Mary Alice - Oh good, glad it was something you could track down locally. That’s always nice, since you can revist it again when you feel like it. Not sure if the Morabito will be too easy to find, but Sabi is just at Neiman Marcus if you have one of those nearby. This dumb crazy weather is just messing with us all. It was freaking freezing and snowy out just a scant while ago, and now there’s, like, mid-Spring weather here in Portland. Freaking insane. And it looks like it’s pretty much just as crazy EVERYWHERE. At this point everyone has to have both the winter coats and the summer jackets hanging on the coat rack, because you never know how it’s gonna be when you step out the door. Good lord.

Off to find the one’s you mentioned. Stay toasty in this wild weather!

As for chocolate, I’m not much of a chocolate person, but I think that brownie batter is about as good as it gets. Whenever I make brownies (for DH’s sake, who is a confirmed chocoholic) I always consider the leftover batter on the spoon and in the bowl my dessert. I think I almost cried one time when he started rinsing out the bowl before I had sufficiently “cleaned” it. So there’s my classy nomination for you!

Mary Alice - I’m sorry, I haven’t heard of one named Lenciaga. There is one called Cialenga: could that be it? I haven’t ever smelled it, so I don’t know if it’s something that would fit the bill for you, but I quick checked eBay, and one seller has 1/3 oz. decants available. As far as carnation-free florals, you’ve got a relatively wide range of choices. Jardins de Bagatelle is a BIG floral, very much a product of the 80s, and quite lush. Angel can be a little scary, heh. It’s superb, but it provokes a lot of love/hate reactions.

Cheezwiz - will do, then! I think I have it written down in one of the card books hiding out in the cupboard, so it’ll be dug out later this evening.

Kuri - I know, right? My husband is set on having a full family full of the black and tan doxies though, so we’ll have to come to some sort of compromise :) Will look up the Royce’s AFTER supper (I discovered I can’t be checking these chocolate links before suppertime or I end up getting snacky, eek.)

I agree with you on the Endangered Species bars - I thought they were gimmicky until I tried one: pretty high-quality stuff.

Thanks in advance!

Angel scares me.

March, omg!! I will post my O’Henry recipe later on, or I’ll email it to you. It’s a quick treat to make, and so yummy. And thanks - I wondered what substandard meant. That sounds like a good family dog, actually. Just right in that perfect kid-friendly size range, or at least sounds kid-friendly size to me. My husband has become a dachshund man, kind of like the doggie equivalent of a crazy cat lady, but I hold him in check, since despite his wild dreams of owning a dachshund ranch, I can only handle a couple dogs at the same time. We’ll never own anythng but wieners I’m afraid. I am trying to talk him into a mix breed wiener, though. A poodle-dachsie mix might be cute, heh. It’d look all scrunchie and everything. Or at least in my head the idea of that mix looks that way.

No, no, Hershey doesn’t REPLACE real chocolate, just like Sand & Sable doesn’t replace Serge Lutens. But on an emergency basis…

BTW the poodle is substandard only because he’s probably half the standard size for a male (35 lbs-ish). Picture a dog between a standard (which can be ginormous) and a mini. He’s actually the perfect size, it’s a wonder more people don’t have one.