Afternoon Delights

The best thing about having friends and family who travel is they bring me back foods that aren't available here. It's also the worst thing.

Since we're in the middle of a deep freeze, I decided a culinary trip to lands of palm trees was in order this afternoon. The head of our Finance team went home to Sri Lanka for Christmas and brought back "devilled" cashews, as well as an assortment of teas to share with the office. There were a lot of us who were gleeful to see a cardamom tea in the box. Cardamom is definitely one of my favourite spices, especially in hot beverages. While the tea was pleasant, I didn't really get the cardamom flavour. C'est la vie, but if anyone has any cardamom tea recommendations, let me know.

Now, the other half of my tea time eats lived up to its name - "Arabian Delights". My friend Wendy from NYC had tweeted about chocodates during one of her trips to either Saudi Arabia or UAE. My immediate thought was "Choco+date? That has to =awesome". So when my friend Nairica said she would be going to Dubai in December, I asked, nay, demanded, that she bring me back some of these mystery treats. I had to try them. Nairica is now my besty. She came through with two packets for me. Bless.

When I pulled the pack out of the bag, I discovered something heretofore unknown to me about chocodates. The date is stuffed with an almond! Sweet jesus. How to describe the taste? It's just a perfect balance of all 3 ingredients' flavours. Textures too - smooth, chewy and crunchy. I'm in love with this candy. I'm now on a mission to find a source for them in the GTA (as I seem to have been overzealous in sharing the wealth), so any help on that front would be greatly appreciated. If you find them, make sure you pick some up for yourself.