March 10 -- Zingerman's

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On the 10th, my daughter and I went to the farmers' market for eggs. We also got a soup-pot chicken, and spinach to go in the soup.

Then we went over to Zingerman's Next Door, for an espresso. We are not big coffee drinkers -- she and I hadn't had coffee together since my last day in Paris.

Here's the way it looks, upstairs, Next Door, on a busy Saturday morning.

There was more noise than I prefer, but it was a bustling, cheerful noise.



Here's the pain au chocolat we enjoyed with our espresso. Mmmmmmm. Really good chocolate, and twice as much chocolate (two little-finger size bars) as would be traditional.

Zingerman's Next Door is absolutely packed with goodies.

My daughter says these are really good, especially the "original" ones.

Lots of fancy candies................

One of the staff people chatted with me as I looked and admired.  She told me that the design on the top of the ones on the right is printed.  "They used the chocolate printer," she said.  Chocolate printer?  Who knew...............

So many shapes and colors, so many flavors.............

Wouldn't it be fun to taste every one?

You can, in fact, taste them.  See the ones in the very back?  They have been cut, so the staff can offer tastes to people......

I knew I wasn't going to buy anything just then, so I declined to taste.  The staffer told me that she had learned about the chocolate printer when she asked how they got the design on these mint ones, on the left.......  I bet they are yummy..............

They have lots of fancy chocolate bars.  Love the packaging..............

One of the things Zingerman's cares about is making a better world.  In contrast to the usual dog-eat-dog business practices, they want everyone to win, including the people who grow the ingredients which go into the products they sell. Askinosie Chocolates is a sterling example of this kind of producer.....

Love the packaging............

It was cold and windy when we were at the farmers' market.  I felt sorry for the vendors, exposed to all that wind......

When we came out of Zingerman's it was still chilly and windy, but you could tell it was going to be a nice day..........

See the tiny plane, coming out of the clouds, lower right?

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