When life throws me a lemon, I don?t make lemonade. I set it aside and reach for some chocolates instead.

THERE?S an expression: when life throws you a lemon, make lemonade. Well, I?ve never made lemonade. I don?t like lemonade. Instead, when life threw me some lemons, I set them aside and reached for some chocolates instead.

From as far back as I can remember, whenever I felt down or something didn?t go my way, I took a bite of chocolate to erase all the pain, at least for a few minutes. I would deal with the calories and weight gain later. It didn?t matter if it was a candy bar, chocolate cake or cookies. In those few precious moments while I chewed and relished every bite, everything was right in my world.

As a little girl, I was addicted to Presto Orange Chocolate. I still remember its perfect combination of chocolate and orange flavor. My siblings and I would stock up on this candy bar and consume them so fast, it was as though we were inhaling them.
As grown-ups, we would sit around and reminisce about how wonderful it tasted. They don?t make those candy bars anymore, but we discovered that other chocolate companies make their own version today. My brother found a brand from Korea that is almost as good as the ones from our childhood. I found that Royce makes this Orange Truffle that tastes as good, though it?s much more expensive.

In elementary school, my chocolate fix usually depended on my limited budget. Could I afford those gold chocolate coins? Or was today strictly a chocolate eggs (some called them footballs) day? Did I have enough money for a bottle of Choco-Vim?

Then came Maltesers and Nestlé Crunch. They used to be hard to find here, so we?d look forward to our parents? trips out of the country because we knew they?d bring back bags and bags of them. One Christmas we found a big box under the tree and to our excited delight saw that it was filled with these goodies. That was probably one of the best gifts they ever gave us.

Trips to the PX store always meant a canister of Smarties. My cousins and I would shake every canister, and we could tell from the sound which was filled or was slightly less so. Once we had chosen our canisters, we would present them to our grandmother, who would promptly pay for them. And we?d all walk out of the store with huge smiles on our faces.

It wasn?t just candy though. I also loved Chocolate Ice Cream. And chocolate cake. And who could ever resist a rich slice of Cookie Monster Chocolate Cake? A visit to Coney Island meant a scoop of Fudge Brownie. Imagine, bits of brownies mixed in with chocolate ice cream! What fantasy could be better than that?

As I grew up, I developed new favorites. See?s Almond Clusters or Milk Almonds as they are called now. There was a See?s branch next to the store where I worked during my college days and I would take short breaks in the middle of the day for a chocolate run. And of course there was Mrs. Field?s Chocolate Chip cookies. Good thing my boss was quite the chocoholic herself and would allow me those quick escapes, as long as I brought back a few pieces for her.

Soon I discovered new brands and new types of chocolates, but somehow the favorites from my younger days never changed. When I was working in the crazy world of film production, bad days got better with Nestlé Crunch. When my boss yelled at me, one bite of that Crunch bar would make the anger go away. When one of the actors was acting up, this was my secret weapon for feeling better.

A new job meant a new favorite. Deadlines and requirements during my stint in advertising were somehow easier to handle with a bar of Kitkat. This became common knowledge in our office. When I was having a bad day, my staff would go out and buy Kitkat. Friends would always buy me Kitkat as pasalubong from their trips. We developed a Kitkat scale for the kind of day I was having. One bar was a so-so day. But the really horrible, stressful days meant at least three or four bars. And good days meant no need for Kitkat.

As I got older, some of my tastes changed. I have stopped eating frosting, even if it?s chocolate. These days, plain chocolate cake heated for 15 seconds in the microwave is the perfect pick-me-up. I always look forward to New Year?s Eve when an aunt whips up a batch of her special recipe and makes them just the way I like: moist and icing-less. Even with my coffee, I prefer a pump or two of chocolate. So it?s strictly Café Mocha for me.

But alas, the days when I could eat chocolate non-stop are long gone. Just like my favorite Choco-Vim. I have to control my chocolate cravings because finally, all those years of using chocolate as my personal shrink have gone to my hips.

Still, those moments when nothing hits the spot quite like a bite of chocolate, persist. Except that these days, my chocolate cravings depend on my mood and activity or the product?s availability. I have my plain M&M days and my M&M Crunch moments. When I?m in the supermarket, I can?t help but grab a bar of Snickers Almond at the checkout counter. Road trips mean lots and lots of Chocolate Yan Yan. Trips to Baguio aren?t complete without Chocolate Covered Corn Flakes. Late work nights mean a bar or two of any brand of milk chocolate with almonds. And when I?m feeling like a big spender, Royce Orange Truffle is the perfect go-to.

We all have our own ways of coping with stress, frustration and moments of melancholy. We all have our own comfort foods and comfort places. And we all have a way of dealing with those pesky lemons. Me? I?ve realized that I don?t really have to make lemonade out of life?s lemons. Why not Chocolate Lemon Tart instead? ?