A Baci For Destressing

JANUSFILES2 . . . ENTRY #0163 . . . OPEN:


In my last entry, I mentioned that I was in the process of cleaning my condo. I still haven't completed it, but at least the main reason for doing so is out of the way.

I had spent most of the last couple of weeks trying to clean the place. I won't go into details, but I was doing this because someone was paying a visit that lasted, at most, 15 minutes. I also spent a good portion of the last couple of weeks stressing out over the visit, for two reasons. First, there was the reason for the visit, which, as I said, I would rather not mention the sordid details. Second, I'm not really not that good a housekeeper. In fact, my housecleaning skills do not come up to the high exacting standards of Oscar Madison.

Yesterday was the visit, and I was cleaning up until about 10 minutes before my visitor arrived. At that point, I realized that I had completed as much as was going to be completed. And it was time to face the visit itself.

As you perhaps may have already guessed, I don't entertain. In fact, I tend to stress out when someone else is in my condo, which probably explains my somewhat . . . relaxed attitude toward housecleaning. If I remember correctly, the last person in my condo (other than me, of course) was a plumber sometime last year.

By the time my visitor left, I was in need of something to destress me. I recently read that two good ways of dealing with stress were sex and chocolate. Well, one of those is not a viable alternative, and it would probably take more chocolate than I could comfortably consume to ameliorate my stress levels at the time. Fortunately, simply getting out of the condo for a few hours handled things quite nicely.

While I was doing the cleaning, I discovered a box of Baci that had gotten buried under some other stuff. The box (and they) were slightly smashed, but were otherwise all right.

Unwrapping these Baci proved to be a slight challenge. After all, I didn't want to damage the love notes underneath the foil. And I was rewarded for my efforts with these notes:

"Doubt thou the stars are fire . . . But never doubt my love." -- William Shakespeare
"The woman does not exist of whose beauty all men shall agree upon." -- G. Leopardi

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Running Out Of Kiss Puns

JANUSFILES2 . . . ENTRY #0140 . . . OPEN:


I opened up the other box of Baci yesterday. I was waiting on a couple of different occasions for the bus to arrive, and decided that there was plenty of time to savor a Baci. (Actually, I think the correct term for the singular is "Bacio," but since I don't know Italian, I don't know for certain.)

As the title of this entry suggest, I am running out of cute phrases to use as titles, and substituting "baci" (or "bacio") for "kiss." Which means that the next time I have an entry about the messages I find in Baci, I'm going to have to really think of a good title.

Well, enough of the preamble. Here are the messages I found in this pair of Baci:

"Friendship is Love without his wings!" -- G. Byron (More from Lord Byron?)
"One little kiss can contain the grandest passion." -- Anonymous

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A Lingering Baci

JANUSFILES2 . . . ENTRY #0139 . . . OPEN:


Not too long ago, I picked a couple of boxes of Baci at World Market. I didn't eat them right away. As a matter of fact, it took a few days before I opened the first box, because I wanted the chance to savor the Baci as much as possible. These are not chocolates to scarf down like you would a bag of potato chips.

One day last week, I finally found just the right moment to open that first box. And yes, I did savor the chocolates as much as I possibly could. And I was intrigued by the love notes I found wrapped around this pair of Baci:

"There is no instince like that of the heart." -- G. Byron (I suspect this refers to George Gordon, Lord Byron.)
"How you give is more important thanwhat you give." -- P. Corneille

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Baci, Baci, Bang, Bang

JANUSFILES2 . . . ENTRY #0129 . . . OPEN:


About a week ago, I was in my local World Market, and I saw those little boxes of Baci back on the shelves. I hadn't seen them for a few months, and I had been wondering if World Market would be getting them back in stock. Naturally, I picked up a box.

It was a few days before I unwrapped the Baci. It was one of those things where I needed just a little bit of time to properly appreciate the chocolates. And of course, there were the love notes hidden the foil wrapper and the chocolate. Here's what the notes said this time around:

"Love directs your course." -- Kahlil Gibran
"Love is blind to faults, friendship loves them." -- Anonymous

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A Kiss Of Friendship

JANUSFILES2 . . . ENTRY #0102 . . . OPEN:


I picked up another package of Baci chocolates recently. I really wish they were available in bags, just like Hershey Kisses or other similar chocolates. I would like to be able to have more than just a couple of bites on hand. (For all I know, Baci are packaged in bags, but if those bags aren't sold in my area, it doesn't do me much good, does it? But I digress . . . )

I managed to savor the blend of dark chocolate and hazelnuts as long as I could. And of course, there was the matter of very carefully unwrapping the chocolates, so as not to damage the love notes inside. The notes in both of these chocolates were attributed to that well-known writer "Anonymous." At least, I'm guessing that "Anonimo" translates to that. Anyway, here they are:

"Friendship brings great happiness with little gestures."
"Real friendship can be enjoyed in silence."

I suppose it was purely random chance that these two similarly themed notes ended up in the same box. Or maybe it was just one of those occasional bits of serendipity.

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A Baci Is Just A Baci

JANUSFILES2 . . . ENTRY #0081 . . . OPEN:


I finally unwrapped the other Baci in the package I got recently. Now, I have discovered that if you want to get the lovenote in readable condition, you need to unwrap the chocolate carefully. Of course, I had figured that out before I ever unwrapped my first Baci.

The note inside was in at least one other language that I hadn't seen previously. I recognize it as Greek, but again, I couldn't read anything other than the English version. Here's what it said:

"The more I love you the more you flee from me my darling."

This was attributed to a C. Baudelaire. Not recognizing who that might be, though.

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Sealed With A Baci

JANUSFILES2 . . . ENTRY #0080 . . . OPEN:


A few entries back, I mentioned Perugina's Baci chocolates, and how each chocolate contains a lovenote inside the wrapper. At the time I wrote the entry, I mentioned that I hadn't tried a Baci, so I had no firsthand knowledge.

Well, that has changed. Not too long ago, I was in World Market, and was looking through the candy section when I noticed Baci on one of the shelves. Obviously, I grabbed a box right away.

The box contained only two chocolates. Not much more than a sample, but to tell the truth, that was all I really wanted at the moment. I just wanted to get an idea of both the candy and the notes.

The chocolate was delightful. A dark chocolate ganache with chopped hazelnuts, topped with a whole hazelnut and covered in dark chocolate.

What really interested me was the lovenote inside the blue and silver foil wrapper. It was printed on a slip of translucent paper. It had what I assume was the same message printed in several languages. Besides English (the only one I can read), it was also printed in what looks to be Italian, French, Spanish, and one other language. Here's the English message:

"We've spoken a lot about love. Now let's try to listen to it, shall we?"

I haven't seen what is inside the other chocolate yet. That's for another entry.

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