Tuesday, March 25, 2003


creamy goodness, or climbing everest with pranayama

the slitti 62% lattenero arrived today. . .and it is a marvel of a dark milk chocolate, something rare here in these united states!

i had feared it would be similar to the flyer chocolate i've mentioned before. . but no. the slitti has an intense semi-sweet chocolate flavor reminiscient of say a 58%, but with an ultra-creamy mouthfeel really not so far from valrhona's le lacte, tho' of course the slitti has its own unique flavor. you could live on this stuff.

even tho' the milk seems to cut down on the dark chocolate intensity, i think this lattenero's an amazing milk chocolate. and i dislike milk chocolate a lot. . .the bar qualities are fine -- nice finish, clean break, loud snap, no grittiness, a light and dreamy aroma. just all good.

the downside is that the packaging might expose the bar to too much light, and it's hard to re-seal securely. so i'm sorry to say you have to eat the whole thing at one sitting. you and someone you really like.

long-time readers know that all kinds of pro players -- even in such interesting sports as snooker and poker -- are into yoga. now comes news that a daredevil irishman seeking to climb the difficult north side of everest without oxygen has turned to yoga as well.

he says he intends to use yogic breathing (pranayama) and concentration to aid him in this dangerous quest. (remember, people die attempting everest.) "i’ve been training flat out, practicing deep breathing and yoga,” terrence bannon says. "there is a real psychological element to it and you have to be prepared for it.”

it's clear that bannon is one intense guy. all you can do is wish his expedition, which leaves in april, good luck. personally, i was skeptical that pranayama was going to be much help when it comes to such endeavors.

however, a noted yoga teacher told me that similar things have been done before -- he noted that several deep-diving records have been set (and here with picture of pipin ferraras in my favorite yoga pose, astavakrasana, or folded in 8 places) without oxygen.

the divers intensely practice yogic breathing as part of the training. it seems all so-called free-divers practice pranayama and yoga seriously.

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