Romance and Chocolate

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014
Romance and Chocolate
The Mayans came later.  Mayans loved chocolate so much they wrote about the cacao on their stone tablets referred to as "the food of the gods".

http://www.cerreta.com/

photo by Cerreta Chocolate Company

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and with it comes the time to celebrate romance. Although it's unknown where the exact origin of where the first Valentine festivity began, it's still a favorite holiday for many people. Especially for those who look forward to the gifts from a loved one. Say...a beautiful bouquet of flowers and large delicious box of chocolates.

Chocolates....yum.  When you bite into that scrumptious melt in the mouth chocolate do you ever think about where it came from? Probably not, but before Nestles, Hershey, See's and all those that followed you can thank the Olmecs from the Mexico area. They were the first who discovered the cacao bean to be a delicious treat.

The Aztecs, 1420-1520 used cacao as currency. It is written they fed chocolate to their human sacrifices before killing them. A last treat. Not exactly romantic.

Then when Conquistador Cortez was served a cacao drink by Aztec Montezuma in 1519, he loved it so much he took it home to Europe and the love of chocolate quickly spread through Europe.

If your mouth is now watering for a yummy piece of chocolate, or maybe a chocolate covered strawberry, you can get all the chocolate you want this weekend at the Glendale Chocolate Affaire.
http://www.glendaleaz.com/events/chocolateaffaire.cfm

The event runs Friday through Sunday, February 7-9, 2014.  While you're there, join us at the Romance Writers booth where we will be signing along with many other local authors who all love to talk about books and answer any questions you might have about the writing process.

Tia Dani

www.TiaDani.com

P.S. We will be sharing a secret when you stop to see us. It has something to do with awesome bargains.

Don't Miss The Glendale Chocolate Affaire

Once again the Valley of the Sun Romance Authors will be hosting one of the largest romance author booksignings in the Southwest at the Glendale Chocolate Affaire. You can find our booth on the east side of Murphy Park which is located at 58th and Glendale Avenues.  Event hours are Friday 5 - 10 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.

While strolling through the park, you'll find vendors selling chocolate-covered strawberries, bananas, ice cream, etc. Activities for children include face-painting and rock-wall climbing, plus couples can take a horse-drawn carriage ride. Whatever you do, don't forget to drop by and say hello to the romance writers. We often give out bookmarks and other freebies. This year we will have a  mock romance novel cover cut-out for photo opportunities. Don't forget to bring your camera or cell phone to take that memorable picture.

Romance authors love to meet readers and discuss their books or even their writing process. And if you find books you would like to purchase, not only will the author sign them for you, but our cashier will place your books inside of the red tote bag shown above, which lists the names of some of our authors. (Bags are limited to the first 250 customers.)

If you are interested in becoming a writer, we will also be giving free writing workshops on Saturday.

For more information on the Chocolate Affaire go to http://www.glendaleaz.com/events/chocolateaffaire.cfm