You might have noticed I have changed the header that describes what Yummy Homely Food is all about.
I have been thinking about it for a while,  I have tried quite hard to change the way we shop and eat at home for the past year at least now. I've tried to go back to principles I was brought up on...I am only talking about food here! My parents and my grandparents have always shopped local and eaten seasonal stuff - fruits and vegetables from the garden when available or from the local Tuesday morning market and butchers in the village... They "recycle" most leftovers, freeze/preserve excess seasonal food to use later when it's scarce. I blanked that for a long, long time .....then woke up!. Probably because of all the hype around the sujbect here in England and th fact that I might be more receptive to the issue now that I am a "mum of 2 getting on a bit and living in the countryside". Just joking, I can still stay awake past 10:30 pm...on the odd occasion.

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 I wanted to post about that on this blog , but it didn't really fit what Yummy Homely Food was all about? but then, I didn't really want to start a THIRD blog neither!. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that I could just widen the topic of Yummy Homely Food to include slightly different post subjects. So here goes, YHM will now be about "How I try to recreate food and shopping habits from when I was little, growing up in Beaujolais, here in England. A mix of French recipes and memories from living in the countryisde. Plus: small local producers, shops and markets I have discovered here in England to feed my "slight" obsession with food". 
I'll start this new "era" of YHF with a very special post about...chocolate! Can't be more seasonal than that seeing that Valentine's day was only a few days ago...and Easter is coming up fast. My craving about the stuff was easily satisfied when I was living in France: I'd just pop to our local patissier chocolatier for some "oranges en chocolat" (sweet and bitter bits of confit orange skins dipped in very dark chocolate), or stop on my way down to Lyon at Patisserie Seve, in Champagne au Mont d'Or, for a trully "out-of-this-world" Opera  or herisson (which combines 2 of my sweet weaknesses- chocolate AND sweet chestnut puree).  When shopping in the "presqu'ile" (the centre of Lyon - a "near island" surrounded by 2 rivers, the Saone and the Rhone), I'd stop at Chocolats Voisin for a small bag of lovely, rich Coussins de Lyon. Back at home, there was always time for a chocolate sandwich at my mamie's house, or a chocolate and frangipanne tart for the week end more recently (still one of my dad's classic and never dissapointing pudding).
 But then I moved here, to the land of Cadbury cream eggs! 
A few years back I discovered Hotel Chocolat and that satisfied my craving for a bit, although the problem was that with an internet order, you can hardly pop in for a small treat of 2 or 3 handmade chocs can you....I utterly enjoyed a 3 months subscription to their  Chocolate Tasting Club, when you receive a box of 30 new chocolates each month with a little card explaining what's what and...a scoring card as well. Great fun. A couple of years ago, I then discovered Montezumas and their teeny-tiny shop in Chichester. Lovely chocolate bars and always some kind of tasting going on, I completely approve.
However, on Thursday, I finally went to (chocolate) heaven!
I met Sarah (Payne) who runs Cocoaloco in Partridge Green. An organic chocolate factory in her own back garden, how lucky is she? We had a really lovely chat. I learned how she started (making brownies all her friends adored and convinced her to turn it into a business). How she and her husband are moving business premises next week and trying to organise the commute to the other side of the A24 using just one car (tricky with school runs...I did suggest borrowing a polo pony from the stables next to their new office?). How their packaging for small treats have been cleverly tested to fit through most models of letterboxes so customers don't have to make a trip to the Post Office to retrieve their yummy chocs and indeed...wait any longer than necessary for them (now that's attention to details in my world). Anyway, after sorting out my order, I left with a nice looking dark chocolate bar hand tied with a bit of raffia and a label, and a very promising little red box.
I am VERY proud to say both made it all the way home...but not a minute later. I started with the dark chocolate bar.

I knew I was in for a treat since the car filled itself with a deep chocolate smell in the 14 minutes it took me to drive home. It was Yummy. dark chocolate with little nibs of cocoa throughout. Delicious. However, the "piece de resistance" was the little red box. Chocolate champagne truffles.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooh! Creamy, soft, smooth, rich, silky, buttery milk chocolate with a slight quick from the champagne. I can't do them justice writing about them, so here's a photo to give you an idea. 

 And if you really want to know what I mean, just get yourself one. I think everyone should have one in "stand by" in the fridge for "emergencies"...you know the kind I mean!