Feeling--eh
Reading-- The Chocolate Bridal Bash by JoAnna Carl
Listening to-- nothing

If anyone's been payin' attention lately to the lil bit of real life info I share before the posts begin, they'll know I've been reading the Chocoholic Mystery novels I asked for and got at Christmastime. This has quickly become one of my all-time favorite mystery series since my accidental, yet serendipitous discovery of it at Barnes and Noble last November.

I just love the author's writing, how she weaves a mystery; I love her characters, how she makes them so human...so relatable. I love how the mysteries aren't so obscure or clogged with so many red herrings they smell overwhelmingly fishy. She doesn't make them too hard to figure out, and yet she doesn't make them too glaringly obvious. There have been some mysteries I've been able to figure out before Lee, the main character, has, and some mysteries I've almost, but not quite been able to unravel before her. Three times now, I'd narrowed it down to two suspects in each book, but each time I was wrong on who the killer was. But I'd narrowed it down to the right couple or possible family members who had any motive for killing the victim(s) in the three books that were harder to figure out. For instance, in one of the earliest books, I thought it was the wife who was the killer when it was actually the husband who was the murderer.

And--naturally--I love the CHOCOLATE CHAT chocolate trivia JoAnna Carl adds in between every fourth or fifth chapter. Like:

CHOCOLATE CHAT

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GOOD FOR WHAT AILS YOUChocolate may well help when you have tummy trouble. Intestinal upsets or a round of antibiotics can upset the balance of lactase enzymes and bacteria needed to digest milk. This produces a form of lactose intolerance. In one study, researchers at the University of Rhode Island discovered that drinking a cup of milk to which 1½ teaspoons of cocoa had been added helped half their subjects--all of them lactose intolerant--deal with their problem. (In some people, sadly, chocolate can relax the esophageal sphincter muscle and allow stomach acid to shoot up into the esophagus, resulting in heartburn.)

Chocolate is a good source of minerals, since it contains magnesium, potassium, chromium and iron, and is commonly used as a sort of home remedy fpr the blues. This is not just self-indulgence. Chocolate actually contains mood-lifting chemicals such as caffeine and theobromine. Mixed with sugar and fat, it produces chemicals that promote euphoria and calm. Some women use chocolate to fight mild forms of PMS.

Lastly, in animal experiments, some test subjects reduced their intake of alcohol when they were offered a chocolate drink as an alternative. Chocolate martini, anyone?

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I am lactose intolerant myself, so I thought this was interesting. Chocolate helping to reduce the misery of this problem? Right on! Bring on zee chocolate! I didn't always suffer this malady, but as I've gotten older and more sedentary with my disability, I've developed this...alergy to dairy products. Which is highly aggravating, let me tell you, because I love dairy. I love milk, ice cream, frozen yogurt, cheese...you name it. And anymore I have to watch my intake of these products because of the phelgm they generate. I know, not a nice or appetizing picture to share with y'all, but, trust me--it's less fun to experience it first hand!

I once heard that many people with disabilities become lactose intolerant, because they are sedentary. Which would explain my case. But this gives me a great excuse--er, I mean all the more reason to continue eating chocolate! Heheheheh. =0D

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Soul Stories
12-21-2011 Elk Stuns Idaho Zookeepers
12-22-2011 2012 End-of-the-World Countdown Started Yesterday
01-05-2012 JANUARY
01-06-2012 Monthly Acrostics
01-07-2012 A Picture of My Biggest(?) Insecurity

moon phase