Don’t forget that tomorrow, Election Day, Ben & Jerry’s is offering a free scoop of ice cream at any of their participating Scoop Shops between 5 and 8 pm!
Find your nearest shop here, and you don’t even need a voting sticker now!
(Starbucks is also offering a free tall drip coffee for all customers, and Krispy Kreme will be giving away free star-shaped patriotic donuts if you bring your “I Voted” sticker!)
[image: flickr]

This week’s Chocolate Zen is a delicious-looking hot chocolate. I’m not sure why it’s in a glass but it sure looks pretty!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to make a Starbucks run for another Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate (get it with a shot of espresso – it’s amazing! Thanks for the idea, 6thFloor!).
[image: flickr]

I’m so glad it’s time for hot chocolate! Even though I live in the desert I love the cold: I live for fall and I don’t mind winter and snow. That’s why I’m always happy when I realize that it’s time for Starbucks to launch their pumpkin and peppermint flavor shots. This year, however, they’ve launched something new – premium hot chocolates!
Though they’ve been available in Europe and Asia for the last two years, Starbucks decided to bring things home as the demand for premium chocolate has increased. I had the chance to try one and I don’t know what …read more

I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas to combine chocolate with going back to school for the First Annual Home & Dining Back To School Showcase!
In The Lunchbox
The most obvious is chocolate in the lunchbox. Mass Recipes has a Lunchbox Chocolate Banana Snackin’ Bar that looks pretty good.
My girls also like the regular old mini candybars for a post-sandwich treat. Just make sure you pack it close to the ice pack for a little while longer.
I came across this Charlie & the Chocolate Factory old-school style lunchbox from Lunchbox.com. I didn’t even know they made the …read more

I’ve been trying to find some more chocolate sites and blogs to add to my blogroll recently and in the process have come across some great sites. Below I’ve picked just a few noteworthy entries out of all the great links over in the sidebar:
- Chocolate Obsession reviews… bacon-flavored chocolate. For real.
- The Chocolate Nerd found Guayabitas: “sweet guava jelly drops rolled in sunkissed Costa Rican dark chocolate.”
- Chocablog has an amazingly huge slab of milk chocolate, caramel milk chocolate and white chocolate swirled together. A bit of perspective can be found here. Chocablog also reviews Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with …read more

Looks like a nice glass of chocolate milk, right? Actually, it’s even better (in my opinion!).
A couple of years ago I tried to duplicate a very popular iced mocha coffee beverage from a very popular coffee chain. The version I like the best is sold in cute little 9 oz bottles at the grocery store that cost an arm and a leg. I looked it up online and had a slim little collection of recipes in my folder dedicated to this one thing. Anyway, it failed miserably. I even bought an espresso maker (albeit a cheapy one) to no …read more