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I feel like if they made a bitter melon hot chocolate, it would taste the same as the Superbowl.

Monday: Lemon hot chocolate. I will be skipping this one. Please refer to my previous review for more information. The short version: lemon Pledge. The long version: damn, I was a better writer two years ago.

They say that approximately 75% of what we taste is actually based on smell. City Bakery’s Banana Peel hot chocolate (Saturday’s flavor) had a distinct banana peel smell. It’s interesting because I couldn’t previously have told you what the difference between the smell of the actual fruit and its peel would be, but when I smelled the chocolate, it was definitely banana peel and not banana. The flavor went well with the chocolate and I really enjoyed it because it didn’t disappear after the second sip, which is a common problem with the festival’s flavors. It’s mainly due to the smell though; Raymond and I joked that they probably used regular chocolate and sprayed it with banana smell, or that they should just serve the regular chocolate and hand out banana peels to smell as you drink it. Or they could serve regular chocolate in a hollowed out banana peel!

Final verdict: great flavor, but espresso is still my favorite.

Today is Superbowl Chocolate!

I love ginger. I like it as a hot drink with honey; I like it with flat Coke; and I like it in my raw apple crisp. My first sip of the ginger hot chocolate on Friday was distinctly gingery; I could even feel a bit of a tingle in my throat after I swallowed (that’s what she said). But after the first sip, I couldn’t really distinguish any ginger flavor from the stronger chocolate flavors. All in all, not bad, but nothing to write home about. Part of me wishes the ginger flavor was stronger, because I love it, but a larger part of me just doesn’t care because ginger doesn’t really go with chocolate.

Saturday: Banana peel!

Not really sure why they write it in Japanese too.

To me, this flavor was the best that I’ve had from City Bakery, rivaling the satisfying burnt-marshmallow flavor of the Caramel. There was the perfect amount of rich, almost nutty espresso flavor, and the chocolate actually arrived hot and at the perfect consistency – thick enough to be substantial, but not so thick it sticks in your throat. I don’t even like coffee and I sucked it down like I was in the middle of an intense bout with that 2:30 feeling.

Friday: Ginger!

Is that how it goes?

City Bakery’s annual Hot Chocolate Festival kicked off last night with Sunken Treasures, a flavor I hadn’t seen in previous years. For those new to the event, City Bakery is famous for their thick hot chocolate, and every year in February they host a festival where they feature a different flavor each day. Raymond and I went Wednesday night to sample the Sunken Treasures, and my final verdict: TOTAL RIPOFF.

Not to be harsh, but Sunken Treasures wasn’t even worth the trip. It was basically the regular hot chocolate poured over a couple of Werther’s Originals and a piece of dark chocolate, or as they put it, “On the bottom of the Hot Chocolate Ocean, there’s a chocolate pearl, toffee gold bars and caramel coral.” The first problem was that they didn’t offer the special flavor in the small tasting size, so you’re forced to buy the full-sized bowl. The regular hot chocolate is so thick it’s like drinking warm chocolate pudding with a buttery aftertaste, so it’s almost impossible (except for true fans) to drink the whole bowl.

But the main problem with the flavor is that the hard candies and chocolate take so long to melt that if you were to wait for them, your chocolate would be ice cold. If you drink without them, it’s the same as having the regular hot chocolate and then candy for dessert. There was no chance for the flavors to meld and mingle, which is what I imagine the best part of the Sunken Treasures flavor was supposed to be.

A blurry phone pic of a half-eaten Pretzel Croissant (AMAZING) and a “treasure”:

Not sure how well you can see it, but here’s a shot of the little bits of the candies melting and threads of them being stirred to the top:

Thursday: Espresso!

Sunglasses by Alexandra Cassaniti, coat by Jcrew, necklace by Forever 21, sweater dress by 3.1 Phillip Lim (on major sale at Bird!), bracelets by me

I think sunglasses are my new thing. It’s possible I may be a highly sensitive person, and I was reading about how those traits are often translated physically too. I have sensitive skin, sensitive eyes; light flashes give me migraines, etc. I’m also highly sensitive to hideous fashion, so I had to get these amazing Face It glasses, to shield me from Uggs, leggings as pants, etc. I love them so much! I saw them originally in Creatures of Comfort, but then found them on the designer’s website for way less. They came with a little bag of neoprene scraps labeled “Surfer confetti.” SO CUTE.

Some fun DIYs are happening this weekend, will post in a few days! In the meantime, I was so excited to read about Mariko’s glitter shoes! I can’t wait to see them on! Make your own using my DIY post!

I’m working on some great new items for the shop! Keep an eye out for silk and wool shibori circle scarves, and some cute new pouches!

I’m also working with Raymond to design a leather color-blocked backpack for him for spring.

But I never wore them because that leather flower on the side isn’t really my style. So I took it off:

And then realized there’s a bunch of holes left in the leather because of the thread that held the flower. So I decided that the only thing to do was to fill those holes with glitter.

First I taped up all the parts that I didn’t want glittery, including the heel tap:

Then I scuffed up the to-be-glittered part with sandpaper.

Then I mixed about half ModPodge and half glitter from Michaels in the cut off end of a water bottle and painted it on.

Here they are half dried:

I ended up painting on three coats to get the glitter as opaque as I wanted, but the difference between one coat and three is actually minimal.

I let them dry some more and applied some Angelus Acrylic Finisher and voila!

They’re pretty cool! I bought the glitter while at home in Memphis so I didn’t compare the colors, and in the future I might get a color more similar to the base color. But I kind of like the spectator look these have now, and I’m happy with how they turned out! Not all of the thread holes are hidden, but I think the glitter distracts.