Dear Mary…
Q. Is it now de rigueur to offer one’s dinner-party guests expensive chocolates along with their coffee or tisane? If the answer is yes, then I am afraid that I personally cannot afford to shell out a further tenner on top of what I will already be spending on food and wine. Plus I think it slightly disgusting and self-indulgent when a treat becomes the norm. What do you think, Mary?
S.W., London W11
A. I agree with your last point. The trouble is that, although it is not de rigueur to offer expensive chocolates, many people’s palates do now seem primed to receive them following dinner. Guests will even boldly ask if any are available. You can be prepared for this eventuality with a compromise. Simply coat large, grape-sized pellets of crystallised stem ginger in Nutella chocolate spread and freeze them in an ice tray.
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