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Get stuff quick scheme

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14:56 / 25.11.03

this idea started with a problem: there aren't a lot of local places to get good quality chocolate. I had a barbelith supplier in toronto who would send me really incredible truffles from a shop near him. he also provided me with halvah, which is yet another goodie I can't seem to find around here (of any quality, anyway). but now that he’s moved I’m shit out of luck...and dreaming of truffles that I may never taste again

I figure, all the people I know online, someone's got to be able and willing to help a sister out.

so, here's my proposition. you send me chocolates, other local goodies. I send you...well, anything you'd like.

this is, of course, not restricted to just me n you. hopefully we can get a helpful/fun/interesting exchange of goods and services going here. if it's store bought items, the folks exchanging set a price to stick to, so it's fair and even.

personally, I'd like to wait until after the holidays, because I'm going to be dirt poor until then. but I think that this could potentially be really fun for anyone who'd like to be involved. there are some artists on barbelith that could sell or exchange their work for other artists work – I know of at least two people in the place I would happily buy stuff from.

and hey, I might get some good chocolate out of the deal.

so who's in?

16:57 / 25.11.03

I am happy to say I can vouch for Bitchiekittie sending stuff when she says she will, and it's nice stuff.

BK, I expect you are unsurprised to read that I'm in.

17:23 / 25.11.03

hurrah! I'm very excited. I really love sending mail in the first place, this just makes it all the better.

now this is the bit where you tell me what things you would like to get. you already KNOW what I like!

17:45 / 25.11.03

Where exactly was the chocolate from in Toronto? I didn't know you could get good halvah here. Mmmm.. I've only ever had it in Turkey...

I'm in.

17:56 / 25.11.03

something about death, dying. killer. or addict? addiction? damn. ring a bell at all? I can't remember. we can find out, as barbelith's own seldom killer was my source. the had lilac truffles, which were much yummier than they sound (or was it violet? man, my memory's shot to shit). actually, they had damn near everything you could want.

also, I believe the place where he got the halvah was near the chocolate shop. it was terrific, my first taste of the stuff, and I haven't had such nice halvah since then.

20:01 / 25.11.03

...gotta love google!

The Chocolate Addict

"Chocolate Addict, in Kensington Market, is a fun store that sells all kinds of chocolate-related items: cocoa powder, fresh chocolate sauce, all shapes of moulded chocolate, chocolate letters, chocolate bars, etc. But the focal point of the store is of course the truffle counter. Truffles are made by the store, in about 20 flavors, and are generally very good (though not cheap, at $1.25 a truffle, or about $80/kg, with an extra charge for packaging). Some truffle fillings are quite unusual: for example, lavender, basil or chili pepper -- this last flavour gives the expression hot chocolate a whole new meaning! Quite an experience for the adventurous tastebud. Chocolate Addict uses couverture chocolate from the very reliable Belgian maker Barry Callebaut."

...Kensington Market rocks.

21:52 / 25.11.03

baz, I love you.

lavender truffles.

Whisky Priestess

22:41 / 25.11.03

Hah! myself and Lolita Nation (as was, is and may still be) have already got this down. As part of our victory celebration for winning Mafia 3, we exchanged gifts from London to New York and back - she sent me some brilliant hairbands from girlprops in Greenwich Village and I sent her ... as many disgusting English sweeties as I could stuff in a jiffy bag. (This is what happens when people read Pynchon.)

Yeah, I still reckon I got the better end of the deal.

And if anyone else stateside fancies anything only available in London, just holler.

00:29 / 26.11.03

RED BULL!

(you can't get the 'carbonated-in-a-can' stuff here. Only the 'illegally-imported-from-Thailand-in-glass-bottles' kind...)

00:34 / 26.11.03

Count me in - I'm in San Francisco. I can get cans of Red Bull, but the shipping costs might be attrocious...

00:48 / 26.11.03

...true, true. I'll wait until May and get it myself... it was just the first thing that popped into my head...

03:58 / 26.11.03

Anyone live in Japan? I heard they have an energy drink that kicks Red Bull's ass, containing tons more caffeine and nicotine!

08:28 / 26.11.03

I have long been nursing the idea of a Barbelith PO Box which we could use to collect stuff for distribution at meetings... I thought it would avoid people giving their addresses out over the internet but on reflection they'd still have to give their addresses to the owner of the box. But I might still set one up anyway, as I have always fancied having a PO Box.

08:35 / 26.11.03

Anyone live in Japan? I heard they have an energy drink that kicks Red Bull's ass

There's this one Japanese energy drink that you can get over here, which works better than any other energy drink I've ever tried -it's called Lipovitan, and because you drink it out of the can you don't know what it looks like until it turns your urine the colour of highlighter pens. If there's anything better, I'd be interested (in how much more harm a single drink could do...

)

And bk, this such a good idea, and I'd sign up now if I had a job...

11:57 / 26.11.03

Who was it awhile back that said they wanted some Shreddies???
I could manage that and most of the stuff here:http://canadianfavourites.com/cover.html

13:32 / 26.11.03

whiskey - I'd love to trade! in addition to chocolate truffley things, I get a big kick out of the novelty of things that aren't available in the US. I am also dying to try tim-tams, which I have heard an awful hell of a lot about.

we have some local things ya'll might be interested in, but I don't know...like "old bay", the very best commercially available seasoning for seafood I have ever had, ever. and I'm a big seafood eater, so that's saying something. it's also good for fried chicken, or if you don't eat meat, potatoes.

speaking of potatoes, we have UTZ potato chips, which are made in pennsylvania. one of the varieties is "crab" chips, which are fairly popular, though I don't care for them myself. there's hershey's, which is good for cheap, mass produced chocolate. dark or white chocolate kit-kats, reese's "big cups", that sort of thing - do you have that there? they're new and "limited" here.

also, I know some people really enjoy kitschy tourist stuff, like spoons. our motto, found on all tourist merchandise, is (no fucking lie) "don't bother me, I'm crabby". only a slight improvement by the marketing geniuses who came up with the previous slogan, "maryland is for crabs".

OH! and we have girl scout cookies. mmmm.

baz - I'll send red bull if that's what you want. tho I'd worry a bit about it being shaken too much and exploding. but if you want it, say the word.

iszabelle - what would you like? I guess we should put out requests?

vincennes - hopefully this will be an ongoing thing, and you can participate in when you CAN afford it!

kegboy - shreddies?

13:45 / 26.11.03

BitchiekittieYes, Shreddies! (good, good whole wheat shreddies)

13:56 / 26.11.03

I'm happy to join in too, if there's anything I can get hold of that people want and I can work out how to send.

What I want? Shoelaces.. cool ones with stripes or pictures, or something like that. Places like Hot Topic, some small shop in the Lake District that has probably closed down, etc, sell such things, but I've already tried traipsing around a few shops, and I can't find any. They're small and would fit in an envelope.

14:03 / 26.11.03

I can do shoelaces, definitely. alright, I'm on that case, if you don't mind trading with me.

I'll be doing some xmas shopping in the next few weeks, so I should definitely come across something cute soon.

14:05 / 26.11.03

kegboy, those look like chex, which I can get here. or shredded wheat. no cereal for me!

15:31 / 26.11.03

Hey, is it true that you can't get Ketchup flavoured chips in the US?

I wish there was someone from Mexico here who could send me some of their funky doritos... who else has flavours like 'Salsa ???'

16:02 / 26.11.03

We have salsa flavoured Doritos in Canada...its juts one of a bunch of 'hip", "fresh" flavours they introduced a while back...I doubt they'll last.

16:31 / 26.11.03

I've seen the ketchup/catsup flavored ones, but they aren't a regular offering around here. we also have the salsa doritos, I think, and lime flavored tostitos, which I like a lot.

actually, I havent seen the lime in a while. oh noooo!

16:57 / 26.11.03

"..and as was foretold in the sacred texts, 'when the stars are in alignment and the rivers run red all chips of potato that were deemed exotic in flavours, would depart these land never to be heard of again'"

17:19 / 26.11.03

but I like the lime. big fan of the lime. good stuff, that lime.

pointless and uncalled for

17:21 / 26.11.03

Oooh, lime. Have you ever had lime sorbet. It is rather good. not as good as mango though.

17:57 / 26.11.03

you tempt me, you wicked creature.

18:03 / 26.11.03

What the heck is Catsup anyway? The only think I know about it is that Mr. Burns gets confused trying to decide between Ketchup and Catsup, explain my fellow Americans?

18:09 / 26.11.03

I most likely spelled it wrong. and I dunno what's up with that, only that some people spell it differently. like grey.

18:11 / 26.11.03

I owe you some chocolate BK. How do black cherries soaked in Kirsch and covered in the very best dark chocolate sound? Homemade though, so you have to wait until nearer Christmas when they come out of the Kirsch and get covered. If you don't like that, do you have Green and Blacks over there? Here, they do white chocolate buttons that are supposed to be for children, but which, quite frankly are too orgasmic to waste on them.

I love the funky hairgrips idea, we don't have so many cool ones here, and I have short hair so don't get much chance for girly hair wear. Who wants what in return for them?

19:38 / 26.11.03

you don't owe me anything!

I'd love to see if I can find some good bobby pins/hair grips (I'm assuming they're the same? can someone verify). I, too, have short hair, and can't find any good ones that are small and light enough to stay in my baby fine hair

I don't care for chocolate cherries, I'm afraid. but we don't have green and blacks...I'll look for bobby pins, maybe I can find some for you AND me!

20:19 / 26.11.03

Chocolate excellence. They appear to be keeping quiet about the white chocolate buttons though. Perhaps they are not for mere mortals.

Bobby pins is such a cute term! Where does it come from?

20:44 / 26.11.03

a quick google gets me:

"The origin of this sense of "bob" is uncertain, but it seems to be related to the Irish "baban," meaning "tassel or cluster," and the first use of this "bob" in a "hair" sense was to describe the cropped or docked tail of a horse. Thus "bobby pins" were so-called because they were designed to keep shorter hairstyles under control. The same sense of "bobby" meaning "short" cropped up a few years later when "bobby socks," short ankle socks, became popular among young women during the 1940s."

I was guessing it was related to that last bit, in the 50s, but it looks like the term came to fashion before then. ah, well.

and that site makes those chocolates look VERY nice

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

14:40 / 27.11.03

I want pens. No, I need pens. I can't find any where I live.

Mmmmmm. Pens.

If anyone can get me these, or tell me where to get them, I will be your friend forever. That's right. I believe I am chiefly after: Hunt #22 #56 and #108. Am I just being stupid? I can never find this shit.

14:56 / 27.11.03

Suedehead - I shall keep my eyes peeled. You can definitely get some nibs around ehre (do you need the holders as well?)

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