easter, ash wednesday and avocado

the skelligs eggs are looking as beautiful as ever this year and with the weather getting warmer this week, i am feeling excited about spring and all things chocolatey: although being ash wednesday, many of you will have a long 40 days of abstinence before the start of feasting! i still stick to my beliefs that there are a lot more things worth giving up than chocolate (cigarettes, beer, ready meals, fast food, playstations...) but as a chocolate maker, i accept i am biased!

it is our eldest daughter, esme's 10th birthday on sunday which means it is nearly 10 years since emily and i first launched cocoa bean at limerick market with esme bundled up in a baby sling. she stills likes pickled sea weed and smoked fish which is definitely thanks to her early contact with the limerick market fish stall and nial's charm!

hope you all enjoyed your pancakes yesterday. i think it is still hard to beat melted dark chocolate and reduced frozen raspberries wrapped in a traditional pancake and dusted with icing sugar. a nice change is to make drop scones and layer them with chocolate in between and top with a pile of fresh raspberries.

this final idea has nothing to do with chocolate but it tastes so good that it needs sharing! ( and it does contains lime like our lime and black pepper bars) dice a large avocado and large ripe tomato. chop a slice of red onion into tiny, tiny squares and mix with the zest and juice of half a lime. add salt and black pepper and mix all ingredients together. it is great on toasted seed bread or with a rich black bean stew. good too with roasted chicken and new potatoes.