> You wrote "You can tell a lot about a person by what candy bars he or she likes." I hope this isn't one of the more refined tools of methodological analysis, because I don't like ANY of those chocolate bar choices. Heh...I haven't eaten a full-size chocolate bar in 9 years, I think. That's the last time I saw my one and only belgian bar I actually liked. I do get a chance to sample most varieties in bite-size format, once a year, at Hallowe'en... And every year just reconfirms my overwhelming bias that North American chocolate confectionaries simply suck.

You may be generally right about that. However, those are the candy bars that are available here, from practically any grocery store, convenience store, or gas station in the country. We've got Lindt balls and have just recently, thank heaven, gotten Toblerone, but as the other food-related threads here may suggest, there are things you can get in the United States and things you can get in any English-language speaking country except the United States, and the twain don't always meet.

So I would agree with you that lots of European chocolates are great, but when I (and, I suspect, most people in this country) have those, it's a treat, and quite possibly expensive. For every day chocolate, we've pretty much got to make due with what I listed in previous threads. There are all kinds of other chocolate products here, of course, but the ones I named are pretty much the set of chocolate products available *everywhere* in the country.

But I don't bemoan my situation here. Disagree as you may, I've never had better chocolate than what can be found in a plain Hershey bar, and yes, I've had all kinds of European chocolate. I guess the richness and creaminess of European gourmet chocolate is too much for me.

And Riesens still rule. :-)