Blood Orange Olive Oil? Pink Peppercorn Chocolate? Hells yes!

Two recent blessings to alight upon my tongue:

Olive-oil tasting shop. I was so thrilled with the fun of tasting different gourmet oils and vinegars at The Olive Tap in Saugatuck, Michigan, that I kept going on and on about it until I found out there's a similar store here at home! Fantastic. I'll be going there soon. At the Olive Tap, I sampled several vinegars, including a wonderful peach balsamic, and an amazingly tart 12-year old gold balsamic, and several olive oils, of which my favorites were the keffir lime and blood orange. These citrus-enhanced olive oils are apparently made by crushing the fruit and olives together rather than by soaking peel in the distilled oil. I can't even imagine how many strainings it takes to get a clear oil after that, which makes the price, $15 for an approximately pint-sized bottle, seem more than reasonable. The citrus is overwhelmingly strong in the nose, and peaks more subtly on the tongue just before aftertaste. It's hard to describe what citrus is like minus the sweetness, but if you've ever peeled an orange in sunlight and seen the essential oil spraying in the light, you know you've experienced it. It's that oil in all the little capsules in the skin that releases the alluring scent of orange, or any other citrus. Perhaps this makes it more natural to imagine combining that oil with oil of olive. ... At any rate, I've so far used some of it on pasta and some to enhance my lemon-herb tofu, to great effect.

On another recent occasion, I was overcome with an urge to treat myself to a tiny bar of chocolate that cost more than 2 whole Hershey's. Crazy? Nope. It was worth it. I think the chocolate and peppercorn thing has been going on awhile, but I hadn't tried it till now. The brand was Divine, this flavor is avail. here at Sahara Mart (the East side). A smooth dark chocolate melts into your mouth; it's the good kind, not sugary and yet not for us bitter-lovers alone, approachable for the casual chocolate fan. A warmth begins to glow through it. It's like a warm purring glow wrapped up in sweet midnight silk spreading over your tongue. The pepper is distinct, yet you're shielded from its direct abrasiveness by the coating of the cocoa butter. Warm, creamy, dark, sweet. It was divine.