Holiday Tour Day 21: Talebones and Mānoa

E hele me ka pu’olo

I’m going to skip all housekeeping announcements today. It’s like washing dishes and going laundry. You’re constantly reminding people about stuff they should just absolutely love to do, and they know they should do it but don’t because all they really want to do is have read about eat more chocolate. So I’m not going to say ANYTHING about the prizes at the end of the Tour or the 20% off forever discount offer thingie or whatever it was I forgot I was supposed to say.

Oh, yeah—if you’re not subscribed, you’re missing out big time. Tap that big mango-colored button right down here!

Oops that was housekeeping wasn’t it. Never happened. Please subscribe.

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It’s rare that I pair a writer with the chocolate they actually like. In fact, as you might have noticed, the previous twenty days I’ve selected a chocolate that’s different than the one a writer says they like. Why? When you do a tasting you want resonant contrast. You don’t pair two things that align perfectly, just as you don’t set up two people on a blind date who are like siblings (you know where that’s gonna go). You want alignment, but departure from the foundation just enough to create interest. You know, dramatic tension—just like we fiction writers weave.

But this is one of those times that the cacao stars have aligned. It is the December Solstice after all… Either that or the Art Dogs really know how to follow scent trails in the wetlands.

TCM Holiday Tour Day 21 pairing:

TALEBONES and MĀNOA

S.E. Reid is one of the writers I connected with early on in my Substack journey. What stands out for me about Sally is her indefatigable energy (especially in Notes!), the vast diversity of her work, and her wholehearted support of other writers via the newsletter Talestack News. That is one newsletter you do not want to miss, people.

If you know Sally, or S.E., that’s probably what stands out for you, too. But did you know she and her husband live on a patch of wooded wetland in the great Pacific Northwest? And that she has a vegetable garden? And loves to cook? And tell stories about nature and history and ghosts?

We need to organize in-person meetups y’all. All of these amazing people congregating on Substack, it’s almost cruel all we can do—most of the time—is do digital high-five’s for one another. Plus, if we do in-person, we’d actually get to taste the actual chocolate.

In the meantime, we can snuggle up with some of S.E.’s stories in the middle of dark and stormy nights.

Please welcome

S.E. Reid

and

Talebones 🔭

.

The Cacao Muse: Welcome Sally! Tell us all about Talebones.

Sally (S.E.) Reid: Talebones is an ever-expanding collection of character-driven speculative fiction with a supernatural, spiritual, or uncanny twist! I write varying lengths, from short stories up to serialized tales, and many of my works take place on a fictional Pacific Northwest area called Ferris Island that has… let’s say… a mind of its own. If you like mysterious places, interconnected narratives, and suspense with sincerity, come check it out! For more about me and my various projects (including my nonfiction work elsewhere on Substack), you can visit http://sereid.com.

Birgitte: Ooh I love mysteries and interconnected narratives and suspense. Do you think it’s a coincidence that your feature falls on the December Solstice?¹

[Before Sally can respond, a big black animal pounces into the scene and nearly knocks Birgitte over.]

Birgitte: Oh! Who’s this?

Sally: This is Finn.

Birgitte: Hi Finn! Are you an Art Dog?

[Sally and Finn both look at Birgitte]: ?

Birgitte: An Art Dog. You know, like Bailey’s Art Dogs. Animals who accompany their artists. And sniff out high quality chocolate bars.

Sally: Well, he’s always by my side when I’m writing, so… maybe?

Birgitte: Most definitely an Art Dog.

[Wagging his tail energetically, Finn barks his agreement and runs off.]

TCM: What chocolate do you call yours, Sally?

Sally: This is a tricky question, as I’m NOT picky about chocolate! But my favorite chocolate I’ve ever eaten was from a bean-to-bar maker in Oahu, Hawaii, called Mānoa. A friend of mine was living on Oahu at the time and took me on a tour of the little facility. Delicious AND fascinating! Nothing like eating chocolate fresh from the maker.

Birgitte: Oh yes, the people of Mānoa Chocolate are great, they do wonderful work. Super dedicated to sustainability. They were at the NW Chocolate Festival this year — I bought their chocolate, and they bought my book. Now that’s what I call a “fair trade” 🤭.

Sally: More locally, I agree with my Pacific Northwest-dwelling neighbor, Chapin: Theo Chocolate (the salted toffee flavor, or the seasonal peppermint) is usually my first grab at the store. I just heard they got bought out, which is a bit of a shame; I hope they keep their ethics as they expand.

Birgitte: They did… merged with the American Licorice Company in July. Hopefully the brand will continue unscathed. They did have to lay off 60 employees, sadly. Oh, look who’s back!

[Finn runs up to Sally, wagging his tail excitedly. He’s got something between his teeth. Sally bids him to sit, and gently extracts the mysterious item. It looks like a tiny book.]

Sally [to Finn]: What’s this, Finn? It says “Manakō Mango” on it. [She looks a little closer] Oh, it’s Mānoa!

Finn: [barks excitedly]

Birgitte: Looks like Finn did my job for me. This is one of the sampler bars from a special “Flavors of Hawai’i” collection box Mānoa does. [to Finn]: You’re a smart one, Finn! Alright let’s taste it! Well, not you Finn, sorry! Dogs can’t digest chocolate. But you can have the packaging.

Chocolate: Manakō Mango

Percentage: 70%

Origin: O’ahu, Hawai’i

Ingredients: Cacao, organic cane sugar, mango juice powder, cocoa butter

Price: $30.00 (box set of 6 sampler bars)

Tasting Notes: The mango is light on the palate—a breath more than a thick slice of the fruit, which is just as well because mango can overpower very quickly. The cacao is earthy, with notes of rum, grapes, and cherries. You finish with floral tones and a hint of citrus at the end. My only complaint is the mouthfeel is a little grainy—I like my chocolate velvety smooth.

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TCM: Is there anything you’ve wanted to ask the experts?

Sally: Much ballyhooing is made of chocolate’s antioxidant content. How healthy is chocolate for you, really, and is there a way to maximize the health benefits? (Aside from just, you know, eating more of it??)

Birgitte: Heh, personally I subscribe to the “never too much chocolate” mantra, but in terms of health benefits, yes, and it depends. Here’s what I told Bailey:

It is good for you. In so many ways. Opens up your palate so flavors of other foods are more intense. Good for your microbiome. Cardiovascular system. Digestion. But it does depend on the chocolate. Commercial candy bars are actually bad for you because of all the sugar, fats and artificial ingredients. What you want is to get as close to pure cacao as you can. Cacao is rich in nutrients, no doubt about that. It’s why I have cacao nibs in my breakfast oatmeal or granola—gives me long-lasting energy for the day.

The Olmecs, Maya, and Aztecs used cacao to heal a variety of ailments, from asthma and headaches to anemia and cancer, and for endurance and fertility.

Some people say a lot of the modern health studies are overblown because they serve the interests of the chocolate industry—see this article from The Guardian that walks through a lot of the nuances. But if you ask me, if it was good for the ancients, it’s good for us.

As for maximizing the health benefits, you want to get as close to the source as you can. This means cacao nibs rather than chocolate bars, for example, because the nibs are the roasted beans, with no sugar, no oils, no nothing added. [pauses] Interesting. The only other writer who’s asked about chocolate’s health benefits specifically, is also a dog person. Hmm!

[Finn waggs his tail excitedly but doesn’t know what to say. Probably just a coincidence.]

TCM: Anything you’d change about the chocolate business if you could?

Sally: I know that there are a LOT of problems with the chocolate industry, many of which you’ve already spoken about and that I would fix in a heartbeat. But one of the many things that gets me about chocolate (and candy in general) is all the plastic packaging and waste. I especially hate seeing it around Hallowe’en, when each bag contains dozens of individually-wrapped candies. I know the chocolate industry isn’t alone in this, but it’s still really alarming.

Birgitte: You and me both. Don’t get me started! The whole let’s-wrap-everything-for-you-so-you-don’t-have-to-move-a-finger mentality incenses me. No wonder we produce mountains of garbage. Wouldn’t it be nice to go back to wrapping our cacao in banana leaves the way the Aztecs did.

And we need to do something about Halloween.

All that mango blended with chocolate… I really want to learn the Hawai’ian language now. While I search for a handsome native instructor to sweep me off my linguistic feet, please send a lot of aloha to Sally, Finn, and Talebones! (As with so many expressions in Hawai’i, aloha isn’t just a cool way to say ‘sup. Aloha actually means “love and fellowship” and also, “living in harmony with the people and land around you with mercy, sympathy, grace, and kindness.” Nothing less!)

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COMING UP! DAY 22 of the TCM HOLIDAY TOUR

Have you been paying attention to the numbers? If you haven’t, you might want to get a little more observant. Note, for example, that the number 22 is a double of 11. It is also a twin mirror number: two two’s. And, according to a certain know-scrape-it-all,

“In numerology, 22 is considered a master number, often referred to as the “Master Builder.” It is associated with high levels of intuition, spiritual insight, and the ability to turn dreams into reality. People who resonate with the number 22 are believed to possess great potential for manifesting their goals and creating positive change.

“In other contexts, 22 might have significance in different areas such as sports jersey numbers, historical events, or cultural symbols. If you have a specific context in mind, providing more details could help in offering a more accurate interpretation of the number 22.”

~ Hey, that looks like it was generated by ChatGPT.

~ It was. I meant to delete that last part. Don’t you want to know who’s the featured writer tomorrow?

~ I want to know why you’re using a damn bot on this Holiday Tour. I don’t want no AI in my chocolate.

~ It’s not, I don’t—it’s just…

~ Seriously, I’m so mad right now and I don’t even know why.

“I can sense that you’re upset, and I’m here for you. Whenever you’re ready to talk about it, I’m here to listen without judgment.”

~ #?@*&%!

[Sound of door slamming and huffy footsteps storming off]

Tomorrow will be interesting.

1. We here in the Northern Hemisphere are used to saying “Winter Solstice” this time of year. But there’s an entire half a planet Earth below the Equator, and for them, right now, it’s Summer. So who are we to claim cultural dominion over the phrasing of a celestial event? Actually, their Summer Solstice starts December 22, because of that whole time zone difference thing.