Chocolate Party

Last Saturday evening, Jimbob and I went to a dinner party. The theme for the evening was chocolate. (Not that you could guess that from my title.) Anyway, when I say everything had chocolate in it, I mean everything. The chef was one of Jimbob's piano students who is also an anesthesiologist and very, very organized. He had a schedule for the evening with every minute exploited to the fullest extent.

The evening started with a chocolate cocktail that had 4 kinds of liquor, vanilla and chocolate in it. I took one sip and my eyes watered at the 400 proof concoction. I think we could have flown a rocket to the moon and back with that puppy. After three sips, my toes curled and I had steam coming out of my ears. It's a wonder any of us walked away with eyebrows. Talk about dragon breath.

After cocktails, we moved to the dining table (it seated 12 and was all one piece). The appetizers consisted of chocolate risotto and cheese balls with chocolate nibs. I liked the cheese a lot. This was followed by chocolate hazelnut soup. Very different and extremely rich.

We were then given about ten minutes to visit while our host finished the salad of greens, dried cherries and chocolate nibs. I think this was my favorite of the night. The main course was barbecued ribs with chocolate sauce (one platter with jalapenos and one without). In addition he'd prepared chicken with chocolate mole sauce. The side dish consisted of grilled eggplant and onions with chocolate nibs.

Are you getting the gist that this was a chocolate overload. We weren't done yet. Dessert was chocolate layered cake with hazelnut cream served with a wedge of blood orange and port.

What with the copious amounts of red wine, additional chocolate cocktails and the port, no one was feeling any pain. I didn't drink the wine because red wine does nasty things to my head. Besides I was the designated driver.

Yesterday morning (Sunday) Jimbob was wishing he hadn't imbibed along with the others. Sunday is his big day at church and he was singing a solo. The solo almost didn't happen. All that rich food and alcohol was threatening to come back up.

I gave him something to settle his stomach, but I couldn't help snickering a little.