I’ve become addicted to these little drops. As far as addictions go, it’s pretty harmless.
I guess I probably won’t admit it if I had serious addition problems.

So anyway, Les Anis de Flavigny are the most delectable little candies ever.

There were first produced in the 8th century by monks.
The candy is still made in the same ancient abbey of Flavigny.

It’s anise seed coated in sugar, and it’s simply delicious.
It takes an amazing fifteen days to complete the coating process and only the best natural ingredients are used.
It has just the right hint of mint with a touch of rose flavour.

I get them by the stacks from the Italian store.
They come in these very cute old-fashioned tin, I use the tins for all sorts of handy things afterwards.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know that I’m slightly obsessed with Parisian macarons.
Seriously, my life changed after I tasted Pierre Hermé’s magnificent macarons last September.
I’ve had plenty a macarons since then looking to capture that glorious taste, and so far, non have come close.
I spent a small fortune at the tea shop, their macarons are shipped straight from Paris but they obviously aren’t shipping from Pierre Hermé or Ladurée

A wise man once told me in frustration that if you wanted good fufu, you went to a good chop-bar in Kumasi.
After various failed attempts to find that perfect macaron here in my fair city, I said; touché.

Looks like I’m going to have to go back to Paris!

Yet, when I saw these macarons at Trader Joe’s for $4.99 a dozen, I just couldn’t pass up on them.
Of course I wasn’t expecting mind blowing macarons, I don’t even know what ‘mind blowing macarons’ are anymore.

The Trader Joe’s macarons come frozen in a box, there are two flavours, vanilla and chocolate – six of each.
For store-bought frozen macarons, they are ok.
The vanilla ones are lighter and crumbly, maybe crispy; the filling is soft and very sweet.
The chocolate is a firmer with a ganache filling which gives it a fuller flavour.

You obviously can’t compare them to the real deal, but they’ll do in a pinch.

I haven’t done a ‘curious product’ post in a while; I guess I haven’t been as adventurous lately.

Today’s product isn’t really a curious product, it’s chocolate from Ghana; Dean and Deluca’s single origin 60% dark.
I’ve been curious about single origin chocolates for a while; they seem to be everywhere these days. 
These chocolates are marketed by chocolatiers for being made from beans from a specific country, region or farm.

They’re packaged and sold as sets in most specialty supermarkets.
It looks like while I wasn’t paying attention single origin products became hip. 
It’s not limited to wines anymore; it’s coffee, chocolate, tea, honey etc. 

The idea is that food tastes unique to the region it is grown and perhaps that differing taste is lost when we mix it up.
With this bar I also wanted to see if it tasted anything like the other made-in-Ghana bars I’ve tried.
I assume those are made from wholly Ghanaian beans.

Chocolate from Ghana tastes different.
For years people have tried to determine why chocolates made in Ghana tasted different from those made in… say… Hershey, PA
But I really picked up the bar at Dean & Deluca because I liked the earthy brown and bright yellow packaging.

It doesn’t say on the package whether the beans are from a specific farm or region in Ghana, so the claim of single-origin is still a tad vague.

What I liked most were the ingredients…. simple and few; dark chocolate, sugar, vanilla and an emulsifier.
The taste was surprisingly similar to the other Ghanaian cocoa bean bars I’ve had, the texture is smoother.
It’s firm with a bold cocoa taste, it has slight fruity notes and a mellow nutty flavour.

It also has the same deep hints as Divine Chocolate’s 70% dark, except the Divine bar is richer (taste wise).
It wasn’t too bitter or too sweet except for a mild bitter aftertaste that lingered.
In all, it’s a delightfully centred bar; smooth, rich, dark with nutty hints.
Maybe the proponents of single-origin-beans are on to something after all.

My Other Chocolate Posts:

• Mink Chocolate
• Terra Nostra Ricemilk Chocolate
• Kingsbite Chocolate
• Kras Dorina Chocolate 

My friend M. found her perfect golden-hued dried maple leaf this morning.

She laid it on her desk and smiled with a glint in her eye.

There’s just something splendid about life’s little pleasures.

Sort of like the little glee in my heart when I found the new Marmite snacks.

I’ve told a Marmite story before, I haven’t always liked Marmite – it somewhat grew on me.

It was at the Clapham Junction Asda; whiling away time and waiting to go to dinner.

I saw a lady with a pack of rice cakes; the packaging was black with the visible yellow and red Marmite label.

I had a brief ‘is that…. ?’ moment.

Not sure where she got it from, I started following her.

I find that I’m braver when I’m alone, especially in a place where no one knows me.

I followed the lady for a few seconds, gave in and asked where she got them from.

She very excitedly tells me three aisles down, and asks if I’ve tried them.

I say no and that I’ve never seen them before.

Apparently it’s new, they (Unilever) put out a variety of Marmite snacks, and the rice cakes are her favourite.

She asks me where I’m from; she says I’m lucky when I tell her.

She offers to walk me to where she got them, she may have taken the last one – there’s none left when we get there.

We ask one of the store clerks, the kind man offers to check the back; I’m hopeful and excited again.

He has no luck, they’re sold out.

(more…)

So I’ve probably mentioned it before (only about a hundred times!) that get most of my pantry staples from the Italian store. I’ve developed amazing skills at reading product labels in Italian, maybe a trip to Italy is due?

I buy these gluten free crackers regularly; it’s become quite the staple.

According to the Celiac Association of Canada 1 in 133 people have celiac disease and only a very small percentage of Celiacs have been officially diagnosed.

I don’t think I have celiac disease although I’ve never been tested. I also know people who’ve noticed tremendous health improvements after eliminating gluten products from their diets, also many doctors recommend gluten free diets for children with autism.

But those aren’t the reasons why I love these crackers. I actually picked them up by mistake while reaching for their wheat counterpart. I saw ‘Senza Glutine’ on the package and decided to give them a try since I’ve sometimes toyed with the idea of going gluten-free.

The crackers are made with maize, rice and potato starch. These are super flaky and taste lighter than regular crackers. It’s quite different and delicious, the corn and the rice gives it a nice crunchy light flavour that goes well with everything. It’s a cross between chips and crackers. They’re pretty delicate though, they break very easily.

It doesn’t have the weird after taste that wheat crackers normally do. They’re so addictive I start snacking on them right out of the store, good thing there’re fourteen in a pack. I sometimes have to hide them from myself. There are four crackers in individually wrapped portion sizes. It’s quite handy for lunch packs and snacks.

Galbusera is an Italian manufacturer of healthy bakery products. Their products are made in Cosio Valtellino in the Lombardy region.

From what I’ve gleaned, products from the “ZeroGrano” line are all gluten-free. I haven’t tried the other products from that line. The ‘Frollino’ (shortbread) looks delicious, maybe I’ll try those next.

The company also has a No-added-sugar and a cholesterol-free line.