One of my favorite gifts this year was from my Paris pal, Philippe. A fellow “amateur du chocolat” (“chocolate lover” – but it sounds better in French, doesn’t it?), he found this block of actual postage stamps made to look like a chocolate bar, complete with trompe l’oeil crumpled foil.
The images on each stamp tell the chronological story of chocolate – from New World plant, to its 1609 arrival in Bayonne, to production, to hot chocolate and bars.
How could you top that? The stamps are also chocolate-scented! Ohh, la-la! I hope the USPS takes a hint from La Poste!
Lowell Thomas Award-winner Gayle Keck has sipped fermented mare’s milk in Kyrgyzstan, dug for truffles in Italy, crafted wine at Napa Valley’s “Crush Camp” and munched her way through every continent except Antarctica, which seems far too focused on frozen food.
She has written for Gourmet, National Geographic Traveler, Zagat San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants 2010, and is a frequent contributor to the Washington Post and other major newspapers.
Gayle has visited 49 US states (sorry, North Dakota) and more than 40 countries – though her favorite trip was a flight from Chicago to San Francisco, when she met her future husband on the airplane. She also blogs at Been There Ate That
