat wrap along side some edamame and a juicy peach. I only finished about half of the edamame you see because I was getting filled up and I really wanted to eat the peach!

lunch

I stayed very busy during the afternoon and it flew by. Before I knew it, I was rushing out of the door to make it to my hair appointment on time. While I was in the car, I realized my stomach was growling so I ate a cherry pie larabar that was in my purse. I saved the wrapper and took the pic once I was parked at the hair salon 😉

snack

After my hair cut, I headed home and made a quick dinner. I had already taken out some turkey pasta sauce from the freezer so all there was to do was cook the whole wheat pasta and heat up the sauce. And as usual, the dear husband made a small salad with lettuce, tomato and cukes topped with oil and vinegar. Once we started dinner, I realized that I wasn’t actually that hungry so I ate very little but the dear husband polished it off for me with no problem.

dinner

For my 15 clean-up, I worked on cleaning out the freezer. After all of that, I was really tired and ready to rest. I settled in with my book and called it a night.

QOTD: How do you unwind after a long busy day?

Back to Work

Getting out of bed to go back to work really sucks 🙂 I ended up sleeping late and was running behind, as per usual for a work day. For breakfast, I had a bowl of clifford crunch cereal mixed with cinnamon start cereal topped a banana, some almonds and vanilla hemp milk. I am really starting to like the hemp milk, I still like the hazelnut milk better but since the hemp is more readily available, I think it will be my new go to milk.

fast breakfast

I arrived at work to find an overflowing inbox, both email and desktop, and a blinking voicemail light. And to my dismay, within a half hour of driving through the gate into the land of grass, my head was blaring. I called my doc and told him everything I had done both holistically and medically and he wants me to take zyrtec d which I will start tomorrow. I had hoped that I could cure myself without medication but at this point it seems like it is meds or my job. What is a girl to do?

Around 11, I decided to have a snack because I had no idea when lunch would be. I ate a hand full of baked tofu triangles and a small bowl of watermelon. I must thank the lovely Gliding Calm because I always see here eating baked tofu as a snack which I had never thought of. After today, I am sure this will be a go to snack from here on out. I just baked it with a little sea salt but plan to experiment with different glazes and marinades.

snack

Around 12:30, The Pro arrived with lunch. Since the club was still closed, he went to Red Robin and picked up salads. I got a cobb salad with honey poppyseed dressing; it was pretty tasty and very filling. And on a side note, I did eat the blue cheese because at this point, I think I have decided that cutting dairy isn’t the solution I was hoping for.

cobb salad

The afternoon buzzed by with lots to do and I was able to leave on time. Once I made it home, I made one of our old favorites for dinner, BBQ Tofu Pizza which is an idea I got from Monica many many moons ago. For the crust I used whole wheat pita and then topped it with BBQ sauce, onions sauteed in earth balance and balsamic vinegar, baked tofu triangles and vegan “cheese”. I was a little nervous about the “cheese” but it turned out great. On the side, the dear husband made salads with lettuce, tomato, cukes, oil and vinegar. It was a nice dinner and I am looking forward to making it again soon.

bbq tofu pizza

After dinner, I did my 15 minute clean up and then relaxed with my book. Though I prefer to be on vacation, it was nice to be back to normal again.

QOTD: What are you favorite pizza toppings? My all time favorite is pepperoni and cheese but I also like goat cheese with tomatoes and basil and the pizza we made last night.

Last Day of Vacation

I woke up around 7:30 and started my last day of vacation with a bowl of 7 grain cereal. I cooked it in vanilla hemp milk, a mashed banana, some sea salt and just before turning off the stove, I mixed in a well beaten egg. I topped it with some “on their last leg” blueberries and a spoonfull of almond butter. This bowl of hot cereal was excellent. It was rich and creamy and really filled me up and kept me going for most of the morning.

After breakfast, I started on my quest for a clean house. Something that hasn’t really happened since I moved into a much larger house with my dear husband. As I have mentioned before, I am a perfectionist and this has led to me never starting any thing when it comes to house work. So, slowly but surely, I have been getting the house in order as a starting point for my new plan of action. I plan to do the nitty gritty cleaning on Saturday while the dear husband does his marathon training and then also commit to 15 minutes per day of de-cluttering. Yesterday, I was able to achieve a nice starting point.

I took a break around 1 and made lunch. I used some leftover roasted chicken to make a sandwich on whole wheat bread with lettuce, tomato and honey mustard. On the side I had more of the watermelon from Monday. The sandwich wasn’t spectacular by any stretch of the imagination but it did the trick and fueled me for the rest of my cleaning.

A little after lunch, I decided to have some of the cherry almond chocolate bar that I had on my mind for a couple of days. I ate about a 1/3 of the bar and had to really stop myself from eating the rest. It was so so good right up there with the cranberry chocolate bar from a couple days ago. Luckily, this cherry almond bar is more readily available so I can have it whenever I want!

After the cleaning was done, I made some dinner just in time for the dear husband arrival from work. I had planned to make tofu stir fry and in the midst of baking the tofu, I decided to just use up the rest of the roasted chicken and save the tofu for snacking and a meal later in the week. I loaded the stir fry with lots of mixed veggies and made a sauce with some general tsao’s sauce, chili sauce and honey. I served the stir fry on top of some brown rice I heated up from the freezer. Once we started to eat it, it seemed a little bland so I gave it a good glug of soy sauce and that was just what it needed.

After dinner, I spent 15 minutes cleaning and organizing my bedrooms drawers and then settled in with my book. It had been a nice and productive last day of vacation, I am counting the days until the next one!

QOTD: Are you a clean freak or a messy slob? I seem to be both, I can’t seem to find any middle ground which is what I am really trying to work on.

Home Sweet Home

I woke up around 7 yesterday and got to work right away on getting us home. I first made pretty  much the same breakfast that we ate the whole time we were there. A bowl of 7 grain cereal made with soymilk, mashed banana, vanilla bean paste and a dash of salt. Then once it was cooked, I topped it with some homemade trail mix. We ate our breakfast out on the deck but didn’t linger too long as we had lots to do and it was pretty muggy.

again with the trail mix

After breakfast, we got all of our things packed into the car and headed out. On our way out of town, we stopped into the local coffee shop for lattes. I got a soy toffee coffee latte and the dear husband got a soy snickerdoodle. Both were delicious and really got us ready for the long ride home.

toffee coffee latte

A few bathroom breaks later, we were finally in Chesterfield and stopped for lunch. The name of the place was Vinny’s Italian Grill and we think we have eaten there before during past travels. I ordered a bowl of italian wedding soup to start. It came with garlic bread and even though it had butter on it, I did indulge. I had been tossing around in my mind for a couple of days that if cutting dairy isn’t really helping my allergy symptoms after almost two weeks, then maybe I don’t have to be so stringent about it. Don’t get me wrong, I still plan to avoid it for now but not completely. But I digress.

I ate butter

For lunch, I ordered a chicken wrap on wheat with bacon, lettuce, tomato and honey mustard. It came with homemade chips which were so delicious. I ended up eating very little of the wrap and too many of the chips. Which I paid for later with low blood sugar symptoms from all the carbs, lesson learned.

mmmm...potatoes

Once our stomachs were full, we finished our drive home which was only about another 30 minutes. When we got home, we unpacked the car and I made my way to blogland. Oh, it was so nice to have my high speed internet back. While we were away, we were using dial up and it took me so long to blog each day. I also found out the google reader really isn’t made for using with dial up, it kept timing out as did many blogs I tried to comment on. Needless to say, I had almost 200 posts in my reader to catch up on yesterday afternoon.

Once I was all caught up with blogging, we went to the grocery store to stock up for the week. When we got home, we both kind piddled around the house and got a few things done. Around 6, we started up the grill to make some burgers. We put the burgers on ezekial buns and topped them with lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup and mustard. On the side, we had some watermelon that one of our lake neighbors was kind enough to give up on her way out! It was so good and was the first watermelon I had had all summer. I know, that is a mortal sin but it is true. I don’t like buying them unless there are plenty of people around to share otherwise, they go bad. So, I will be eating lots of watermelon these next couple of day!

After dinner, the dear husband settled into some paperwork and I settled into a book. We had a great time on our vacation but it was nice to be home.

QOTD: What is your favorite summertime fruit? I think mine has to be peaches and berries. I’m so sad all of that is coming to an end. 😦

Our Last Full Day

Yesterday, I slept until a whopping 7:30! If only I could have a few more days of vacation, maybe I could sleep until 8. I started our day with a bowl of 7 grain cereal made with soymilk, vanilla bean paste and a mashed banana. Once it was cooked, I once again topped it with homemade trail mix. This combo is so delicious and so filling, Ican see why so many in blogland eat their oats this way.

the best way to eat oats

After breakfast, we hit the pool for a couple of hours. once we started to think about lunch, we made our way back to the condo and got ready to head out. While we were getting ready, I had a small handful of wasabi peas to tide me over. I love how crunchy and spicy they are:

wasabi peas

For lunch, we went to lunch at Chopsticks, a local chinese/sushi bar/hibachi place right on the water. We ordered sushi, of course, and a bowl of miso along with a ginger dressing salad.

miso soup and ginger salad

When the sushi came, I thought it was the most beautiful presentation of sushi I had ever seen. There was a duck carved out of some sort of veggie or fruit in the middle of our rolls. We had a volcano roll, a shrimp tempura roll, a smoked salmon roll and a boston roll. The rolls were much larger than we are used to and with with my bottomless pit dear husband, we did not finish it all. My favorite was the shrimp tempura roll though I like the volcano roll quite a bit as well. We finished off our lunch with a fortune cookie.

duck and sushi

Lunch led us to the only winery on Smith Mountain lake, Hickory Hill Winery. We first did a tour and then I did a tasting. I tasted a total of nine wines and liked three of them. I ended up buying a bottle of the Smith Mountain Misto, Cabernet Franc and Redbud.

redbud

After the winery, we headed to the grocery store for dinner fixens and then back to the condo. Once there, we read for a couple of hours and then started on dinner. I made a salad with lettuce, tomato, baby cukes, orange peppers, shredded roasted chicken, sea salt, oil and vinegar. I served the salad along with a tuscan garlic loaf of bread topped with some smart balance. This meal was just what I needed, my lack of veggies was really catching up with me so it was just what I was craving.

roasted chicken on salad

brean n fake buttah

For dessert, we had some peach sorbet that pleasantly surprised me. I had never had sorbet before and it really did the trick on my ice cream craving.

peach sorbet

After dinner and dessert, we settled in for some tv and finally went to bed. We had really enjoyed our time and we didn’t want it to end. Can’t wait until next summer!

QOTD: Are you a wine drinker? What is your favorite?

A Good Day for Napping

Again, I slept in until 7 and the first thing I did was chat with my mom on the phone. Once the dear husband woke up, I made us some 7 grain cereal that we bought at the creamery on Friday. I cooked it with soymilk, vanilla bean paste and mashed banana. Once it was done, I topped it with some homemade trail mix. I really liked the banana being cooked into the cereal instead of just being cut onto the top. The banana was warm, sweet and creamy; it was delicious.

mmmm...breakfast

After breakfast, we headed to Bedford, VA. We spent most of the morning walking around the center-town area where there were loads of antique shops.  I had a peanut butter and jelly mojo bar as a snack along the way, I really liked it and it will make it’s way into my usual bar rotation.

my mojo

Around 12:30, we decided to eat lunch at a Mexican grill that was close by. We started with chips and salsa and for lunch I had mixed fajitas. This plate of food could have fed a family of 4! I filled two of the flour tortillas with the mixture of peppers, onions, steak, chicken and shrimp topped with some of the rice and beans and I still only finished about a quarter of what I was served.

fajitas

Once our bellies were filled, we went to the D-Day Memorial. It was a very interesting place and we both learned a lot about that day in history. After the tour, we were both wiped out and decided that a nap was next up on our agenda. We made our way back to the condo and slept for about an hour and a half. I woke up from my nap really hungry and ready to make dinner even though it was only about 5:00.

I made some of the homemade whole wheat pasta from our adventures on Friday and topped with with italian sausage meat sauce. On the side we had salads with salad mix, grapes and mixed peppers topped with oil and vinegar. My eyes must have WAY bigger than my stomach because I was only able to eat about a third of my pasta though I really enjoyed it. It was very flavorful and had a nice hearty texture.

pasta

After dinner, we hung around the condo reading and watching the tv. The dear husbands foot was swollen for some reason so we decided against doing much else. It was a nice and relaxing evening. For dessert, I made some famous popcorn and shortly after, we were off to bed. Our last full day awaits us!

QOTD: Do you like to have an action packed vacation or on full of rest? I think I like a little of both.

Somewhat lazy, Somewhat active

I was able to sleep in a little yesterday, I didn’t wake up until 7! I made the dear husband and I am nice bowl of oats made with soymilk. I topped the oats with some homemade trail mix and a banana. I have seen this combo in blogland often and have always thought that it must be an interesting texture combo. It was that and more. I enjoyed it so much and it left me satisfied for hours. We will be having this combo again, for sure.

oats and trail mix

Once our breakfast settled, we hit the pool for some swimming and some relaxing. We spent a couple of hours there reading, splashing around and having a grand time. Afterwards, we went back to the condo and took a nap! Oh, how I love vacation. When we woke up, it was time for a late lunch. I made low sodium board head turkey on whole wheat with honey mustard, lettuce and tomato. Along side the sandwiches, we had some plain sunchips and a nice bunch of grapes.

lunch on the deck

We ate our lunch on the deck, here is the view:

lunch with a view

After lunch, we headed out for some exploring but first we had to stop for a local latte. This time I got a soy snickerdoodle and the dear husband got a soy almond joy. I thoroughly enjoyed mine, it was sweet and cinnamony and after a lazy morning, it really perked me up.

snickerdoodle soy latte

The lattes lead us to The General Store, a cozy little shop with lots to offer. We browsed around the unique gifts and local made quilts and crafts. We finally stumbled upon the local food and this is where we spent the majority of our time and money. We bought a huge mason jar of local and some local made wasabi peas. After the general store, we decided to hit the road and see where it took us. The first place that peaked out interest was the Booker T. Washington National Monument. We stopped to walk around and read the history on Mr. Washington. And to our delight, after looking at the animals, we happened upon a hiking trail called the Jack-o-lantern trail. Despite my being in flip flops and blue jeans, we decided to go for it. We walked the trail and really worked up a sweat! Here are some shots of our time at the Monument and on the trail:

duck

sheep and chicken

trail

Once we finished the hike, we hit the open road. We came across a small town and a local creamery that boasted fresh baked goods and local produce. We had to stop! Though the fresh homemade ice cream was hard to resist, we still came out with the quite the loot. We bought some local jam, homemade whole wheat pasta, a 7 grain hot cereal mix and a whole wheat pancake mix, all local to VA! High on food finds, we decided to see what the next town would bring. We decided that we would eat dinner at the first place that appealed to us.

About 10 miles later, we were in Rocky Mount, VA and came across a restaurant called Red Clay. We knew this was our place. It was empty, I think we were the only ones there but the staff was friendly and the atmosphere was hip but cozy. We started with the almond dusted shrimp served with a pineapple salsa and a citrus vinaigrette. The shrimp was delightful, I really enjoyed it with the vinaigrette. I apologize for the pictures but it was very dimly lit which I do not have very much experience with.

almond dusted shrimp

For dinner, I chose the special. It was jumbo lump crab cakes served with two sides of my choice. I chose the steamed veggies and the roasted corn. The crab were served with a cajun roumelad sauce, they were very good. I really enjoyed this dinner, and the best part is it was dirt cheap!

crab cake special

After dinner, we headed back to the condo for some relaxing and chocolate 🙂 We shared a dark chocolate cranberry almond bar. This was my favorite of all of my dairy free chocolate I have tried so far. I really liked the chew that the cranberries gave and the crunch from the almonds.

cranberry almond dark chocolate

We settled in for some tv and a little reading and then hit the hay. It had been a lovely day here in the mountains.

QOTD: Am I the only one who seeks out food on vacation? I always find it so interesting to see the foods that the locals always have access to. The dear husband jokes that we always come home from vacation with more food than we left with.

I Gave In (to medicine)

Yesterday, I woke up very early, especially since I am on vacation. For breakfast, I made a bowl of oats with soymilk topped with a banana, almond butter and some local blueberry jam. It was really great, like an almond butter and jelly sandwich in a bowl. I used a half cup oats and one cup of soymilk and could only finish about 2/3’s of it. This has happened the last few times I have made oats so I think it is time I cut the portion.

ab & j oatmeal

After breakfast, I had to nurse a pounding sinus headache. I laid down for most of the morning and finally, just before lunch, it was mild enough that I could get on with our time here. We headed out to Moosie’s for lunch in a charming little shopping center right on the water. The place was packed, we knew this was good sign of a great lunch. We sat down and oooohed and ahhhhed over the food at the tables around us. While looking at the menu, we decided that we had to go back there because there were at least three things each of us wanted to try. I finally settled on my favorite sandwich of all time, the Reuben. The menu said it was the house specialty, how could I choose anything else. I asked for no cheese but I didn’t even think to ask for no butter. It came to the table and right away, I knew it was going to be good. And I was right, it was the best rhueben I have ever eaten in my life, seriously. I ate the ENTIRE sandwich, a few of the chips and the pickle. We would be back to Moosie’s for sure.

Moosie

After lunch we wondered around the shopping center and looked at all of the gift shops and a couple of the clothing stores. We also eyed the homemade ice cream shop but I resisted. After shopping, we went to a local coffee shop to try out the lattes. I ordered a milky way latte and the dear husband got a brownie latte, both with soymilk. My latte was very sweet and it really hit the spot after that very rich and savory lunch.

milky way latte

 

With our lattes in tow, we headed to CVS. My headache was back full force and this whole time, I have been trying to get better holistically and hadn’t been taking anything. I couldn’t do it anymore, I had to feel better because my vacation was at stake! I talked to the pharmacist and settled on some Advil Allergy and Sinus and felt better within the hour. I was worried it was going to make me feel shakey, jittery or even sleepy but it made me feel really good, better than I had felt in months. I was relieved. Once I was feeling better, we decided to do a little more shopping and then went back to the grocery store. We were planning to make dinner at the condo and needed some ingredients.

Once we finished with all of our shopping, we headed back to the condo. Before dinner, we went out for a walk to explore the resort. We walked all around and saw the lake that we had been admiring from our deck. We also visited both swimming pools and the conference center. Once we were both hot and pretty sweaty we made our way back to make some dinner.

For dinner, the dear husband made a huge salad with mixed greens, tomato, mixed peppers and grapes sea salt, almond oil and rice vinegar and I made mini pizza.  For the pizza, I used 100% whole wheat pitas topped with turkey pepperoni and more of the colorful peppers. I skipped the cheese but I put some mozzarella on the dear husband’s. The pizza was great! I had never made pizza with pit before and I could not believe what a great crust it made. This is a great solution for us since we like different toppings.

cheeseless mini pizza

I had been craving chocolate all day so, I had a couple small squares of dark chocolate with mint for an after dinner treat. My new obsession is finding milkless chocolate and this was one of my finds.

minty chocolate

After dinner and dessert, we settled into our books and relaxed until bed time. We have a big day a planned and we wanted to be well rested.

QOTD: What is your favorite chocolate? I am finding that the dark chocolate really does the trick with much less than my old favorite, milk chocolate. Just a small amount satisfies my chocolate cravings whereas I could polish off a whole bar of milk.