Bouquets of Chocolate (manxman)

Memoirs #3

February 14th, 11:56am, four minutes before the time he'd told me to come by. Unsure whether to go in early or wait another few minutes until I wasn't, I just stood there like an idiot.

More often than not I'd come here without prior notice, not even bothering to knock, I felt so at home here. In fact, his parents had even offered me a key for convenience at one point, so why was I being so weird at being four minutes - scratch that, 2 now - early? Probably partially due to the envelope I felt in my back pocket like it was on fire, but I couldn't think about that now.

Taking a deep breath, I mentally scolded myself for a few seconds, then just walked in. Right, that was what I'd usually do. Normal.

"Sammie!" he called in excitement when I entered the kitchen, "Finally, I've been waiting!"

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm two minutes early."

"So?" he asked, as if him giving me a time to show up meant nothing. Then again, it probably didn't and I was overthinking.

He was clearly excited. I could see different size moulds, pans, already set up bain-marie's, bowls, various spatulas, and other containers littering his kitchen island in an organised mess. It was a lot, hence why it looked messy, but I could see his system; he always worked clean. It probably also didn't help that this was the last Valentines' before he was off to France for his studies at Le Cordon Bleu. I knew it was hard for him to comprehend the fact that I wouldn't live right next to him anymore come summer, and concentrating on this day helped him cope a little, hence why his excitement was so much more ... more than usual.

Once he looked like he'd start bouncing on his feet soon with all his excitement, I took pity on him.

"What are you making then?"

"Well if you must know..", he said in a joking manner before winking at me. I swear, my heart stuttered for a second. I was still so new to understanding what I was feeling, it was catching me off guard constantly.

"I was thinking matcha white chocolate."

I didn't even bother answering him, knowing exactly that that couldn't be it, it was too safe. Arguably, he was in a Japanese phase at the moment, and would have most definitely chosen that flavour pairing, but it wasn't adventurous enough for him at all. So I only raised one eyebrow, crossed my arms over my chest, and waited.

"... and wasabi." I face palmed. He laughed. Of course. Should have seen that coming.

"Whatever you say. What are you using?"

"Probably a matcha mousse, white chocolate whipped ganache with the wasabi, and a thin, white chocolate shell. No decorations."

I whistled.

"That's one hell of a project there"
"I know, I really wanted to use yuzu, but I don't think it'll go...." he thought for a second and I knew exactly what he was going to say next, "Actually, I'll just make two. Yuzu, dark chocolate... and chilli."

This time I laughed out loud.

"I'm assuming you've done neither before?"

He scoffed.

"Of course not!" He'd always claim that these days were special, that he'd never make something he'd done before because it wasn't special enough.

"It'll probably be a dark chocolate ganache and... actually, never mind, I don't wanna do the same thing twice, I'll make the shell dark chocolate chilli I think, maybe a caramel? Although that might be a bit too much then... Oh, I know! I'll make a dark chocolate caramel sauce, quite firm, but not enough to crack as you bite into it, just softly give way, like a thick sauce kinda thing maybe? Hmm, I'll have a think. I should have my old recipe somewhere for a super thick sauce, so maybe I can adjust that a bit to make it less sauce-y. And in the middle, hmm... I think I'll make a coulis. That way I'll probably make too much and we snack on it while we work and- Actually, scratch that, I'll make a granita. What was it you were gonna make?"