The chocolate center of the universe is...Timonium? Who knew?

Not really, of course, but it is wonderful that three creative chocolatiers have set up shop in this one 'burb.

I first learned what chocolate should taste like at age 10 when I attended a friend's piano recital in the Swiss embassy in Greece. A maid passed around miniature bars of Lindt chocolate, and it was the best thing I had ever put in my mouth.

But Lindt chocolates don't hold a candle to what European chocolatier Albert Kirchmayr produces out of his Timonium store. Buy them directly from him so they will be very fresh -- they have a shelf life of only two weeks. The best things in life are ephemeral.

Speaking of Swiss chocolates, Jennifer and Ben Hauser of Glarus Chocolatier are producing fine, old-fashioned, all-natural truffles and other chocolates developed from his Swiss father's Old World recipes and techniques. The selection of chocolate barks (black cherry almond bark, mocha cacoa bark, to name two) is to die for.

I love the fact that Larry McGlinchey decided that a career in medical sales and marketing wouldn't be as much fun as making fine French chocolates -- and then did something about it. His shop, Cacao Lorenzo, has traditional European chocolates made with some unusual flavors like lavender and fig, and they are wonderful, but true chocoholics will swoon over his solid chocolate bars (dark, milk, and white).

(Photo courtesy of Cacao Lorenzo)