Parting is such sweet sorrow

My inner core of friends are from my time at school. We are a band of sisters. One of us left the party early, aged just 35, and that was Maureen. She had a saying I think of almost everyday and it is this: ‘Everything has an end, except for a sausage, which has two.’ It is so ludicrous – but true – that it makes me laugh every time I say it or think it, which is fortuitous as endings are often sad.

And so it is that I must tell you that today will be my last chocolate column here. I’ll continue to give chocolate recommendations on my Substack (pocketannalisa.substack.com) and act as your chocolate sommelier, so please come and find me on there.

In the meantime. Look out for Edd Kimber’s fabulous new book, published next month, called Chocolate Baking, The Ultimate Guide to Cakes, Cookies, Desserts and Pastries. I love Edd, his recipes always work, they are delicious and he introduced me to cream cheese frosting for my cinnamon buns. There are so many wonderful and original chocolate recipes in there, such as cocoa cardamom palmiers, chocolate and absinthe canelés, and so many more.

But for now, from here, it’s been a real treat over the last five years to bring you chocolate news and share my finds with you. From my first days buying my own Flake and Crunchie, aged seven, with my cousin Mary, to my mum’s fabulous chocolate mousse with Bourneville to my now far more sophisticated palette enjoying Bare Bones, Duffy’s, Tosier, Nearynógs, Pump Street et al. And the bar that really got me thinking oooh chocolate: Pralus Barre Infernal in orange. Arrivederci!

Photograph by Getty Images