Chocolate

What can I say about chocolate...velvety, luscious chocolate? Bless those heavenly, mood-enhancing, bittersweet, sensuous cocoa bean of the Gods. It is an unusual evening when I don’t end my day with a piece of dark chocolate, dissolving it on my tongue ever so graciously as it sends my heart a flutter.

As a child, I was rather odd in terms of my candy preferences. I didn’t like hard sweets or sugary lollies. Occasionally I would enjoy some of those little yellow and green pineapple lollies or ‘nerds’, these were the delicious exceptions. However I would never seek candy out, nor relish its presence at birthday parties. My heart was sold to a far more delicious treat…chocolate.

I simply adored chocolate. Sweet, melt-in-your-mouth divinity. Clearly my adoration has not faltered. I just loved playing the chocolate dice game at birthday parties, where we would all sit in a circle and roll a dice, hoping for a six so we could dress up and eat chocolate with a knife and fork, all the while giggling hysterically. The sight of that royal purple Cadbury chocolate block meant that fun and deliciousness was in store.

Easter was a favourite time of year, as mum would hide Easter eggs around our garden and I would grab a little basket and eagerly hunt and gather little chocolate eggs. They never lasted long. My bother would keep his chocolate Easter Bunnies for months and months, and it was all I could do to not sneak into his adjacent room and take an ear…or two (the ears are the best bit!).

These days, my chocolate affairs are a little more mature, even sultry. Whether carefully peeling back the foil of a newly purchased block of dark chocolate and relishing the first touch to my lips, popping a Lindt ball into my mouth and delighting as it melts and oozes silken gold, or demolishing a perfectly poised chocolate fondant with a spoon and watching with gleeful eyes as the gooey, rich centre spills forth, I love my chocolate.

The other day, Ben and I shared a milk hot chocolate at the Lindt café. The perfect way to indulge a mid-afternoon chocolate craving.