Were you a hoarder or a gorger? Did you gloat over your Easter takings like a depraved Gollum (another Cadbury Creme Egg, preciousssss?), or did you

approach the haul with a take-no-prisoners gusto more akin to a dangerously starved Pac-Man? When I was a nipper, I was firmly in the Pac-Man camp, biting the ears off chocolate rabbits and smashing into chocolate eggs with glee. Come to think of it, not much has changed since then, which might be why I love these chocolate special editions. Speaking of smashing things, my new year’s resolution was to treat every dessert put in front of me like a crème brûlée, hitting it very hard with the back of a spoon. Working my way through the recipes in this issue, I can tell you that a heavy spoon and the caramel crémeux on page 101 make a winning combination, though giving Mimi Thorisson’s grandmother’s crème caramel (page 128) a good whack gives quite impressive results.

You can’t, of course, have too much chocolate, but if the process we went through testing these dishes is any guide, there certainly comes a time when you hanker for something savoury in the mix, like O Tama Carey’s superb Sri Lankanaccented dishes (page 104), and the radical takes on the Easter table from Grant Achatz (page 112). Then you can widen your horizons further still with our insider’s guide to eating in sunny Tulum (page 132), immersing yourself in Southern culture in Charleston (page 142) and exploring the Tuscan coast (page 152). For something further off-piste, join Richard Cooke in Macedonia (page 156) or, to really (really) get away from it all, walk the Kokoda Track with Bryce Corbett (page 160). And then smash a bit more of the good stuff all over again.

Happy ppy Easter, ,

Pat PN Nourse