Sweenor's sea salt dark chocolate caramels - this Rhode
Island institution is near Jayne's place, and so she got
Bonnie a box of these: they're respectable, decent
couverture, not too sweet, not too hard nor too soft
vanilla caramel inside, and sprinkles of salt crystals
on top, which tipped the balance to too much sodium for
me, though they no doubt conform to current popular
tastes. These are better than average, though the
chocolate could be darker and the salt less widespread.

L. A. Burdick's wooden box assortment - Bonnie got these
for a hostess gift for Graham and Becca for when they made
her birthday dinner, and they came out after supper. Becca
took one ceremonial one, and then no more was seen of them.
After we got back to the house, we found that they had
been set alongside the remains of the pie that we'd taken
back for her breakfast. Also a generous slice of leftover
beef. So I tried a few over the next days - these are also
better than the big companies' product, good dark chocolate,
real butter, subtle - maybe even too subtle - flavors.

A Godiva assortment from her old buddy Diana (now married
to a guy I used to know way back) was, by contrast, was
oversweet and underflavored, clearly based on an
interpretation of the American mass market seen through the
eyes of the former corporate owner, Campbell's, and the
current one, Yildiz, whose products in its homeland Turkey
are far more authentic-tasting than these ever could be.
Essentially sugar bombs with some incidental chocolatiness.

Edible Arrangements sent a semi-edible arrangement at the
behest of Jane, an even older buddy. A mixed bag, rather
prettily presented (flowers cut out of melon, skewered
strawberries, a pineapple sunflower, that sort of thing).
The quality of the fruit was not super high, and the smell
overall reminded one of a supermarket dumpster (don't ask
how I know). Slightly overripe pineapple contributed to
this, along with both overripe and underripe honeydew, and
as Gail might tell you, cantaloupe, that least expensive of
fruit, which always smells a little like rot. Strawberries
came in two ways - plain, slightly underripe with a touch of
white on top, and coated with cocoa confectioners' glaze,
very underripe with possibly some red. I should have reminded
her to tell people to make a contribution in lieu of gifts to
Doctors without Borders or the Faces cleft-palate foundation
(both endorsed by and partially staffed by her friends), but
she's a milestone ahead of me, and I'm forgetful enough.

I don't know whom Salt & Olive balsamics came from; the
brand is local to Cambridge and is put out by a trendy
food store specializing in separating yuppies or their
21st century successors (ouppies?) from their money. In
addition to the products of the name, another specialty
is balsamic vinegars, which go for approximately $60 a
liter, higher for smaller bottles. The base product is
said to be 15 years old, and she didn't get any of this
but rather a pair of infused vinegars:

dark chocolate, supposedly made with three different
chocolates, which I have no reason to doubt. This is
sweet, bordering on too sweet, with dusky dark chocolate
aromas and a bitter undertone that is a little too mild
to balance out the sweetness. Acidity is a bit too low;

pomegranate - this was actually quite good, a balance of
sweet and acid with a hit of fruitiness that wasn't
hit-you-over-the-head but quietly persistent; not
berrylike but close enough to fulfill, better, any role
that a raspberry vinegar might do.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
* Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)