Great for the soul

I should read movie reviews more carefully before I go to see movies. An approval rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes does not guarantee that I will enjoy or appreciate a film. We did not want to go into the City on Sunday because of that little group of 50,000 runners participating in The New York City Marathon, so we chose a film that was playing at a small art-house theater in Westchester not far from here, “Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.” I am hard pressed to call my relative ignorance “virtuous;” this was one very strange film. To be honest, I spent much of the two hours completely lost, and was only able to piece things together with some help from movie reviews read as I sat down to write this.

The main character is Riggan Thomas (played by very different Michael Keaton than “Mr. Mom” over thirty years ago), a once known but now washed up iconic super hero called "The Birdman" who had recently turned down a fourth installment of the franchise. Now washed up, he attempts to reinvent himself as a director by staging a new retelling of a classic Broadway dramatic play called "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." The days leading up to the premier find the cast suffering one disaster after another, including an on-set injury of the lead actor and a scramble to find a replacement. Riggan gives the role to a method actor who takes the job quite seriously. But Riggan has a hard time juggling between the set, his replacement actor, his troubled daughter, and a host of other disasters that prevent a proper staging of the play. Meanwhile, a New York Times critic who Riggan has to woo threatens to shut down production of the play before it even starts with a scathing review of the opening night performance. All of this is told going in and out of disturbing hallucinations Riggan experiences. Does Riggan have a hit on his hands or will he even make it past opening night? I do not want to share the ending lest any of you wish to see this film. But you might think about saving your time and money. 

There is a quintessential New York City grocery store on the Upper West Side (Broadway and 91^st Street) called Barzini’s. It is not an entirely kosher store but they happen to carry many kosher items, and they are located across the street from Kosher Marketplace, a kosher grocery and prepared food emporium that we tend to frequent. Some months ago Barry noticed that Barzini’s sells Chocolat Bonnat, a line of certified kosher chocolates from France. There are at least eight types of chocolates, with names like Ceylan, Madagascar, and Trinite (you can check these out at  

Chocolat Bonnat

When Barry is in that neighborhood he often stops in and buys them for me, even stockpiling them in some hidden place to whip out a new one when I have finished the previous one (yes, I can hear all the sighs and “what a sweet guy he is”).  

The wrappers on this chocolate all say “Pour Croquer.” I was curious what this meant, so I (1) put it into the Google translator and (2) asked my friend who teaches French to high school students, and both gave the same answer: it means “to chew,” which I assume means that it is chocolate for eating rather than cooking/baking. In addition, in searching around about this I found that there are some chocolates that specifically instruct not to chew, rather to just let them melt in the mouth. As far as I can see, these Bonnat chocolates are amazing either way.

A side note: we can testify that young children do not seem to appreciate these very dark chocolates, which is just as well!

Here is a little about the company that I found on-line:

Master chocolate makers, Raymond and Stéphane Bonnat, select only the finest cocoa classics to make their chocolates in Voiron which nestles right in the heart of the Chartreuse mountains. All of the cocoas used are shipped in from the finest cocoa plantations in the world in the form of beans. They are then roasted and transformed into the wonderful chocolates you are about to discover,  compare and taste. 

Bonnat is the story of a family’s long love affair with chocolate. It is a story which began back in 1884 when Félix Bonnat established his premises at number 8, cours Sénozan in Voiron (Isère region). 

All Bonnat’s customers in France and those making their way home for Christmas by boat from the French colonies looked forward to tasting the Voiron “Pavés” (Praline Chunks) and other Bonnat specialities. 

As time went by Félix Bonnat’s two sons, Armand and Gaston, began to help him more and more with the production and running of the family business. 

In 1956 Raymond Bonnat finally took over the firm. After studying business, he toured France, studied at the School of Chocolatiers in Basel, completed the COBA School and finally did a tour of Switzerland. He got married in 1959 and his wife Nicole, the daughter of well-known hoteliers in the region, helped him to run the business. Two of their four children, Cécile and Stéphane from the fourth generation, perpetuate the high quality tradition which has always formed the basis of the family business. 

Our shop in Voiron is a place of pilgrimage for unconditional Bonnat lovers where they are greeted by Nicole Bonnat and her daughter Cécile. 

Given that many tourists pass through Voiron on their way to the mountains, many of our foreign customers often stop off en route to see us. Our products are sold in Paris and in sixty other departments of France thanks to our network of sales representatives. Bonnat was dispatching its products out to the French colonies as early as 1919 – Africa, Indo-china, Asia. Because our business has always taken us to far away countries, having an affinity with and understanding the diverse mentalities of different continents is something which comes naturally. And of course our travels have also given us a real taste for the high seas. 

In France, as abroad, our priority is to preserve the chocolate- making traditions which have made the Bonnat name so famous. We believe that: "What is good to the taste is great for the soul" 

Chocolat Bonnat's 100% Cacao is made from 100% pure dark chocolate chocolate.     

I LOVE that last line, “what is good for the taste is great for the soul.” How very true!

Have a sweet week!

Love,

Rebecca