Day 18 - Mauren & Justin L.

**Fair warning – tonight’s post has a lot of pictures – and our adventure totally warranted them!**

Tonight’s date was with Justin, a guy I know from church, and can I just say – I had a genuinely fantastic time!

It was my first Saturday date for this project so I figured it’d probably be a little longer than an average weekday one. As a result I decided that I wanted to pick someone for tonight that I knew that I would have fun with. Though Justin has a reputation for being “shallow” (his words, not mine), I had two experiences with him last year that taught me otherwise. Both allowed me to see the real guy behind the mask and I had an inkling of who he was at the core. Add tonight’s date to those positive experiences and make it three because I can say in all sincerity that Justin’s really a great guy!

The plan for tonight was to go to a horse auction in Magnolia, about 25 minutes north of Tomball. Though I know nothing about horses, I’ve had this strange desire to go for quite some time. Maybe it’s just because I’m nosey, but I’ve always wanted to see what it’s all about. The auction takes place every Saturday at 6 p.m. so the plan was to go there first and then head to my favorite restaurant, Rancho Grande, which is located nearby. But this afternoon I started to look up information to check if there was an entrance fee and instead found a plethora of bad reviews. Plus, I learned that you couldn’t take pictures there, which was going to be a major problem for this project. It was time to find a backup!

I didn’t know a lot about Justin, but there was one thing I knew for sure – the man LOVES chocolate. Loves. Like he’d probably eat it everyday if he could. ;) I’d heard of a place a few years ago near Rice University called The Chocolate Bar, but I’d never been. I’d heard good things though and figured if there were ever a guy to test it out with, it was Justin!

Justin picked me up around 5:30 and was a gentleman from the start. He opened my car door and we headed off to Rice Village in his sporty little car. I’d never been in his car (a phrase he hates to hear girls say – don’t worry, I didn’t) but it was a fun ride! Along the way, I learned that Justin’s a bit of a car enthusiast, but thankfully, he’s not the kind of guy that wants to talk cars all night either. He’s smart enough to know better. ;)

When we arrived, we scouted out some dinner options and opted for a lighter meal at the nearby Jason’s Deli since we knew dessert at The Chocolate Bar had the potential to be deadly (Kim may have cautioned me on the potential for chocolate comas at that place).

Justin graciously paid (for both dinner and later dessert) and we sat down to chat while we ate. We talked nonstop about our hobbies and I learned that Justin, like so many of the other guys I’ve met of late, really enjoys cooking. Maybe I was just oblivious before, but I had no idea how many guys liked to cook! It’s awesome!

Justin’s favorite foods are all breakfast foods, including Swedish pancakes (kind of like crepes) and a breakfast loaf that sounds AMAZING! It’s basically a breakfast casserole of eggs, meat, vegetables, etc. cooked inside a hollowed 12” round sourdough bread loaf/bun that has been lined with various cheeses. Once filled, the bread is topped off with the roof of it, wrapped in foil and baked in the oven until the insides are cooked. The bread to make it in however is a bit harder to find in Houston than it is in the San Francisco area where his family lives. So I need the help of all you readers out there. If you know of a place in Houston where you can buy sourdough as described above, please let me know. I’ve gotta try this thing! :)

After dinner we headed over to The Chocolate Bar where were found – well, just about everything – dipped in chocolate. From nuts to fruit and cereal to chips – this place has got it all! I think we probably spent about 30 minutes just looking at everything they had to offer. It was incredible and we took a lot of pictures to share (see the end of the post).

Going in we knew that we wanted to try some unique concoctions and we weren’t disappointed. There are a few things The Chocolate Bar is known for – chocolate covered Twinkies, amazing cakes (nearly $10 for a slice!) and their Texas Brittle, which is a mixture of pretzels, pecans and Fritos (yep, you read that right) drizzled with chocolate. Something tells me it’s pretty amazing.

We decide though that trying all 3 of those things would be an overload so we went with a chocolate covered Twinkie (one of the most popular items), a chocolate covered Pringle (one of the strangest items) and a slice of Uncle Darryl’s Chocolate Cake. Now let me assure you that Uncle Darryl’s Chocolate Cake is no ordinary chocolate cake. It’s a 10-inch tall dream made up of “4 layers of moist, dark chocolate cake with heaps of chocolate mousse, toffee bits and chocolate chips between each layer, garnished with ‘melt in your mouth’ chocolate ganache.” If your mouth is watering now, just know it’s warranted. This cake was AMAZING! It was super sweet and we didn’t even come close to finishing the slice, which was about 5 inches thick, but it was incredible. We both agreed that the Twinkie was actually pretty astounding itself and the Pringle wasn’t too shabby either.

As I had suspected would be the case with Justin, conversation flowed all night. I never found myself bored with him, but instead was completely engaged in everything we talked about. I may have even grilled him quite a bit on some tough topics (don’t worry future dates, I haven’t done that to anyone else) and he was open, honest and vulnerable about it all. I really appreciated that about him. We had a real, true and sincere conversation about a number of things and the more I got to know him, the more I came to appreciate him for who he really is. He’s not the “shallow or superficial” person he appears to be on the outside. No, the real Justin loves chocolate, cooking and cars, is a complete gentleman, and like us all, he’s a bowl of mush in the middle. :)

At the end of the evening, Justin walked me to the door to say goodnight. As I imagine is the case with a number of guys we’ve approached about this project, he told me he had been hesitant to participate in a date that would result in a blog post, but I assured him he had nothing to worry about. I genuinely had nothing but glowing remarks to share about our outing and about him as a person. If you have the opportunity to get to know him, do, because behind the façade he’s a real gentleman and quite the catch!


** As you look through these pictures of some of our favorite items we found at The Chocolate Bar, keep in mind that they're all SOLID chocolate.**


They have kits for just about every profession around...

Cake topper anyone?

What would chocolate in Texas be without cowboys, boots and cows? :)

Some other tasty treats...

Just plain fun...

Weird...

Some of that famous Texas Brittle I was telling you about...Fritos and all!

Though it's tough to tell in the picture, this bottle's about 16 inches tall and yep, it's SOLID. It's also $75...

Baked goodies - though I forgot to get a picture of all the different cheesecakes, too. Plenty of those to choose from, as well.

The non-chocolate portion of the store provided plenty of teeth rotting choices, too. :)