Malena loves candy. And travel. And both together. And thus, this site was born.
These looked and sounded amazing to me: a hard shell of raspberry flavored gummy around a soft raspberry jelly. They didn’t quite live up to the description, to me - too sweet, too sticky, and not as gooey as I was imaging inside (instead it has a thick gelatiny consistency.) Still, I enjoyed eating these traditional candies from Ghent, a small city between Bruges and Brussels in Belgium. Also, their popularity with real Belgium citizens is obvious - street carts full of these purple gumdrops were a common sight on a weekend afternoon.
I sent this to a few people who sponsored me, so if they have any comments, chime in!
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After Brussels, I took a much needed break from chocolate and went to Bruges - to watch some candy making in action! Bruges is a beautiful city, full of canals and horse carriages, expensive restaurants and shopping Brits. I struggled with the prices there, and couldn’t afford to stay for long (dinner didn’t get much cheaper than 10 euros.) Still, it was nice to be there after Brussels! (more…)
Belgium: chocolate, waffles, and beer. Clearly, I had to visit. After my week in the UK, I flew to Frankfurt and then made my way via Cologne and Amsterdam to Brussels - center of the EU and all sorts of international political groups. It had the additional benefit on a chocolate museum. Ultimately, that meant I went to Cadbury World, the Chocolate Museum in Cologne, and the Musée du Cacao et du Chocolat all within a few weeks. I was a little burnt out on chocolate after that! (more…)
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Yum! Belgium truffles are amazing! In the name of science, I tried several different types of chocolates from this Brussels chocolatier. My favorite was the hazelnut (you can actually see it in the upper right hand corner.) Delicious white chocolate covering a creamy hazelnut paste, with a bit of marzipan holding it all together. And, of course, a hazelnut. It was just sweet enough, with the center so liquid it was almost dripping out of the truffle… Amazing!
There were other delicious flavors (cherry, “Canadian maple” which wasn’t actually maple, but marshmellow, and a champagne filling… but hazelnut was definitely my favorite.) It’s interesting because French truffles or “pralines” are very different from the Belium kind - more bitter and much denser. I’ve found that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
I have been hanging around in southern France for the last few days. At times I like it, at times I HATE it. I’m looking forward to loving on to the cheaper Middle East though…