Bon Bons and Chicken Soup

Hello? Anyone out there? I'm back from the dead. Hooboy, what a week, but today (fingers crossed, knocking on wood, throwing salt over my shoulder, locking the black cat in the closet) I'm starting to feel better. Fortunately, during my time of ailment I had these bad boys to keep me company. (Only imagine an egg-shaped container, not a Christmas tree.) I was very excited to receive a box of Ferrero Prestige, "an assortment of fine confections sure to delight the senses."

I've always been a fan of the Rocher. After all, what's not to love? Crispy wafer, rich smooth chocolate, whole hazelnut-- deleesh! But when I saw that they had come out with a dark chocolate goodie, I was way excited. Cybele did a spot-on review of these over at Candyblog. I completely agree with her when she said she expected the Rondnoir to just be a dark chocolate version of the original. But oh no, my friends. It's a completely different taste sensation. Instead of a nut in the center, there's a "black pearl" of chocolate, which is surrounded by creamy chocolate and then a crisp wafer, which is all crunched out with little chocolate cookie pieces. Very nice.

I was just as excited to try to the Garden Coco. Here's the description on the package:
"A savory combination of rich coconut cream surrounding a sweet almond, within a delicate crisp wafer... topped with meringue and shredded coconut." It was very sweet, very yummy and very tropical. It reminded me of Jamaica, even though I don't think I ate any coconut there. Tasting these made me realize that I really give white chocolate a bum rap. Sure, it's not "chocolate," by definition, and it certainly won't satisfy a chocolate craving, but it's good stuff in its own right. I need to be more tolerant. In any case, these "confections" were a bright spot of happiness during an otherwise not-so-fun week.