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As a father who believes that every women deserves the right to find her own destiny we are launching our annual support of the Vagina Monologues: The following from Wikipedia is for those want know more:

The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which developed and premiered at HERE Arts Center and was followed by an Off-Broadway run in 1996 at Westside Theatre. The play delves into consensual and nonconsensual sexual experiences, body image, genital mutilation, direct and indirect encounters with reproduction, sex work, and several other topics through the eyes of women with various ages, races, sexualities, and other differences. Charles Isherwood of The New York Tim...

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Come see us Saturday, January 23 from 5:30-8:30pm at the Forward Movement Training Center in Meridian, Idaho! There will be chocolate tastings including beer and wine, and live music in a family friendly environment. Tickets are $15 and are available at todieforchocolatefestival.com or by calling 208-866-0489. Proceeds benefit the Eagle Garden Rotary Club. Hope to see you there!

by Amber Johnson



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Everybody has a dark side. Chocolate’s dark side might not be so bad, though. People say dark chocolate is good for the health. According to WebMD, it can lower blood sugar (if you’re a certain age) and contains antioxidants, which does lots of good stuff for your skin and body, like prevent wrinkles and diseases. If that’s true then maybe you should consider having more of those nights of socializing with red wine and dark chocolate. But what is dark chocolate?


The Food and Drug Administration defines dark chocolate as having at least 35 percent cocoa solids and less than five percent milk solids. Dark chocolate is like milk chocolate without the milk. Th...

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by Amber Johnson


If you’ve ever considered planting a tree and growing your own cocoa, you might want to consider the best environment for growing cocoa. Unless you live within 10 degrees north or south of the equator, you would probably be better off buying pre-grown cocoa.


Cocoa beans grow in countries around the world but the three main regions are West Africa, South America and Asia. There are different types of cocoa trees which all grow under different conditions and therefore have slightly different results.


The best place for growing cocoa is within 10 degrees of the equator because the climate is steady, ranging from 18 to 32 degrees celsius. Rain is one of the most important fac...

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by Amber Johnson


A common saying from my middle school years is “you can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?” Even though we don’t really say it anymore, I feel like it still applies. People always talk about how good they are or how much they want to make a difference. Some even come up with ideas, but their actions never seem to back up their words. And that frustrates me.


Many people talk about the problems this world has and then sit back and wait for others to solve them. They’re not going to just disappear on their own. At Dream Chocolate, we really are trying to make a dent in the list of problems in this world. One way we practice this is through job traini...

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by Amber Johnson

I once saw a fridge magnet that said “man cannot live on chocolate alone…but woman can.” My mom always laughs at this saying, it is funny after all, but I think it’s funny because it’s partially true. Now, of course, not ALL women love chocolate and there are men who really do, but in general, women tend to like chocolate more than men.

According to an article published by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, women like chocolate more than men because of women’s cycle of estrogen and progesterone. The Guardian claims that women like chocolate more because their taste buds tend to be more sensitive toward bitter flavors. Research also indica...

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by Amber Johnson


Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what baseball would be like if the batter got out on the first strike instead of the third. The innings would be over in a flash. Hardly anyone would score. It’s a good thing baseball gives second and third chances. If only the rest of the world worked like that.


At Dream Chocolate, we believe in second chances. We work with the State of Idaho to provide people with second chances through the prison work release program. This program allows trusted prisoners to work during their imprisonment. The prisoners leave only for their work shift where they can earn money while serving their sentence.


This program does a lot for prisoners. ...

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by Amber Johnson


I love chocolate. But here at Dream Chocolate, we love more than just chocolate. We want to make a difference. As Dream Chocolate President Kay Johnson says, “We’re about doing the right thing.” One way we work to do the right thing is through the Rainforest Alliance. The Rainforest Alliance is an organization working to preserve the rainforests by showing businesses and farmers that taking care of the environment and a company’s employees is profitable for everyone. Their mission statement is “the Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and con...

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by Amber Johnson

Before you buy a house it’s important to have an inspector check the house to make sure it’s in good shape and worth your investment. Shouldn’t it be as important, if not more, to take similar precautions with what we eat? If we’re going to put something in our body it’s important to know what’s really in there. There is more to a cocoa bean than meets the eye and misconceptions about chocolate run rampant.

I feel like I keep raving about all the great antioxidants in chocolate but I’ve never really explained what antioxidants do. According to dictionary.com, an antioxidant is “any substance that inhibits oxidation, as a substan...

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by Amber Johnson


Back when the Aztecs ruled their empire they treated themselves to what they called xocoatl, which was a bitter drink they made from cacao beans. We’ve come a long way since then, making sweet hot cocoa and chocolates. Through the ages chocolate, like countless other foods, has been processed so it is “better”. The problem is that chocolate, especially sweetened, is not healthy. It is full of fats and sugars. In a world where we strive to enjoy a healthy lifestyle, it is hard to find a tasty treat that is still good for you. Well, it turns out maybe the ancient Aztecs could teach us a lesson about tasty treats.


The Aztecs drank xocoatl without sweetening and...

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