Chocolate as a political statement - brilliant

You might have noticed a higher than average number of pictures of Dot today. I don't want you to think that's because I'm trying to distract you from the fact that we haven't really done anything green. Ahem.

In fact, the greenest thing we've done is to stock up on Green and Black's Organic 70% dark chocolate and eat it. Yum. I've decided this counts. Just think of the pesticides not going into the ground. Plus, it's fairtrade - find out more at greenandblacks.com.

Actually I can't believe we've got this far into the blog without me mentioning Green and Black's. I love the stuff. Eating it is the green (but not black) thing I've been doing longest.

In fact, I'm more or less addicted. I've always been a dark chocolate girl (although the G&B milk is pretty good too) and for me, this is the one, although I was nearly persuaded to switch when I got a mouthful of another type of organic dark chocolate while I was in the UK - Montezuma's. It was smoother and creamier than the G&B but didn't have that bitter edge I love. And since you can't get it here, and since my friend Anna has started stocking G&B at Nest in Narrowsburg down the road (oh dear), I'll be sticking with it.

Actually, as an aside, I was thinking it was really interesting how widely G&B is now available - a bit like Horizon milk and Ben and Jerry's ice cream, it's everywhere. Turns out, per their website, they were recently acquired by Cadbury Schweppes - which explains it.

But anyway, it is a bit of a double whammy - chocolate being so yummy and also good for the planet. Turning vice into virtue etc.

And just before I go to bed, I've also come up with another green-ish thing to do involving the apple cider vinegar which didn't go into cleaning the oven. According to this home remedies site (for which I have to thank Bowery Babe Katya) apparently it's great for acne, and since my skin seems to have decided to take a turn for the worse lately, I'm going to give it a try. I have a feeling it'll have a similar effect to the homemade face packs Emily and I made when we were 11 (we misread the instructions - it called for a teaspoon of lime juice and we thought it said tablespoon. Ouch) but I guess it's no different from a salicylic or glycolic acid treatment, except much cheaper.

I'll try not to think too hard about the fact that I just used this to get the really stubborn baked on brown crap off my oven door.

G'night.