Sweets

I have come to the realization that the North Africans LIKE their sweets. Tunisian Tea is very, very sweet. The fruit juices sold and served here would induce diabetic coma in most Americans. And the desserts are amazingly sweet. Portion control is their only saving grace--all these super sweet things come in tiny little packages or slices.

I am a self-admitted Chocoholic. Back in the early 90's, a German coworker introduced me to Nutella and Ferrero Rocher. In case you haven't seen the size of my ass, she did not do me any favors. I love chocolate and the hazelnut creme in the middle of the Ferrero Rocher candies is like the best of nuts and chocolate.

When I moved to Tunis, I entered a whole new world of French cooking. By this, I'm referring to crepes as a breakfast food. The moment I saw crepes with hazelnut spread as a breakfast option, I thought I had finally hit the gourmet lottery. In this--as in so many things--I was sadly wrong.

I ordered the crepes. DH watched as they cooked the thin pancake and rolled the hazelnut spread up in it. He sat down with his cheese filled one and we shared bites with each other. Unfortunately, there is such a thing as 'too sweet'. There is not enough coffee or tea in the world to cut through that much sweet first thing in the morning. I threw in the plastic fork. DH's cheese crepe was definitely the winner in the 'who ordered the best food?' contest.

I'm not sure if it was the amount of chocolately goodness slathered on, or the sweetness of the actual spread used, but it was way too much. Way too sweet.

When we were in the grocery store, DH pointed out the stuff that they used making that crepe. It's sold in these giant tubs.

Now, in this picture you can see a couple of the 'normal' sized Nutella jars. But check out the number of brands, and the sizes of the tubs. They must ladle this stuff onto bread, crepes and cookies. They don't have but a brand or two of peanut butter and it only comes in one or two sizes. But the chocolate and hazelnut spreads come in small to gallon sized tubs. They come in resealable plastic bowls. They come swirled with praline and other flavors. It's an amazing amount of sweet stuff.

I generally have a jar of Nutella in the cupboard. I've been known to throw it away because it goes 'off' before I use it up. Apparently, that does not happen in Tunisian households. They use this stuff in large quantities. Since breakfast crepes are off the list (due to sugar induced loss of consciousness), I've gotta figure out what they are using this spread on. Inquiring minds want to know.

--Sandee Wagner