I’m addicted to both.  My coffee must be strong and rich and my favorite chocolate is dark, intense, and bittersweet. 

     I’m certain that my chocolate addiction comes from my grandmother on my mother’s side.  My Grandmother, my younger sister, and I would walk eight blocks from our house to an old-fashioned ice cream parlor.  The owners, Paul and Polly were near my grandmother’s age and they’d become friends. 

     When you walked into the shop the rich aroma of chocolate luxuriously wrapped around you like a soft fur coat.  Paul and Polly made and sold the most extraordinary chocolates and served the best hot fudge sundaes we’d ever had.  Oftentimes one of them would bring a sample of chocolate to our table for us to try.

     After my family moved to another state, Dear Hubby and I continued the tradition of going to the ice cream parlor that was only four blocks from our new home.

     DH and I would go once a week.  When we’d stroll through the door, Paul would never ask what I wanted, he knew.  Before we sat down in our favorite booth, Paul would already be dishing up my coffee ice cream.  Then he’d pour on a heaping ladle full of his dark, intense, bittersweet hot fudge, sprinkle pecans over the top, and serve it to me with a huge smile. 

     He and Polly would ask me how my grandmother was doing and they’d give us samples of chocolate candy to try.

     For ten more years, we continued to stop in regularly, and then Polly died.  Paul retired and sold the shop.  I have Paul’s recipe for his hot fudge, though I seldom make it these days.