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I have a few questions for you first of all. Do you like chocolate? Or does it go further than that? Do you love chocolate are you what is called a chocoholic? And lastly, was that attitude formed by store-bought chocolate such as Mars Bars, Galaxy and Snickers?

I posed all those questions because, if you love chocolate and all you have ever eaten is store-bought chocolate, you have a real surprise waiting for you one day. A really agreeable surprise. One day you will taste gourmet chocolate and it will bowl you over. It will make you lament all those days of your life that you had not known it.

Gourmet chocolate is to a Mars Bar what fillet mignon is to a ham sandwich or what champagne is to cheap wine. It sounds as if I am running Mars Bars down and I suppose I am in a way, but I do believe that they have their place in the hierarchy of the realm of chocolate, it is just not near the top and when you have tried gourmet chocolate, you will agree with me.

You will see the light and come to understand that perhaps you used to eat store chocolate for the sugar rush and not for the chocolate, because the store kind is, in fact, a very adulterated copy of the real thing. If you do not believe me, look at the contents list on the back of the wrapper.

Dark chocolate is created by adding fat and sugar to the cacao mixture. The U.S. Government calls this "sweet chocolate", and demands a 15% concentration of chocolate liquor. European regulations specify a minimum of 35% cocoa solids. It does not sound very much, does it? (By the way, chocolate liquor is like lumpy gravy and if you pulverize the lumps and take away most of the fat, you get cocoa solids).

This is why European chocolate has a better name than American chocolate in general, although there are excellent gourmet chocolate manufacturers in the USA (called chocolatiers; like a chef is to haute cuisine)..

Some inexpensive chocolates are even blended with wax and most bakery chocolate products have very little, if any, real chocolate in them! They contain mostly sugar of one kind or another and "partially hydrogenated palm oil." On the other hand, gourmet chocolate will echo the quality of the ingredients, which includes high quality cocoa beans, no preserving agents or vegetable fats (other than cocoa butter) and sugar, which is also a preserving agent, should only be used in moderation.

Some chocolate is made from only one variety of bean, just like some wine is made from one variety of gape and some whisky is single malt, but most is made from a blend of several kinds of beans again lust like the cheaper wines and whiskeys. Fine chocolate has a far greater percentage of cocoa butter, and will be more highly refined.

Aficionados of gourmet chocolate are like connoisseurs of fine wines and single malt whiskies, they appreciate the object of their attention. In time, they can discuss the advantages of one bean or process over another. If you want to go down this road, you could join one of the many good gourmet chocolate clubs on the Internet

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Gourmet Chocolate Gifts. If you have an interest in romantic gifts, please go over to our website now at Romantic Gifts Ideas

The occasion of a wedding is a red letter day for everyone. Just being asked to one can bring about real exhilaration. It is always a delight to see someone walk down the aisle with the promise of true love and life long joy. Picking out a wedding gift can be a lot of fun as well. There are thousands of gifts that you can buy online or in retail stores.

Personalized gifts is a common trend in weddings presents. Bespoke gifts bring out your creativity because you can dictate the style, design and message you want to be printed on them. Items range from photo frames, mugs and clocks, among many others.

When buying presents, always keep in mind your budget but be sure to get the look you want on the goods you buy. Here are some gift ideas that would definitely be a hit:

Tapestry - It is lovely to remember the wedding day, but how best to do this? Personalize everyday belongings by printing the couple's picture on them. You can have it printed on pillows, blankets or bags.

Have them printed on a tapestry wall hanging and they can be kept as heirlooms. Different coloured cotton threads can make your pictures come to life just like the photograph itself.

Photo Frames - Keep your best photographs in unique photo frames. You can add romantic messages like 'lovers forever" or "ideal couple". Romantic lines from songs or poems are recommended too. You can pick from the various frames obtainable like natural wood, quality resin, or metal steel.

Private messages are mostly engraved by laser or cut out of wood. The couple would love putting there favorite wedding photos in such frames to remind them of the happiness of their special day.

T-shirts - Show your own personality and thoughts by having them printed on comfortable tees. Many couples would love to demonstrate their love for each other on cute shirts. The most common of the slogans on these shirts is the letter "I" followed by a big red heart and then name of the groom or bride.

You could tell the world how you feel towards a person with such a bespoke tee. If you want to be more intimate, you could also print romantic messages on lingerie or underwear.

Accessories - Women love accessories. Bracelets are ideal items for personalization. You could choose sterling silver or even 9 carat - 22 carat gold. This depends on your budget, of course. But remember, it is the thought that counts.

Common themes that are put on bracelets are the date of your wedding or your anniversary or the couple's name. You can personalize rings and necklaces in the same way too.

Tankards - Tankards are very useful. If you are giving a gift to the groom, customizing his beer mug or wine glass would surely be appreciated. Choose a beer mug that is not embarrassing. Pewter or glass look nice and the personal message would stand out clearly.

Clocks - You could buy a wall clock or personal watches. Either way, you can be assured that the recipient would find them very useful. Engraving one's name on a metal steel sports watch is an eye catcher too. A pocket watch would be equally valued.

Looking for wedding gifts can be very enjoyable. Personalizing your gifts would add a special touch to each present. No matter the value of the gift, remember that it is always the thought that matters most.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Romantic Gifts: Ideas. If you have an interest in romantic gifts, please go over to our website now at Romantic Gifts: Ideas

The rising trend of popularity of wine has led to a boom in things to go with wine like corkscrews, stoppers, coolers, napkins, pouring baskets, decanters, candles, thermometers, bottle jackets, hydrometers and dozens of varieties of each accessory from electric versions to manual ones. Needless to say, a lot of these accessories will be used until the novelty wears off and then left at the back of the cupboard.

However, there is one category of wine drinking accessory that no wine drinker should be without and that is wine glasses. They are indispensable, I am sure that everyone would agree. But the good thing about wine glasses is that they are decorative when they are not in use too. A set of six lead crystal wine glasses is a fine-looking sight. And a fine set of glasses correctly shaped for the wine you are drinking will greatly enhance your enjoyment of that wine.

This is because the shape of the glass is very influential on the drinker's ability to savour the taste and the aroma of wine. Therefore, it is essential to use the correct glasses for the type of wine being served.

Red wines benefit a lot from contact with air, so, aside from opening the bottle an hour before drinking it, you could decant it. The older and heavier the wine, the more air it needs. The next step is to serve the red wine in large glasses. This is not so as to be able to get as much wine in there as possible! A full, normal size bottle contains six servings no matter what glass you use, but a large glass allows you to swirl the wine around the glass, thereby increasing its contact with air.

A large tulip shaped glass is a good illustration of this kind of wine glass and any dark red wine would benefit from being drunk out of such a vessel. Try a Rioja or Bordeaux, for instance.

White wines, on the other hand, do not need to breathe for as long as red wines and are best served slightly chilled. Therefore, the wine glasses are likely to have a smaller bowl and a longer stem. The bowl is smaller, because swirling is not necessary and the stem is longer, so that the heat from your hand does not warm the wine up prematurely. Try a Chardonnay, a Sauvignon or a German wine in these glasses.

Champagne glasses are called champagne flutes because the bowl is long and narrow, which allows the bubbles to float through more of the wine than if the bowl were short. This is beneficial for the wine, the taste and its appearance. The stem is also long as with other white wines to diminish heat transference.

The last main kind of glass is the sherry schooner, which is also used for port. Sherry and port are both heavy reds and so need to breathe, which is one of the reasons why they ought to be decanted. However, a schooner has hardly any stem, because the warmth from your hand is required to keep the wine at the right temperature.

Apart from the shape of the bowl and the length of the stem, the next most important factor is the quality of the glass and its design. Some people like hand-blown glass and it can be very beautiful, but it also tends to be light and fragile. I prefer to use lead crystal glasses, which are a lot heavier and can take a deeper pattern.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Waterford crystal vases. If you have an interest in Irish crystal or wedding rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

In January 1848, James Marshall was overseeing the building of a saw mill for his boss, when he saw an odd rock glinting in the upturned earth.

He was not sure whether it was gold or not and did not want to get people's aspirations up. So Marshall attempted to break the yellow rock with a hammer. It did not crack, but it did dent. just like gold would. The woman who was cooking meals for the saw mill construction crew, tried another test by boiling the rock in lye.

They boiled it all day, but it did not change colour. So, they passed the rock over to the mill's owner, Mr. John Sutter, who also conducted a few tests. In the end, everyone agreed that this rock was indeed gold.

It seems that the Sierra Nevada Mountains hid huge hordes of gold, but that over tens of thousands of years, erosion had loosened up gold nuggets and the mountain streams flushed them down to the bottom of the mountains. Sutter's property was situated between two rivers and so was likely to generate great wealth.

Sutter had ideas to build an agricultural empire on his 39,000 acres of land, so he asked his employees to keep stum about the find. However, as is to be anticipated, word leaked out. In due course news of the gold strike reached the small town of San Francisco.

There, a newspaper publisher shouted down the streets: "Gold from the American River!" and within three days of the news arriving, 400 of the 600 inhabitants had set out for Sutter's land. It was a groundswell and by the end of the year, gold prospectors had traveled to California from as far afield as Mexico and Chile.

When word of the gold strike got to the east coast, President Polk confirmed the discovery. It was December 1848 and 'The Gold Rush' became a national and even a global event. The gold miners of 1849 and later years became known as forty-niners.

What has to be borne in mind is though, that most people, who came from Canada, Mexico and the eastern United States came by wagon train, as there were not locomotive! This meant a arduous trek of between six and nine months

Nonetheless, at least 32,000 people actually walked to California in 1849, and about 44,000 more got there in 1850. Others, such as South Americans, faced an arduous journey by sea. They underwent storms, shipwrecks, hunger and thirst, disease, and overcrowding and after all that, some still had to undergo mule rides through jungles and deserts! In spite of everything, in under a year, about 40,000 people arrived in San Francisco from abroad.

The new arrivals constituted a dramatic change in California's population, because in 1848, California had had about 100,000 residents, most of whom were Native Americans, but within two years, the state populace more than doubled but the variety of ethnicity increased tens of times.

Some people found gold and made a lot of money in the Californian riverbeds, but most people did not become rich in the Gold Rush. When gold was found, the hoard was usually cleared quickly. James Marshall had little success as a miner, and he died impoverished. John Sutter, who had once owned 39,000 acres, left California in heavy debt after miners flattened his land.

In fact, it was simpler to make money selling shovels and other provisions to the miners. Most people lost everything they had, so they stayed to work the vast expanse called California or to set up businesses. By 1856, San Francisco had a very multi-ethnic population of over 50,000 people and California had become the most exhilarating state in the country.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Celtic knot rings. If you have an interest in gold rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

Most people use fragrance of one kind or another, whether its purpose is to cover up possible body odour or just for fun. When I say 'fun', I mean 'pleasure' or to attract admirers, whether you intend to do anything about them or not. There are literally thousands of scents to choose from and they are priced from cheap to exorbitantly expensive. So, when there are so many choices, how do you know which ones are suitable for you?

There are a few rules of thumb that you can use as guiding principles to help you choose which scent is appropriate for you. Firstly, you will have to know a little about the basic varieties of scent on hand, before you can find out which brand of perfume will suit you the best.

So, you can start by taking a look at the ingredients on the bottle. From these ingredients you can determine what type of fragrance is in the bottle. The basic types of scent are: light musk, natural scent, loud heady scent, floral scent, warm scent, bright cheerful fragrance and a few others.

You could get a small note book and make notes when you test perfumes in various department stores. Perhaps you will find musk too overwhelming for you or perhaps you do not want to smell like a garden flower. It is all very subjective and personal. No one can say that you are right or wrong.

One's body chemistry plays a huge role in why a will smell exquisite on your friend, but not so well on you. It is just a fact, that you cannot go by what smells good on someone else.

Perfumes that are manufactured from natural substances such as flowers, herbs or spices and even fruit tend to smell warm and soft. Examples of this type or fragrance are rose and lily of the valley. Musk, however, may be made to produce a delicate bouquet that lingers softly around you, but it can be strong and heady too.

You may discover that you like a scent, but that it is just too overpowering for you. If that is the situation, you may be able to get it in Eau de Cologne or Toilet Water, which are weaker in concentration. Other than that, you could use less or dab it on the underside of your clothing where it might not be subject to so much body heat and so will not evaporate quite so quickly.

If you go about choosing the right scent for yourself systematically, it could take quite some time to find something that is 'Essence De You', but it is well worth it. What is a year, when you can wear the scent for forty years? This is why I recommended getting a little note pad to put in your bag before doing the rounds of the free trial counters in the department stores.

The salesgirls won't mind, they will be pleased to show off their knowledge and be delighted that someone is taking a real interest in their merchandise. Then, once you have one, you could start all over again, if you enjoyed finding the first , but next time you will have a notebook full of suggestions.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with men's perfume. If you have an interest in romantic gifts, please go over to our website now at Romantic Gifts: Ideas

If you are holding a large wedding, that is one with many guests, the cost of wedding favours can be quite considerable, if you do not set a strict budget. One immediate method you could use to cut the cost of your wedding favours is to give one to each couple or single, rather than one to everybody who comes. The first decision to make is how much can you afford in total and then divide that by the number of guests in total and then divide it by the number of couples and singles.

This system will make it easier for you to decide what you are going to do: buy for everybody; buy for couples and singles and save the rest for something else or give to couples and singles but buy more expensive presents. If you still find that there is not a lot of money to go around, you will need to look for lower-priced wedding favours. I will offer you a few thoughts below to get you started.

Candles can be very effective, inexpensive wedding favours. If you buy in bulk, you can get some really lovely candles at very reasonable prices. You could get scented candles, maybe with the same smell as the bouquet the bride carried. You could also consider purchasing personalized ribbons to tie pretty bows around the candles and the ribbons could have your names and the wedding date on them.

Candy or chocolate is another type of low-cost wedding favour. There are many ways to go down this route. You could have the wrappers of popular candy bars custom-made; you could buy quite expensive chocolate in bulk and wrap it up in a special way yourself or you could buy small boxes of connoisseur chocolate.

Giving packets of flower or vegetable seeds is also an inexpensive way of giving a practical wedding favour. Again, you could give seed packets of the flowers in the bride's bouquet. The seed packets could be wrapped or boxed with your own special logo, names and wedding date. You could give them in a pot or tray too in order to make it even easier to sow the seeds.

A pen or pen and pencil set is also a fairly economical way of giving wedding favours. These pens can also bear your wedding details such as names and date.

However, I am Welsh and so my favourite wedding favours are love spoons in miniature, say four inches long. Love spoons were given in Wales by a suitor to his beloved for hundreds of years and many love spoon makers will make mini versions by hand for a small amount of money. These love spoon wedding favours can also be inscribed with the wedding details as they are typically made out of wood.

Another lovely touch is to insert a stamped, self addressed envelope to your wedding favour present, with a short note asking the recipient to get in touch with you soon, so that you do not let too much water go under the bridge.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Welsh love spoons, and Wales in general, please go to our website at Welsh Products Online, if you are too.

The Theobroma Cacao or 'the food of the Gods' is what we all know as the cocoa tree. It's origin can be traced back to South America's rain forests, specifically to Central America, although historians are still debating over certain facts with regard to this tree.

It is suggested that the Mayans first grew the cacao tree in 300 AD, although others point to inadequate evidence that it was grown or at least harvested in around 3,000 BC. The Aztecs also used the cacao, but from about 1100 AD.

The chocolate (drink) that we all know nowadays was called 'xocoatl'. It was a very exclusive beverage that was made with cacao, chilies, anise seed, vanilla, corn meal and some other spices. It is believed that only royalty were permitted to drink it and then only from golden chalices, which were to be used for the purpose only once.

The cacao tree is very sensitive to its environment and it most often grows in the shade of the rain forest canopy. If only for this reason alone, chocolate lovers should join forces with the environmentalists to save the rain forests so that the cacaos will continue to exist.

This tree is unusual because its fruits grow directly on its branches and trunk; midges cause the pollination of the flowers during the night time.

The cacao tree is very productive, but not very fruitful. It can have in the region of 10,000 blossoms, but only about 10 to 50 of those will mature into fruits or pods. This is thought to be because the cacao tree can adjust the number of blossoms that will mature according to its ability to handle the energy loss of bearing fruit or pods.

The cacao tree regulates itself in this way to preserve its health. Too many pods might exhaust its energy so much that it could not survive a viral or insect attack or too many ripe pods might snap off its branches.

The cocoa beans grow within the pod, the fruit of the blossom. Harvesters wait for the pod to ripen. They will then break open the pods and take out the seeds, which are surrounded by a white pulp. This is thrown away these days, but it is thought that many years ago it was fermented into an alcoholic drink for ceremonial occasions. The beans are the source of chocolate, although there is plenty to do yet..

The seeds are very bitter at this point and it is for this reason that they will go through a process of fermentation for about three to seven days. This causes the seeds to go through chemical as well as physical changes. The result of this was used for the royal treat, the 'xocoatl'.

However, to turn it into what we recognize as chocolate, the fermented beans have to go through quite a few more procedures. Processes by the name of: drying, cleaning, roasting, grading, opening, separation, grinding and liquefying.

After liquefying, you have unadulterated chocolate in the form of chocolate liquor. This is sold to chocolate manufacturers and the good ones make high-quality chocolate from it and the bad ones adulterate it so much that it is hardly chocolate any more.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Gourmet Chocolate Candy. If you have an interest in romantic gifts, please go over to our website now at Romantic Gifts: Ideas

There is a very large number of wedding rings available in the shops these days. In fact, you have the world of wedding rings to choose from. The high street shops in a large town have a pretty good assortment, but the Internet lays the best jewellers and the best styles out for your inspection.

So, it is essential that you take your time when selecting one. Maybe the vast range of wedding rings makes that more difficult not easier. Diamond wedding rings have been the most popular since ordinary working people could afford them, before that a plain band of gold had to be enough, for people who could afford that much.

Nowadays, Western people have become more adventurous and they are choosing other stones like the stunningly beautiful blue sapphire. Some even choosing not to have a stone at all, going back to tradition, so to speak. However, there are plenty of examples of not so plain bands of gold too.

There is the Irish Claddagh ring with its characteristic two hands holding a crowned heart symbolizing love, friendship and loyalty; and there is the Celtic Knot with its intricately interwoven strands twisting and turning without end, standing for eternity and eternal love despite the twists and turns and difficulties of daily life.

So, choosing a wedding ring is not just a question of picking a beautiful wedding ring, you should be choosing one that says what you want it to say. You could look up on the Internet what the different metals and various stones symbolize traditionally. If you cannot find a ring that says what you want, consider having one made. It is not as expensive as you might think.

Tradition is a good thing when it comes to wedding rings. After all, you want your ring to express your eternal love and devotion for the person you are giving it to and your marriage could last fifty or sixty years, especially with people living longer these days. Hopefully, you will wear this ring for the rest of your life, so select a style that seems timeless to you.

Selecting a wedding ring is not as easy as it looks, because you are going to be wearing your ring every day for the rest of your life, so it should be something that you will not get tired of in a couple years. You should look at and try on many rings in order to get one that feels good. You will want a ring that does not look out of date in ten years time. The simplest way of doing that is to go for a traditional style, because those styles have already stood the test of time.

One last piece of advice is to ask the jeweller to verify the total carat weight of the stones in the ring and the weight of each individual stone and the quality and weight of the metal (although it should be hallmarked) on paper, then if it gets lost or stolen you have something to show the insurance company.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the Celtic knot wedding ring. If you have an interest in gold rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

My friend has a store that sells glass artwork. My personal favourite glass artwork is paperweights and I have a lot of fun attending art auctions and buying art glass with her. We pay a lot of attention to what our friends and her clients like and dislike.

I often give people art glass paperweights that I find at art auctions for milestone birthdays and anniversaries. My mother turned seventy last August and I found a wonderful glass paperweight for her.

The art glass paperweight that I found for my mother was made by Baccarat and I was extremely lucky that this was one of the last items auctioned. A lot of people had already left the auction when this item went on the block. My mother appreciated the rose motif because the rose is her favourite flower.

I have a Dutch friend from Den Bosch who loves effigies of frogs. She has been able to decorate her abode very stylishly with her favourite frogs. I have been on the lookout for an art glass paperweight for her for years. I eventually found one at an art auction last year. The glass paperweight featured a frog sitting on a lily pad surrounded by blue water. It was very pretty and my friend started using it on her desk immediately.

I also have an aunt who collects art glass paperweights. She has asked me very often to find glass paperweights for her when I am attending art auctions. Of all of the pieces I have bought for her over the years, one sticks out in my memory more than any other.

The prettiest art glass paperweight I have ever won at an art auction has to be one that featured a blue and gold Macaw. Rick Ayotte was the artist that made it and it was even featured in a book of his work. He has created many lovely art glass paperweights.

There is no trouble at all selling art glass paperweights made by Rick Ayotte. His work seems to draw a great deal of interest. My friend tries to win any auction she finds for art glass paperweights made by him. She won one not so long ago that looked like pink roses. They looked so fragile and sweet. I know that this art glass paperweight will sell quickly.

There have been some inquiries at the shop for art glass paperweights by Richard Marquis, although we have not found any in any of the art auctions we have been to recently.

I will keep looking out for art glass paperweights at the auctions I attend, but I will not be going way out of my way to track them down. I now buy every art glass paperweight I can find that was made by Rick Satava. My favorite has to be the coral orange jellyfish that I found at an art auction an hour from my home. It was really beautiful.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Waterford crystal vases. If you have an interest in Irish crystal or wedding rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

If you and your partner are interested in a romantic break, you may have a difficult time deciding on a location because there is such a large number of vacation destinations to choose from. However, I would like to suggest St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, which lies in the Caribbean.

St. Thomas is well-known for its romantic holidays. Hundreds of thousands of couples have been vacationing in St. Thomas in order to get pleasure from an exclusive, intimate, and romantic vacation. If you are asking yourself why St. Thomas is such as wonderful place for romantic breaks, you ought to read more about St. Thomas on their official Internet web site.

The Caribbean, in general, is well known for its wonderful, tropical weather and this sort of environment is many couples' ideal romantic getaway. The lovely weather means unmatched opportunities for swimming and other beach activities. If seeing all the good-looking people in their bathing costumes does not turn you on then nothing will!.

However, do not think that St. Thomas is only intended for younger people. It caters very well for people of all age groups, although some resorts are 'adults only'. So, if you will have to check up on any age restrictions on some of the private beaches. Some may be Club 18-30, others may not admit under 18 year olds.

The 'adults only' resorts in St. Thomas are just right for romantic vacations. The hotel rooms in these resorts are also of a higher class. Many of them have oceanic views and large in room baths or jacuzzis. If you can get hold of one these rooms, you may not even care to go outside.

However, if you do want to venture outside, many of St. Thomas' beach resorts offer exceptional opportunities for all kinds of water sports like boat trips, snorkeling and assisted scuba diving tours. If you are not water-orientated or you want to have a go at something on land then there is horseback riding too. Horse riding along the coast is very popular. Many resorts have their own specialist activities, so when you book your holiday, make sure you check out what is accessible to you in that locality.

There are ample opportunities for shopping and sight-seeing on your own as well. You could hire a car and head up the coast or inland to one of the national parks, where you may see wildlife or find a secluded restaurant serving delectable local food.

Last, but definitely not least, in the list of romantic things to do in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands is to get married. There are fewer limitations on marriage for American couples than on mainland America. The only observances are a $50 fee and an eight day posting of bans to announce your intention to get married. You can get married at almost any time of the day or night. So, a sunset wedding on the beach is easily possible and is, in fact, one of the most popular romantic motives for young couples coming to St. Thomas.

Owen Jones writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with romantic men's perfume. If you have an interest in romantic gifts, please go over to our website now at Romantic Gifts Ideas