Death by Chocolate (Love Bytes) Slightly Unvalentimely sentiments If you are not one of those loving kinds who

want to make (way for)love in public, you could rustle up a healthy pan of Cornish seafood Paella and share a bottle of pre chilled CAVA, between the two of you this Valentines month.Although,if you are more of the socially stimulated kind, you can choose to splash some cash, huddled amongst a group of like minded lovers (packed like sardines, while eating some as well)sipping on a posh glass of prosecco and nibbling on scanty portions of supermarket bought, pretentious finger food, forking our premium amounts of dosh,all in the name of Love!(and war is to follow) (That definitely worth a status quo update on whats-you-face-book) Thankfully St Valentine was martyred only once a year, in the same ironical lines of wedding anniversaries and birthdays!!! Coinciding merrily with the season of Love, are released the fruits of love; also lovingly called children under straining situations, for the infamously coined midterms.There is a genuine identity crisis when it comes to slightly grown kids and the portion sizes of dishes offered to them in most restaurants.Neither can Dough Sticks and a few shreds of Israeli born ruler straight Carrots can satisfy a ten year olds appetite when the teenager on the adjascent table is munching merrily upon his bowl of Jumbo Macaroni and phoren cheese with a certain pheromonal enthusiasm. Times are tough and holidaying abroad becomes an organic way of getting away from the world of usual glut with pending bills and sofa surfing not so teenage yet gits!The price of food,and energy becomes more and more exorbitant as we navigate the sunnier shores of Orange and tapas country.A deftly latin/or is it greek sounding demi plate of Cornish Hake dressed up as a Tapas,topped with exotic industrially processed morsels of Chorizo sausage makes you a mere one hundred euros poorer,and its kind of O.K. because you are on a Half term Holiday of Love afterall.What kind of matters is how many cheeky unlikely likes you get,on your colourfully choreographed photographs on your Facebook page.(Money well spent!) Walt Disney, may his tribe increase! He Conquered our childhood dreams with animated characters who laugh at us, while we laugh with them and when we grow up and find out that everything was a little bit too true to be true, we are convinced to signing up for an all inclusive Disney Holiday package to Disneyland (Hang on Paris and not Orlando Florida!)Yes if you cant be bothered to fly all the way across the pond, theres one just across the channel. Apart from marveling at cheery eyed staff attired in kilted Disney outfits with a happy French accent, drinking expensive planet friendly coffee out of a goofy cup, there is no golf course to vent your frustrations out in the City of Eternal Love. Anyhow the kids know (it turns out)much more about a visitors attraction and all things exorbitant than the combined brains of you and your butter half.(All that sofa surfing and spending hours on the computer has finally paid off(not!) Well. Cheer up Brian! Arent we supposed to be cheerful and spirited during the Valentines month! Dont we love Chocolate, as a proud nation of sixty million Chocoholics?When,we had travelled far enough and exhausted all the frankincense and myrr along with tea and spice we thought of spreading some of our own good habits and

comfort foods to the lands far far aways.Sooner than later Cadburys Dairy milk and Horlicks became the drink of Inquisitive India and still lingers on as a faint chocolaty aftertaste of the tastefully challenged Raj. Back home in Britain one is never short of a Chocolate inspiration. Our tastes have come a long way! We dip our digestive biscuits in molten Chocolate and call them Hob Knobs(Not sure what William Shakespeare would have made out of it)we have hotels named after Chocolate and how fitfully, waged mini wars against Europe in keeping the sacred dairy and butter content in them. Our friendly neighbours across the imaginary national boundaries up north, have gone the distance of battering them and deep fat frying them to death!Willy Wonka(May his tribe increase, in Bourneville and never be his soul liquidated to krafty cheese makers from across the pond)has an entire Chocolate factory named after him and his unending passion for Chocolate. As we became more planet conscious and realized our Colonial Footprints across the globe, we coined the old adage Charity begins at home and started sipping on Fairtrade cups of Hot Chocolate, clearing our soot laden conscience of any bad karma. Hand made artisan chocolate is back in fashion.(Fashion is kind of all about, going back and forth it seems)As much as it is wallet cleansing there is a certain inner feeling of inner satisfaction clinging on to the lingering tastes of specially crafted limited edition edible underwear. Roll on Valentines Day!(Why dont we spread it to a whole year of love instead, in the true spirit of the Olympics) I believe Chocolate is an antidote for both the sexes. Nothing beats the rather erotic looks of slightly under ripe strawberries deftly hand dipped in shiny melted white chocolate winter white pajamas (dont even go there!)with a naughty prickly look in their eyes, almost teasily challenging ones senses with two little words Eat me (You know what I mean!) So dining in are we? A good, sensible Valentines tip is to beat the crowd, do your own lovey dovey stuff and still enjoy the food of it, on a shoestring. (Wasnt particularly hinting upon physalis)Why dont we rustle up a quick sensuous pot of hazelnuts and chocolate pot to dip our senses into and bother about the bills and the frozen planet next month! Unwrap a bar of good quality Chocolate, with high percentage of Cocoa solids, and less amount of sugar and melt in a mixing bowl, preferably on a double boiler (or in simple Cornish, a bowl sat on top of a saucepan of boiling water) Whisk in some nibbed dry fruits, and nuts, a wee bit of double cream and continue to stir, until everything smoothens out. Allow to cool down/or otherwise enjoy with all sorts of interesting dipping paraphernalia.. I will leave the thinking bit to you, and dont forget to comeback to us, right here in a fortnight to get a pocket lesson on Fairtrade food. Caution: Chocolate does tend to make one a bit happy drunk, according to one popular High street button snack, that portrays females of certain age groups performing rather UnBritish antics after bingeing on such frivolities!

As seen in: http://www.thecornishgazette.com/edition9/rickoliver.htm