All entries from 26th June 2008

• 26th Jun ’08 at 19:09 UTC
• By Niladri
• 0 comments

Something that I’ve been very aware since starting to make chocolates (well, since they started being reasonably nice) , is how possessive many people are about them.

A box given as a gift can often be immediately slipped into a pocket or a bag to be savoured later.

I’m not sure if this is the desire to eat them all oneself, or the fact that eating chocolate can be an intimate and deeply private passion to be indulged in private. I imagine that varies from person to person, but I’m still often surprised.

I have a friend called Neil. He’s a lovely man; friendly, kind, gregarious, generous, and a natural sharer… but not, for some reason, when it comes to sharing chocolala chocolates!

When I’ve visited and there has been a surfeit chocolala gorgeousness on the table, he can still be reluctant to take some to give to friends…

I’ve tried to instil the mantra, “chocolates are for sharing”, but it would often become “I know chocolates are for sharing, but…”

I’ve thought about it a lot, and realise that it’s my probably my puritanical streak coming to the surface. I’m not sure that pressing people to act in any particular way is much use if their heart is not in it. So, my mantra from today will be

“chocolates are for sharing …sometimes”

It’s Neil’s 43rd birthday today, and I’ve sent him some of his favourites, milk chocolate truffles:

Enjoy them alone or with others.

Happy birthday

xx