Minkchocolates

I’m on Vacation. Pass the Chocolate.

Saturday: I’m determined to use my annual seven day summer vacation at the lake as a catalyst for changing my diet and returning to the city with a new, healthful eating regimen. For inspiration, I’ve picked up the hardcover version of Drop Dead Healthy by A. J. Jacobs. I’m thinking it will take me the full week to break some bad habits, and define some new, healthy ones.

My wife packed the car the night before, so on the morning of departure all that’s left to do is close the windows and blinds, cancel the newspapers, and turn on enough lights throughout the house to give any potential burglars pause.

She yells out from the curb that the kids and the dog are locked and loaded, and reminds me we have a ferry reservation, and that we need to get going. I finish my second and final security sweep of the house in the kitchen, and run my checklist again. Stove, off. Dishwasher, off. Garbage and compost, emptied. Stove, still off.

I look in the fridge for perishables that won’t make it until we return. I find a couple of two week-old blueberry pancakes and half a small tub of cottage cheese. I use each hardened pancake as a scoop for the cottage cheese, finish them both, rinse the now empty container and throw it in the recycling blue bin.

Even though I had a somewhat nutritious breakfast of chia seed toast with organic peanut butter and unsweetened black tea a mere hour earlier, I now rationalize that my new diet doesn’t have to officially start until we get to the lake. I declare the house secure, set the alarm and go.

We arrive at the ferry terminal five minutes after our reservation expires, and miss the boat. With time to kill until the next departure, I pee the dog, then head into the terminal for a snack.

Sunday: I’m in charge of French toast for six adults and four kids. I start with two loaves of fresh challah bread, cut semi-thick and soaked in a mixture of egg, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. The table is set with blueberry syrup, butter, and Mink salted caramel sauce and both milk and dark chocolate ganache that I brought from the store as my contribution to the communal pantry. The coffee machine is working to capacity, and I pound back three cups, black, in a very leisurely-by-big-city-standard 20 minutes.

With breakfast over, my sixteen month old daughter goes down for a nap, and I settle on the couch with a snack to watch the Olympics. There’s nothing quite so life and diet affirming as drinking coffee and eating banana bread while watching women’s beach volleyball.

Monday: After a lunch of Polish sausage, cheese and bread, Jared and my wife take the kids kayaking. I take my book, sunscreen and sunglasses down to the dock, and settle in for an afternoon of uninterrupted reading. Trixie brings me a tall gin and tonic, and it dawns on me that to get a full seven days of reformed eating, I’ll have to include both the travel day at the end of the trip and the first day back.

The opening chapter of the book suggests a healthful diet can consist of chocolate, coffee and wine in moderation. I like where this is going, so I put the book down, close my eyes, and take a nap.

I wake with dinner on the immediate horizon, and smell steaks being readied for the barbecue. We’re out of tonic water, so I switch to beer. This vacation is supposed to be a relaxing week of board games, nature walks, lake swimming and campfires. It’s only day three and already I’ve got close to 24 hours of total sleep under my belt, as well as a dozen choreographed meal breaks.

The forecast for tomorrow is rain. I interpret that as a sign of renewal, and an apt day to start my quest for eating perfection, albeit a four day abridged version.

Tuesday: I finish the book, I have a ravenous appetite, and it’s looking more and more like I’ve squandered the opportunity on this trip to effect real dietary change. There is so much more to perfecting a healthful existence than diet alone, that on my way to the kitchen I resolve to make a comprehensive list of all the things I need to incorporate into my routines to achieve that end. I still firmly believe the idea of setting aside a block of time to implement these sweeping changes makes the most sense, so I commit to doing so at the next available opportunity, namely, Christmas holidays.

Marc Lieberman

Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.

863 West Hastings Street

Vancouver, BC CANADA

V6C 3N9

Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181

Shop:   www.minkchocolates.com
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Call the Vancouver store: 604.633.2451

How I Maybe Spent My Summer Vacation

Monday. Fred calls from the Okanagan where he’s vacationing with his family. It’s midday, and I know the weather is fine, so I immediately assume he pocket-dialed me while rolling over on a chaise lounge.

“You’re right about the lying down part, but it’s on the floor, and it’s been all weekend,” he says in a painful, short-of-breath sort of way.

“You’ve fallen and you can’t get up,” I say mockingly, “have you called the concierge?”

“I’m waiting for a doctor,” he replies. “I tore a few stomach muscles trying to get up on one ski. What’s the name of the drug you take for your back?”

He’s referring to the three herniated discs I’ve been living with for years. Although I’ve never had a holiday ruined by my bad back, I was once, while incapacitated, carried up a flight of stairs by a couple of firemen, which did a fine job of ruining my ego, albeit temporarily.

“I guess your Three Dog Night tickets next week are up for grabs,” I quip.

Tuesday. Mrs. Mink calls to say Trixie has booked Mesachie Lake again this year and has extended an invitation for us to come for a week.

“Can you commit to the time off?” she asks hesitantly.

“I can’t say today there won’t be a chocolate crisis tomorrow. You and the kids and the dog go for sure, and put me down as a maybe.”

I could tell from the painful, short-of-breath sort of way she answered that absent an emergency radical discectomy, my summer vacation was being planned for me.

Wednesday. I overhear a customer asking Emma what the seasonal fruit is that we’re serving with the fondue.

“Beautiful, big, juicy cherries,” says Emma.

“Are they canned?” the woman asks.

Momentarily stunned, Emma replies that they are indeed fresh, which is why we’re able to claim seasonal status.

“It’s rude to spit pits in mixed company,” the woman says. “You should re-think your menu.”

Thursday. Jack comes in and sets up at table three, which is our Cafés equivalent of the corner office with a commanding view. He takes his big Nikon off his neck, points it at me, and asks me to look important.

Through the din of much chatter and music, I hear it as im’potent.

He takes a picture.

“I’ve been shot,” I yell, curling over my crossed legs in mock distress.

“You’ve gone batty” Jack says. “You need a vacation.”

Realizing he’s more right than not, I take out my phone and text message my wife.

“Chocolate crisis averted. Gas up the car. Minky’s going on holiday!

The view from the dock

Marc Lieberman

Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.

Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181

Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9