Multicolored Meditative Chocolate

Between a day job tinkering around at Epicurious, a night job struggling as a freelancer, and a preoccupation with moving to Pittsburgh in two weeks, I haven't had much time to think about chocolate--or to relax. But I know a few people who are successfully using chocolate to achieve a sense of spiritual calm.

The Xocolate Bar, a new California company run by the devastatingly attractive couple Malena Lopez-Maggi and Clive Brown, rewards eager souls with preservative-free tamarind-flavored chocolate Buddhas. They also make a set of "Chakralate" bon bons filled with enchanting natural flavor combinations like agave-sage and cherry-hibiscus--one for each of the seven major chakras (centers of energy in the human body associated with tantric principles, Tibetan Buddhism and yoga practice).

And my friend Bridget Pool is making inspiring contributions to the discourse on chocolate con churros on her blog, The Pilgrim Sole, about her her pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Donning rainbow-colored dreadlocks, she looks better (dare I say more vibrant) than I've ever seen her.