Beware the Fake Mars Bar: US or British?

Continuing our Fine British Chocolate Series, today we turn our attention to The Mars Bar.

Some Important Mars Bars Facts you may unaware of:
—In Scotland they deep fry Mars bars
—It's best to squeeze Mars Bars to ensure freshness (they should be a bit squishable)
—It's not "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"; it's really, "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play". (Remember this. It could be important.)
—The singular of Mars Bars isn't A Mar Bar (when I was 2, I did not know this)
—The full name of a Mars Bar is not a Martian Bar (but why not?)

But perhaps the most crucially important fact is:
Not all Mars Bars are really Mars Bars.

yes, they may say they are Mars Bars.
yes, you may believe them to be Mars Bars.
They may even have Mars Bars written all over their wrappers.
Do not fall for it.

Some are Impostors.

Who are these Impostors? you cry. Hint: American in origin.

Don't believe me? There exists, in a secret location, a highly scientific MARS BAR PROJECT that, with cross-sections, complex diagrams and clever facts, proves it. Find out more. But to prove it once and for all you just have to eat one (a proper British one).

Don't know how to recognize the real thing (i.e. you're not British)?

There follows a brief introduction to The True Mars Bar:

First, we observe the true, original Mars Bar in all its British glory (see how it shines?):
We see the Mars Bar unwrapped (look how delicious!):
We see the Mars Bar half eaten (and so gungey!):
And finally, we behold the empty wrapper:Pay close attention the next time you spy a Mars Bar in a US store. Ask yourself: does he look exactly the same? what about his wrapper? But be warned: once you taste the real thing there is no going back.

Charlie bit me!

just can't stop watching this... could it be more perfect? anyway, what better way to start the week?

end of shortwave service in Europe

did you ever hear one of those scratchy radio transmissions? that's shortwave and the beeb (the fond name we Brits have for the BBC, for anyone not British reading this blog) started doing them to reach listeners cut off by "desert, snow and sea" 75 years ago. That ended on Monday. (Too bad I guess for anyone unlucky enough to be in a desert, a blizzard or on some high seas.)

As the NYT reports: "The quiet ending for the service was a contrast with its celebrated arrival. Seventy-five years ago, King George V helped promote the new technology from his small study in the British royal family’s Norfolk retreat, Sandringham. In a speech written by the poet Rudyard Kipling, the king extolled radio as a way to reach out to men and women isolated by snow and sea.

'Through one of the marvels of modern science, I am enabled this Christmas Day to speak to all my people throughout the empire,' the king said.

The abdication speech of Edward VIII was broadcast on shortwave, as was news of the Hindenburg airship’s explosion and Hungarian Free Radio’s last anguished call for aid as Russian tanks rumbled into Budapest."

So I didn't feel it was quite right not to mention it. And have it go unnoticed by most. It almost feels like we should be having a moment's silence. Or standing up and singing the national anthem. Or, at the very least, saluting someone. Shouldn't we?

same kind of different as me

Here's a question. What do:
– a dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery in Louisiana;
– an upscale art dealer and self-made millionaire accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel;
– and a gutsy woman with a stubborn dream
all have in common?

Basically, a story so incredible and far fetched no novelist would ever get away with it. And it will take your breath away.

Same Kind of Different as Me is the true story of Ron Hall, a wealthy Ft. Worth art dealer, and his friendship with Denver Moore, a homeless ex-convict. Brought together in a soup kitchen by Ron's wife Debbie, the resulting story is one of loss and triumph. You can find out more/buy the book here.

There are some great quotes in this book, but here's just some:

“Whether we is rich or poor or something in between this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless-just workin our way toward home.”
– Denver Moore

"just tell 'em Im a nobody that's trying to tell everbody 'bout a Somebody that can save anybody"
– Denver Moore

on editing and writing: be heavy and small

Elie Wiesel wrote a 900-page memoir in Yiddish called And the World Has Remained Silent (1956). But while translating the book into French, he found himself editing it ruthlessly until he had cut the 900 pages down to just 127. (Wiesel called the edited version of his memoir Night .)

He said,
"I was inspired by the marvelous example of Giacometti, the great sculptor. He always said that his dream was to do a bust so small that it could enter a matchbook, but so heavy that no one could lift it. That's what a good book should be."
— Elie Wiesel (b. 1928)

What a powerful dream to have.

where ideas come from...

Mozart said, "When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer — say traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep — it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best, and most abundantly. Whence and how they come, I know not, nor can I force them." And, "Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius."

Happy Valentine's day from NYC

Jussi Björling sings Pearl Fishers Duet with Robert Merrill

what more is there to say?

running

"All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why." James Thurber (1894-1961)