I’m going to let you in on a secret. Well, it’s actually not really a secret because if you check my bio (and practically any author of the female persuasion it would seem) you’ll see that I love all things made of chocolaty goodness. Let’s face it – most females like chocolate. Right girls?!
Chocolate is like a food group for authors. Have any of you heard about how rough being a writer actually is? We N-E-E-D chocolate. 
Almost like we need air. You would too if you spent countless hours torturing your teen characters. Or needed to cushion the pain of rejection or poor reviews or a tough critique. Not to mention chocolate fuels one’s creative muse while we’re writing TNBYAN – The Next Big Young Adult Novel.
In FORBIDDEN SECRETS, the first novel in my series about Scottish immortals, Aidan takes Kyra to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge in Asheville, NC for an impromptu first date. When you walk in – you smell all things chocolate – a pungent yet sweet smell that makes you think you are inside a cacao bean. And the menu…Ahhhh, 
the menu. I can’t even do it justice. Check it out for yourself here. Let me just say that the Liquid Chocolate Truffles are exceptional. As are any of the baked goods, especially the Chocolate Milk Stout cake. (And in case you need further convincing, the picture above. Yeah, the one with the chocolate parfait and the truffle – that’s from FB Chocolate Lounge.) If you’re ever within a fifty square mile radius of Asheville, NC, I highly recommend a visit there.
So that leads me to a cool date idea I found in my inbox yesterday. This weekend (Sept. 7 – 8) the Atlanta Botanical Garden is hosting a Chocolate Weekend. They will have cooking demos with Atlanta area chocolatiers and pasty chefs. I took a glimpse at some of the recipes and the schedule of demonstrations. Uhmmm… Chocolate Caramel Covered Shortbread Cookies. 
Heck yeah!!
You can also learn about the chocolate making process, taste samples, not to mention stroll hand-in-hand through the beautiful gardens with your date. Doesn’t that sound romantic? I mean really – chocolate, flowers and a cute date. You can’t go wrong! Unless of course your date is allergic to chocolate. Or flowers. But that would just make for good conflict. (that’s just the writer in my talking.)
Guys trust me – she’ll love it!! Happy Friday!
Photo of Atlanta Botanical Garden: By Daderot (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons All other photos by Me.
