I just finished reading Haruki Murakami's short-short The Year of Spaghetti and was brewing a cup of Caramel Latte Macchiato to accompany few happy doses of Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolate. My drink was somewhat giggly. A very good sign. I worried that I would keep googling about gigantic aluminum cooking pot "big enough to bathe a German shepherd in" as mentioned by Murakami to the end of the world. Phew. I giggled with my Latte Macchiato and watched Claude Sautet's film Un Coeur en Hiver (A Heart in Winter), starring Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Béart, and André Dussollier. Odd emotional combination. Maybe I should watch Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Un long dimanche de fiançailles instead. Audrey Tautou plus big tuba. Can't go wrong with that.

Chef Christopher Elbow studied in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln while working in the Country Club of Lincoln, a prestigious club incorporated back in 1906. By using unique ingredients such as Madagascar cacao and Venezuelan bean chocolate, Mr. Elbow's chocolate artistic creations came to live when working as a pastry chef in the American Restaurant in Kansas City. Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolate shops have been opened in San Francisco and Kansas City.