The Well-Traveled Tongue.

Oog, these photos are blurry. I blame Blogpress. I am in formatting hell.

One of my coworkers vacationed in London last week. Like a total doll, he brought us back a bag of Cadbury sweets from Duty Free in Heathrow Airport.

Have you had this experience? When a coworker shares assorted treats with the office, I have to reign in my gotta-catch-em-all mentality. I'm a collector of tastes, and I like to try EVERYTHING. I can't count the number of parties where that has been my goal at the buffet (forget small talk). I also like to flip through every channel on the television before choosing a show (which is why we don't have cable) and at least glance at every single shoe at DSW before I exit. But these candies were for the group, and there are a number of us, so I held back and just tried a few varieties. I didn't take a Twirl or an Eclair or a . . .


Maybe I should go back to see if there are still some that need to be eaten.


But enough about me.

 

Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel: The chocolate didn't taste like anything particularly special, and the caramel was absolutely liquid and drippy, but there was a depth of flavor to the caramel that one doesn't always find in modern, mass-marketed chocolates.

Cadbury Fudge: The fudge filling neither looked nor tasted much like fudge. The filling was light brown and almost granular. When chewed, the consistency was that of a moist candy corn. It seemed too sweet to me (not that fudge isn't sweet), too, and nowhere near rich or chocolate-y enough. I thought this was kind of a dud.

Cadbury Creme Egg Twisted: Many have said it before me, but the fact that we (in the USA) cannot get Cadbury Creme Eggs year round should embarrass every citizen of this country. Show me the government agency hiding our eggs until Easter. I'll fight 'em! That stated, this small bite didn't really work for me. It was too flimsy for the goopy filling inside, gone too quickly, and though it coated the inside of my mouth it didn't really satisfy.

Calling this a "Travel Mix" is kind of funny. I can't imagine how ill even I would feel after sitting on an airplane for several hours eating my way through the entire package. It's no trail mix, that's for sure. But these three bites were a pretty good way to start my work day.


N.B. Hey! this was my 999th blog post on Snackreligious. Stay tuned for a super-epic 1,000th post in which I do something ill-advised and possibly gross!

-------

Hoppy Days

According to the package, Bunny Crisps are "chocolaty," not "chocolate."  Hmmm...

Somebunny over here (oh, that's me!) thought they tasted close enough.

Thanks, Rusty!

-------

Early Birthday Presents

I love the day that Easter candy first makes its appearance in the stores -- or, at least, the day I first notice it.  That day was yesterday, and I snagged a couple of my favorites because today's my birthday and I "deserve" a treat.

Though I prefer an original Cadbury egg over the other flavors (the filling is always creamier in the former), orange is nice for a change.

-------

Stackable Easter

We received a cute stack of snack-filled boxes in the mail.  Surprise!  It was an Easter gift from my parents, via Harry & David.

So, just what was inside?



Tiny box: 2 small, completely melted chocolate truffle balls.  I do mean completely melted.  I stuck this, the smallest box, inside the fridge for a day to let things harden back up.  Then we were able to eat the chocolate shells that remained. 




Little box: A bag of honey-roasted cashews and pecans.  I've never had honey-roasted cashews before.  Quite nice.  Lime would have been a good flavor, too.




Smaller-medium box: 2 bags of Debeukelaer piroulines, also called cigarettes Russes, yummy rolled chocolate and cookie straws.  They tasted just the tiniest bit flat, but I think these always look better than they taste.  I still quite like (and happily eat) them!




Larger-medium box: A small bag of individually-wrapped caramels and a large wad of tissue paper.  These were very nice -- soft and buttery and sweet.  You could have fit more in there, H&D!  (I kid, I kid.)




Large box: A good-sized bag of Dark Chocolate Moose Munch, which is a sort of snack mix with caramel popcorn and dark chocolate.  Almonds, cashews, pecans, and honey were also on the ingredient list.  I was excited about trying this.  Yum!  I love popcorn mixes. If the few moose I've seen in my lifetime (most in Rocky Mountain National Park) were actually eating this stuff, I'd be fighting them at the bushes.  Or . . . maybe not.  Have you seen a moose?  They're large.

Thanks, Mom and Dad!  It was my happiest Easter gift since the days of childhood Easter baskets!  And way better than jellybeans.

A measure of my hunger:

I ate two whole Peeps.  And I don't even really like Peeps.  I love marshmallows, yes, but not the sugar-crunchy coating on these chicks.

But I was so hungry!

Snacky Easter! (A Photo Essay)

Maundy, Maundy

I attended a Maundy Thursday service last night. We observed communion using giant sheets of matzoh, but I broke off and ate only a small piece with my sip of wine/apple juice (I chose apple juice).

Dry and bland though it was, I just couldn't bear to throw away my uneaten polygon of matzoh square at the end of the service. I stuck the remainder in my bag and finished it at Peter's art opening.

Some like it stale.

I don't love Peeps (give me a plain old marshmallow, any day), but if I am going to eat one or two I prefer them fresh. I know many people who open the package and leave their Peeps alone for a few days in order to let them get stale before they're eaten.

What's your pleasure?

p.s. I've got some Cadbury Eggs in my freezer, but otherwise I did not stock up on Easter candy this year. I didn't plan it that way; it just happened. I did have some SweetTart jellybeans at work last week. I'm not a jellybean fan, but they were good.

It's almost Easter, Meester!

Actually, Easter's over a month away. But here are two of my top picks for Easter Candy 2009:

1. I love a Cadbury Creme Egg. Every year I hope to find the originals on the cheap in after- holiday sales. It turns out that the orange chocolate version is also a winner. There was a little juice or syrup pooled in the bottom of mine. Is this typical?

2. The Reeses Peanut Butter Egg is another classic I can eat without regrets. It's like a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, but bigger and with more emphasis on the peanut butter filling (my favorite part). I think it might be better than the cup for those of us who value the peanut-butter insides over the chocolate outsides of pb and c candy permutations.