Chocolate John...right in my own backyard

Reg came over for dinner the other night and brought a tiny little box with four handmade chocolates in it. “Nutpatch... just up the road”, he said, when I asked where they came from. We went to dinner at Marcia and John's house one night and they served nougat (pronounced like the French without the “t”...new-gah) after dinner. Absolutely, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. “Where is it from?” I inquired. “Just up the road from you...Nutpatch.” It was obvious that I needed to check this out. I'd walked to the post office innumerable times and walked right past this unpretentious little shop called Nutpatch. It's right on the Channel Highway, next door to the Coffee a Go Go in an abandoned service station. A handpainted wooden sign sits on a pick-up truck across the street: Handmade fine chocolate. How could I have missed it?

I walked through the door and I was in another world. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. The smell...the delicious smell of chocolate enveloped me. I might add, I'm not that much of a chocolate hound. (David more than makes up for what he terms a major character flaw of mine). The array of chocolates was absolutely enticing. It gave new meaning to “eye candy”.

A glass-fronted display showcased pieces of chocolate art ... gorgeous, perfect, exquisitely decorated, individually handmade chocolates that also happened to be edible delights. Shelves of dark, milk and white chocolate crafted into a myriad of shapes and detailed figures lined the walls. From tiny boxes of four custom-selected pieces to chocolate bowls, delicate tree ornaments and huge chocolate Santas, it was all here in this tiny little shop called Nutpatch.

John Vito, the owner, was only too happy to chat with me about his shop … on three separate occasions. I began calling him Chocolate John. I was intrigued with him and his chocolate shop. He ships worldwide and has been lauded by many gourmets for his fine chocolates and especially his secret recipe nougat and here he is in a tiny little shop in Kettering, Tasmania. He relies on Tasmanian ingredients for his nougat: local honey and eggs plus the key ingredient, hazelnuts from his own orchard. He grows, harvests, shells and roasts over 30 different varieties of this earthy-tasting nut and incorporates them into his award-winning confections.

John has had a lifelong love affair with chocolate, but has only been a professional chocolatier for the past 10-15 years. Before that, he was a teacher in nearby Woodbridge for 26 years. As he talked, I watched as liquid chocolate streamed into big stainless steel tubs from his three mixing machines. A steady current of thick, rich chocolate flowed endlessly. He dipped a paintbrush into the liquid chocolate, swished it over a finished chocolate and then dipped it in coconut. He handed me one. Oh, my!

John does not advertise; he never has. He feels his product will sell itself and it does. In fact, when I mentioned his website's page on “where to buy” is blank, he just said “They find me.”

He doesn't rush his customers. While I was there, two women easily spent 45 minutes in this tiny 12'x12' showroom, carefully choosing their purchases. John chatted easily while he worked. When they were ready, he carefully and precisely placed each purchase into small, brown paper shopping bags. The ladies took another 10 minutes to select individual chocolates from the display case. He made suggestions, but never hinted at rushing.

His goal, he says, is to provide a true chocolate experience for everyone who enters his shop. His background in material design allows him to look at chocolate in a different way. He educates his customers about his material and his craft. He said it's important to respect your material whatever you're creating. Respect the chocolate. Think of what has gone into the process of creating the chocolate he works with...the people involved in harvesting the cacao beans, fermenting them, drying them, roasting them. All of these people are part of the final result.

He told me there was a proper way to eat a chocolate. Bite it in half, savor the taste, look at the half still in your hand to see what workmanship has gone into it: the layers, the ingredients, the colors, the textures. Respect the workmanship, the craft, the art. Chocolate is John's material, his media, and the result is definitely fine art.

Can you understand why I returned so many times? To find someone so committed to his craft, who obviously loves what he does and who is willing to share that passion with others is incredible.

Plus he lets me sample his artwork!

America's greatest exports

When it comes to America's greatest exports, we see them all the time … fast food chains. Oh, the rest of the world watches our TV shows and movies and listens to our music, but they gobble up the fast food just as quickly as we do in the States. In fact, some might argue, they're gobbling it up faster. We admit it. We stopped at McDonald's frequently when we were traveling the US this past summer. Senior coffees were offered for half price and I could get an order of scrambled eggs for $1.49. David likes the Quarter-pounder (without cheese); I really like their fresh salads though Burger King's are better. No fries, no milkshakes (well, maybe sometimes!). We'd stop at Burger King and pick up my salad and then go to McDonald's for David's burger and the free wifi. We're equal-opportunity fast foodies.

In South America, the predominant chain we saw was the Colonel's Kentucky Fried Chicken. Even in the most remote areas of Ecuador or Peru, the familiar white-bearded Southern gentleman stood out in a crowd. He was most noticeable in the food courts of larger malls, but you'd just as likely see him in smaller towns. The lines waiting for the Colonel were longer than anywhere else.

I remember seeing a Dunkin Donuts in downtown Salinas, Ecuador and it blew my mind. The donuts tasted nothing like an American donut (we tried one only for the experience), but the line was long and the donuts were selling like hotcakes at a premium price.

Hungry Jacks aka Burger King, Dominos and Pizza Hut all have a presence here in Australia. Hungry Jack's has the pitiful honor of having both the #1 and #2 worst nutritional meals on their menu. Subway is the largest food chain in Australia based on the number of stores they have, but McDonald's has nearly 20% of the fast food market share compared to Subway's 2%. Australia is the world's 11th largest fast food nation. They'll spend over $37 million on “take away food” in 2012. Like the US, Australia is fighting an obesity war.

Mickey D's probably does the best job of marketing wherever we've been, capitalizing on the local foods and language to corral folks in and offer them what they want, fast. When we were in Quebec, Canada, McDonald's offered McHomard , a lobster salad sandwich in a hot dog bun. They offered the same thing as McLobster in Connecticut. In Uruguay and Argentina, they offered hot mate, the local drink of choice, on the beverage menu.

Australia is no different. Aussies love their beef and McDonalds calls the big Angus burger here, the McOz. They add sliced beetroot (beets) and fried egg to the usual McConcoction. And they're not cheap. Here in Oz, McDonalds will run two people about $15-$18 for a lunch combo. No bargain, but then eating out in Australia is an expensive venture...even for fast food. There's always the “pie” alternative...21 for $21 at Phil Maney's.

Adding McCafe to their offerings was a great move as is their newer “healthier” menu items. Certainly there's always a bunch of kids in the innovative play areas. Interestingly enough, the prices for coffee aren't that much cheaper than anywhere else, but it's convenient and they're everywhere and the coffee is reasonably good...and there's that free wifi thing.

We stopped in at the McDonald's in Kingston the other morning for a flat white (half espresso/half steamed milk) and noticed they were offering a new 100% lamb burger. I think they're going to call it McLamburger … also with beetroot and egg. They saw no humor when I suggested calling it McBaaaa.

At the supermarket

I used to hate grocery shopping in the US. The same old routine week in-week out. But I love going to the supermarket in another country. Rather than just throwing stuff into a cart for the week's meals, shopping in a new country is foraging for food. It's exploring. It's an adventure. Australia is no exception. The whole experience is one I enjoy from start to finish. Well, maybe lugging all the groceries a mile with our backpacks stuffed to bursting and our aching arms laden with bags full of food isn't fun, but the shopping part is enjoyable. First off, shopping carts are called trolleys here and the wheels seem to move in all directions at once. You can understand why this is an adventure for me. I can't even control the cart...I mean trolley.

I see veggies I know, but unless the signs have a picture to accompany them, I have no idea what vegetable the signs are referring to. For instance, I noticed that witlof and Swedes were on sale the other day. Witlof...no idea. I know lots of Swedes, but doubt they'd be for sale. Turns out, witlof is endive. Swedes are yellow turnips aka rutabagas. Swede is the Swedish word for turnip. Now why would they call themselves turnips, I wonder? And so it goes. Courgettes are zucchini and aubergine is eggplant, both French words. Green and red peppers are green and red capsicum. Then there's beetroot which are beets and silverbeet which is chard, not to be confused with silverside which we'd call a rump roast. Hamburger or any ground meat is called mince...beef mince, pork mince, turkey mince, kangaroo mince. You get the hang of it after awhile, but it's an interesting learning experience. Carrots are called carrots.

There are so many differences despite the fact we ostensibly speak the same language. Something as mundane as a baking cup, i.e. cupcake paper, is called a patty pan, unless it's for a muffin which is larger than a cupcake here and then it's called a muffin “case”. Frosting is icing, so confectioner's sugar is icing sugar. Skim milk is trim milk. Jellos are called jellies and looking in the jelly/jam area, they don't have jelly at all. They have conserve, preserve and jam, but no jelly...well, maybe mint jelly, but that's in a different area.

Speaking of gelatin desserts, they have some odd flavors here: port wine, bubblegum and blue heaven. They have a breakfast cereal brand called Sanitarium. That's crazy.

In the candy aisle, they have lollies and gum, of course, and I've found that their black licorice is really good. I also discovered a “musk-flavored stick”which I did not buy. What do you suppose “musk” tastes like? When I think musk, I think aromatic glandular secretion... definitely not a candy flavor.

Then of course, there's Vegemite. We have nothing comparable to it in the US except that we tend to eat as much peanut butter per capita as Aussies eat Vegemite. What exactly is Vegemite? Good question...I think it's a distant relative of Spam. Actually, it's a dark brown pasty substance made from yeast extract, a by-product of beer production. Beer is produced in great quantity in Australia and hence there's lots of by-product for Vegemite. It comes in tubes and all size jars. Folks use Vegemite as a spread on bread, toast and crackers. Children are raised on it. Some people, I'm told, just eat it out of the jar. You can make a sandwich with it. You can add it to your gravy. You can mix it with boiling water and have a vitamin B-rich broth. There's Aussie-Mite and OzEmite and several others, but Kraft makes the real thing. A good deal of supermarket shelf space is allotted to Vegemite-type products. They say it's an acquired taste. I think we should buy some and give a try. Read that: Marcie will buy it and David will try it. It could be a YouTube moment.