I felt pretty bad about neglecting to follow up on this award meme until I realized that the wonderful Cora, who gave it to me, had admitted to neglecting it for some time herself!
And how could I resist when Cora redesigned the award to have conspicuous sweet-toothed overconsumption, but also it has PINK in it?!
So in honor of Cora's redesign (and the writer's trick of sticking to what you know), my list of seven is all about sweet things from various corners of the globe that I could gorge myself on all day.
The hard part was narrowing it down to seven.
From Australia
Tim Tams
I know I've written about them before, but I can't leave them out of this list!!! Tim Tams are the quintessential Australian cookie, although Aussies call cookies biscuits* (we don't have the savory, scone-like things Americans call biscuits).
A Tim Tam is 2 rectangular chocolate biscuits with chocolate-flavored cream sandwiched in the middle, then the whole thing is covered in chocolate.
I like to eat them by themselves (in large numbers) but there is also a popular technique whereby the Tim Tam is used as a straw by biting off each end and sucking hot chocolate or coffee through it. Shamefully I haven't actually tried this, so if any Aussies out there want to elaborate on this procedure please do!!!
Jaffas
I'm not even sure Jaffas are being made any more. They're little spheres of orangey-flavored chocolate, coated with a thin layer of orange candy (like an M&M). The main use for Jaffas is not eating but rolling them down the aisles at the movie theatre - due to their spherical shape and smooth coating they roll quite well.
Fantales
Another movie theatre candy. Fantales are delicious individually-wrapped rectangular lozenges of milk-chocolate-coated chewy caramel. Your dentist will berate you if you eat too many of these sticky, chewy delights. It's sort of like getting a whole bag of my one favorite chocolate from an assorted box. The unique thing about Fantales is that on the wrapper there are (usually hilariously outdated) movie-related facts such as movie-star biographies or plot synopses of classic films.
Chupa Chups
Chupa Chups aren't really Australian, but as that's where I first ate them and I have yet to personally see them on sale in the US they're going in my Australian list.
Chupa Chups are a brand of lollipop, or sucker, which come in a huge variety of flavors. There's cola flavor, classic fruit flavors such as orange, lemon & strawberry, the expanded fruit range including delicious green apple and transcendent cherry, and a disturbing and unpleasant cream-based flavor range.
Chupa Chups originated in Spain; the name comes from the verb "chupar" which means to suck or lick**. The second-best thing about Chupa Chups, after their deliciousness, is that the logo was designed by one of my favorite artists, Salvador Dali. The third best thing is that the stick is made of plastic instead of paper so it doesn't get all mank and soggy while you're eating.
From America
Milk Duds
Milk Duds, like Fantales, are milk-chocolate-coated chewy caramel but they are not individually wrapped, they are smaller and sort of round pebble shaped. They are completely addictive and it is quite easy to eat a whole box very quickly.
There are of course many more wonderful American candies but this is the one I'm most in love with that is not available in Australia.
From England / Europe
Kinder Surprise Eggs
Kinder Surprise is made by Ferrero, an Italian company. It is a hollow egg (approximately the size of a regular chicken egg) made of a very mild milk chocolate with a thin layer of white chocolate on the inside. Inside the hollow egg is a capsule containing a toy.
They are supposedly designed for children (kinder being the German word for children) but are beloved by most people who like chocolate and awesomeness.
The best Kinder Surprise toys require some construction; they come in parts and have wonderfully simple wordless instructions included in the capsule. Sometimes you'll get a crappy one like a small plastic figurine or a little cardboard jigsaw puzzle, upon which event you throw a tantrum and demand to be bought a new one until a satisfactory surprise is received.
Terry's Chocolate Orange
Terry's Chocolate Orange is from England originally but sold in quite a lot of countries now. It is available in both milk and dark chocolate. It is a ball the size of a small orange, wrapped in orange foil. Before you unwrap the Orange, you bash it against a hard surface like a countertop to break each end, because this releases the segments - it is actually segmented somewhat like a real orange. This is adorable, but also makes it very easy to eat a solid tennis-ball sized amount of chocolate in a very short time.
And that concludes my thesis on interesting, tasty and wonderful things from around the world. Now it's time for that dreaded part of the meme where I infect other people with it. In honor of the Awesummm award's new non-girly-specific design, I am nominating only boy bloggers to pass this onto (but even if you're not on the list or not even a boy, please feel free to take this meme and run with it).
Please write a list of seven things from any topic you like, although I would be delighted if it was related to food and particularly sweet things.
I nominate:
the INdefatigable mjenks
mjenks, I'm so stupid, Cora already nominated you along with me, so you don't have to do it twice if you don't want to!!!
mo.stoneskin
Andy
Words... words... words...
Cooper Green
G Henry
Tennyson ee Hemingway
The Jules - I'm adding you in as a ringer for mjenks since you're my newest male blogroll member!
*Or bickies for short.
**Which you may recognize from the Mexican monster El Chupacabra, the goatsucker.
