Eat It

Note: I've moved my blog to my own web site - the new address is:
www.nonaverage.net/insomanywords/
Comments can only be left at the new location.

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Emily and I have found our new favorite food place - it's a Mexican-food restaurant chain called Chipotle. They actually have a fairly small menu - just burritos and tacos with salads available - but they do a excellent job providing variety within their menu. You can order your burrito or taco choosing from four different types of meats (or have it vegetarian) and all of their food is made fresh. They get you through the line quickly, or you can order online to have your food ready when you get there. Chipotle advertises that they use ingredients like organic beans and open-range pork and beef, and they offer fresh salsa and the best guacamole I have ever tasted. And even better, their prices are reasonable - Emily and I split a shredded beef burrito and have chips, guacamole and drinks, and can eat for less than $12. Fast food prices and quick service, but their food is of such good quality that I'm hesitant to label Chipotle as "fast food" - it certainly doesn't taste like it. We both work day jobs, so sometimes it's nice to be able to eat out, get great food, and not spend a lot of money. In fact, it feels so nice, and the food is so good, that sometimes we eat at Chipotle more than once a week - yeah, we really like Chipotle.

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And while I'm on the subject of food, I really like a good cup of hot chocolate. I don't drink coffee, so when I want a hot drink, it's hot chocolate for me. But I've found, at least in my town, that most coffee shops don't make good hot chocolate. Starbucks makes terrible hot chocolate, and even the locally-owned coffee shops, while usually doing better than Starbucks, still don't make really good hot chocolate. Most just squirt some Hersey's Chocolate Syrup into some warm milk, but so much of the time they don't use enough syrup, and I usually end up with a warm cup of milk that has a slight chocolate flavor. Until I visited Maui Wowi. A new Maui Wowi shop opened here a few months ago, and I stopped by to check out their hot chocolate. Now I admit that Maui Wowi is just another franchise that is capitalizing on the boutique coffee fad started by Starbucks. Maui Wowi serves Kona Coffee, and according to Emily it is very good coffee. But I discovered that Maui Wowi uses a special hot chocolate mix made by the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. If you know anything about good chocolate, you know that Ghirardelli's is a world-class maker of fine chocolate. And the hot chocolate mix used by Maui Wowi tastes excellent - they easily have the best hot chocolate in town. I've already filled up two punch cards (for two free hot chocolates) and I've almost finished my third card. It's very good and highly recommended if you like good hot chocolate.