Chocolates for All!

Here come the visitors, alas, out to share our particularly unpleasant weather this weekend: rainy, windy, very cold.  Definitely not putting the best face on our very early spring.  But they came anyway and were cheerful despite being somewhat housebound.

There were some sunny spots when the daughter and granddaughter got to go visit Lily the llama and her goats.  And quick visits to the beach to gather up rocks for special rock polishing when they returned to Michigan.  And a visit to Brewsters to obtain an excellent pineapple and  a box of Lindabelle chocolates, made by our own resident chocolatiere.  I was delighted to find that you could buy Linda Dyde's chocolates at Brewsters.  We have had a long tradition of having a drawn-out dessert experience with her chocolates when we have a few visitors for a few days.

What we do is buy enough for a night or two such that everyone will have at least one or two entire chocolates after dinner.  But not directly, not just choosing one and stuffing it in your mouth.  Depending on the number at the table, it goes like this:

Two guests plus us means you start with 4 or 8 chocolates, all of different kinds (and Linda makes many different and exotic kinds so this is easy to have happen).  You pick one chocolate and carefully cut it in four equal parts.  Her chocolates are mostly pretty square so this is not too hard.  Then each of you takes one of the quarters, eats it slowly and one-at-a-time discusses its flavor(s) and texture(s).  When everyone has had his/her say and the chocolate is well gone from the mouth, you take a second chocolate and do the same thing again.  The eating of 4 chocolates, in this manner, easily takes 20-30 minutes, because after the first round, you not only have this chocolate to discuss but you also have to do comparisons with the previous chocolate(s).    And when all four (or eight) are gone, you are sorry that this experience is over and you have to discuss which one is your own favorite.

There are variations for different numbers, and it is also very nice to have a cup of tea to sip in between chocolates, but it is not essential.

Try it with your favorite guests, like a daughter and a granddaughter!  Especially during times of bad weather.