Chocolate in Context

As we all know Christmas has interrupted our normally healthy life style. There is no surer sign that the sugar overdose line has been crossed than when you finally eat the strawberry flavoured item from the chocolate selection, even though you hate the taste.

It's like the ultimate expression of over indulgence. Or so I thought until a few days ago.

We had been to one of our usual supermarkets; we have a few to choose from and I have loyalty cards with all of them. I know that it calls in to question how much fidelity I have but it is just a fact of life.

We were looking at the fruit and vegetable selection trying get excited about things that were not covered in chocolate when Mrs M declared that she was too cold to remain and wandered off to wander down warmer isles.

It was a little cool but given the snow outside the in-store temperature seemed a small price to pay in order to find a good selection of our five a day.

By the time I caught up with my bride I found her peering into the refrigerated section retrieving a couple of our favourite chocolate mousse desserts.

'I thought you were bothered about the cold' I asked

'Yes' replied my bride, 'but the things on offer here are a lot more interesting.

She had a point; it's amazing how context can change your point of view.

We took the mousse desserts home and set down for a chocolaty after dinner treat. After as couple of spoonfuls I looked at my bride and asked if she was enjoying the experience. They just didn't taste as good as I had remembered.

We wondered whether the manufacturers had changed the ingredients during the last few weeks. Then it occurred to me: we usually ate these delicious desserts as a weekend reward after days of eating yoghurts.

Yet recently we had so overdosed on chocolate during the Christmas period that they had no sparkle; nothing that made it stand out.

This, then, became the ultimate sign that we had overdone things during the festivities; even our usual delicacies were appearing bland to our exhausted pallets.

Now we head towards the land of sugar free produce and exercise machines hoping that one day we will fit back into our usual clothes without that pinching feeling.

My personal goal is to get back to the stage where my favourite chocolate mousse once again tastes special and I manage to resist the strawberry flavoured sweet.