Smackdown! Turkish Raisin Sausage vs. Chinese Traditional Food Fruit Candy

On the way home from Tennessee, we realized that our dear friends The Professor and Maryanne The Painter lived just an hour out of our way, so we stopped in to spend the night.
The Professor has always understood me on a very primal level. He gets my passion for all things candy-related, so I was ecstatic when he said he brought me back a little something from his recent trip to Turkey.
I won't keep you in suspense. Here it is, folks. One genuine Raisin Sausage with Walnut.*Now, first off, it looks like a giant turd. There's just no way around it. But I kept an open mind. The ingredients were simple enough: sugar, walnut, wheat starch, grape molasses and citric acid. What's so wrong with that, right?
I'll tell you what's wrong. This stuff was like biting into plastic tubing stuffed with walnuts. The resistance on your teeth made it feel like you were eating something from Home Depot, not the grocery store. It's like you could find it in the aisle between the PVC piping and the bathtub caulk. Truly foul. Had this been from anyone else, I would've thought they were either trying to mock me or challenge my devotion to candy. But I know in The Professor's mind, this was more than just candy; it was an experience. That's why he "gets" me. Fortunately, he made up for his transgressions by allowing me to taste some of the chocolate-covered Seafoam he'd gotten from McDonald's Homemade Candies in Michigan. Now this was some tasty stuff. Little chunks of airy, brown-sugary seafoam with a thick coating of dark chocolate. Mmmmm!It all went to hell, however, once the "Chinese Traditional Food" Fruit Candy was pulled out. I can't even remember what was in it, but it was more disgusting than I thought it would be. Match it up against the Raisin Sausage with Walnut and I don't know who'd win.
He had some other crazy-ass candy from Turkey and it was all right, but the true winner of the visit came from The Professor's daughter, Chocolate E-Clare. She generously gave me one of the Kinder Bueno bars she had hoarded from their trip to England. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?! She said it was her favorite candy bar, and it's easy to see why. Creamy chocolate, crispy wafers, hazelnut filling ... now that's a candy I can love.
Being a good guest, I brought The Professor my own contribution to this extravaganza of sweetness: half a box of Mint Moon Pie Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches. When I bought them, I thought they were mint-flavored Moon Pies-- the soft cake with marshmallow filling. Only after I opened them did I realize that they were cookies. These were pretty yummy, very similar to Girl Scout Thin Mints, only with a cream filling.We had a lovely visit. We see them far too less than we'd like, but distance and busy lives get in the way. The Raisin Sausage *almost* makes up for the distance. Almost.
*In the upper corner of the sausage package, it says "Aphrodisiac." Believe me, nothing says love like a Raisin Sausage.

Introducing Frau Marzipan

A couple of weeks ago there was a knock on my front door. It was my friend, fellow taste-tester, and loyal Yumster Frau Marzipan, bearing gifts of Germanic candy goodness. Huzzah!

She went to a little import shop and found these assorted goodies: Strawberry Yogurt Ritter, Prince Polo dark chocolate wafer, Kinder Chocolate, Yogurettes and those taffy-ish kind of things to the right (the name escapes me and my eyes are going so I can't read it.)

The Strawberry Yogurt Ritter was absolutely YUM as most Ritters are. (Except for the Roasted Almond one I bought a few weeks ago; what a disappointment). The yogurty part was tangy, just like a real yogurt.

The Prince Polo was really dark and crispy crunchy yummy.

Kinder Chocolates? Always a treat.

The Yogurettes weren't as good as the Ritter, but still tasty.

The other gem she gave me was this copy of "The Chocolate Bible" that she found at a tag sale. I haven't had a chance to really look at it yet, but when I flipped through it, it seemed really cool. An update awaits!

Who has the best friends?! Me!

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.

Week in review

It's quite a stormy day here in New England. I've been writing an article on morning sickness all day and I'm counting my blessings that those days are OVER! Those nine months were probably the longest I've ever gone without a regular diet of chocolate. Anyhow, I've whittled down my Polish supply. The 3 Bit had a strange, milky-flavored substance between the chocolate and the biscuit which made the whole thing a bit too sweet for me. But the Kinder Bueno, ooohhhh boy, it's true what everyone says. Yummy crispy flaky smooth. The wafer part reminded me of these peanut butter things I used to get in high school. It's like a pillow of crispy wafer, only instead of being filled with peanut butter, it has a smooth, creamy hazelnut filling. Mmmmm, mmmmm. I scarfed that puppy down in no time.
In other news, the after-Easter candy sales were pitiful. It was like the shelves had been ransacked by some crazed, last-minute Easter bunnies. The only thing I got was a bag of Nestle's eggs. I thought they were Nestle Crunch eggs, but because I was in too much of a hurry, I didn't realize that they're actually caramel eggs. They're not very good, so I'm going to make chocolate caramel cookies out of them later this week.