A little bit of everything including Sponch

Nobody signed up for today but miraculously things appeared so we were ok.  These included some of those Italianesque shortbread type cookies that are basically plain but then get a coating of powdered sugar frosting/glaze. We still have no idea where they came from but they tasted as expected. Someone complained about them being dry but isn't that what they are supposed to be.  Hence you have a cup of coffee or tea to wash them down.

Shortbread with sugar glaze..no idea where they came from!

They look dry because they are dry...isn't that the point?

Someone also had gotten a hold of some Lake Champlain chocolates with caramel. These are made up in Vermont where you can get a lot of good wholesome organic natural and everything else kind of things that make you feel like you are doing the right thing by buying and consuming them. Vermont is known for its dairy products - especially Ben and Jerry's ice cream and Cabot cheese - and for its maple syrup of course. But there are a lot of other offerings that distinguish themselves and are very good.  Lake Champlain chocolates would certainly fit into this category.  They make great chocolate bars that are found in the ski are cafeterias so you can get a chocolate hit as you pay for your $25.00 cheeseburger and fries. These were leaf shaped chocolates that were filled with a nice burnt caramel that was not overly sweet or sticky. Why leaves?  Duh, is Vermont not also known for its foliage season which is coming up right now.  Anyway these were a nice unexpected treat.  They were wrapped in foil.  You all of course know that there is also an artistic streak among us.  The foil wrappers provided yet another creative opportunity for one of our colleagues to indulge in her Freddy Kruger obsession.

Vermont chocolates with a foliage them!

What's natural butter flavor?  But only 67 calorie apiece!

I'm so scared!

Our own Freddy wannabe!

The other surprise was something called Sponch that was left on the table earlier in the day. Note that unlike any Vermont products it proudly boasts that the strawberry flavoring is artificial! These were made in Mexico and were known - by a different name - to our Mexican-American colleagues. It was a shortbread type cookie atop which were four drops of different flavored marshmallows covered with flaked coconut. In the center was a blast of the artificial strawberry jelly.  The taste was predictable and was similar to just about any marshmallow/cocoanut combo.

Looks like someone left behind artificially flavored Sponch

How DID  they came up with that name for this?

We were somewhat intrigued by the name and thought it was not exactly appetizing sounding.  Perhaps having seen too many episodes of "Law and Order: SVU" sponch was compared to something that gets left behind at a rape scene.  'Did you get a sample of the sponch with the rape kit?"  Of course this led to all kinds of uses of the word in the less than appetizing sense - "Ew, there's sponch all over the bed!", "Gross, this table is covered with sponch!" "Uck, I went to the movies and there was sponch under the seat!" For fun, you too should make up your own misuse of the word sponch.  Hopefully Marinela will come up with another name for its artificially flavored Sponch in the meantime.