I have known the land of cubicles though, including a long stint in an IT department. It seemed like it was fun at the time, but really, I was just making the best of a en-cubicled siutation, though I did eventually manage to score a corner cubicle with a 180 degree view of the city (more by luck than corporate management potential though).

Yes, my little team and I were happy-ish little vegimites, grabbing whatever morsels of fun were to be had, building a little world of our own within a big grown up corporate-ish world. The trouble is, it sucks you in, lures you into thinking that you are comfortable, safe, cosseted and well looked after. Therein lurks danger for any freedom loving creative spirit.

Now I work at home, with my Wife, doing our own thing, the HeatMap Thing, The Paint In Your Pyjamas thing, and other assorted art and creativity related things. Good things. People seem to love our things. We are grateful. We look forward to Fridays.

Fridays are the day when we do ‘our thing’, and in the case of the last few Fridays, it has been a ‘chocolate thing’. Yesterday (Friday of course) we decided to go to our local Chocolate Cafe and indulge in a (chocolate) Coffee and some (chocolate) cake. We go to ‘Sweet Tempered’ in Noosa Junction, (tucked down the Lanyana Arcade, fortuitously opposite to a Dentist and Florist’s shop). We had our usual Milk Chocolate Mocha, which is a regular Mocha except it has melted milk chocolate dripping down the inside of the glass cup (you can see its sticky ooziness through the glass) nicely finished off with froth and more chocolate.

We also had two cakes; a classic warm fudge brownie (and cream), with a lovely thin crispy crust on top, and a deliciously moist and chocolate gooey nuttiness inside. Lovely. The second cake was not chocolate based, but instead a zesty lemon slice, again with a lovely thin crispy crust on top, but, upon closer inspection a surprisingly thick base under the zesty lemon. The base was so thick that Dylan (the co-owner of the shop) had thoughtfully supplied a knife to cut it with.

I was initially concerned that this was not a good thing. Having watched many episodes of ‘Masterchef’ of course I have ‘learned’ how to be an ‘expert taster’, probably like the rest of the Australian population.  It must be quite a pain for all the chefs out there. I extracted the knife, put on my best Matt Preston demeanour, chopped off a piece, fearing a tough mouthful of biscuit. I needn’t have worried. The base crumbled to sweet goo in my mouth and mingled with the zesty lemon. Gorgeous. A nice dab of cream took the edge off the citrus. Heavenly.

So to sum up, if you visit Noosa and you don’t visit Dylan and Kate for Chocolate, then you’re missing out. Leave the beach immediately, pop on a sarong, rent a mini-moke and ride over the hill to Noosa Junction and get some Sweet Tempered in you

So, that was my Friday morning. How was yours?

Milk Chocolate bars used to be my favoured method of chocolate fix delivery. Yes, I know that chocolate aficionado’s say dark chocolate is the thing to be discussed and savoured in polite society, but for me milk chocolate, and a great coffee, or mixed together as a molten chocolate mocha-chino are now the most indulgent and enjoyable ways I like to take my self-prescription.

Back in the UK my favourite chocolate was Galaxy. It has a lovely creamy flavour. I also like Wispa as it has tiny bubbles in it which seem to make some kind of difference. Thornton’s continental chocolates are also a lovely indulgence.

Here in Australia, I don’t have access to those old favourites, but now, with a whole swag of chocolate themed cafes popping up I have some new choices to make. Fridays are cafe days, and I love to visit the new chocolate and coffee shop down in the town. Their milk chocolate mocha is heaven in a mug. Today, I decided to actually meet the owner of the shop, the guy who makes the chocolates. I said hello. He couldn’t speak to me right away. His mouth was too full of chocolate. True.