We don’t do much chocolate around here. Oh, by we, I mean Bernard. Pete and I do loads of the stuff. Current favourite is Hotel Chocolat‘s 50% milk. I think it is the perfect chocolate and have requested a small slab of it for my birthday. From as many people as possible.
It’s not that we have rules about toddlers and chocolate, but just that we don’t want to waste the good stuff on him. I gave him a small Lindt bunny at Easter and he stuffed it all in at once, sucked it until it disappeared, and looked very relieved that it had gone. What a waste.
So last week the girls were round for a meeting about the NCT branch newsletter (my newest project), and one of the team had brought some rather odd chocolate sponge thingies with chocolate icing, topped with chocolate rice crispies and spacedust. They crackled surprisingly in the mouth and were very interesting to eat. Crumbs were dropped.
The next morning when I was making Pete’s sandwiches, Bernard wandered into the kitchen eating something. I asked what it was. Chocolate he mumbled, chewing thoughtfully. I demanded to see, and he opened his mouth very wide. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear it crackling. He has had his first spacedust.
This weekend we went to a Pirates Party at the new Children’s Centre. Activities included standing inside a cardboard box with waves painted on the outside, and gluing glitter on pirates’ hats. The Treasure Hunt involved “finding” one of about 200 cardboard coins which were stuck to the walls and exchanging it for a chocolate coin. Bernard was so pleased with his that he clutched it all the way home. Unfortunately, owing to certain properties of chocolate of which he was previously unaware, it turned to liquid en route, and covered everything.
There is much to learn in the world of chocolate.
It’s all about the Hotel Chocolat caramel drops…mmmmmm….