Sweet Sweet Switzerland

I was gazing at my delicious lump of Swiss Breakfast, in its moat of Swiss milk, when I decided that everyone needs to see what amazing, delightful confections I have access to here. You will all be jealous. Prepare yourself for a journey that will rival or exceed the wonderment of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (ok, no it won't, but there's pictures!)

This is what I eat every morning: Coop brand Chocolate Crunch Muesli.
It's a mix of crunchy granola bites, chocolate filled biscuits and actual chunks of chocolate. It's a totally appropriate breakfast food though because I mix it with Hafer Flockli (which is raw, chopped up oats) yogurt, and usually throw a banana in too. Then I make a mound of it in the middle of the bowl and fill in the space with milk. It's a breakfast castle!

Now on with the show:

These are Fruity Smarties. They are more delicious than you can imagine--especially considering they're melted gummy bears in an M&Ms shell. The box even gives you a detailed idea of how they're made.There are also regular Smarties, which are M&Ms, but not as sweet and they come in better colors: like pink.

This is a Doo Wop. I had been eyeing them in the Delemont Coop for many weeks before I broke down and bought a bag of them. Laura said: "Oh my God, what are you doing?" I couldn't even articulate the sheer joy I was feeling over the much awaited purchase I was about to make: "It's like a chocolate...it's a hotdog. It's a chocolate hotdog!" She was embarassed and took a few steps back, just in case anyone over heard the conversation. Later, I was chowing down on one in Stockli (they Are surprisingly hot-dog-bun-like in texture, not anything like a fluffy Twinkie like I expected, but slippery and airy and delicate) one of the volunteers said "Oh my god, is that a hot dog?" and I said "well, no, it's a chocolate hot dog!" they told me it was gross and asked if it was an American invention. Ha.

This is a Happy Hippo. It's a tiny icecream cone in the shape of a hippo and filled with hazelnut chocolate milky creamy cream. They're absolutely delicious.

This is a Joy Egg. They are my favorite candy Ever in Switzerland. You peel the egg in half to reveal a surprise! and also a confection that I can only describe as a deconstructed hippo. You scoop the candy out of the plastic egg with a specially designed and perfectly sized spoon. You can get every last bit out with that spoon...

This is a Surprise! Egg. They're chocolate eggs filled with small plastic bullet shaped capsules that contain toys--just like the Joy Egg. Sometimes they're surprisingly difficult to put together: I spent nearly 20 minutes on a tiny slot-machine type device and actually had to use instructions last weekend.

This is a snail that I got out of a surprise egg. It lives in my rose bush. Laura said plants grow best when you water them, and you know what? She was right on. But I digress.

This is a Tiki. They're disgusting, and I think they're only around for nostalgic reasons and because 6 year olds don't know better. You drop it into a glass of water, and wait about 15 minutes for it to finally quit fizzing and then you have a weak nasty glass of Swiss Kool-ade. Gross.

And as proof of how hard it is to resist the lure of very cheap and very accessible Swiss candy: my drawer of candy:

In other news: This morning a nice man from the Chalets down the road (there is a small compound of 4 Chalets much like Ours run by a man named Hari, they house lots of scouts there too) gave me a ride to work in a large, slow moving piece of farm equipment. He said something to me in Swiss German and without thinking, I told him I couldn't hear him when I really meant to say "Please give me 20 seconds to process what you just said and I'll get back to you with an appropriate, if infantile, response" But he believed that I couldn't hear him (farm equipment is noisy) and was quiet the rest of the way to my turn off--where I jumped out of his slow moving machine and yelled Danke Schön! At least I didn't have to walk up the hill.