When I was in Seattle I went to a Farmer's Market and found this amazing cheese! I've since emailed them and made arrangements to have some shipped to Canada.

Yes, it was THAT good.

Not that this is my favorite but a friend brought back some Durian candy from Thailand. Now usually something like this would just go in the trash. This year though it was Halloween and we decided to play our own trick at my house.

You know those older like high school older kids that don't dress up and expect you to still give them candy?

We gave them candy. Durian candy that is. MMMM I bet that was awesome to suck on.

No really though my favorite candy to bring back or that I ask anyone to bring me is from The common wealth. Fruit Pastilles. They are not gourmet by any stretch of the imagination but are so damn good it hurts. So try em but beware they are mildly addictive. I should know I have been addicted to them since I was 10 years old. Thanks Grandma.

spices of all kinds!
no matter when i go the first thing i do is check out the market to buy spices for the food and herbs for my teas!

My friend John ribbed me for making a special trip to the "Spice museum" (the spice market) in Istanbul. I brought back saffron and other goodies.

I currently have tins of goose liver from France in the fridge. And herbes de Provence in the cabinet. I always bring back goodies from le Grande Epicerie and whatever markets I've haunted.

I have a lot of nutmegs from Grenada and other Caribbean islands -- most with the outer shell and mace still on 'em.

I have a stack of assorted Swiss chocolate bars, even though I could get some of them here. And a bottle of 25-year old balsamico from the Venetto.

If the US weren't so up tight about ham I'd bring more of that from any country that knows how to do it right. As it is I have to munch it down on the airplane before landing.

I do have some Bretton cidre, several bottles of wine from France, and rum from various Caribbean islands. Westerhaul from Grenada is one to watch for.

Humm, I think it's time to go find a good dinner...

quote:

Originally posted by Miamc:

If the US weren't so up tight about ham I'd bring more of that from any country that knows how to do it right.

Wow. Ham is the one thing I always thought the USA wrote the book on. I'll take a Cook's smoked bone-in shank portion over any ham in the world.

We still have some pan de coco that we picked up on the beach in Tela, Honduras. It holds up surprisingly well if you keep it in the freezer.

When I lived in Japan, I always used to come home with dried guava with chili whenever I came across it in SE Asia. It's got an interesting hot-sweet thing going on. It's easy enough to find the plain dried guava anywhere, but the chili stuff is a different story.