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ElJay is the coolest person in the whole wide world. It's official, she's won that title. And no one else comes close. At least, not until they send me chocolate, too!
But let me tell you the story before we get to the inventory.
The mailman just arrived. In Sri Lanka, they ride around on bicycles with mail sorted in a wire mesh basket on the front of their bikes. He speaks no English, and we communicate effectively with nods, gestures, and such. He rang my doorbell, and I already knew it wasn't the fish guy because I'd bought fish from the fish guy this morning. So hope against hope, could it possibly be? Could it be the mailman?
Indeed, it was, and he was holding a parcel. Interesting. It's actually being delivered to my door. Usually, parcels go through customs first, which means you get a notice and have to go down and collect it in person after they open it and assess a fee - some kind of fee - any kind of fee - just to make sure your trip down there wasn't futile. And I've also heard a lot of stories where, if it says that there's chocolate or candy on the outside, it either doesn't get delivered, or it's opened up first, the good stuff removed, and then delivered.
My box hadn't been opened. At all.
I'm so happy.
Now for inventory.
Eljay is awesome. Have I said that already?
In this box, there was:
Lake Champlain Chocolates, Raspberry Truffle filled Dark Chocolate. Pure Belgian Chocolate, made in Vermont, all natural.
Dagoba Organic chocolate, Mon Cheri, forest grown organic dark chocolate infused with sun dried berries and pure vanilla. (Chocolate is sacred. There is an art to the alchemy of flavor infusion, an art we explore with mystery and integrity.) "You can deprive the body, but the soul needs chocolate."
Daboga Organic Chocolate, Latte, forest grown organic milk chocolate infused with espresso and a hint of cinnamon.
Dagoba Organic Chocolate, New Moon, forest grown organic dark chocolate.
Dagoba Organic Chocolate, Lavendar, forest grown organic dark chocolate infused with lavendar essence and wild blueberries.
De Bas Chocolatier, Chocolate Peaches.
Valrhona, Les Grands Crus de Chocolat Valrhona, Jivara Lait, Noix de Pecan. Milk chocolate with split pecans.
And the one I've been hoping for the most. . .
Vosges Haut Chocolat, exotic candy bar. Red Fire Bar. Mexican ancho y chipotle. Chili peppers, Ceylon (hey folks, that's where I am! This chocolate bar has really come full circle!) cinnamon, and dark chocolate.
I am in serious heaven.
Eljay, let me say this again. YOU'RE WONDERFUL! And you're my new best friend. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Eljay you're so sweet! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!
I will - post reviews as I try them, that is.
My niece leaves for the Maldives tomorrow, so we're trying her first request first - raspberry truffles. But since hubby isn't home, we'll wait until he is and has broken fast - it's not fair to deprive him of this experience, so we can wait.
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*whimpers* I want someone to send me chocolate Lots of dark chocolate... 50-70% *envies hardcore*
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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If only I could get someone to send me a couple of cases of Pocari Sweat. I haven't had that stuff in years. . . .
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Konnyaku Jelly that is what I want, but it's banned outside of Japan. It is so delicious. Like jelly only firmer. It is also healthy, but not good to feed to the old or the too young. And then you have Melty Kisses. *Moves to Japan*
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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And melon bread. I would kill for some melon bread. Well, not exactly kill. That's too far. I wouldn't really maim, either, since that's not my style. Ah, I've got it. I would flick someone in the forehead or chest for some melon bread. And Pocari Sweat. And a shrimp burger from Lotteria.
Stupid Japan, with all their wonderful products that don't get exported to the U.S. Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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You know, I DO live in an area where chocolate is presumably widely available, but I'm not at all sure where ElJay gets her supply. ElJay, do you order over the 'Net, or is there actually a good local chocolatier?
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Unbelievably fragrant. These were the ones we could smell before I even pried the box open.
White chocolate, milk chocolate, and peaches. You know how peach candy doesn't taste quite like peaches but is a sort of close sugary approximation of what they think we want peaches to taste like? This was nothing like it.
It smelled like peaches - the real thing. It tasted like peaches - the real thing. I've lived in the fruit belt in British Columbia, Canada, and I was surrounded by acres upon acres of peach orchards. I've canned 'em, I've made peach jam, I've frozen them, I've made 'em into peach cobbler, peach pie, peach chutney, and the list goes on. Peaches I know.
These were real peaches. With white and milk chocolate.
I loved them.
Fahim's reaction was that they were too sweet for him. I nearly fell down. I have a sweet tooth, but where I add two teaspoons of sugar to my tea, he adds four. Turns out he meant that it was because he just broke fast and it was too sweet for him right now. The planets realigned themselves into their proper orbit and my life resumed its intended course.
My niece loved them, I loved them, and I think I'm not letting Fahim have any more.
Man, they were good. Okay, there's still a whole lot left, so I'm not saying they're all in the past tense. But they were gooo-ooood!!!
Eljay, I'm a-gonna be thankin' you after every single bite. Man oh man, I so owe you. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Synthesia - Do you have a Trader Joe's in your area? They have my favorite dark chocolate - 70% cocoa powder - and it comes in a 1 pound bar for only $4. Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Tom, all the stuff I sent quidscribis I got at the grocery store. We do have a couple of specialty chocolatiers in town, but I wasn't sure how their stuff would ship, it can be pretty delicate.
quids, the De Bas are some of my favorite things ever. They make pear ones, too, that are only slightly less amazing. Last time I bought a bag I opened it in my truck, and then left it behind the passenger seat so I could snitch them while I was stuck in traffic. :guilty: It didn't last long.
(In other words, you may have started with the best of the bunch.)
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I'll have to track down a place that sells De Bas in my area.
In your honor, quidscribs, I broke into the half a Valrhona dark chocolate (72%, I think, but the outer wrapper is at home. It could be 76%) bar that I brought to work with me today.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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And guess what I had for dessert after dinner?
Um, nope, not Eljay's chocolate.
We had a coupl'a bananas that were getting way way ripe. So ripe that, when I picked them up off the top of the fridge, which is pretty much the last place they should be when they're getting to be that ripe, they disengaged from the stems and splatted on the floor.
What was left I fried in butter, then when it was done, sprinkled cinnamon sugar on it, and put melted chocolate (the cheap stuff, not Eljay's really good stuff) (but melted, you couldn't tell that it was waxy, so it was fine) on top.
Yum!!!!
It's just a chocolate kind'a day. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Konnyaku jelly is this stiff delicious Japanese stuff. http://www.japanesesnacks.com/newjs.php?id=159 It's excellent, and very healthy. But it's been banned here! If I ever go to Japan I will buy a ton of the stuff and eat it every day.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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As far as I can tell, they banned those little jelly cups that they came in, because they were considered a choking hazard. I love those little jelly cups and I think I even still have some in the freezer at home.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I saw the jelly cups as recently as two weeks ago, at the Korean grocery store nearby. It's possible that's the last of what they are getting. Kinda sad.
Posts: 1261 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I was passing through Hatrack and couldn't pass up a thread on Chocolate! I remember getting a big box of assorted chocolates from my grandmother in Belgium. It had been opened somewhere along the way (most likely before departing Belgium for customs reasons - as per rumors that such a thing is often done). However, it appeared that a good portion of the contents were left. I was in chocolate heaven!
I entered by rasberry brownies in the fair this year. Many have told me how much they enjoy them so I thought I might have a chance at a ribbon. I didn't place and the brownies that beat mine were plain. I attribute it to the fact that my rasberry brownies are quite rich (made with dark chocolate, of course) and some just don't get into the fruit and chocolate combination.
Now, I need to get some chocolate. I'm craving it big time. It is a good thing it is good for me!
PS - quidscribis - I enjoyed reading some of your blog. What an experience! I enjoy reading about foreign places and wish by some miracle to someday do some traveling outside the US. I've been to Belgium and Luxembourg but no where else yet (my short trip into Mexico I won't count). My best to you and Fahim!
Posts: 134 | Registered: Jul 2003
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MMM, Eljay, you have great taste. Dagoba I can get at the health food store (which just proves it is good for you) but the Lake Champlain we go to Cost Plus about 1/2 an hour away for. (yeah, I know, pee, moan). I have not tried the raspberry truffle-sounds scrummy.
Posts: 1021 | Registered: Sep 2004
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The sad thing here is that I'm totally out of chocolate myself. It's driving me crazy.
I didn't know that Cost Plus carries Dagoba... I'll have to check out their selection. quidscribis got the Vosges Haut chili bar because I couldn't find the Dagoba one... and because it looked really great. I've never actually tried that one.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Ever since seeing the movie Chocolat, I've been wanting to try chilis in the chocolate, so I'm very very happy. And that's the one that's gonna be last since it's the one I'm most looking forward to.
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Well, melon bread is basically just bread made with melon, the way you've got banana bread or pumpkin bread. It probably wouldn't be hard to make, if I was worth anything as a baker. But in Japan, you can just buy it in any bakery. It tastes really good. I've looked in every bakery I can find here, and it's nowhere to be found. (Of course, I live in Alaska. They might sell it in places like New York City or Los Angeles; I wouldn't have any way of knowing.)
Pocari Sweat is ostensibly a sports drink, which is why the word "sweat" is in the name. Because it's meant to replace the fluids you lose in working out or playing sports. ("Pocari" doesn't mean anything, by the way.) I only got to have it for a couple of weeks, and that was more than three years ago. I'd love to give a detailed description of the stuff, but it's just been too long. I distinctly remember loving it, though, and buying some every chance I got. I remember listing it at the time as one of the things I knew I'd miss most about Japan when I came back home. And I have. Very much.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Unlike Konnyaku, pocari isn't banned, so I think you might be able to find it on the net somewhere.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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So...are all those jelly cup things outlawed then? How long has that been the case? I bought a big thing of durian flavored jelly cups a year or so ago, and haven't felt the urge for them since I finally polished that container off (it was freaking huge), but I *thought* I saw a shelf full of that kind of thing at the local Asian Grocery a few weeks ago. I'm going there tomorrow--I'll have to check.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I love dark chocolate the best! Hershey's special dark is great, I think, as is any dark chocolate by Godiva. I can have one bite a day, so that's enough for me. You get all the taste that way. Mmmmmmmmm chocolate! Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Actually, I don't remember if Cost Plus carries Dagoba, just that we get the Lake Champlain there.
Posts: 1021 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I just managed to drip some chocolate onto myself... which was impressive, because the chocolate was solid. Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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We cracked open the Chocolate Latte. My niece was flying to the Maldives today to actually go and live with her parents - go figure and since I can't eat it - coffee content - I figured we'd split it between her and hubby since they have no such restrictions.
Her comment? Not too strong a coffee flavor. Perfect balance. Makes her want to go have a latte. She loved it.
We also cracked open the raspberry one. Again, because niece was flying out. See, it was on the top of the list of ones to try, and I couldn't deprive her of it.
I loved it. The raspberry flavor could have been a bit stronger for me, but I'm also flavor overload girl. It was positively nummy. Niece loved it, too. So did hubby. We were all very very happy.
Yum. Chocolate. MMmmmmm. It's a party in my mouth. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Yep. It's a place in the mall owned and run by a woman with an accent...possibly French. It's like the movie/book Chocolat. They even have chocolate mice and hedgehogs! Everything's imported except for the stuff they make there.
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*laugh* We went to CostPlus World Market ourselves yesterday because you evil people have been making me crave chocolate! We got some Ritter milk chocolate cappuccino, Valor orange dark chocolate and Hachez strawberry pepper 77% dark chocolate. Yum! Didn't see Dagoba, though.
Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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There's a podunk little town a few hours north of where I live where they have a very charming little chocolate shop. It's very small (but then, so is the town--like, if you drive more than five miles per hour down the main street downtown, you'll hit people), but they have a variety of things I never see here in the "big" city. The proprietor is an old German woman, which I suspect explains the variety. Of course, I'm not much for chocolate--I go there for the marzipan.
Mmmmmm. Marzipan. *Dies with pleasure at the very thought of the stuff*
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I need to move out of the third world country and live somehwere they have all this cool stuff you keep talking about.
Of course, I'd need a supply of anti-alergy pills or something, or learn to live with permanent running nose... which I kinda do already...
Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Glad you like it. Don't make yourself sick now, okay? And post reviews as you try them...
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and since I can't eat it - coffee content - I figured we'd split it between her and hubby since they have no such restrictions.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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