Sunday 27 February 2011

Christmas Chocolate

A student went around the living room one evening offering everyone something out of a box. Several people accepted a piece, took a bite, and then looking like they’d expected lamb and gotten overcooked mutton fat. I asked the student what was in the box, and she told me that it was special fancy chocolate her brother in Ottawa had sent to their family in Saudi Arabia.

I read “Life Brand Dark Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Bark,” on the lid and smiled.

“Do you know it?” The student asked me. “It’s supposed to be a very good brand, isn’t it?”

“It’s popular,” I said, trying not to laugh, and accepted a piece. It was strong and bitter and sweet, and the only chocolate I’ve had in a year and a half that tasted like chocolate used to.

Buying half-price drugstore holiday chocolate in the aftermath of Christmas was one of my favourite traditions as an adult in Canada, a bit of sweetness after the long shifts at work, bitter fights, bad behaviour, and drunkenness of a holiday I didn’t believe in and would rather have skipped.

I don’t think I would have had the gall to send it to relatives overseas and tell them it was a Canadian specialty, but in truth it is.

4 comments:

  1. lol that is funny. I think that its just from another country makes it special. Hope you enjoyed the chocolate.

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  2. I did enjoy it, although I think I was the only one who didn't think it was horrid. I haven't seen dark chocolate here.

    I thought it was pretty funny that they would send marked-down leftover holiday chocolate as a gift, but with the price of shipping and the chance of the package actually arriving, I don't blame them, and no one here will ever know what it is.

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  3. Ahh, that's awful. Who knows these days, everything is over-priced and nothing is worth what it costs.

    I wonder if I tried the same thing if I would get busted. I figure the best food is free right?

    Glad you liked it.

    Thanks for visiting my blog, and I am happy to meet you.

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  4. To me, that chocolate was worth far more than whatever it cost.

    As long as you didn't send it to relatives on the same continent, I don't think they would have any idea.

    It's nice to meet you too, I enjoy your blog :)

    ReplyDelete