Happiness is a box of chocolate from Canada! My old friend Mar and I did a goody exchange last week and my package from her showed up with some of my favorites (Coffee Crisp, Aero bars), and a couple I haven’t tried before (Mirage and Kinder Eggs – for the kids, of course, who also love the Smarties).

The Aero bars always take a minute to get used to. The air bubbles make the lightness of the chocolate almost seem wrong but you get over it quickly!

My kids love the Smarties. They’re not the compressed sugar buttons that we’re used to here in the U.S. – these are hard candy coated chocolate discs, kind of like slightly bigger M&M’s (although with a few more colors than what M&M’s off the shelf are available in).

Thanks, Mar!

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Anyway, I’ve been very fortunate to have good friends in Canada who don’t mind “goody swaps” every now and then — they send me Coffee Crisps and Aero Bars (as well as an amazing variety of potato chips) and I send them Whatchamacallits and Heath Bars. I’ve been jonesing for another trade but the weather this time of year isn’t very cooperative: the last time we swapped during summer I had to keep my incoming box in the fridge for a day before trying to peel the wrappers off the now-puddled chocolate chunks.

My favorite Canadian candy bar, Coffee Crisp, apparently had a petition going for it not too long ago, urging Nestle to make Coffee Crisp available in the US. They supposedly “won” last year and Nestle agreed to start selling nationwide, but I have yet to see anything in my area and the list of stores is still pretty short.

CanadianFavourites.com has a great variety of treats that they’ll ship nationwide, though shipping is ouchy and requires a minimum order of $30.

Though I could really, really go for a Coffee Crisp right now, I’ll wait a few months before it’s safe to ship back and forth myself — I like providing a friend north of the border with something they’re deprived of too.

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