One of my favourite romantic evenings didn’t start out that way. It started as cold, rainy day in Brugge followed by lots of sight seeing and a bout of crankiness that set in around supper. After a eating something to warm to try to soothe my soul, a box of chocolates was purchased on the way home from a little chocolatier, Leonida’s.

Back at the sweet, beautiful and oh so simple Bed and Breakfast, we laid in the bed and opened the box of chocolates and one by one, ate them in silence. Every bit was savoured, little pieces were shared, enjoyment was had. It probably took us an hour or two to go through a box and I swear, I swooned the whole way through. The evening ended the totally oppoisite way in which it had begun.

So when I saw that Leonida’s was here in Santa Monica and that they had their chocolates shipped via air express once a week, I knew it would be the perfect way to spend Valentines – a holiday I’ve never celebrated before.

After a hectic day in which I had begun rather exhausted, we walked to the chocolatier, picked out a small box of chocolates, walked home along the ocean and once again took a couple of hours to dine on the best. And I swooned all over again.