T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
After two years here, I finally made it to the Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate factory in Kilchberg, just outside of Zurich. You can’t actually go inside the factory (which may or may not be run by Oompa Loompas), but you can (1) walk by it and breathe in its insanely chocolaty smells, and (2) visit … Read more
While in Munich last weekend, I wandered in to a Karstadt department store and perused the chocolate section. It really wasn’t bad (and I say this as someone who lives in Switzerland). Of course a lot of it was Swiss chocolate, like the gigantic Lindt display which contained quite the array of dark chocolate flavors. … Read more
Today I was wandering around Coop, minding my own business, when suddenly something new and different crept into my field of vision. There on the shelf, looking all dark and handsome, was this package: Lindt 70% cacao dark chocolate filled with a gooey center of cherry and chili. I’m not sure how long this stuff … Read more
The Viennese have a lovely tradition of dropping everything at around 4 PM and indulging in some Kaffee und Kuchen. In the interest of getting the most out of our vacation, we of course also adopted this practice while we were in Vienna. We are nothing if not cultural adventurers. To get the true Austrian … Read more
Easter in Italy is always marked by the omnipresent giant chocolate eggs. No bunnies, no peeps, just big chocolate eggs. If you’re lucky, there’s an exciting surprise awaiting you inside your giant chocolate egg. These surprises can range from cheap plastic toys to fine jewelry, depending on where your egg came from. They’re kind of like giant Kinder Surprise eggs.*
I’d like to introduce you to the new love of my life, Cru Sauvage chocolate truffles from Sprüngli, one of Zurich’s two most famous chocolatiers (Teuscher being the other, tackier one). I don’t actually know what Cru Sauvage means, but I’m imagining that it has something to do with the raw, wild, savage nature of … Read more
How is it possible that I’ve gone this long without ever writing a post about Swiss chocolate? As we all know, Switzerland is The Land of Chocolate. Its claim to fame amongst the other Lands of Chocolate (Belgium, Germany, Holland, etc.) is that milk chocolate was invented here. Makes sense, given all the milk-producing they … Read more
Without Halloween and Thanksgiving to hold it back, Christmas merchandise apparently starts running wild as soon as the leaves on the trees start to turn. Are there really people out there who stock up on chocolate santas two and a half months in advance? While completely immune to the charm of chocolate santas (especially milk … Read more
My new addiction is Negro Kisses Big Dark Kissses, otherwise know as Moors’ heads Choco Heads. I blame Kesha. Her recent post about French delicacies with questionable names had gotten me thinking about Negerkussen, chocolate-covered marshmallow-crème-filled thingies that I remember from the cafeteria at the university in Germany. At the time they were undergoing a … Read more
Today when I bought my new monthly pass for public transportation, I got a free bunny. Mmmmmm…. free Swiss chocolate….