Eat Chocolate on Days that End in "y"

Here at Life Is Like a Library, we don't celebrate or observe secular, Hallmark holidays. Thanksgiving for us, for example, is not the fourth Thursday in November, it is every possible minute of every day. "Were our mouth as full of song as the sea, and our tongue as full of joyous song as its multitude of waves, and our lips as full of praise as the breadth of heavens, and our eyes as brilliant as the sun and the moon, and our hands as outspread as eagles of the sky and our feet as swift as hinds -- we still could not thank You (God) sufficiently, and to bless Your Name for even one of the thousand thousand, thousands of thousands and myriad myriads of favors that You performed for our ancestors and for us" (Morning Service for Sabbath and Festivals).

Next. St. Valentine's Day is the day this early Christian clergyman was martyred by the Romans in 269 CE. He became the patron saint of love, marriage, and affianced couples, and also of beekeepers and epileptics. According to one source, Valentine's Day "might have been a Christianized version of Lupercalia, an ancient post-winter-early-spring Roman fertility and purification festival that was observed on February 15th in which boys slapped women with bloody goat's hides." February 14th is actually a very sad day for Jews. In 1349, the Massacre of Strausbourg took place. The locals blamed the Jews for many things: the Bubonic plague (Black Death), poisoning wells, price fluctuations.  The community was imprisoned, and driven by a mob to the cemetery, where 2,000 Jews were burned to death in a pyre. Their valuables were stolen, and, or course, all debts owed to the Jews were canceled. So no, we do not send cards or flowers or go to fancy restaurants for dinner or give each other big boxes of chocolate.

But much like the way we celebrate thanksgiving, every day is a good day to eat chocolate, and while the above story is rather grim, the new book from Green Bean Books, The Chocolate King is a cute tale of how Jews introduced chocolate in France. Written by Michael Leventhal and Illustrated by Laura Catalán, it is the story of young Benjamin, who dreams of making chocolate like his grandfather Marco, who made a thick, dark beverage of hot chocolate. Without gory details, Marco explains to Benjamin how their family had to leave Spain, with as many cocoa beans as they could take, and move to France. There, people were not familiar with chocolate. How they discover how delicious it is, thanks to Benjamin, is the climax of the story. While there is no overt Jewish content in the book, it is based on historical fact. As a librarian, I appreciated the "Bite-Sized History of Chocolate and the Jewish Community," a pictorial timeline that starts with the Mayans around 600 CE and ends with Bayonne as the chocolate capital of France. Another pictorial shows the production of chocolate "From Bean to Bar." And, completing the backmatter is a recipe for "Thick Hot Chocolate Drink" -- Chocolate a La Taza -- by Claudia Roden. 

As long as we are celebrating chocolate, be sure to check out Michael's collection of chocolate recipes, Babka, Boulou & Blintzes. We recently shared the recipe for Boulou, which are even more delicious when they are dipped in a mug of hot chocolate. 

Here's a basic recipe for hot chocolate from Celebrating Sweets:

Homemade Hot Chocolate

Makes 1 serving:

1 cup milk

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 Tablespoons chocolate chips

1-2 drops vanilla extract

Place milk, cocoa powder, and sugar in a small saucepan, and heat over medium/medium-low heat, whisking frequently, until warm, but NOT boiling. Add chocolate chips and whisk constantly until the chocolate chips are melted and distributed evenly into the milk. Add vanilla extract and serve immediately.

As for the Real Cats of Israel, they eat everything but chocolate (It can be lethal for them. Interesting fact: theobromine is the toxic agent and can cause abnormal heart rhythm, seizures, and death). But this guy reminded me of one of my favorite combinations -- chocolate and peanut butter. Reese was last seen dumpster diving in the municipal parking lot.

Enjoy chocolate every day!

Happy reading!