I had a whirlwind adventure today at World Market. I'd never been before, which may come as a surprise to those who know me. I'm such a junkie when it comes to foreign junkfood--especially candy!



I got quite a haul.



The Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans were interesting, to say the least. I'm doing a full write-up on those later--a short blurb would not do the flavors justice. Here's a preview: the bacon is burnt, the vomit is fruity, and the grass is oddly refreshing. I can't say I enjoyed eating the jellybeans, but I'm glad that I tried them.



The Deluxe Flake candy was a huge surprise. I've had it once before. The kind I had, however, wasn't "Deluxe." To separate it from the "normal' Flake candy, Deluxe Flake is coated with a chocolate shell, making the inside the flakiest part of the bar.

Flake candy is a great example of truth in advertising--the bar crumbles with every bite, leaving chocolate shrapnel in its wake. Unfortunately, this resulted in a messy floor which I'm sure will only exacerbate our ant problem. (Sigh.)

The chocolate was light and cloyingly sweet. I broke the bar in half to reveal a network of tunnels tracing through the bar. Inside, thin chocolate sheets had folded and curling into themselves, forming what looked like chocolate ant tunnels. It added a noticeable texture to the candy bar--pleasant, but unusual to my American tongue. (Unsurprisingly, Flake is an Austrailian candy bar.) I didn't really like the aftertaste, but the lightness of the bar was enough to satisfy me. For a gimmick--"Flake bars actually flake!"--it works well.

I bought two candies from Germany--a bag of "soft liquorice candy" and a bag of gummies. Both are produced by Katzen, a candy company with an adorable logo featuring a cat. Oh, yeah. Being that I love German food, I had high hopes. Besides: liquorice? Gummies? I'm so there!



The liquorice was the salty-sweet kind. Although I enjoy this type--to a certain extent--it was a bit unusual at first taste. After sampling a few squishy treats, my taste buds adjusted and I could enjoy the ride. The liquorice candies came in two shapes: straight-fish and arched-fish. I love the speckled, crystallized look the sugar gives the soft black candy.

The gummies were good, although I think the Japanese company Kasugai makes better ones in a wider variety of flavors. As is, these gummies came in various geometric shapes--diamonds, rectangles, and the like--and in varying shades of red, yellow, and orange. Each gummy had the German adjective describing their flavor embossed on the top. There were some cognates, the most notable being "Kiwi."

Sadly, many of the flavors were very similar to one another. The entire bag had a pan-tropical-fruit flavor that, while not unpleasant, wasn't anywhere near as awesome as I was hoping it would be. Still, they were tasty; I'll give props for that. I'm not sure I'd necessarily buy them again, however.

If I had a photo of the gummies, I'd put it here. Alas, the batteries of my camera died and I have to go sell an organ to afford some new ones.

The last candy, Aero, has yet to be devoured. I have high hopes for this chocolate bar. Other candy blogs have raved over Aero bars, kvetching about their unavailability on American shores. Well--we'll see! I have a sneaky suspicion that it will end up being another candy in which texture takes precedence over flavor (a la Flake).

Oh--I suppose you want to know how the Thai soup is? I haven't eaten it yet! I've always enjoyed Thai Spicy-Sour soup, though, so it's probably delicious. That's going to be my breakfast/lunch tomorrow--along with a delicious chicken sandwich. While making the sandwich, I got to break in my new mini food processor--hooray! It's both adorable and functional.

I have plenty of blog post ideas, so here's hoping to a long run for DBDtK!