I have this mad passion for dark chocolate covered marshmallow hearts. You know—the after-the-holiday-is-over ones. They’re tossed in a basket and sold  2-for-1 since the store has to clear them in a hurry in time for the next chocolate marshmallow event, which is Easter.

The after-the-holiday-is-over chocolate marshmallows are the best. Of course, they are also called leftovers, but I prefer the term “aged.”  I get several “fixes” a year—the dark chocolate covered marshmallow hearts in February followed by the chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies and/or eggs for Easter. Sometimes, Halloween has the chocolate marshmallow witches while Christmas produces the chocolate marshmallow Santas. Natch, it has to be dark chocolate and since they’ve been around a while, the marshmallow has that chewy texture, not that airy, soft marshmallow that seems more egg whites and sugar than the slightly more set and chewy ones.

Chinese New Year hasn’t figured out the dark chocolate and chewy marshmallow treats yet. Instead we have these molasses Buddha and astrological animal’ shaped cookies; chewy deep-fried Chinese donuts with the red bean or lotus filling and the crispy, braided sesame mini-bread sticks—all of which are very good but they’re not dark chocolate over marshmallows.

On my Friday morning grocery run, I saw the basket of dark chocolate covered marshmallow hearts leftover from Valentine’s. Perfect! Grabbling a fistful and pretending they were for my grandkids, I contemplated in the car whether I should eat one on the drive home or wait.  Hey, marshmallow hearts wait for no man or woman when it’s screaming to be eaten now!  And yes, it was perfectly “aged”—tasty dark chocolate, chewy marshmallow and a mouth that wanted more. . . . . .