Be mine: Charles Chocolates Triple
Chocolate Almonds.

I’m not a romantic, at least in the conventional sense. Valentine’s Day? Whatever.

My apathy is a good thing, though. It serves me well when the romantic forecast is cloudy and gray.

I'm similarly indifferent about the two things that come with February 14: red roses and chocolate. Give me dahlias, tulips or ranunculus; coconut, lemon or caramel. I've learned to steer clear of this conversation in the company of other women, though. Just saying no to chocolate is like an affront to the sisterhood.

But if a sister knows one thing, she knows she has the right to change her mind: So, I would like to now amend the above statement and explain that I recently fell in love with the Triple Chocolate Almonds made by Emeryville-based Charles Chocolates in a Hallmark kind of heartbeat. The toasted almonds are coated with 65 percent bittersweet chocolate and 41 percent milk chocolate and then dusted in cocoa, which makes them the perfect balance of bitter and sweet and crunchy and salty… and let’s just say, I fell hard. Hard enough that I put out the huge box of beautiful truffles that Charles Chocolates also sent to the office for my co-workers to enjoy, but horded the tin of almonds at my desk. Gluttony and love—one and the same.