i eat too much candy

hello again, all, from Kenya. the past few weeks have brought mid-term exams and research projects, which beget stress, which begets an increased consumption of candy. that being said, let me bring to your attention some chocolatey treats worthy of a good thumbing.


the first, called bueno is manufactured by the Italian company Kinder. as the name may suggest, this was exceptionally bueno. I picked it up at the suggestion of a Swedish friend of mine who has access to all kinds of European delights that I am sadly not privy to in the states. the candy is a bit hard to explain, but let me try… imagine a toblerone bar with its different break-off-able compartments. now, the base of such a bar is a kit-kat-like wafer, and in each compartment (bueno’s are domed where toblerone’s are peaked) is a milky hazlenut cream. the entire thing, of course, is covered in chocolate. you have the crunch and the creaminess, as well as the sweet, sweet chocolate. plus, it’s packaged so that you get two such bars about as wide as your thumb in each serving, much like a twix, making it easy to share and/ or save for later. thumbs up, my friends. thumbs waaaaay up.


my second candy is produced by Kenya’s Cadbury company. in Kenya, you cannot easily (or affordably) find a hershey’s chocolate bar. so, when I was looking for a simple, honest-to-goodness chocolate bar, nothing fancy, what I found was a Cadbury dairy milk bar. unfortunately. the chocolate I found to be crumbly in texture, which was quite suspicious. chocolate should be creamy, yes? especially milk chocolate. in addition, I had a hard time tasting the ‘chocolate.’ the bar was brown, it was called chocolate, it tasted vaguely like chocolate, but I think mostly it was just sweet. bad texture, bad taste—thumbs down.



another thumbs down to Cadbury’s mint-choco bar. this was supposed to be a minty, creamy center covered in chocolate. however, the texture of the filling was again disheartening. I found it a bit waxy and sticky—not cool or refreshing, the best quality of mint and arguably the best compliment to chocolate. the chocolate coating I found waxy and again not tasting of chocolate. the whole thing stuck to my mouth and left my teeth feeling fuzzy. the worst. thumbs down.

in the interest of ending on a good note, I must mention a candy I tried only last night. this one again made by the Cadbury company, but this time based in Egypt. most of the wrapper is in Arabic, so I don’t understand it, but far be it from me to deny a candy just because I don’t know what it is. anyhow, the treat is called half time, and it is wonderful. essentially, it’s a twix, I have to admit. there’s the cookie/ biscuit, the caramel, and the chocolate covering. however, I would split hairs on this one and comment that the half-time’s cookie is softer than the twix, and for me that made it a very nice change. instead of crunching away and getting crumbs everywhere (does anyone else have that problem?) I enjoyed a nice, quiet snack. I should also comment on the size—it was much smaller than standard candies in the states. I prefer this for the times when you want just a taste of something sweet without committing to an entire glob of sugar. it also keeps the bar true to its name: half-time, and that’s something we can all appreciate. thumbs up, tiger.

Dance

as of right now, i am half-way through a semester in nairobi, kenya. you might expect a fresh-faced liberal college student in my position to be writing about politics or philiosophy or human rights issues, but i'd like to dedicate some of my time to a less-explored issue: candy.
after a few weeks here, as i became comfortable with public transportation and the local wal-mart, i decided to treat myself to something i had been craving for a long time: chocolate. my choice was a "coco dance x2" bar. i wasn't quite sure what to expect, but i like coco (being a key ingredient of chocolate) and there were little pictures of coconuts on the package, which are also enjoyable. the only words in english were "milk compound chocolate coated coconut bar". sawa. the rest of the wrapper is in arabic and turkish. maybe if my body doesn't know how much fat and sugar is in it, said fat and sugar will give my mid-section a pass...
so how did this confection taste? it was good! essentially, it was an american 'mounds' bar-- coconut filling in a milk chocolate outside. it was even divided into two smaller bars, making it a very satisfying taste of home away from home.
i kind of want to do some research on how chocolate is made in different climates. i've heard european chocolate is best because in the states we need to add wax so that it doesn't melt prematurely. i'll keep you posted ;-)

Chocolate Oranges

A few days ago I received a chocolate orange as a gift. It was my second chocolate orange in this lifetime. After smashing it repeatedly on the arm of my futon I proceeded to unwrap the aluminum packaging. It was very satisfying to see the individual chocolate slices that remained as a result of my violence. Somewhat less satisfying was the taste of the orange. It was better than plain milk chocolate, but not good enough to warrant full consumption in one sitting. My friend Phil and I agreed that our verdict on the orange could not yet be reached.

Then, last night, I tried something new. I had a hankering for hot chocolate, which I made promptly. As I fearfully sipped on the scalding beverage I had the idea to place an orange slice in the hot chocolate. It mixed in easily and dissolved. It was still too hot to drink comfortably so I slipped another orange slice in the beverage. After stirring well and allowing a few more minutes to cool I gave it a try.

DELICIOUS!