La Vida Es Dura

Just moments after my mother swooped me up from the train station, were we comparing our favorite new cookbooks and selecting the recipes we would tackle over the next few days. She had just received David Lebovitz’s new recipe book, The Perfect Scoop, and I had just purchased The Essence of Chocolate by John Sharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. As I ruffled through page after page reading them aloud, our stomachs began to protest loudly. There were just so many marvelous recipes, Olive Oil Ice Cream, Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, Chocolate Shortbread with pink salt and chocolate nibs, Chili and Chocolate Marinated Flank Steak… how were we ever going to choose between them all? Overwhelmed, I leaned back and glanced out my window at the approaching mountains plump with the promise of spring, and releasing a tiny giggle I sighed, "La Vida es dura."