HOW TO MAKE: Scrupmtious Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Chocolate covered strawberries have been a long time love of mine. Earlier this year I felt a true loss in my life when our dear friends, the Atterburrys, moved from Utah to Mississippi. You see, she was my Christmas supplier of a lovely gift of Scrumptious Chocolate Covered Strawberries and other such sweet desserts. Thus, when the opportunity arose late last night for me to own my piece of sweet temptation, I jumped at it. To make the strawberries below, I simply followed these directions.

1. First acquire a good friend whose husband is a head chef and owns a DELUXE chocolate fountain. Over the years of your friendship, express your unwaning desire to help 'clean up' the excess after a chocolate fountain event. Then when that great day arrives, graciously accept, "oh, what, you would like me to come and gather the excess chocolate...hmmm...I am sure I can help you out with that." Jump in your mini-van, with kids in tow, and bust a move over to their place no matter what time of night it is.

2. Late in the evening, make a mad run to the local grocery store and purchase the most delectable, plump and blushingly red strawberries that you can find.
3. Clean and dry each strawberry and then dip, all the way down to the stems, each juicy piece...making sure to coat your fingers in the rich, gourmet gift from heaven. Then from elbow to finger tip, LICK clean!
4. If need be, double dip or triple dip each strawberry to ensure a ratio of 4 parts chocolate to 1 part strawberry.5. Arrange each strawberry, so as not to crowd one another's glory, on a piece of parchment paper. Parchment paper is the utmost necessity because it will facilitate the chocolate strawberry eater in gleaning all the chocolate off it's resting place. Simply using a plate will cause excess chocolate to stick to the plate; thus, leaving the eater to scrape the plate with one's teeth.
6. In the end, when you have successfully gorged yourself with your 2 pounds of strawberries shamelessly loaded in 2 more pounds of chocolate, place the extra on a platter and present them at your neighborhood pot luck as your complete and delicate works of edible art! (Try hard to be gracious and mention the lovely, now newest best friend, as the supplier of the melted gourmet chocolate)