Chocolate-Covered Pretzels

    I chose this recipe because I love chocolate-covered pretzels.  My aunt first introduced me to chocolate when I was two years old, and I have been hooked ever since.  I also chose this recipe because it was easy to make in my current kitchen situation.  My mom and I have always eaten chocolate together, and she was very excited to hear that I was making chocolate-covered pretzels for this project.

Ingredients: chocolate and pretzels (pretty complex)

Materials that I used: large bowl, rubber spatula, parchment paper, microwave, fork

Procedure:
1. Obtain ingredients and utensils
2. Arrange everything neatly on a clean counter

      I recommend using soap and a sponge or some other sort of cleaning supplies.  No one likes a dirty kitchen.
3. Make sure your dog stays away from the chocolate
      This is Scout.  He is the dog in the fourth part of this assignment.
4. Wash your hands thoroughly
      This is a very important step.
5. Unwrap the chocolate and break it into smaller pieces
      I tried to break the chocolate pieces into the already defined squares, but they did not cooperate.

6. Place the chocolate pieces in the bowl
7. Put the bowl of chocolate pieces in the microwave for increments of thirty to forty-five seconds

      So because I currently do not own an oven (our new one actually arrived yesterday), I could not heat the chocolate in a pot on the stove like a good chef would.  The microwave sufficed.

8. Poke the chocolate with the rubber spatula after each microwave visit

      I let Ryan do this part because he liked to stab the chocolate.  I tried to take the spatula away from him, but to no avail.
9. Rip off a piece of parchment paper that looks big enough to hold a good quantity of pretzels
      This can be a rough estimate.  No one will judge you if the paper is too large or too small.
10. Once the chocolate is completely melted, one can begin to dip the pretzels in it
      The chocolate smelled really good at this part.  You can use forks, or your clean hands.  I chose to use little forks, whereas Ryan chose to use his fingers (don’t worry I made sure his hands were very very clean).  His pretzels actually came out nicer looking.
11. After you dip the pretzels in, place them on the parchment paper to dry

      A few pretzels did not make it to the parchment paper.
12. Clean up afterwards
      Or else your parents will come in and yell at you.  Also, do not get chocolate all over the kitchen because it is harder to clean up than it looks.

    Chocolate is a very important part of my life and I wanted to choose a recipe that reflected that.  A fondness of chocolate has always been a bond that my mother and I share.  Unfortunately, I sneeze whenever I have chocolate, but I am not allergic!  No matter what anyone says, I am not allergic to chocolate!
    The salty-sweet combination is a comment on how one needs a balance in life.  You cannot have good without evil, and you cannot have sweet without salty.  My choice of chocolate-covered pretzels is a representation of the duplicity of graduating high school.  It is exciting to be ending a big part of life and starting a new chapter, but it is also terrifying.  It is happy to have accomplished this taxing feat, but sad to move on from everyone.  Chocolate-covered pretzels seemed like the perfect food to metaphorically represent my feelings about graduation, as lame as that sounds.