Round and Round We Go

This has been a challenging week on the dating front. (A fantastic week on the business front, however, just so you know I'm not a total loser.)

I met a man in the real world - i.e. not on match.com. He seemed okay, not scared by the big personality. He seemed to have quite a big personality himself. We talked for a while and he asked me to dinner - all good. But, since I am trying to learn from my mistakes, I asked how long he had been divorced. (This apparently is the money question!) Aw, shucks, dear readers, guess what? Not divorced. Separated.

Let's recap - the Afghanistan Affair resulted in me waiting for nine months for a recently DIVORCED man who upon his return decided he needed to date more. Well, after that, there's no way in hell I'm going to start dating people who aren't even divorced yet. I don't want to be the transition person (or whatever I was) again! I say - get your party on! Play the field! Go wild! Don't bother me until there's at least a remote chance of an actual relationship.

So I tell this guy - oh - sorry - I only date the divorced. He didn't want to give up at first - called me twice, sent e-mail, but I did not give in. I know the only person who's got my six is me. I gave my heart away too easily last time - I will not do it again.

Tonight I went out with a man who is successful, handsome, and you would think, a good catch. Only problem is that when he talks, he is engaged. When I talk, he immediately checks out. Since I blather about myself endlessly in this blog, you all probably think I do the same thing on dates. Not so. How else do you think I find out about things like restraining orders? I listen.

If there is a chance to share something about myself, if I like the guy, I will. Tonight we were talking about travel. When he talked about his travel - I listened and asked questions. (For example I know how much his boat cost, how he decided to buy it, if it was hard to learn to drive, and many other details.) I mentioned that the last big trip I took was to Australia. He leaned forward and looked at the clock across the restaurant. I stopped talking. That's all he knows about my travel. This makes me sad. I would really like to meet someone who would like to know who I am. Sigh. This blog is now my diary. Just call me Bridget Jones.

After dinner we took a salsa lesson. I learned something. You should never take dance lessons with someone you are not into. You have to touch them. It is creepy.

And depressing. I left thinking how awesome it would have been to take that dance lesson with a man I was into. Another deep sigh.

Okay - so let's look on the bright side. I am not getting involved with someone who is actually still married and I have some new hot dance moves. (At this rate, I'll have a relationship about the same time we pay off the federal deficit.)

Thank GOD there is chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are rounds from The Chocolate Fetish. Many chocolatiers do chocolate bark - this is Fetish's version. I like the concept here - not as thick as bark or a bar, these are nice and thin. But I wasn't as blown away by them as I expected to be. They are about the size of a large saucer.

This one looks gorgeous - it is peanut butter swirl:

My comment won't surprise you - not peanut buttery enough for me. WAY too subtle. It looks fabulous and like it would really taste peanut buttery, but the swirl is very thin resting on a thick base of chocolate. : ( Sad face, very sad face. Not creepy like the dancing, however.

This one looked great also - it's Rocky Road with milk chocolate:

Nuts, marshmallow, rice crisps - sounds great. I say - eh. Not as amazing as it looks. I'm not sure what I think it needed. Marshmallow and rice crisps are kind of bland. This just didn't rock my world. Not bad at all. But I like Baby Ruth bars better if that tells you anything. Now this chocolate blows the "chocolate" on a Baby Ruth away, but as a total confection? ZZZZZ Boring! (Apparently like my conversation.)

Now look at this! Like a work of art! Look at that thin drizzle! The mix of textures - like lacework over the cashews!

And I adore cashews - I thought this would be delish! But the chocolate overpowered the nuts. And there is some type of caramelized stuff on the cashews. Again - not as good as I had hoped. Maybe if the divorce papers were signed.......

Now this one was my favorite:

An outstanding dark chocolate - the word lovely comes to mind again. It's just so smooth and not bitter - it's quite amazing, really. And those giant lumps are toffee - like in Heath Bars (which I adore) but better. More buttery. THIS did live up to my expectations and was fantastic. I guess I like my men like I like my chocolate - tall, dark, a little rugged, but with a sweet side. And okay with the idea that I might not want to share them.