Central Market: The Festival of Chocolate.

Today and tomorrow, Central Market hosts their pre-Valentine's Day weekend with a festival of Chocolate, and it's one of those things that makes Fort Worth a great place to live. The movie for two and dinner sounds good, too.

From the CM website:

The Festival of Chocolate
Central Market is all about celebrating food, and chocolate is one of our favorites. Coming this weekend, February 6-8, is our annual Festival of Chocolate, an indulgent, decadent and delicious devotion to everything chocolate! Just in time for Valentine's day, come in and taste our chocolate-inspired recipes, plus learn new ideas for how to use this versatile food. Savory or sweet, chocolate can be useful in so many ways – and we'll show them to you!

Valentine's Day Candlelight Dinner and a Movie for Two
Valentine's Day should be about romance and the one you love – not fighting for a reservation at a restaurant! Central Market's Valentine's Day Candlelight Dinner and a Movie for Two lets you spend Valentine's night celebrating, not waiting in line. We offer four entrée options to choose from, and each comes with an appetizer salad, dessert, taper candles and your choice of two romantic films on DVD. Call (817) 377-9307 to place your order.

Tax Amnesia Syndrome

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner

A Washington D.C. Hotel Reviewed.

I am in Washington D.C. at a conference.

I am staying in one of of the three conference hotels, an Omni to be precise, and it struck me this morning how much hotels have changed in the years I have been traveling -- for the better, for the most part.

The room key, for instance. The magnetic credit-card type key is a big improvement over the old brass keys ring-connected to a piece of plastic engraved with the words, "If Found Drop in Mail Box." I wonder how many of those actually got mailed?

The televisions are better with most hotels today having flat screens, but since HDTV is still not universally available the picture is actually not as good.

There aren't as many dresser drawers in recently built or refurbished hotels which is a good thing. I think they figured out that no one ever uses them. This hotel room has a small refrigerator behind one dresser cabinet door and a coffee maker behind the other.

The names of normal things are fancier today, I have a "Clarifying Bar" in a cute little box on my bathroom sink. I hope I can use it as soap. There is a shower cap in a matching box but I have never used one of them.

All hotels have internet hookups, which is good and bad because now I have another excuse not to read or do anything constructive. The $10 daily connection fee is annoying, especially after spending $200 for a room.

This hotel still has the 1980's issue telephone on one bed stand and a radio/clock on the other. I doubt either are often used.

I do have suggestions that could be universally applied.

1. Hotel pillows are huge. Since I prefer very thin pillows, I am forced to bring my own. Couldn't they have more than one size?

2. Isn't there a way to keep hotel room doors from shutting with a SLAM that shakes the room? This is my biggest complaint, the room doors in this Omni shut like someone is standing there and slamming them as hard they could.

3. Finally, every hotel room should have a window that at least opens an inch or two for fresh air. This one does.

That's it. Hotels are pretty comfortable these days. Am I missing anything?
..

Let's Be Honest . . .

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com

The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ordinary Time, meaning ordered or numbered time, is celebrated in two segments: from the Monday following the Baptism of Our Lord up to Ash Wednesday; and from Pentecost Monday to the First Sunday of Advent. This makes it the largest season of the Liturgical Year.
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The Young Jesus among the Doctors
Albrecht Dürer
1506
Fundacion Coleccion Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

From the Gospel of Saint Mark
Then they came to Capernaum,
and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
Jesus rebuked him and said,
"Quiet! Come out of him!"
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
"What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him."
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

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Mass times in the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth: http://www.fwdioc.org
Picture from Art and the Bible: http://www.artbible.info/
Quote on Ordinary Time from Catholic Culture: www.catholicculture.org