We snuck in a brief trip to Boston, Massachusetts last week. It has been our goal to steal the kids away and go explore the great city of Boston. And I must say, it was far too short a trip to take in this history rich, fall-embracing, food wise, grownup city. We really only had a few days, and managed to walk the Freedom Walk, drive Memorial Drive and visit the Museum of Science: wow.

And the hotel was fabulously GREEN. And I don’t mean just the color palate (well, that too, plus whites and charcoals and a smidgen of taupe). It was a great experience for our kids to see what a GREEN hotel meant, from a double flushing toilet (seriously a button for light flush and one for a full flush, to conserve water). And shampoo and soap dispensers in the shower so as not to waste a million little plastic bottles, plus energy efficient lighting and instead of bottled water, faucets with purified water. It was inspiring, and with as many hotels as their are in the world… we were especially aware since my son’s school project asks ‘what can we do to effect our environment positively?’ In this case ‘we’ was this hotel: please take this moment to applaud.

Of course, I could talk about the hotel, or the fact that we saw John Hancock’s and Paul Revere’s graves, or marched the Freedom Trail—starting at Boston Common—where soldiers marched before us. And I could tell you how inspiring it was to drive by Harvard and MIT and see north Boston which is thick in Italian heritage (with hazelnut gelato to die for). But really I mean to mention The Cheese Shop that we tucked into while in Concord, MA. (No doubt it is more important that Emerson lived there, and Waldon Pond and Sleepy Hollow are famous visiting sites).

It was pouring rain and we were due for a good sandwich, As we surreptitiously made our way through the streets of Concord, somewhere between the pouring rain and pangs of hunger, we ducked under a yellow awning… with the big embolden word CHEESE on it: who were we to resist? Sandwiches quickly consumed, we let our eyes feast on the vast array of wines and cheeses and all sorts of chocolates and goodies to try. We felt obliged to scoop up a small collection of untried chocolates. These 2 were our favorites, SO worth ordering if you want to try them too:

Lazzaroni: with amaretti cookie crumbles.

Lake Champlain Chocolates: 5 Star Chocolat Bar, Hazelnut.

It took me about a day and a half to realize this brief visit would not do justice to Boston; clearly, we will need to return and tour more, dig deeper into its history, visit the Tea Party ship (to reopen summer 2009) and of course, land in unexpected cheese shops to find cheese, wine… and chocolate!

They are all happy residents inside of rich, perfectly formed, chocolates. I found them all with their decor and etchings, in a row, in a new chocolate shop that just opened its doors on Orcas Island: Kathleen Taylor Chocolates.

I was visiting the island, happily cycling through the humble yet striking East Sound, when we fell upon this quaint little shop. Suffice it to say, we went back a second time, to try even more of their chocolates. Well, that isn’t entirely true. My eldest son went back for seconds of the very same treat: their fruit tart. The fruit tart includes a tart shell, a lining of chocolate and a topping of glazed fruit. My son was in heaven; he informed me it was the best dessert he has ever had [in his entire life]. Now, instead of dwelling on the fact that he didn’t say this about one of my own desserts (but what about the creme brulee I make you: you love that!), I instead lingered happily on the thought that a memory materialized before my very eyes. How can a 12 year old boy forget ‘the best dessert I ever ate’ when on a quaint island in the throws of a family vacation? We went back twice for that tart!

I love innovations in the realm of chocolate. People who push the flavor profiles farther and farther and are able to achieve both pleasure and surprise for my palate. I tried a pink peppermint chocolate: real mint infused chocolate with pink peppercorns to send spice notes through the mint flavor. And it worked.

What unusual flavors have you experienced with chocolate?