My recent trip to Pittsburgh has left me all kinds of stuff about which to write. One store that we tend to revisit in the Strip District is Mon Aimee Chocolat.

Mon Aimee Chocolat is a bit of a fluff store, to be honest, but it’s not too froo-froo. The store is tastefully done, but it’s just high priced candy. But boy is some of that stuff good! One item I love is an M&M type chocolate, with cayenne pepper. They used to have sea salt as well as black pepper, but they don’t anymore, and I think those two were even better.

I’m not a big candy eater, actually, but there are some things that I do love. English candy bars, mostly Flake, in fact, are some of my favorites. I probably like Flake bars as much because of memories when I was 11, and my family was in England on vacation. We got softserve ice cream cones, and each one had a small Flake bar stuck in it. If you haven’t tried a Flake, do so… It’s basically what its name says, flakes of chocolate kind of pressed together. This means that you get lots and lots of surface area, and, with chocolate, surface area = loads of chocolate flavor.

At the counter, I noticed a square ‘bar’ that looked interesting. It was dark chocolate with some lighter color, too. It was about four inches square, made by Chocopologie. One thing I’ve found about Chocopologie, by Knipschidt Chocolatier, is that they also make the most expensive chocolate in the world, a chocolate covered truffle that’s something like $2500 per pound. No, I didn’t buy one of those, but the bar I did buy was bad enough, at $8.95.

The bar is a dark chocolate with burnt caramel and Hawaiian sea salt. And last night, I decided to try it. My wife and I both took a square, and I let her try it first. Her reaction was that she hated it.

Okay, I wasn’t surprised… She doesn’t really like dark chocolate. I took a bite, though, and my reaction was far different.

This is, bar none (no pun intended), the best chocolate bar I’ve ever had. The burnt caramel didn’t overpower the chocolate (though I wouldn’t have complained), and the sea salt comes in with a texture and saltiness that’s just perfect. I mean perfect. The dark chocolate is just bitter enough to benefit from the sugar in the caramel, and the caramel just done enough to benefit from the bright saltiness that comes in over the top of it.

I really hate spending so much on a candy bar, but this isn’t your dad’s old Hershey bar, or even his Hershey with Almonds! You can find these at chocolate.com, but it’s $13.00 to have it delivered. If you can find it locally, that’s great, but, knowing what I know now, if I had no other way to get it, I’d pay the $13.00 online!

For those of us that live and breathe barbecue, what could be better than a pig a day?

For 2008, it can happen! The “A Pig A Day Calendar - Icons of Barbecue” is now on sale!

The calendar features logos and signs from barbecuers of all types: competition teams, restaurants, caterers, etc. And Bucky McOinkum’s Barbecue was selected as one of the teams represented. Not only that, but we’re April 26/27 (a weekend), and April 26th is my anniversary, so it’s a great choice!

The calendars are only $12.99 and can purchased on the website or via Amazon.