Chocolate Walk 2009 Part 2

Where did your Chocolate Priestess leave off her report on our Pilgrimage to the Nashville Chocolate Walk?  Ah, yes, at the pizzeria where we paused for lunch and to plan.  As you can see in this photo I hope, the map showed locations all over the place so we had to plan fairly carefully to make sure we could get to all the locations while moving at a safe pace.  Of course the traffic, both vehicle and foot, increased in the afternoon as well providing more to negotiate around.

 We headed north two blocks then turned back east for two blocks until we found #28 on the list: Common Grounds which is a coffee and tea bar.  There were two choices here a tart or hot chocolate and to since most of the walk involved cakes or candies, mavido and I both got the drink, hers was plain but I had a touch of whipped cream on mine.  I needed a spoon frankly but instead just let the cream melt after attempts to lick it up failed and made me laugh too much.  We sat outside and sipped the drink which was dark tasting but not too bitter and just hot enough to melt that cream and require we take a few minutes to talk about what may turn into a rushed holiday season here since several companies who have contacted me about sending samples to reveal to you, Sisters and Brothers, seem to be putting it off until December.

South across the street we found the next stop, Caramel Corn Cottage which was a small little store filled with caramel corn including the tiny sample bags of chocolate flavored variety that was great tasting, just like popped corn dipped quickly in chocolate.  We sat outside and started chatting with some folks who did this walk last year.  They told us about an indoor event in February in the same community though I think for a different cause.  Unfortunately that likely is very close to the Week of Chocolate in my own town that I am trying to volunteer for; I need to phone them because they are not responding to emails.

The next two locations were in the same area as you can see in this photograph.  #29 is Ice Cream Cottage where we both got the Tootsie soft serve ice cream.  It tasted exactly like a Tootsie roll in terms of chocolate and waxiness which is what I had hoped given the name.  This area has a lot of seating in it as well as an artificial stream you can go panning in for gems or minerals for a fee.  There were at least a half dozen people, mostly kids, I saw doing just that while we were there.

Inside Iris Garden Gallery, Hotel Nashville was giving out samples of it's Chocolate Suicide Cake as well as information about the hotel.  I took this picture just because they had it laid out nicely.  For those Sisters and Brothers who wished you could come and join us but who live more than a nice day trip away, there are plenty of hotels, B&Bs, cabins and rentals in Nashville.  Hopefully next year the Chocolate Walk might add more information about accommodations especially if they offer any deals during the walk as we heard rumors about during our Pilgimage.

Nashville, Indiana, offers a wide range  of the arts since it was and still is to a large degree an artist colony.  This includes painting, textiles and fabric arts, wood and pottery, and leather goods too because I have never been to Nashville and not seen bikers in the area.  Pitbull Leather was #26 on the walk's map so we went over and found a rep from Xochai, one of those "healthy chocolate" companies that praises the health benefits of cacoa over anything like taste, texture, smell, sound or what it looks like.  The result is a dark chocolate that we know from studies can have health benefits but frankly wasn't very tasty on the end of medium sized pretzel sticks.

Then we headed east again on Main Street to get a store we had missed on our first leg, Touch of Silver, Gold and Old is a large jewelry and precious decorative items store.  I had to take this photo because they had a chocolate theme in their window display featuring dolls from an old "I Love Lucy" episode some of you may be familiar with where she and Ethel attempt to work in a chocolate factory.

The store  had both a chocolatier and a live entertainer, the bigger locations sometimes had both.  The chocolatier was from Bloomington again, Angel B's whom you may recall I've discussed in relationship to a birthday gift.  They gave out six layer little cakes (Opera Cakes) where two of the layers were chocolate; it tasted good but not really chocolaty over all but they looked beautiful and eating them gave us a break to listen to the music.

I'll report more tomorrow, Sisters and Brothers, so make sure you check back in and let your friends know so they can enjoy this journey as well.  Heather, the person I spoke with about the Chocolate Walk, told me that they ended up selling out of tickets, all 1000 of them by the end of the day.  Because of all the wonderful sponsors and store participation, that means the Brown County Humane Society earned between $15,000 and $20,000 for their operations.  It also means that next year, if you want to join us, you'll need to get tickets early so you don't miss out.

Sisters and Brothers, may you too take the time to slowly appreciate what the Divine and human ingenuity have offered you in chocolate.