I've been remiss in updating the blog, but I've been busy stuffing myself with sourdough bread, Danishes, and beer in Copenhagen, making far too much food for a post-Easter brunch, and being possibly the only person not to celebrate the Royal Wedding because I was too busy stuffing myself with delcious Turkish food from Dalston. So you'll have to forgive me as I've been pursuing obesity through other means. :)
But let's get down to business. My lovely cousin Christie just visited from North Carolina, and not only did we have a fantastic time in London being super-tourists (having afternoon tea, Pimms, fish and chips, and stocking up on Kate and Will souvenirs), we also managed to make it out to Copenhagen and Malmo, Sweden (briefly) for a quick vacation. So I obviously took the opportunity to sample some of the finest cheap chocolate bars these countries had to offer.
First, Denmark. While I managed to get some really bizarre chocolate in the supermarket for my work colleagues, including marshmallow mice, chocolate with mint candies in it and boiled sweets that at least five people have already spit out in disgust, I picked up the incredibly boring - read: tastes just like a Milky Way -Yankie bar for myself. Actually, it wasn't a complete disaster, as it tasted more like the American version (decent) than the British Mars bar (yuck - see previous post). I ended up freezing half of it and having a flashback to summers spent around the snack bar at the Orange Avenue Pool. Ah, memories. 2 bars, if just for that.
But Sweden, on the other hand, offered up a veritable cornucopia of chocolate bars. Christie and I of course indulged in a Daim bar, but I figured I'd go for something a bit more exotic for the blog. After passing by some dodgy liquorice-looking ones, I settled on a Plopp, if only for the absolutely amazing name. I mean, this rivals a Tronky for sheer comedy value. (And by the way, a colleague who will remain unnamed but who has a distinctive accent picked up ANOTHER one of these failures for me when she was recently in Italy - again, see previous post for a poor review. Anyone fancy a Tronky?)
Anyway, I digress. Despite the slightly unfavorable connotations "Plopp" brings to the chocolate eating experience, it was actually a delicious bar. Think a Cadbury's Caramel bunny, only with segmented sections filled with a slightly runnier caramel filling. So it made it a mess to eat, but the taste was fantastic! The chocolate was pretty bog-standard milk chocolate, but was thick enough to be a good match for the slightly salty caramel inside. Yum. I liked this a lot. Of course, my enjoyment of this bar may have been heightened by the fact I was singing along to 'Newsies' at the time. If you haven't already experienced the joys of a young Christian Bale and a pre-'Independence Day' Bill Pullman singing and dancing in a musical about newsboys in 19th-century New York, you have no idea what you're missing. Just ask Morgan. We forced him to watch it. :)
So in total, Yankie = 2 bars. Plopp = 3.5 bars. Chocolate, even not-so-amazing chocolate, eaten on vacation = priceless. 4.5 bars for the experience!
Also, for your viewing pleasure, some actually nice chocolate we got in Copenhagen, in a suitably Easter-like setting...
So that's about it! Unless any more international bars appear, I'm back to the British ones next week. Which seems fitting, what with all the Union Jacks still hanging about.
But let's get down to business. My lovely cousin Christie just visited from North Carolina, and not only did we have a fantastic time in London being super-tourists (having afternoon tea, Pimms, fish and chips, and stocking up on Kate and Will souvenirs), we also managed to make it out to Copenhagen and Malmo, Sweden (briefly) for a quick vacation. So I obviously took the opportunity to sample some of the finest cheap chocolate bars these countries had to offer.
First, Denmark. While I managed to get some really bizarre chocolate in the supermarket for my work colleagues, including marshmallow mice, chocolate with mint candies in it and boiled sweets that at least five people have already spit out in disgust, I picked up the incredibly boring - read: tastes just like a Milky Way -Yankie bar for myself. Actually, it wasn't a complete disaster, as it tasted more like the American version (decent) than the British Mars bar (yuck - see previous post). I ended up freezing half of it and having a flashback to summers spent around the snack bar at the Orange Avenue Pool. Ah, memories. 2 bars, if just for that.
But Sweden, on the other hand, offered up a veritable cornucopia of chocolate bars. Christie and I of course indulged in a Daim bar, but I figured I'd go for something a bit more exotic for the blog. After passing by some dodgy liquorice-looking ones, I settled on a Plopp, if only for the absolutely amazing name. I mean, this rivals a Tronky for sheer comedy value. (And by the way, a colleague who will remain unnamed but who has a distinctive accent picked up ANOTHER one of these failures for me when she was recently in Italy - again, see previous post for a poor review. Anyone fancy a Tronky?)
Anyway, I digress. Despite the slightly unfavorable connotations "Plopp" brings to the chocolate eating experience, it was actually a delicious bar. Think a Cadbury's Caramel bunny, only with segmented sections filled with a slightly runnier caramel filling. So it made it a mess to eat, but the taste was fantastic! The chocolate was pretty bog-standard milk chocolate, but was thick enough to be a good match for the slightly salty caramel inside. Yum. I liked this a lot. Of course, my enjoyment of this bar may have been heightened by the fact I was singing along to 'Newsies' at the time. If you haven't already experienced the joys of a young Christian Bale and a pre-'Independence Day' Bill Pullman singing and dancing in a musical about newsboys in 19th-century New York, you have no idea what you're missing. Just ask Morgan. We forced him to watch it. :)
So in total, Yankie = 2 bars. Plopp = 3.5 bars. Chocolate, even not-so-amazing chocolate, eaten on vacation = priceless. 4.5 bars for the experience!
Also, for your viewing pleasure, some actually nice chocolate we got in Copenhagen, in a suitably Easter-like setting...
So that's about it! Unless any more international bars appear, I'm back to the British ones next week. Which seems fitting, what with all the Union Jacks still hanging about.
Bar-o-Meter
No comments:
Post a Comment