Center of the Sponge Candy Universe

Well, it’s time to get back on the recumbent exercise bicycle this morning. I don’t use it during the summer because I am so busy with gardening, walking, outdoor biking and other things. I decided that I would just start out slow to get in the swing of it again but I did set the time for 30 minutes, and the level on five. Uh oh! I didn’t have my exercise tunes play list loaded on the iPod! Oh well, I selected from my best rated music play list and waited to see what I got.

First up “Just in Time” sung by Tony Bennett was a good start for an easy beginning workout. I was loving his voice! I didn’t care about speed today so I was only peddling around sixty revolutions per minute. Then came “Let Me Go Lover” sung by Joan Weber. Another slow sentimental song from the past and perfect for the pace I wanted on my first day. I love female vocalists with a strong voice. “Singing the Blues” sung by Gary Mitchell with Ray Conniff kicked up the beat just a little. I was getting tired already and since I wasn’t worried about getting a workout yet but just wanted to get back in the habit I started thinking about stopping. But, whoa “Mack the Knife” by Bobby Darin got me feeling good! My legs were moving on their own. It was me and Lucy Brown. I was almost up to seventy revolutions per minute, Maggie’s back in town! Then “Running on Ice” by Billy Joel kept up the pace. My peddling was effortless at around seventy revolutions per minute. I started slowing down with “Tell her about it” sung by Billy Joel and then the perfect ending song to leave me feeling good inside “Precious Memories” by Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys.

OK, I only burned 100 calories according to the program on the console and barely got my heart pumping or out of breath but I’m back on the bike and I had a great time. By the way, Gary recommends peddling 80 revolutions per minute for a good workout. He says this with authority so it must be true!

Now, I can’t help giving a bit of advice to anyone who will listen. Make sure that you get some exercise every day! You can make it fun and much easier if you use music when you workout. I’ve got to stress this point a bit. The music can catch you up and sweep you along so that you hardly notice the effort. Afterwards you will have more energy and you will feel better physically and mentally. I promise!

Following is my list of favorite exercise songs. What’s your favorite exercise music? Feel free to comment below.

(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets

Africa Bamba - Santana

Against The Wind - Bob Seger

Alcohol - Barenaked Ladies

All Night Long (All Night) - Lionel Richie

Another One Bites The Dust - Queen

Big Rumble - Bruce Hornsby

Boogie Wonderland - Earth, Wind & Fire

Born on the Bayou - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

Burning Down the House - Talking Heads

Come on Eileen - Dexy’s Midnight Runners

Crazy On You - Heart

Danse Macabre - Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà

Dark Lady - Cher

Do You Love Me - The Contours

Doctor’s Orders - Carol Douglas

Don’t Stop Me Now - Queen

Don’t Sweat It - Toothfairy

Everytime You Go Away - Paul Young

Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen

Footprints In the Snow - Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys

Freedom Of Choice (Live Version) - Devo

Get Off Of My Cloud - The Rolling Stones

Get Ready – The Temptations

Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones

Hands Up - Various Artists

Harlem Shuffle - The Rolling Stones

Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Hot Child In The City - Nick Gilder

I’m Every Woman - Whitney Houston

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

I’m Happy But You Don’t Like Me - Asobi Seksu

I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow - Soggy Bottom Boys

I Feel the Earth Move - Carole King

I Love the Nightlife - Alicia Bridges

I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

It Gets Me Going - Spymob

John - Grease Megamix - John Travolta & Olivia Newton

Jump - Van Halen

Jumpin’ Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones

Ladies Night - Kool & The Gang

Le Freak - Chic

Love and Happiness - Al Green

Lucille - Little Richard

Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of …) - Lou Bega

Missing You - John Waite

Modern Woman - Billy Joel

More Than A Feeling - Boston

Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds

My Girl - The Temptations

My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion

My life - Billy Joel

My Sharona - The Knack

Oh Sherrie - Steve Perry

Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads

One Way Or Another - Blondie

One Way Out - Allman Brothers Band

One Week - Barenaked Ladies

Physical - Olivia Newton-John

Playing With The Boys - Kenny Loggins

Renegade - Styx

Respect - Aretha Franklin

Rhythm of the Night - DeBarge

Runaway - Del Shannon

Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting - Elton John

She’s a Beauty - The Tubes

Shout - Tears for Fear

Show Me The Way - Peter Frampton

Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves - Eurythmics

Smokin’ in the Boys Room Mötley Crüe

Something Happened on the Way to Heaven - Phil Collins

Spider Fingers - Bruce Hornsby

Start Me Up - The Rolling Stones

Steel Claw - Tina Turner

Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel

Swamp - Talking Heads

Take Me to the River - Talking Heads

The Heat Is On - Glenn Frey

Theme from Rocky - Cincinnati Pops Orchestra & Eri…

Things You Don’t Have To Do - Peter Malick Group - Norah Jones

Tight Rope - Leon Russell

Tomorrow People - Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers

Top Gun Anthem - Harold Faltermeyer

Tubthumping - Chumbawamba

Two Step - Dave Matthews Band

Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Undun - The Guess Who

Upside Down - Diana Ross

Urgent - Foreigner

We’re Here For A Good Time - Trooper

We Are The Champions - Queen

We Will Rock You - Queen

Whip It - Devo

Y.M.C.A. - Village People

You Are The Girl - The Cars

You Had Me - Joss Stone

You Ought to Be With Me - Al Green

You Really Got Me - The Kinks

Just a quick post about cocoa bean mulch (cocoa shells) which in a strange way connects my work (chocolate) and my favorite hobby (gardening). First of all it benefits a garden greatly if the soil around plants is covered with a mulch of some kind. I think of mulches as being organic material such as ground up leaves, compost, manure, shredded bark, grass clippings or my favorite cocoa shells. Peat is not a good mulch because it repels water when it is dry so if you must use peat mix it into your soil as a conditioner. I don’t use peat at all myself because it has no nutrients for the plants. We’ll talk about good conditioners for the soil another time.

Generally mulches are applied in the spring and/or the fall. Just spread the mulch of your choice around the plants and try not to leave mulch touching the plants where the stems come out of the ground (the crown). A mulch piled on the crown of a plant could cause the stem to rot.

A mulch will help the garden and the gardener in so many ways! It will help keep weeds from sprouting, add nutrients to the soil as the mulch breaks down, regulate the soil temperature and hold in moisture around the plants. It can be attractive and a mulched garden will often suffer less from pests and diseases. I consider it essential to put some sort of organic mulch on my garden at least once a year.

Ok, back to cocoa shells and why I often use them to mulch my garden. I discovered cocoa shells 20 years ago when I first started gardening and I was amused when they left the smell of chocolate in the garden! The first thing I was told was “Don’t use those, they’ll all blow away in the wind!”. I countered that problem by watering them as soon as they were spread or better yet I sometimes try to spread them just before a rain to save myself the trouble of watering. After several waterings they seem to lock together which really keeps them in place.

Cocoa shells can get a white mold when damp especially when spread too thick so don’t spread much more than an inch to an inch and a half. If the mold bothers you it can be washed away by watering or by rain, it can be raked under or it can just be ignored (my choice). I’ve never minded it because in my garden it never lasts long and it doesn’t cause any harm to the plants.

Also, a word of caution to pet owners is in order because dogs that eat the cocoa shells can get sick or even die. If you have dogs in the yard that might eat the cocoa shells there are plenty of other good mulches that you can use. It’s best to be safe!

In the new flower bed at the bottom of the picture you can see cocoa mulch. My nephew is helping me by spreading cedar mulch on the pathways.

I’ve been excited to discover that in my garden cocoa shells discourage slugs and snails! They don’t like the texture so I especially like to spread cocoa shells around my hostas. Some other advantages of cocoa shells are that they contain beneficial nutrients for the soil, they are easy to disperse, they are attractive in appearance even keeping their dark color and best of all using this manufacturing by-product is an environmentally responsible practice.

I love the smell of chocolate! During summers gardening or winters working in the candy store I never get tired of it.

You bet this caught my attention:

S.O. Ogunwolu and C.O. Jayeola, food scientists at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, have mixed cornstarch with cocoa to produce a heat-resistant chocolate that they say compares “favorably with conventional milk chocolate in terms of color, taste, smoothness and overall acceptability.”

The starch acts as a chocolate thickener and prevents the outflow of cocoa butter—the natural fat of the cocoa bean—when the heat is on. The researchers found that using 10 percent starch was ideal and produced a product that was comparable to milk chocolate in taste tests.

Doesn’t begin to melt until 122 degrees. Yeah, yum-yum, I bet. Probably feels like a rock in the stomach. There are several reasons why chocolate is so special and one of them is it melts well below body temperature. I’ve heard jokes about a candy maker that mixes cement into his chocolate. That’d work, too, yeah it would.

Considering the researchers are in a country closer to the Equator than the Tropic of Cancer, I guess it might make sense. A climate fit to grow some of the best beans in the world but impossible to carry your chocolates from the store to the house without a cooler. Another plus for Buffalo’s weather!

Well, Gary and I were getting ready to go to Lana’s Little House when it finally dawned on me that this was a two and a half hour experience! With the fifty minute trip, each way there and back (rounded out to two hours for good measure) that was four and a half hours! I’ve been excited about going ever since our employees gave us a gift certificate last Christmas but now, suddenly, I was starting to have my doubts. I have things to do. I’m a busy person!

Now, Gary was coming down the stairs dressed and ready. “How long will this take?” he was wanting to know. He looked somewhat dismayed at my answer. “And what will we be doing again?”

So, I explained that we had reservations for an Afternoon Tea, “I guess we’ll drink tea and eat pastries.” I said. “I hear the place is very cute.”

We were relaxed and chatty all the way to Forestville. I hate to say it but we haven’t spent a lot of time alone just talking this summer. We’ve spent a lot of time working together on one of our many projects or sharing an activity such as reading, computers or listening to our iPods but we haven’t slowed down enough to just listen to each other.

Lana had emailed very good directions to her house so we had no problem finding her driveway. We pulled off the scenic road into her drive and The Little House came into view through a screen of trees. I think we both gasped at the sight of the most charming Storybook Cottage. “Wow, I said she must have freaked the first time she saw this house!”

Lana hurried out to greet us and our wonderful experience began. We relaxed in her garden as if we had all the time in the world and we talked about the history of the cottage and about how Lana had started her business. She told us that people were in too much of a hurry these days and that she felt there was a place in the world for a business like hers that encouraged people to slow down, relax, and enjoy themselves. She must have told about the house many times but she obviously still enjoys sharing the story and the house with visitors. We took a tour of the whole house inside and out. Gary was fascinated by the construction and I was enchanted by the fanciful decor.

Lana started up some classical music on the piano and sent us out to amuse ourselves while she prepared the tea. We wandered in the cottage garden around the house and over to the heart shaped pond followed by Lana’s lovable calico cat.

Soon, Lana was ringing a bell to call us in. A table was set with tea cups and the most wonderful sandwiches, scones and butter tarts! Gary and I lingered over our treats to make them last as long as possible. As we were finishing up I finally noticed the time. We had been there for two and a quarter hours already!

We signed the guest book, purchased some items from the gift shop, made a wish with a quarter at the gate and had our picture taken. Lana waved until we were out of sight.

As we enjoyed the trip home Gary said, “We needed that!”