Nuts and chocolate ???

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a traditionalist when it comes to nuts and cocoa. Nuts are eaten before a meal as an appetiser, and chocolate is eaten after a meal as a guilty surrender to temptation. Phobia may be too strong a word, but I am deeply suspicious of anyone who has a penchant for eating the two together. I can't pinpoint the source of my mistrust, but I do remember eating a mixed bag of chocolate covered peanuts and raisins and feeling quite repulsed when I accidently popped a peanut rather than a raisin into my mouth.

Chocolate-covered nuts are, to borrow a phrase from an ex-boss who was describing high GI carbs when on a strict Atkins diet, "the devil's food".

It is therefore not an exaggeration to say that my relationship with my partner teetered pretty close to the edge last week when, after being sent out to buy an emergency pint of milk at 10pm, he can back with a look of intense pleasure that couldn't possibly have come from a 15 minute walk to Tesco and back in the pouring rain. He excitedly told me to close my eyes and open my hands, which I dutifully did. On opening my eyes I stared blankly at 2 small orange packets in my hand. "They're selling Reese's Pieces in Tesco!" he exclaimed, opening one packet and pouring them down his throat. When I had established what they were - small pats of peanut butter enclosed in a hard chocolate shell, I calmly opened the bin and dropped the other packet in. He was also instructed to clean his teeth at least 3 times before bed to remove all trace of the foul combination of tastes.

Unbelievably, 30+ years of this food hatred started to waver about 10 minutes ago. I have just had the most exquisite chocolate-covered almond with my coffee (cafes richard, http://www.richard.fr/) in a Parisien cafe - a wonderful explosion of a light dusting of dark cocoa over a crispy unsalted nut. This may just have helped me to put my first foot on the journey of acceptance of nuts and cocoa, but I will tread carefully and with a certain amount of trepidation ...