TASTE of the holidays

Since we included the boys in our traditional holiday date to A Christmas Carol, Jeff and I found another fun, holiday activity that we could do as a date - a holiday tea and chocolate tasting at Taste in downtown Provo. I have enjoyed a couple of traditional afternoon teas at Taste in the past so when I saw this opportunity, I decided to drag Jeff along. Thankfully, Jeff is always a good sport and usually ends up loving our activities even when he may have been initially doubtful. It was no different tonight. I think he was a little worried about attending a "tea party",  but by the end of the night, he was totally engaged. We started with a traditional tea "dinner". The food had a holiday flare (e.g., cranberry scones, gingerbread cookies, etc.) and was delicious as always. I even enjoyed the small cup of hot cocoa that they served everyone. That's saying a lot because I really don't like hot chocolate. After our tea, we got to enjoy a brief tour of their chocolate "factory". In addition to tea parties, this is an artisan chocolate business. They have a small "factory" where they create their own single origin chocolates. I was actually pretty fascinated by the whole process. Our tour guide showed us how they make the chocolate from the cacao bean to the packaging. Let's just say Jeff and I never knew how much went into making good chocolates! I may become a chocolate snob after all this. Following the tour, we got to enjoy a chocolate tasting. We had 9 vastly different chocolates to try. It was incredible to experience the different flavors. There was even a chocolate that tasted like rye bread! I'm not kidding! We enjoyed our 9 pieces of chocolate...and there was more. They had three different vinegars to try. Yup...you read that right...vinegar. We were both extremely skeptical, but after the tasting, Jeff was purchasing these bottles of vinegar. I was surprised by the pleasurable taste of the vinegars, but Jeff loved them. Evidently, alcohol and vinegar are processed in a similar way with one slight difference. I kept joking with Jeff that he might enjoy alcohol with how much he enjoyed these vinegars. Overall, we just enjoyed this experience together. We love these moments when we get to connect as husband and wife. Jeff is my best friend and the one person I want to share everything with...including all these fun, random holiday activities I subject him to.