Where I currently reside, Munich, Germany, chocolate is in abundance. All different kinds and textures; milk, dark, fruit-flavored, white, crunchy – the list goes on. All too often, a chocolate craving leads to a serious dilemma: what to buy and which flavor will satisfy even the most intense chocolate craving. Recently, while in the throws of a craving, I ventured out to find something for a fix which led me to a new discovery… perhaps a new love.
Before I divulge the sordid details of my affair, let me just explain that I’ve never been a fan of the chocolate/nut combination. In fact, I usually find myself picking nuts out of chocolate/nut sweets. I’ve been taunted for my dissection of Peanut M&Ms, carefully biting open the M&M and prying out the nut in order to enjoy the chocolate with the crunchy candy shell. I even recall a date or two ending early over my spitting out the peanuts from a Snickers bar and almonds from a Hershey bar. As I said before, it isn’t a pairing that works for me. Men are replaceable – the experience of enjoying chocolate in the moment is not. The coarse, dry and sometimes bitterness of the nut doesn’t couple well with chocolate. Nuts are hearty… earthy… chocolate should be left alone, far from the likes of the nut.
Then I met Hanuta.