Eighty-five percent

Despite globalization, there are alwayslocally produced specialties to check out during my travels.  Unsurprisingly,one of my purchases last week while in Zürich was an assortment of Swisschocolate, purchased in the basement market of the Globus department store. One of the things that intrigued me was the dazzling array of cocoaintensity available.  I do like dark chocolate and thus, defaultingto the childhood notion that a bigger number is better, bought a barof the Lindt Excellence 85% cacao chocolate. Though that link is to Lindt USA, I've never seen the 85% versionhere.The verdict?  Sometimes you canhave too much of a good thing.  It's like eating raw cocoa powder. The 70%version was much better.A few weeks prior, one of my main purchasescoming out of the Nordic countries was several packages of local smokedsalmon.  One of my favorite bring-backs from Europe.I'm going to Asia in two weeks, andthe last stop is Kuala Lumpur.  While I'm always on the lookout fordecorative Asiana, I know my last stop there will be the famous night market.