A Little Chocolate Tasting Tray for an Ordinary Afternoon

 

Some afternoons call for cake. Some call for ice cream.

And some afternoons, apparently, call for opening the chocolate box and sampling whatever catches my attention.

I was working in the atelier when a rather persistent chocolate craving arrived. Lady Flo was approaching, which may have had something to do with the sudden conviction that chocolate was no longer optional. 😆

The thing is, we’re not really a big-chocolate-bar household.

I like chocolate, but I rarely want an enormous amount of one kind. Give me three to five little pieces and I’m usually satisfied.

What I do want is variety.

Regular readers of Lady E Eats may have noticed this about my meals too. I love having several different things on my plate. A little of this, a bite of that, something savory beside something fresh, different textures and flavors to move between.

Apparently I approach chocolate exactly the same way.

Our Little Chocolate Stash

Instead of keeping big chocolate bars around, we tend to accumulate small chocolate treats that I can nibble whenever the craving appears.

On this particular afternoon, I had quite the selection:

• dark chocolate-covered almonds
• milk chocolate-covered almonds
• M&S chocolate wafers
• Apollo chocolates
• chocolate-covered cherries
• caramel-covered almonds
• and the last few survivors of our chocolate-covered blueberry açaí

Some compartments were looking considerably healthier than others.

I shall allow you to draw your own conclusions. 😂

I pulled the box out while I was working and suddenly realized I had accidentally created a tiny chocolate tasting tray.

Why I Prefer Little Bites

This is probably my favorite way to eat sweets.

Instead of committing to an entire chocolate bar, I can have one dark chocolate almond, move on to something creamy, steal a wafer, try something fruity, and finish with another little bite if I still want it.

It makes an ordinary snack feel much more interesting.

And because each piece is small, I can satisfy a chocolate craving without reaching the point where I’m tired of chocolate altogether.

There is also something delightful about opening a box and choosing.

What do I feel like having next?

Crunchy?

Creamy?

Fruity?

Dark chocolate?

Something with caramel?

It turns a five-minute break from work into a tiny tasting experience.

Ordinary Afternoons Deserve Nice Things Too

I think that may be my favorite part of this little ritual.

There was no celebration happening. Nobody was visiting. I hadn’t prepared a beautiful dessert platter for some special occasion.

I was simply working in the atelier and wanted chocolate.

So I opened our stash, chose a few things I liked, and gave myself a small moment of pleasure in the middle of an otherwise ordinary afternoon.

Not every beautiful little food moment needs an occasion.

Sometimes you just need a box full of tiny chocolates and permission to choose three.

Or five.

Or, judging by certain suspiciously empty compartments in this photograph, perhaps we should stop counting. 😏🍫

—

I’ll set the table again soon.

Lady E

Founder, Lady E Eats
Where food becomes story, and every table holds a moment