Okay, it's 102 degrees out in southern California and I'm melting. So what do you do with a chunky bar of dark chocolate? I like to stick it in the fridge just long enough to get firm...or if I really want it crunchy hard it'll go in the freezer for a bit.I'd skip the drinking hot tea with it, though. And I actually find that hard to do without. So what could be a better substitute? How about Thai iced tea or iced coffee?Course those drinks are a bit on the sweet side for my taste, but they're a nice contrast and complement to the bitter dark I go for.One can never be too rich or too poor to go without chocolate. Even on a hot day. Money is no object when it comes to this necessity...or obsession, as others would put it. heheh...

This morning I was watching a Scooby Doo cartoon with my 7-year old nephew and a Reese's Pieces commercial came on during the show. Which immediately brought back nostalgic memories of the first Reese's commercial I saw around his age...Does anybody remember the 1970s Reese's Peanut Butter Cup collision commercial? Yes, I know I'm dating myself...when that campaign came out sales skyrocketed 300%!"Hey, you got peanut butter on my chocolate!""You got chocolate in my peanut butter!"Two great tastes that taste great together.Sad to say, since my cancer treatment in 2001 I've lost the taste for Reese's and, with few exceptions, I've turned my back on milk chocolate. Just doesn't taste the same.But I do hope the commercial is brought back, maybe updated...just to see it once again.

Here's a historical footnote on chocolate...In the 1600s, porcelain chocolate pots - a tall pot with a detachable cap or finial in the lid through which a wooden stirrer, or molinet could be inserted - were all the rage.

LONDON (AFP) Scientists are looking for women willing to eat chocolate every day for a year -- all in the name of medical science.Researchers at the University of East Anglia and a hospital in Norwich, eastern England are trying to find out whether chocolate can cut the risk of heart disease and need 40 women to step forward and help.Most of the women will have to eat two bars of "super-strength chocolate specially formulated by Belgian chocolatiers" daily for one year and undergo several tests to measure how healthy their hearts are.The others will have to eat regular chocolate as a placebo.One possible catch, for chocolate fans spotting an opportunity: volunteers for the research should be menopausal but aged under 75 and have type two diabetes.Study coordinator Peter Curtis said: "A successful outcome could be the first step in developing new ways to improve the lives of people at increased risk of heart disease."

Here's an article from Cornell University dated 12-19 -2003:ITHACA, N.Y. -- There is a new reason to enjoy hot cocoa on a cold winter's night in front of a cozy fire. Consider it a health drink.Beyond the froth, cocoa teems with antioxidants that prevent cancer, Cornell University food scientists say. Comparing the chemical anti-cancer activity in beverages known to contain antioxidants, they have found that cocoa has nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine and up to three times those found in green tea.Their finding will be published Dec. 3 in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry , a peer-reviewed publication.Scientists have long known that cocoa contains antioxidants, but no one knew just how plentiful they were compared with those in red wine and green tea.The Cornell researchers, led by Chang Y. (Cy) Lee, chairman of the Department of Food Science and Technology at the university's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., say the reason that cocoa leads the other drinks is its high content of compounds called phenolic phytochemicals, or flavonoids, indicating the presence of known antioxidants that can stave off cancer, heart disease and other ailments. They discovered 611 milligrams of the phenolic compound gallic acid equivalents (GAE) and 564 milligrams of the flavonoid epicatechin equivalents (ECE) in a single serving of cocoa. Examining a glass of red wine, the researchers found 340 milligrams of GAE and 163 milligrams of ECE. In a cup of green tea, they found 165 milligrams of GAE and 47 milligrams of ECE."If I had made a prediction before conducting the tests, I would have picked green tea as having the most antioxidant activity," said Lee. "When we compared one serving of each beverage, the cocoa turned out to be the highest in antioxidant activity, and that was surprising to me."Phenolic compounds protect plants against insects and pathogens, and they remain active even after food processing. A decade ago "food scientists did not know that phenolics had an important role in human health," says Lee.Lee and his colleagues used two chemical tests that measured how well the cocoa compounds scavenge for free radicals -- agents that cause cancer, heart disease and other diseases.In the paper, the researchers discuss eating chocolate bars instead of drinking cocoa. "Although a bar of chocolate exhibits strong antioxidant activity, the health benefits are still controversial because of the saturated fats present," the researchers write. They explain that cocoa has about one-third of a gram of fat per one-cup serving, compared with eight grams of fat in a standard-size 40-gram chocolate bar.Faced with the confusing prospect of drinking red wine or green tea or cocoa, Lee suggests enjoying all three in different parts of the day. "Personally, I would drink hot cocoa in the morning, green tea in the afternoon and a glass of red wine in the evening. That's a good combination," he says.The research paper is titled "Cocoa Has More Phenolic Phytochemicals and a Higher Antioxidant Capacity than Teas and Red Wine." Lee's collaborators are his former graduate student, Ki Won Lee; Hyong Joo Lee, a professor at Seoul National University, South Korea; and Young Jun Kim, a post-doctoral researcher at Cornell. The research was funded in part by the BioGreen 21 Program, Rural Development Administration, Republic of South Korea.