Farewell, happy eating

 I will no longer be sharing my thoughts with you about eating out, and Charlotte Malakoff, along with A Taste of the Sweet Life, will retire to the archives of The Financial Gazette.
Some readers will be relieved, while others will be disappointed. I will certainly miss reading mail from many correspondents, even from those who said I knew zilch about the way roast beef should taste, or that I was petty to complain about fingerprints on my dining plate in a five star restaurant. Those of you who thought I was a Russian spy need to flick through your recipe books. A charlotte malakoff is a delectable dessert made with sponge fingers, almond cream and fresh strawberries.
Writing an article of six hundred words, every week, for eight years, and submitting it on time, was no mean feat. It taught me discipline and a lot of other things besides. I got to visit almost every restaurant in Harare, made lots of friends and tasted countless different versions of the same dish.
Thank you to Nqobile Nyathi, the then editor of The Financial Gazette in November 2002, who agreed to take on a food writer and chose the title A Taste of the Sweet Life.
And thank you to subsequent editors, who inspired me, made me laugh and encouraged me even when life was not so sweet, mostly during 2008.
Good luck to my successor, Jeke. Almost every kind of delicious food is now available in Harare, and I wish her bon appétit wherever she goes.