One of the many reasons we love Pinkberry is because of its many fabulous toppings, such as daily cut fresh fruit. Now, they've added white and milk chocolate shavings. Unlike many yogurt places that use stale chocolate chips, Pinkberry cuts shavings of fresh Belgian chocolate. The chocolate perfectly balances Pinkberry's three tangy flavors: Original, Pomegranate, and Green Tea.

The timing of the addition of this topping is perfect! Just in time for Valentine's Day, chocolate lovers can take their significant others to Pinkberry for some rich chocolate mixed in with smooth luscious yogurt. Pinkberry doesn't gratuitously add new flavors. When you try the chocolate, one of the first things you'll notice is its amazing quality.

A combo that I recommend is the original flavor topped with chocolate shavings, strawberries, and blueberries. Or, if you feeling like escaping to the Caribbean, try the original flavor with both white and milk chocolate shavings and coconut. If you've tried these new chocolate shavings, what were some of your favorite combos?

Some associate San Francisco with Rice-A-Roni, cable cars, and the gay lib movement. I, however, take the shallow route and associate it with fine American chocolate. Between The San Francisco Chocolate Factory and Ghirardelli, San Fran is just about the only city in the contiguous United States that produces decent corporate chocolate. [Note that I said corporate; there are plenty of lovely indie chocolate shops around.]

To wit: Upon her return from the golden state, a colleague presented me with The San Francisco Chocolate Factory's new "Book Lover's Chocolate". The bookshelf-ready packaging evokes an old leather-bound novel (albeit a tiny one, at only 5 inches), and contains rounds of milk chocolate (also available in dark and dark espresso). The schpeel: "Chocolate has been proven to boost brain power, so let our luscious bite sized discs help you devour your new book while pleasing your palate." Uh, okay, whatever you say, Book Chocolate.

But lo, this book chocolate is divine! The disc shape is perfectly contoured for mindless tongue-palate melting (no impatient biting here!), and the flavor is so creamy and rich, they're like little poppable drinking chocolates. I also test-drove the chocolate's promise of enhancing any reading experience, and while they didn't make the oeuvre of Ann Coulter any more digestible, they sure make it more palatable.

I'd heard the rumors that bacon and chocolate where getting together. But now we have gorgeous, photographic post that the rumors are true. And really, how could something that looks so, so right be wrong? Have any of you tried this devilish combination? I admit that I haven't had a chance to check it out yet (although I have gotten to try both bacon vodka and a particularly good Blood Mary made with the stuff).

Thanks to The Bleeding Heart Bakery for adding this picture to the Slashfood Flickr pool.

Now, here's a day that each and every one of us can get behind.

It's National Milk Chocolate Day, which means you have to eat some sort of milk chocolate today. It can be Hershey's or Cadbury or Nestle (each really does have its own flavor), or maybe even Dove or some fancy gifts from Godiva.

I could list all of the milk chocolate recipes out there, but I don't think Slashfood can hold that much data. But here are some good ones: Milk Chocolate Brownies, Milk Chocolate Pie, Milk Chocolate Biscotti, Milk Chocolate Fudge, Milk Chocolate Fondue, and Milk Chocolate Popcorn.

And don't forget our own chocolate category, of course. You'll find some great stuff there too.

Like so many other people, I nearly always have a couple of bananas laying around that are getting overly ripe. Sometimes I just stick them into the freezer for later use, but I often toss them into a loaf of banana bread. Banana bread is fast, easy and works great for both breakfasts and for snacking. The only drawback is that you can get tired of it after making the same loaf recipe several times in a row. It is easy to dress up a loaf by tossing in chocolate chips, nuts or raisins, but it's nice to have some more varied variations available, as well. In this month's Vegetarian Times magazine, I saw a recipe for Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips that looked quick, easy and tasty. Not surprisingly, it lived up to my expectations. The bread is slightly heavy, but not too dense, and has a good balance of peanut butter and banana flavors. I used milk chocolate chips instead of semisweet and cut back on the amount slightly. The bread is good plain and toasted, for breakfast, with tea or for dessert!

We first heard about Cacao Reserve chocolates, the new premium line from Hershey's, a couple of weeks ago. It is the first Hershey's-branded premium chocolate line, since up until this point, all of the gourmet products from the company have been produced by Scharffen Berger or Joseph Schmidt Confections, the two luxury chocolate brands that Hershey's acquired. Cacao Reserve is all-natural and, like so many other new chocolates, is categorized by cacao percentage, not just "milk" or "dark." They seem to carry the full line, although I did not see the "country of origin" bars (with beans from specific countries, at Target and I picked up a couple bars to try.