Tuesday, April 7, 2009

I choo-choo-choose the chocolate egg train

In Sydney yesterday, I finally realised that Easter is just around the corner.

And check out this gold Lindt bunny I saw yesterday near the office - I'm lucky (or unlucky, depending on your perspective ) to be located quite nearby a Lindt chocolate cafe, and this guy was flanked by lots of people handing out lovely little Lindt eggs, of which I ate far too many.

And see how big he is? That is a real live person in the background on the right. That's how big he is. He's a whopper. A big, gold, chocolatey whopper. Actually I think he's inflated with air, not whipped chocolate mousse, but we can dream, can't we?

There are a couple of reasons I love Easter, I think.

I'm not religious though, and I don't especially love chocolate above all things in the way that many women do (and My One True Love too, he eats more chocolate than any woman I've ever known).

But first - and foremost, I think - my birthday falls in April, and so as a child Easter always meant my birthday was just around the corner. And that was definitely something to be excited about. Birthdays! They're the only day that truly belongs to you. Even if the Easter holidays did often mean there was no one around to come to a party, so I hardly ever had a party on my birthday.

And secondly, Easter did mean chocolate as a child, and there was not a lot of chocolate or even non-specific sweet activity in my household when I was growing up.

This was undoubtedly a good thing, as I'm sure that if I'd been let loose on sweet things I'd have, shall we say, indulged my sweet tooth perhaps more than was healthy for me. But it did also have the short-term effect that whenever I had pocket money I would try to spend it on sweets, and I'm sure I developed a very unhealthy obsession with sugar for a while there until I learnt how to self-regulate.

But what I loved THE MOST about Easter was the egg train. Do you remember the egg train?

It was a cardboard train, just bought from the local supermarket I'm sure, that had individually foil-wrapped eggs in each passenger seat. And every egg was a bright colour, and we all know how much I adore bright colours. I know when Trinny and Susannah were out last week they deplored the lack of colour in Australian wardrobes, and I also know that if they'd had the pleasure to meet me, they could never have accused me of that crime.

I loved the egg train. I looked forward to it every year. I would measure out the eggs by day - slowly unwrapping the foil and smoothing it out until every last wrinkle in the rectangle was ironed out. And the way the foil smelt of chocolate! Coloured chocolate foil, that's what I'm talking about. The chocolate was important, but certainly, it was secondary too, to the glorious foil.

I loved the train for years, until finally it was surpassed by a Red Tulip egg I received when I was .... well, I must have been younger than eleven. That's how old I was when the Sister Of My Heart moved to Sydney, and I know that I used the Red Tulip packaging as a money box to save my Show money into, and that I took it with me when we went to the Show together the year that I was given it. So perhaps we were even in primary school.

I loved the yearly Show, with its showbags and animals and carnival rides, and the ghost train, and that Show (the one with the Red Tulip package as pseudo moneybox) was where the Sister Of My Heart introduced me to the phrase "shout", as in "I'll shout you a ride", which she duly did.

But the Show is another post entirely, let me not get carried away down the sideshow alleys of my memory.

This post is about coloured chocolate foil, and the fact that I'm now trying to find a cardboard train for my godson the Miniature Genius, who's coming to visit me in the arms of his mother, the Sister of My Heart, for the entire Easter break. Five whole unadulterated days of Easter holiday with them both - I can't wait!

So I must, must find the train for him. I want the train. I need the train for him. I choo-choo-choose it, to misquote the Simpsons. The train is an essential part of what Easter is all about. Where o where can I find a chocolate train??!!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not only was there a train, but there was a caterpillar too, in a similar vein. I haven't seen them for many, many years - but they definitely signify Easter to the child in me too!

bubbachenille said...

I dont believe it...I thought I was the only one in the world who would smooth out that foil as though it was, oh I dont know something special ! I remember keeping the foils for ages, probably until I spring cleaned my bedroom ! I used to love doing that too !! Happy Easter.

Vanessa said...

Do I know Sister of your Heart? It sounds lovely. Will keep an eye out for the train, but haven't seen them for so many years, I don't think they make them anymore.
Hope you are well
x

Anonymous said...

That train sounds lovely, I never had one of them. I did, however, have a brilliant easter "egg" one year - a beautiful chocolate chicken nesting a basket full of beautiful chocolate eggs. I lusted after in for weeks as an eager eyed kid pressed up against the sweet shop window - and then I got it for Easter!

Cherished memories!

CurlyPops said...

We used to get the easter egg train every year too. Sadly, I haven't seen one for years.
My birthday is in April too... reminds me that I'm getting old.

Christy said...

http://www.chocolatevault.com/trains.htm

http://store.dereuzegourmetmarket.com/155635.html

Not sure if either delivers to Australia...Good luck.

I loved that photo by the way - I didn't realize it was a balloon until you said so. I thought it was a small bunny! ha!

Andrea Eames said...

We had a train in Zim, too! I loved it.

Hooray for Lindt Gold Bunnies! LOML and I have a tradition of buying them on Easter. One year he forgot to get me one, and I made him wander about the streets of Melbourne on the Thursday night before Good Friday looking for an open supermarket. Got to have my Lindt Bunny!

Mountaingirl said...

I saw a M&M's train tin at Kmart today... not quite the same to those of us who remember the old ones but a train is a train is a train to a boy who loves trains!

flickettysplits said...

Christy, thank you so much, you are amazing! I am going to check those sites out and see what I can do. Has your Hoot arrived yet?? Maybe still a bit too soon ...

Vanessa, welcome back - I noticed your absence. I hope everything is ok with you?


Isn't the topic of chocolate wonderful? Thank you everyone for your fantastic comments, I've so enjoyed reading them!

handmaiden said...

I hope you find yr train, I do remember them and Red Tulip was the chocolate of choice for me now Lindt has done on a marketing job on us all.
sharon

Christy said...

My Hoot arrived today! I love it! My daughter loves it even more! I'm including it and a link to your fab site and etsy site in an upcoming post - will let you know when I do. Hope to send some more business your way. And I LOVE the soap - you're so sweet! It's so beautifully fragrant. My first ever package from Down Under - how terribly exciting!!!

flickettysplits said...

Christy, I am so pleased you like your Hoot - and even pleased-er that your daughter does too! Thank you so much for thinking of putting me in an upcoming blog post, that would be fantastic! I'm really looking forward to it!