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How to Sweeten up Santa and do Something Nice for Yourself

By Madelyn Miller, the TravelLady

Christmas Eve Cookies and Milk Community Giveaway Makes The Season Even Sweeter

With Christmas just one week away, Doubletree Hotels has teamed up with GOT MILK?® to help kids across the U.S. and Canada show they care about the jolly man that spreads holiday cheer to millions of homes with a traditional sweet treat.  This Sunday, December 24, 2006 Doubletree will be offering two of its legendary, mouthwatering chocolate chip cookies, refreshing milk and a thank you note for Santa as part of a specially designed Christmas Eve Cookies and Milk CARE Package For Santa to anyone who walks into any of its more than 175 properties in North America.

DOUBLETREE HOTELS OFFERS COMPLIMENTARY COOKIES AND MILK FOR SANTA ON DECEMBER 24 AT MORE THAN 175 LOCATIONS

You don’t have to be a hotel guest.  No purchase is necessary.  Kids and parents may simply walk into any Doubletree hotel between 12:01 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on December 24, 2006 to receive a special thank you for Santa, while supplies last.

“For those who are naughty or those who are nice, what young kid doesn’t want to show that special milk and cookies thank you to St. Nick for all those great surprises they receive on Christmas morning,” said Ronnie Kaiser, senior director – brand marketing for Doubletree.  “This year, Doubletree decided to team up with the California Milk Processor Board – the creators of GOT MILK? – to ensure kids across North America welcome and thank Santa with the delicious Christmas Eve combination of milk and chocolate chip cookies.

For the past 20 years, Doubletree Hotels has welcomed millions of hotel guests to their home away from home with a warm, chocolate chip cookie.  As a matter of fact, Doubletree gives out approximately 30,000 chocolate chip cookies each day; that’s approximately 15,000,000 each year.  Each luscious cookie weighs a hearty 2 ½ ounces and boasts an average of 20 chocolate chips.

I understand why they need to make so many. http://travellady.com/Issues/February04/WheretoGettheVeryBest.htm

The only day of the year absolutely everyone (even if they are not dressed in a fuzzy red suit) can get free Doubletree Chocolate Chip cookies is December 24. Mark it on your calendar.
After years of research I have discovered it is an annual event.
http://travellady.com/Issues/December05/2073Doubletree.htm

To find a Doubletree location and pick up a Christmas Eve Milk and Cookies CARE Package in your own community, please visit  www.doubletree.com.

About Doubletree Hotels

With a growing collection of contemporary, upscale accommodations in more than 175 gateway cities, metropolitan areas and vacation destinations throughout the U.S., Canada and Latin America, Doubletree Hotels, Guest Suites and Resorts are distinctively designed properties that provide true comfort to today’s business and leisure travelers.  From the millions of delighted hotel guests who are welcomed with the brand’s legendary, warm chocolate chip cookies at check-in to the advantages of the award-winning Hilton HHonors® guest reward program, each Doubletree guest receives a satisfying stay wherever their travels take them.

To make reservations at any Doubletree hotel, travelers can visit our website at www.doubletree.com, contact their preferred travel professional or call 1-800-222-TREE in the U.S. and Canada.

MORE FANTASIES FOR CHOCOHOLICS

Chocolatier Magazine
Great way to get your monthly chocolate fix

THE ESSENCE OF CHOCOLATE
Recipes for Baking and Cooking with fine Chocolate
By John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg
www.hyperionbooks.com
www.scharffenberger.com

125 BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP RECIPES
From cookies to cakes, muffins & more
By Jullie Hasson
www.juliehasson.com

125 BEST CHOCOLATE RECIPES
Recipes designed for maximum impression with minimum fuss
By Julie Hasson
www.juliehasson.com

101 PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
By Gwen Steege
Storey Books
www.storey.com

BITTERSWEET
Recipes and Tales from a life in Chocolate
By Alice Medrich
Artisan Books
www.artisanbooks.com

THE EVERYTHING CHOCOLATE BOOK
By Laura Tyler Samuels
A chocolate lover’s dream collection of cookies, cakes, brownies, candies and confections. Over 300 recipes
Adams Media Corporation
www.everything.com

BAKE AND FREEZE CHOCOLATE DESSERTS
By Elinor Klivans
120 recipes to make now and enjoy later
www.bdd.com

ALL ABOUT CHCOCOLATE
The ultimate resource for the World’s Favorite Food
By Carole Bloom
McMillan USA
www.mgr.com

CHOCOLATE CRAZY
By Slvia Balser Hirsch
The celebrated Miss Grimble presents more inspired Desserts—all chocolate
MacMillan Publishing Company

Mr. Food Simply Chocolate
Think chocolate goodies are hard to make? Not when you make them Mr. Food’s way
William Morrow and Company, Inc.

The Chocolate Lover’s Guide
To the Pacific Northwest
By Bobbie Hasselbring
Wordsworth Publishing

CHOCOLATE from the CAKE MIX DOCTOR
By Anne Byrn
Workman PUBLISHING
WWW.workman.com

365 Great Chocolate Desserts
by Natalie Haughton
Harper Collins Publisher 

THE TOTALLY CHOCOLATE COOKBOOK
By Helen Siegel and Karen Gillingham
Celestial Arts

CHOCOLATE
THE CONSUMING PASSION
By Sandra Boynton
Workman Publishing
www.workman.com

THE LITTLE BOOK OF CHOCOLATE
By Katherine Khodorowsky and Herve Robert
Published by Flammarion
Distributed by Rizzoli through St. Martin’s Press

CINNAMON MORNINGS AND CHOCOLATE DREAMS
By Pamela Lanier
Lanier Publishing
www.travelguides.com

SOUNDS OF CHOCOLATE
Music from the Chocolate Lands
Unforgettable songs from countries  where chocolate originates
produced by Putumayo
www.putumayo.com

HOW TO BE A CHOCOLATE BARTENDER

GOOD DEEDS WITH CHOCOLATE
Chef Hilly Blondheim has put his culinary skills to good use and turned a simple boyhood treat into a life-saving instrument in the fight against breast cancer. Whether its sprinkled on top of fruit or ice cream, to enhance the flavor of coffee or a smoothie, blended into waffle or pancake batter, used in a chocolate martini, sampled as fondue, or simply to make the best cup of hot chocolate you have ever tasted, the possibilities for this gourmet chocolate mix are endless.
www.chefhillyskitchen.com

CHOCOLATE TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES
"The Chocolate Society café and shop at 36 Elizabeth Street, SW1 London. A mecca for the chocoholic. Celebrating chocolate as a gourmet delicacy, there are handmade truffles, biscuits and all sorts of other chocolate-based goodies. The shop is open from Monday to Saturday - for more information call 020 7259 9222."

GREAT CHCOLATE MOUSSE FESTIVAL
New Brunswick, Canada

Sutton Place Hotel weekend chocolate buffet
Toronto, Canada

Hershey, Pennsylvania

Norwegian Caribbean Lines
afternoon chocolate buffet

Chocolate tea buffet
Mark Hotel, New York

Chocolate Festival
Poconos Manor Inn and Golf Resort
Pennsylvania

The Lofts Hotel in downtown Columbus, Ohio is now offering chocolate lovers the opportunity to enjoy the ultimate chocolate experience, while indulging in the luxury of The Lofts.  Featuring everything from a chocolate body massage and a lesson in how to make luxurious hand-dipped chocolates to a souvenir DVD copy of the movie “Chocolat”, the Pure Imagination Chocolat Lovers Package is a sweet escape.

The Pure Imagination Chocolat Lovers Package starts at just $349 per couple and includes:
--Deluxe overnight accommodations at the incredible Lofts Hotel
--Two consecutive 30-minute chocolate massages
--The Pure Imagination Chocolat Experience: private chocolate making lesson with renowned chocolatier, Daniel Cooper, teaching the couple how to make hand-dipped chocolates.  Guests will take home four hand-dipped chocolate-covered strawberries and a gift package of European hot chocolate
--Dinner for two (a $50 value)
--Nightcap of a bottle of champagne and fresh, hand-dipped truffles
--Breakfast for two in bed
--Souvenir DVD copy of the movie “Chocolat”

To top off this romantic getaway, couples can have a photo and a sweet message placed on the jumbo 18’x 32’ ADTV (Arena District Television) screen, located just a block west of The Lofts in the Arena District.  Guests can even have a proposal or “I love you” message strategically timed for unveiling to a loved one.  The cost of ADTV is $35

MADELYN’S FAVORITE CHOCOLATE TREATS
Doubletree Hotel chocolate chip cookies
THE VERY BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES IN THE WORLD
http://www.travellady.com/Issues/February04/WheretoGettheVeryBest.htm

Fairytale Chocolate Brownies  800-fairytale www.brownies.com

Chocolate Cowboy Crunch from Bumblee Bee’s Baja Grill. 505-820-2862, Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can buzz through and buy them for $2.50 per package. Other irresistible treats are the Cowgirl kisses made of white chocolate and Espresso Brownies.

Norman Love’s truffles www.normanloveconfections.com 239-561-7215

5  Dark Chocolate popcorn from Panache  10. Chocolate Popcorn. Popcorn is doubly delicious and twice as healthy when covered with chocolate (isn't everything?). Enjoy it even more because now we know chocolate is good for your heart and sex life and popcorn has lots of fiber. I can't think of anything else this delicious and this healthy.

Panache Chocolatier on the web at www.chocolatekc.com or call 1-877-641-9092

MADELYN’S FAVORITE CHOCOLATE DESSERTS
Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity in New York

Lollipop Tree at DavidBurke and Donatella in New York (okay, it is not ALL chocolate but it is so wonderful I am making an exception)

CHOCOLATE HOTEL
The Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas offers a chocolate replica of  its  signature location at Reunion Tower. The Landmark Tower is a decadent dessert filled with Berry-chocolate ganache and Champagne Mouse on a sea of mango sauce and berries. At $13 it is a lot better deal than downtown real estate. This stellar sweet is more than enough for two serious chocoholics and worth every penny for the WOW factor

Chocolate Sushi at Steel Restaurant in Dallas

Morton’s signature chocolate dessert

Roy’s chocolate Lava Cake…or the sometimes offered chocolate bento box

Chocolate flight tasting at August Restaurant in New Orleans

TOTAL BODY CHOCOLATE EXPERIENCES
The double chocolate pedicure at Bliss Spa

The Golden Door Spa in Carefree, Arizona offers the Chocolate Champagne Body Wrap.  This Valentine's Day-inspired treatment teases the senses with tantalizing aromas while rejuvenating the skin.  The treatment begins with a double exfoliation using chocolate, Ayurvedic herbs and natural fruit acids.  An anti-oxidant mask of vitamins, green tea, chocolate and fruit of choice is then applied to the body and spritzed with champagne or healing vanilla water.  The guest is wrapped like a delectable morsel while the active elements begin to renew and restore the body.  Following a light shower, the body is caressed with an intensive hydrating cream.  This unforgettable sensory adventure concludes with the guest's choice of custom-made chocolate in the same taste as the body treatment. 

At New Orleans Belladona Day spa you can almost OD on chocolate
But then I believe you can never have too much chocolate.

be a chocoholic: the choco-palooza body deluxe
3 hours - $225.00
This was designed for those who have that never-ending fascination with anything chocolate. The Choco-palooza begins with a serenely romantic still bath, laced with chocolate and raspberry sprinkles, nourishing almond oil, exquisite salts, and healing extracts. Romantic music sets the mood. Scrumptious chocolate truffles are there for the nibbling. Following the bath, a massage therapist begins a light exfoliation using a raspberry scrub, rich in vitamin B and aloe vera.  This gentle scrub enhances the appearance of the skin and is preparation for the Chocolate Surrender Body Treatment, a chocolate body mask rich, soothingly smooth and great for any skin type, especially after a harsh winter.  While the face is cocooned in the mask, the therapist massages the face, neck and scalp. After a shower, the therapist applies "raspberry syrup" to eradicate stress. Belladonna’s special Relief Gel gets at those difficult spots in the back, and a decadent chocolate paraffin melts away the last resistance. A 50-minute massage utilizing Belladonna’s chocolate syrup massage oil completes the Choco-palooza.

mini choco-palooza
90 minutes - $125.00
For those who don’t have time for the deluxe treatment, the abbreviated Choco-palooza is an option. This mini-version of the previous service entails a scrumptious exfoliation using a raspberry scrub to enhance and prepare the skin for the Chocolate Surrender Body Treatment. This chocolate body mask is rich and lusciously hydrating to winter-ravaged skin. After a shower the next step is the Chocolate Stress Relief utilizing a chocolate whip crème, a silky moisturizer rich in willow and aloe vera followed by an application of Relief Gel and chocolate paraffin. A massage with chocolate whip crème follows.  And it’s all calorie-free.

manicure au chocolat
1 hour - $40.00
This delicious manicure completely pampers with chocolate and raspberry products designed to treat and repair the hands.  Belladonna’s chocolate nutty scrub is a luxurious way to smooth away dry flaking skin and allow the rich avocado oil, vitamins and nutritious meadow foam seed oil to do their thing. After a massage using "raspberry syrup," rich in anti-oxidizing vitamins and extracts, the hands are submerged in the utmost of decadence -- chocolate/raspberry paraffin -- known for its hydrating benefits. This manicure’s finishing touches are an application of Chocolate Whip Crème and polish. All are calorie-free except the delicious truffles on hand for nibbling.

pedicure au chocolat
1 hour - $55.00
This sweet treat for the feet utilizes the utmost in decadent chocolate products.  The feet are gently soaked in chocolate sprinkles, which will raise anyone's spirits and relax the mind.  Rough, dry skin is then exfoliated with Chocolate Blizzard, a natural sea salt scrub infused with rich oils and extracts to assist in revitalizing dull skin. A delicious cocoa aroma enhances the whole experience. Raspberry syrup caresses the feet and legs to release all remaining stress. The Chocolate Surrender Mask soothes the feet. Chocolate truffles are served and a Chocolate Whip Crème application provides the finishing touch.

CHOCOLATE DRINKS
The Chocolate Jacuzzi Martini
Balcony Club 1825 Abrams Rd @ La Vista Dr. Dallas, TX 75214-
6617 214-826-8104

HOW TO BE A CHOCOLATE BARTENDER
INSIDER TIP: Unlike instant hot chocolate mixes, Schokinag’s drinking chocolate is made with real, gourmet-quality chocolate that comes in the form of tiny “microchips.” The result is an easy-to-make chocolate beverage that is richer, creamier and more flavorful than its competition.

MOST EROTIC CHOCOLATE OPPORTUNITY
Todos Santos in Santa Fe, New Mexico offers a chocolate kama sutra set. Since I visited right after Valentine’s Day, they were sold out. Not surprisingly, they cost $69.  They can ship them anywhere with a weeks notice. I am sorry I could not photograph them to give my readers a titillating preview.

Another interesting offering is “after dinner saints”.  You could also use them after any sin. Saint boxes cost $28 for a box of four, $56 for a box of eight and $84 for twelve saints. I wonder what sins you commit would need a dozen saints for redemption?

Todos Santos Chocolates and Confections, 125 East Palace Avenue #31, Santa Fe, New Mexico (505) 982-3855

BEST CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS TREATS
Everything you need to know for the twelve days of xmas. This list will make you wish the holiday lasted longer.
http://www.travellady.com/Issues/December06/3750ChristmasinChocolate.htm

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