Hail the Laughing Buddha, patron saint of restauranteurs…..
There’s an acquaintance of mine here in Minnesota who is opening a restaurant. And she’s got a fairly developed, lovely slightly-goth style about her as well as above and beyond the usual social graces. She just invited me to her birthday party.
And I’m terrrrrrrrrible at birthdays. I mean, unFriend me from Facebook terrible.
My mind pretty much as two tracks– whatever music happens to be my current obsession (Right now it’s Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2014 musical “21 Chump Street” opening song “What the Heck I gotta do to be with you.“) and chocolate/coffee.
I can’t give her the song, so I thought I’d fall back on my tried-and-true gift, artisanal chocolate.
I just ordered this little guy (he’s made of “ethical, fair-trade, slavery-free chocolate” from Alma Chocolates in Portland, Oregon–where Dream Eater takes place–as a birthday gift for an acquaintance who is opening a restaurant here in Minnesota.) He’s so cute. The gold foil is a little flaky, but he still looks delicious. I think Minnesota needs more artisanal chocolate. I would have loved to support local chocolate peeps. Hopefully she’ll like him.
What I Should Have Said 
How can you go wrong giving a chocolate Buddha? Isn’t chocolate sort of spiritual in and of itself? Add in a beautiful representation of a Buddha and you are basically giving the gift of joy and calm… and those are great gifts we could all use more of. Of course, he is also a little too cute to eat so he may just sit upon a dresser with an eclectic collection of shiny objects, vintage baubles, lotions and potions… and that is okay too.
LikeLike