Le calendrier de l'Avent cette année

Nous avions failli l'oublier, mais nous en avons: trois calendriers de l'Avent, tous les mêmes (le temps pressait), celui de Cadbury's. C'est pas aussi beau que les calendriers nostalgiques que j'achetais, mais il y a un Père Noël, des sapins, un bonhomme de neige et le reste. Avec des activités dans le dos du calendrier. Wolfie aime bien et grâce au calendrier, il n'a pas été dur à sortir du lit ces deux derniers jours. Un miracle de Noël.

Our Gingerbread Man

Many think that gingerbread men are a stable of Christmas. I do too, but it has never been a dessert I was particularly fond of, although I do it some from time to time, if only to give me a quick Christmas feeling. I eat it more for the feeling than the taste, if that makes sense. But is especially remind me of the tale of the Gingerbread Man. And recently, I lived my own mundane version of the tale. A week ago, I went to a nearby corner shop to buy bits and bots and saw that Cadbury had made a Gingerbread Edition of their Dairy Milk. So I bought it for my wife, who loves chocolate and special editions of classics such as the Dairy Milk bar. But I left the bar at the counter. I saw when I got home that I had forgotten it. As I needed to get back to work, I could not walk to the corner shop and correct my mistake, but my wife went there for me, even though I had not asked for a receit. She managed to get it back without too much trouble. Nevertheless, it felt like this Gingerbread Man, like in the old tale, tried his hardest not to be eaten.

L'Halloween et ses friandises

Photo prise à la vitrine d'une boutique l'année dernière, que je prends ici afin de servir mon propos. L'Halloween est maintenant dans moins de deux semaines, cela veut dire que je dois sérieusement commencer à acheter des friandises pour les Halloweeneux qui vont venir. En fait j'ai déjà commencé, mais je dois me modérer: il faut prendre garde à ne pas offrir des tentations pour les gourmands qui demeurent ici. Et puis il y a les quantités: quand est-ce trop, quand est-ce trop peu? Cela dépendra des visiteurs. Qu'offrez-vous à ceux qui passent par chez vous? Quelles étaient les friandises que vous préfériez avoir? J'ai toujours eu un gros faible pour les Mars, mais il y a plein d'autres affaires que j'aimais beaucoup et que je ne retrouve pas ici, ou que je ne retrouve plus du tout. Peut-être que ce n'était pas si bon que ça et que c'est la nostalgie qui parle encore.

Starbar

Sometimes after lunch, I try to calm my sweet tooth and give myself a sugar boost with a chocolate bar. This is what I did today, with Cadbury's Starbar, something I did not remember trying before. I sually have a Snickers, but this is not exclusive. This one has many things similar to a Snickers bar actually: it has peanuts and and caramel. The caramel is smoother though. That said, I can't help suspecting strongly that this is Cadbury's answer to Snickers (Starbar was launched in 1976, Snickers in 1930). And I was unconvinced. I am not sure why. It is a good enough chocolate bar, it's just not... original enough, I guess. Snickers is stocky, it's like a working man's chocolate bar. This has a fancier wrapping, a pompous name, but it's just an imitation. I will stick to the original for now on, thank you very much. Or the Snickers with hazelnuts, which is maybe my favourite chocolate bar nowadays. But Starbar? Even the wrapping irritates me a bit.

Joyeuses Pâques!

Joyeuses Pâques tout le monde! Pour souligner, je présente une partie du butin de chocolats cette année: des oeufs de Pâques, des lapins de Pâques, un poussin (ou un canard?) avec sa coquille dessus, rien de magnifique comme les produits de là où j'ai grandi et vécu mes Pâques, mais tout de même, il faut bien satisfaire sa dent sucrée et sa gourmandise. Surtout un jour de Pâques. Et puis il y a les chocolats de Riegelein auxquels j'ai très hâte de goûter et dont les designs ne sont pas trop cartoonesques. Mais enfin bref, Joyeuses Pâques!

Easter Chocolate Shortage

This is my Easter post, unfortunately a very gloomy one. Maybe I was trying to purchase chocolate too late, but it seems that there are barely any Easter chocolates anywhere! In Marks & Spencer, almost everything but a few Easter eggs were out of stocks. That said, the choice this year was so poor and unimaginative, it was depressing. Where are the bunny rabbits, the hens, the chickens, the whole chocolate menagerie? I could not find an Easter rabbit anywhere, not even the Lindt one. So I bought a few Cadbury's Easter eggs. I wanted a whole, big, bunny rabbit in chocolate. That is what I usually have. Now it seems that there is a chocolate shortage, and a creativity shortage too. And I thought Easter was all about Pagan gluttony. Not this year it seems.

Crunchie bribery

Today, I was asked to do another translation at work. It was quick and easy, yet my colleague gave me before I even started a Crunchie bar, partly to thank me in advance, partly (I think) to sneakily make me get on with it. According to the Cadbury's website, the Crunchie bar "offers an uplifting taste experience". That is saying a bit much about something that is just honeycomb covered with milk chocolate. I didn't exactly feel uplifted eating it after lunch as my afternoon snack, after I had done the translation (for the record), but it gave me a most welcome boost for the afternoon (chocolate does that to me). I cannot complain, I have to do these translations whether or not I receive an extra (or a bribe) for it, so I might as well enjoy a chocolate bar for the hard work.

A new great unknown line

It has been nearly a month since I didn't blog here a great unknown line. So it will be the first (and maybe last) great unknown line of July. And again, it is about often. Today, a colleague had a couple of small Cadbury's chocolate bars. I can't remember exactly the names, but they were small, thin caramel bars covered in chocolate. Like every time someone brings some candies or cakes, she offered them to the people around, including me. She gave me two bars, saying: "Have more, you are a living dustbin." To which I replied: "This is false, unlike bins, I don't take the wrapping." I mean,  I know I have a sweet tooth and I need my glucid intakes on a gloomy day, but I don't swallow just anything.