Ostern

We missed Easter in Germany this year.  We celebrated instead in Croatia which I will also tell you about in another post or two.  However, we were back to Berlin on Easter Monday.  Berlin is not the most religious of cities in Germany, however it is more so then in some places in the US, where for example schools were open the day after Easter.  Here not even the grocery stores reopened until Tuesday. 

When they did I found that the Easter Bunny had left some wonderful surprises at the grocery stores.  Candy at 50% off.  After the holiday is my favorite time to buy holiday treats!

Of course since I was in the US in February I picked up some of the full priced American Easter staples (to me at least...) Cadbury mini-eggs, Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs, and Starburst Jelly Beans.

And now I had to check out what German treats there were.  I was surprised that there really weren't any jelly beans.   The real shock about the candy is that it was mostly Lindt.  Not that I am complaining that they put high quality chocolate on super sale, but I am used to less fancy options.  I was not surprised to find that there were eggs filled with Marzipan, different types of Nougat, as well as chocolate and hazelnut chocolate creme (like Nutella).

There were also eggs filled with 2 cremes side by side in a variety of types.  I chose a mixed package with Egg-Liquor and Vanilla Cream together, Cranberry and something called Zabaione, and the last is Cappuccino and Cream.  They also have spoon eggs (Löffel Ei) which look like chocolate egg shells (the size of a real egg) with pudding inside that you eat with a spoon. 


And of course last but not least, Kinder Eggs.  I had heard about these from a friend before moving here who was lamenting that they could not be sold in the US.  They are chocolate eggs with toys inside of them.  The US has deemed them a safety hazard.  It made sense to me.  Who wants to bite into chocolate and have a toy come out?  But now that I have had one (they are out all of the time here) the whole problem seems silly.  The eggs are scored so that you can break them in half with your hands before you eat it.  It is just the shell (which in my opinion would be better filled with dark chocolate cream) with a small toy in a container inside.  The kids love them and they are fun.  (The toys are pretty advanced as you can see.)  And there is a big sign on them that says not for kids under the age of 3.  Seems reasonable to me. 

Of course so far this sits unopened.  I had opened the candy from the US on Monday and it will take quite a while to go through it without overloading on sugar.  But it will last for a while and will be a nice treat in the upcoming weeks.