Maine: A Candy Wonderland

I went to Maine this weekend to visit family and it turned out to be a candy fantasyland (as the scale will now attest). Where to begin? Brian and I took advantage of the plethora of babysitters and went to check out Augusta where we found Kennebec Chocolates. I got some assorted pieces including a chocolate cheesecake, orange jelly, coconut cups, cashew turtles and, the most unusual and best of all, a blueberry cream. I'm really starting to dig blueberries. Traditionally I've only liked them in muffins, but I'm finding that I really like the flavor and it does go well with dark chocolate. My poor sister-in-law: we all scarfed down the chocolates before she had a chance to try them. (Same thing with the Nestle Crunch Crisp-- that puppy got devoured before she even got a bite. I think I owe her some candy now.)

The next day we all took a ride to the Maine State Prison Store where you can find all sorts of hand-carved wooden items made by, you guessed it, prisoners. Fun! I bought a cedar hanger and two cedar boxes to put in my closets. (Closets! Yes, I finally have closets!) On the way back, I spied a sign that said "Sauerkraut: 8 miles." Well, c'mon, how can you resist that?! So we made the trek and found ourselves at Morse's Sauerkraut, a little German store and restaurant. I nearly hyperventilated when we walked in and I saw row upon row of German candy. It was so overwhelming that I only bought a few things including a chocolate bar (which again, was devoured before I even had time to take a picture), and a box of Happy Hippos. These are made by the Kinder company that also makes Kinder Bueno and Kinder Eggs, some truly lovely confections. The hippos were made from wafers and inside was a creamy chocolate and milky-white-chocolate filling. They were a big hit.