Wednesday, January 23, 2013

OZ/NZ Epic Trip Roundup - Part 3 - Random Treats

Whenever I go on a trip I always discover all kinds of fun treats.  Some treat discoveries are worth writing an entire blog entry, but some are worth a quick mention, and this is where I'll do it.
In just about every gift shop in Australia they sell jerky.  But not regular run of the mill beef jerky, no that would be too simple.  They all sell kangaroo, emu, and crocodile jerky. What I want to know is, do any real Australians eat this stuff?
You wouldn't think too much of this candy, a marshmallow treat covered in a blue sugar coating.  The thing that caught my eye is the jar of glucose pouring over the berries on the package.  I don't think I've ever seen a candy company advertise the use of glucose before.  Most of the time it's something they'd rather keep secret.
Some people consider licorice babies candy to be a little offensive.  While I'm sure you have your own opinion on that, I'm sure we can all agree that this package for Allen's licorice babies (called chicos) doesn't really help the argument.
Caramello Koalas are probably one of the most popular and well known Australian chocolate treats.  With good reason, they're pretty good (you can read more about that on my review later this week).  The treat I'd never heard of before this trip, is Fredo the Frogs.  While I'm sure they're pretty tasty, I think they're trying way too hard with all of the different varieties.  Sorry Fredo, you're just not as tasty as Caramello Koala, and the millions of different flavours only makes you come off as desperate.
The only reason I'm including this is because of the name, it's "Extra Juicy" Juice.
These are not Licorice Alsorts, they're soaps made to look like Licorice Alsorts.  I'm not sure why one would want to bath with a licorice candy, but what do I know about soaps and bathing products.  Come to think of it, I should have picked one of  these up for my mom, she's a girl (and therefore into soapy things) and she loves Licorice Alsorts (that I can't explain).  I wonder if the soap smells like licorice, that would be horrible.
I found this sign in Chinatown in Sydney, I'm thinking that the people at Haagen Dazs might want to have a word with these people.
This just might be the greatest slogan ever printed on a candy bar.  I also think that this would me a great title for a Kung Foo movie.
It's good to be in a country that knows the  importance of having ice cream trucks.  In Sydney, even on a rainy day, it's hard not to run into several of these vans filled with all kinds of ice cream delights.  They're specialty is soft serve ice cream decorated to the nines.  You can get your cones dipped, covered in nuts, covered in sprinkles, chocolate bars jabbed into it, swirled with syrup, or all of the above.  In fact I've never seen so much topping variety in an ice cream truck in my life.
Both Australia and New Zealand are packed with bakeries.  Even the smallest of towns will have at least one bakery to choose from.  The baking culture seems to borrow from all over the world.  Some of my favorite finds were Anzac cookies, Melting Moments, and Pavlova, just to name a few.

CC

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