cherishing chocolate
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2007-01-22: cherishing chocolate

Most people I know have a serious weakness for Chocolate. I used to, when I was younger, but now I really only have a weakness for serious chocolate. I don't get excited about dime-store chocolates in the shapes of cars or nickel chocolates from the bulk store. I used to love chocolate-covered peanuts but now I don't give them a second thought in the grocery check-out line. No, my love of chocolate goes much deeper than Mars Bars and Reece's Peanut products...deeper and usually much, much darker.

I come by this lust honestly at least - by pure exposure. It all started about eight years ago when I was dating this guy who made regular trips to Switzerland to visit his parents. He would come home with the most gorgeous chocolates for me every time. Each time I would eat them, piece by piece over the course of the next few months, biding my time until he returned to the land of chocolate for more. Eventually, that relationship ended and I went on a chocolate strike for a few years.

Then one day my father brought home chocolate from a client of his - some little European company that was suddenly making a name for itself in the North American market. A tiny little chocolate company called Lindt. I was in love all over again and this time the relationship blossomed and bloomed. This little company had the most gorgeous, most silky-rich dark chocolate I had ever tasted.

And then the inevitable occurred. I stumbled across something better. After working out at the gym one day a few months ago my sister and I went for a walk through her neighborhood. The Distillery District has it all - great shopping, small quaint restaurants, theatres, a spa, beautiful landscaping, coffee houses, galleries...and SOMA. The absolute ultimate in retail chocolate love. They actually make small batches of single origin chocolate from the bean and you can watch them make the chocolate. RIGHT. THERE. It's a good thing there is a plexi-glass window between the store and the "Chocolate Laboratory"...it saved me from sticking my head into the conch where the chocolate was being refined.

When I first walked through the doors the smell hit me in the face. Not so much a hit as a caress though, really. It was like stepping onto a chocolate cloud and I didn't want to step off. I remember that night, turning into my pillow because my hair still reeked of the cloying confection...I have never slept so well.

It took me until this past weekend to find a recipe that would not mask the flavour of the chocolate from this store, that did little more than "hold" the chocolate for you while you ate it. These tarts do just that - all you taste is chocolate heaven.

Be sure to check out David Lebovitz's week of chocolate in his edition of Sugar High Friday!