Bitter Chocolate Tart

Today is supposedly my day off. Not the easiest thing to honour when your head is a whirl of chocolate-related thoughts: stock to order, pitches to chase, baking to organise, bills to pay, mechanics to come and check out my engine (!), bookings to prepare for. And, of course, the obligatory tasting of new products.

It's tough - I'm not gonna say it ain't - but there are a lot of recipes to try and chocolates to nibble, all in the sake of research and keeping oneself abreast of the situation. Take this bitter chocolate tart for instance. It's good. Really good. But is it heavy dependency good, or merely of the quick fix/light titilation variety? It certainly does have something. A simplicity in the deep, dark truffled filling, sitting so pretty atop its crisp, buttery shortcrust.

I'm going to persevere until I'm absolutely sure...

Meanwhile I must really knuckle down and plan for the coming weeks of heavy-duty chocolate dispatches. Things are moving and I need to be right there for every development. Planning, planning, planning...never has been a particular favourite concept of mine and, as March comes over all hostile, the impulse to jump on a plane heading for balmy climes is intense.

But so too is my commitment to Choc Star. It's not just a business for me but, rather, a tool for understanding what life's all about. That and a damn good excuse to eat all the chocolate pies I can lay my hands on...!