Today's Deal: 50% Off Cacao Chocolates

And on the eighth day, finally, there was chocolate. Drop $10 for $20 to spend on goodies, or pay $25 for $50 worth of delectable chocolates, Parisian macarons, heaps of truffles, or a chocolate bunny just in time for Easter, from the local emporium of fine European chocolates and pastries, Cacao.

Both the Cleveland Park and Bethesda locations are brimming over with inventive and absurdly delicious creations from renowned pastry chef and chocolatier, Jacques Poulain. Spend an afternoon enjoying cocoa delights in the cozy cafe or take some home for future feasting. Even better: Sate the appetite of your sweet-toothed acquaintances -- remember, a box of deliciousness shaped like chocolate candies makes for a truly dulcet present, even if there's one or two missing.

Visit http://tracking.livingsocial.com/SHFg for this great deal.

Good Morning: (For a Monday, That Is)

Photo taken near Leesburg, VA at about 1,000'.

At least the weather will be acceptable today: Look for a high in the upper 40's with sunny skies. Not bad right?  Good running weather, in fact, if you need to burn off a few extra calories after Thanksgiving indulgences.  Enjoy Monday because Tuesday's going to bring lots o' rain. Guaranteed.

You may also want to enjoy some chocolate on Monday, which is National Chocolates Day, according to the StateSymbols website.

Siren Call for a Vegan Halloween in DC

...In Takoma Park. Where else?  Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a Vegan Halloween.

Here's the plea from the Takoma Park listserv:

Compassion Over Killing would like to help make it easy for trick-or-treaters in the DC-area to get their fair share of cruelty-free treats this Halloween, so we're putting together a map of local houses that are handing out vegan candy-and we need your help!

The vegan Halloween map is here,and you can read more about VeganDC here.

I read this message about vegan Halloween candy on the Takoma Park DC listserv before having my morning coffee, so I wasn't entirely sure, in my pre-caffeinated state, what vegan Halloween candy is. But apparently, it wasn't the lack of caffeine that caused me to have to reread that message several times. Somebody else on the listserv asked:

I'm totally at a loss. What is vegan candy? I think this is a bit much. What's being killed by candy? Our teeth from the sugar maybe. I know that sounds flippant, but I truly don't understand.

And the answer, because we simply have to know:

Since you asked, vegan candy is candy free of animal ingredients like gellatin (which is cow cartillage) and milk. (I once thought no-one got killed or suffered for milk, but found how naive I was when I started researching and visiting modern farms). Not to mention yuchy things like acetyl palmitate (it's a waxy oil made from sperm whale and dolphin's heads).

There's a tradition (if you can call it that) of giving out healthy snacks for Halloween: things like carrots, raisins, and Cheerios. I don't know. Pity all the disappointed parents who want to steal their kids' Halloween booty, only to grab a granola bar.

Who Will Be the Cleveland Park Listserv's 10,000th Member?

Sometime within the next week, the Cleveland Park Listserv will reach a new milestone: 10,000 members. Who will be member #10,000? Listserv founders and publishers Bill Adler and Peggy Robin will present a box of Parisian macarons from Washington, DC's newest pastry and chocolate store, Cacao, to the first listserv member who correctly guesses the day that we reach 10,000 members. Yum.