Culinary Magic

My niece Lily discovering chocolate for the first time.

I had my annual Mexican Fiesta/Feast this past weekend. There were so many people and so many plates of food it was hard to know who brought what. Tamales, Mofongo (I'll never make that again), Beet Salad, Spicy Corn Soup, Beet Salad, Chicken Mole, Nachos, Guacamole, Mango Salsa, Chile Rellenos, Flan and the list goes on.

I never had a chance to try everything. I tried to make as many goody bags as possible for people to cart away the buckets of extra food. People were more than happy to have extras for their own fridge.

The next morning my clean up continued. I froze as much extra food as I could as I knew I was leaving for an extended vacation in a couple of days. As I washed dishes and put away the party utensils, I worked up an appetite..... I ate tamales with my brother Arlon's fabuloso green chile sauce. Later in the afternoon I craved something sweet. I had stupidly told my friend, Lynn, to take her devil Flan away from my home and hips.

But I spied an innocuous red box on my counter. I had seen it the night before with its lid half open to seductively display some dark chocolate... but it lacked the power to tempt a belly full from a buffet to make the Romans blush. There were still a few pieces of hand dipped chocolate in it. They were clearly an amateur production as the chocolate pooled up too heavily at the edges of the filling. I thought..."in a pinch, I guess this will do."

The first bite was a shocker. For some reason I was expecting a creme, but the chocolate burst open with a squirt. I quickly popped it into my mouth expecting the rest of the filling to ooze out. When you have no idea what you have put in your mouth, it can be a real guessing game to identify it- especially with the handicap of little to no sense of smell.Eventually I realized it was a very juicy slice of Clementine wrapped in chocolate.

I ate another, and then another. Truthfully- I ate all five pieces. It was such a perfect combination of flavors. This could have been my dirty little secret- that I ate 5 pieces of chocolate, but now it is out there for the world to see. I am really hoping the manufacturer will step forward....

Check out Michelle's similar experience with this magical red box.