Like a lot of Americans, I'd classify myself as a bit of a mutt - and I say this with much affection. One of the things I truly love about my country is the sheer amount of diversity among the people who live here. My blood line is pretty much a mess, although if you boiled me down to my essence, you'd largely be left with English and German. Most days, I honestly think the English is winning out. Besides the very dusty B.A. in British History currently in the Bat Cave office closet, there's my long-standing tea addiction and my love of Cadbury chocolate. A lot of Americans will say Cadbury is "too sweet" to which I say, "Oh goodie - more for me! Gimme, gimme, gimme!"Many moons ago I ran across a Cadbury chocolate bar that is not sold retail in the U.S. I devoured it, I loved it, I wanted more of it, and then promptly forgot what the hell it was called. Looking back I should have done a blog post asking for help, but I honestly didn't think of that. All I could remember was that it was a Dairy Milk bar with white chocolate sitting on top of the milk chocolate - and for some inexplicable reason "milky mounds" was lodged in my brain. Which (naturally) My Man found uproariously funny.
Well today's shopping excursion to World Market (I needed tea) netted me the Holy Grail. Behold, Top Deck! And I wasn't making up that "milky mounds" bit either. Tee Hee. If my Internet searching is to be believed, this particular candy bar is no longer sold in the UK, but is still widely available in Australia. Any of my overseas readers - please feel free to correct me. But wahoooey! Milky Mounds Of Deliciousness! Now I just have to hope that World Market keeps carrying them. I held myself back and only bought two.In other news, as others have already blogged about, the So. Cal. Bloggers added to our masses and met last weekend in honor of Lisabea's triumphant return to our sunny shores. Drinking, eating and merriment ensued, along with a trip to a fabulous used (and new) bookstore in our area that is essentially floor to ceiling romance novels. Old Skool, New Skool, and just about every Skool in between. Between Lisa, Nikki and that bookstore, I walked away with lots o' goodies.
A couple of books of note:Lisabea decided to clean house and gifted me with her beloved (and well-loved) copy of Fair Is The Rose by Meagan McKinney which is (in her words) "my favorite western of all time." And she gave it to me! How sweet is that girl? Sweeter than Milky Mounds Of Cadbury Deliciousness, says I.
I'm also pretty sure I now owe Nikki a vital organ because she gave me her copy of Wildstar by Nicole Jordan. For those of you who don't know - a long, long time ago and in a galaxy far, far away, Nicole Jordan wrote westerns. This is one of them and it's damn hard to find. So hard to find that I've been looking for it for several years (I refuse to pay outrageous sums online for hard to find mass market paperbacks - won't do it). Nikki was cleaning house - and voila! 'Tis now mine! And after talking with her, I really need to pull that equally hard to find copy of The Savage (also by Ms. Jordan) out of my TBR.
Oh, and these photos will blow up to a larger size if you click on them. You know, in case you want to see all the books I scored or if you simply want to bask in the glow of milky mound goodness. Heck, I know I do.
24 comments:
I live in Canada. Cadbury's is everywhere. If you come to RWA 2010 I'll bring you some. LOL.
I agree about the taste - plus Hershey's chocolate has a vomit-y aftertaste. So there.
Too funny!
My f-i-l (who's from Jamaica, where English influence was so strong when he was growing up there) loves the Cadbury Fruit and Nut bar. Every Christmas we fill his stocking full of the bars, enough to last the whoe year.
You showed much restraint only getting 2!
Look at those old skool covers!
Oh, I've fallen down on my blogging. I have a half finished post about last Saturday. It was so great seeing you, as always!
i wonder if the creator of that cadbury's chocolate-bar-type was a fan of purple prose? but what a great book haul! glad you so. cal ladies had such a great, and productive, time!
I love me some Cadbury chocolate! I do have a sweet tooth though, so the "too sweet" doesn't resonate with me I guess!
We are coming up on my hubby's favorite candy time of year~when the Cadbury Creme Eggs arrive in stores! He looooooves them. Unfortunately for him, he passed the love onto our two boys and he has to share them with them! LOL I like the mini eggs better (not a huge fan of the "creme" part of the creme eggs and the mini ones have the the right amount to compliment the chocolate!)
Okay, this is a really long comment about chocolate. LOLOL Probably why I need to loose 30 lbs!
You made me open my stash of Dairy Milk with Caramel bars I had a friend send me from Dublin.
I have to agree that Cadbury's rules. Especially if you can get it fresh from the UK. Hersey's is too waxy.
They had this one in the UK I LOVED called Wispa. It's like a 3 Musketeers but instead of whipped nougat it was actual whipped chocolate. And there was also Wispa Gold that had caramel on top of the whipped chocolate.
There was also a non-Cadbury's candy I LOVED called Kendal's Mint Cakes. They're really just sugar that's mint flavored, but it melts on your tongue like maple syrup candy. Oh yummy! I read they were intended for people climbing mountains to get them energy to survive harsh climbs and climates.
There are some American things I'd love though that I can't find anymore. Jolt Cola and Stewart's Draft Cola. *sighs*
Minority vote: have never even had a Cadbury. So there.
And oh, how I envy you SoCal bloggers who get to meet regularly. One of these days *shakes fist in combined threat and promise* one of these days!!!!
@JamiSings I LOVE Wispa! Also Crunchies. I grew up in Ireland but I now live in Switzerland. Although the Swiss have excellent chocolate, I still get the occasional craving for a Cadbury's chocolate bar.
I'd love to be an honorary member of the SoCal bloggers--it sounds like a great bunch :)
azteclady you seriously need to try Cadbury.
@Sarah - Aren't they AWESOME? How come America can't have something as tasty as Wispa?
I've never had fresh Swiss chocolate. I never thought much of the stuff they import here to America. Same with Belgian chocolate. Can't help but think it would be better if it was fresh from the factory though. However, on the other hand, I also think Godiva is over rated and I've had it fresh too.
Maybe I should just learn to make my own chocolate. Especially since I can never find anyone who makes a milk and dark chocolate truffle. (I love the taste of those two chocolates mixed together. A dark chocolate shell with a milk chocolate filling or vise-versa would be Heaven to me. But no one does it.)
Oh dear. You mentioned chocolate. And if you mention chocolate, I just pull the brake on really hard and come to a slamming stop during my Sunday night blog-jog.
Okkkaaaaayyyy *settles in*
1. Cadbury is all very well, but the best overly-sweet low-on-cocoa-solids chocolate is actually Galaxy.
2. Me, I like the charming history of the English quaker chocolate makers, and for that reason, I am a mad fan of Fry's Chocolate cream. Plus I'm convinced that the early 1980s TV ad for Fry's Turkish Delight (smothered in thick, milk choc-o-late) is partially responsible for my love of the romance genre. That sheikh who cuts the bar in half... For. To. Die.
3. Being also, in addition to a Brit, a European, I have to express Le Big Love for Dime Bars.
As you were.
Chocolate and books - can life get any better? :)
I'm about due for a trip to World Market. They have the wine that I like and I could check for those Cadbury bars. And it's right across the street from Borders. :D
I haven't read anything by Jordan but have added those to my UBS list. I'm about due for a trip there too. You are a bad influence Wendy!
Ha ha I live in Australia, and yes - we have Top Deck! I have never noticed the "milky mounds" on the packaging, and I don't have any here to check if it appears on the wrappers here.
AnimeJune: Cadbury has a distribution deal with Hershey - so it's fairly easy to find Dairy Milk, Caramello, and the Fruit & Nut bars here in the States. But we hardly have the variety that you Canadians and the Brits get.
Renee: The Caramello is my standard chocolate bar of choice. Yummers!
Lusty: I know! Doesn't "milky mounds" sound like something out of a cracktastic 1980s historical romance novel?
Mayberry Mom: My Lil' Sis has already seen Creme Eggs up in her neck of the woods - but I'm still striking out where I live. I have to get my creme egg and mini egg fix every Easter.
Senetra: I'm evil like that :)
Jami: OMG - I think I might have seen Wispa bars at World Market. Maybe. I could be imagining it now. But oooooh, I'm so curious to try one now. My next shopping trip I'm looking for one!
AL: The So. Cal. Bloggers have been meeting quite a bit recently. Just worked out that way. Normally it's around every quarter (3 months or so). Then several of us will meet in separate smaller groups from time to time. For instance, Lori, Tracy and Renee all live fairly close together - so they meet on their own occasionally.
Sarah and Jami again: I also love Swiss chocolate and OMG - one time my Lil' Sis visited Belgium and brought back chocolate. I died and went to heaven.
TM: We love it when people come and visit. It's an excuse for us to get together!
Tumperkin: Oh man, last year I blogged about the total lack of leftover Easter candy on sale in my area - and the commenters came out of the woodwork! Chocolate is serious business :)
Leslie: Jordan wrote some great westerns featuring Alpha heroes. If you can find it - I highly recommend The Heart Breaker.
Fiona: So at least one part of my Internet search turned out to be true! You Aussies get Top Deck - you lucky ducks. So jealous. Now I just have to keep hoping that World Market keeps on carrying them, or else I'm doomed.
Ooh, Anna Clare's FLOOD! There's a lot of really interesting stuff in that book, from the way she treats werewolves to the seamstress character. I wished it was longer and had a sequel. the atmosphere of it was wonderful.
Ooooh - you DO owe Lisa a thank you for Fair is the Rose!! It's a great Western and one of my faves too.
Victoria: I was waffling on Flood and Lisa made me take it :) Said it was really different and the author did some interesting things.
Kristie: Oh good - you chimed in on Fair Is The Rose! I was hoping that was one you had read.
I'm a Hershey girl all the way.
After our conversation, I can't stop thinking about The Savage! I am going to pull it out this week.
I can't wait to hear what you think of that and Wildstar.
BTW, I do have Tender Feud! I will pass it on to you soon.
Nikki: WooHoo! Tender Feud!
I'll keep my eyes peeled for the milky mounds here in Canada! ;)
Also, can anyone help me out with a title/author?
The details I remember:
Female is adopted into a family and the long lost cousin? returns, but the female protagonist believes it isn't him. Book ends in France or Italy perhaps?
Any help appreciated!
I have a scary question: on Facebook someone, I'm sure, asked me to join a Keep Hersheys (or somebody haha) from buying Cadburys. Is that true? Will the chocolate taste change?
Growing up in Canada, I like the Cadburys taste better too than Hersheys. Hersheys dark is OK but their milk doesn't do it for me.
Alie: If nobody pipes up here - you might want to consider heading on over to the Smart Bitches blog. They have their HABO (Help A Bitch Out) feature where they post details on books that readers can't remember the title of. Or there is always the RT or AAR message boards. I've had luck with both of them.
Janet: The Facebook page (my guess) is about the Kraft Foods takeover that happened back in late January. Kraft bought Cadbury for a cool $19+ billion. There was some speculation that Hershey was going to make a counter-offer, but last I heard that never materialized.
Re: Wendy, thanks! I'll do that and also take to Twitter.
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