Chocolate .... mmm

Chocolate, yummy, yummy, chocolate. No history lesson today, no tracing this heavenly substance back to its origins, no seeking out chocolate pioneers of the past. I believe - and this is digging deep into my chocolate fuddled brain - that this taste tormenting treasure was first drooled over by the Aztecs. I may be wrong - but I don't care. I don't care where it came from, I'm just glad it arrived!! Way back in the depths of time someone discovered chocolate, liked it and passed it on. So thank you, thank you, thank you ancient tribes of Mexico for giving me chocolate. It may make my purse lighter and my body heavier, but chocolate is in my life to stay.
There are days when nothing but chocolate will do. Nothing satisfies more, lifts the mood higher, sends a soul into raptures more than chocolate. Who needs an orgasm when a bar of galaxy or a box of Milk Tray can have the same effect and with much less effort. Fruit is lovely - nice and healthy - seafood is good with a fresh salad and a chunk of homemade brown bread, bacon frying in the pan always makes the mouth water, and fish and chips on the seafront are an occasional must. But chocolate is a necessity, a must-have when the mood takes, a treat to be savoured regardless of time or place.
So how do you like your chocolate? So many options, so many choices, so little time to fit it all in. Chocolate ice-cream, chocolate cake, chocolate biscuits, chocolate spread, chocolate sauce, chocolate bars, even chocolate cheese, it's all there, waiting, enticing, winding you in. Plain, milk, white, with or without nuts, with or without fruit, mint, orange, strawberry, smooth, rough, mild, strong, an eternity of mind-blowing scrumptiousness to tempt the palate and tease the taste buds. Oh to dive into a chocolate fountain, dunk pineapple and strawberries into a chocolate fondue to ensure anything remotely wholesome is drowned in the silky liquid, or drizzle chocolate sauce over anything that comes to hand ........... There is even chocolate bubble bath and shower creme on the market. Looks like chocolate, smells like chocolate, but tastes like .... well, soap. And I should know. Well, you have to try it ........ don't you?
Some people are marvels at chocolate cuisine. My brother Neil has the good fortune to be married to Caroline. And Caroline is a choccy wizard. Homemade chocolate brownies, vanilla ice-cream, a good helping of whipped double cream, generous squirts of chocolate sauce, all topped with chocolate chips, chocolate covered biscuit pieces and honeycomb chips and you have the exclusive Bascombe Sundae, named after her good self of course. This is as close to heaven on earth as you will get ..... and only the pattern will be left on the plate! You have to try it to understand the true meaning of ecstasy. Mmmmm. Tammy, partner to my eldest son Wayne, also treads the chocolate trail. Her chocolate malteser cake, covered with dozens of the chocolatey balls - incredibly effective and deliciously awe-inspiring - affords another trip to heaven and back. It is so fortunate I love chocolate. How rude would it be to turn down such delectable dishes when so much hard work has gone into their creation.
I have found the perfect bar of chocolate ......... all the taste of normal chocolate but with one subtle difference. As you place a square in your mouth and allow the chocolate to melt hey presto!! All the calories dissolve and what passes your lips definitely stays off the hips. Well we can all dream, can't we ............