Life: Idiotropic

This was the week to stay local and to visit little things near my house. I always take people to Rousseau chocolate shop and each time I seem to see a little more. Today I took my mom there too. It was unusually quiet - usually it's quite full of people. I took mom back to the door to the factory so she could peek in and see the process. I'd been invited to walk around once before, but today the owner was there and there were a lot more employees inside working on things. The owner invited us in and told us to look around. We saw a man piping dark chocolate letters onto paper, then woman was piping milk chocolate onto it. Another man was pouring bars of milk chocolate, letting it cool slightly, then sprinkling a mixture of nuts and dried fruits on it. He told us what temperatures the chocolate heats to and what temperature they cool it to before working with it and adding things. He said that chocolate is a health food and told me to try some of the nuts and fruits. There was a large open container of the topping mix in front of me. I was in a chocolate factory - those things went on top of chocolate and while I knew that my hands were fairly clean, it seemed wrong to put my hand in there and take something. So, I hesitated and he reached out, grabbed a small bit of it and handed it to me. He didn't wear gloves either. I'm not worried. I love the chocolate, but it is different. They are very relaxed there. We walked over to where the owner was working. He was making peanut clusters and told us how many kilos on peanuts he had and how hot the chocolate was and showed us where they were combined and made into candies. We saw the whole process there. Then he walked us over to the end - said they were best when they were fresh, so he snatched a couple off the end of the conveyer belt for mom and I, then got a plain one for Elise since she's so young. Yum. Great chocolate and such a fun experience to just be able to walk in like that.

Afterwards we went to the thrift shop and looked around. I didn't find anything that day that I couldn't live without, but mom found a nice painting that she took home and a few pieces of delft pottery to hang on her wall. It's such a fun treasure hunt.