Man, I hope I got the username right. I lost track of how many combinations of letters and numbers that I tried before I found a valid profile!

OK. Let's face it. When you hear Ohio, how many of you think "delicious food"? Not many, I suspect. I must admit, I was in this category as well.

Much to my delight, la2arbeam didn't just hit a home run, but knocked this one out of the park! I've never had alligator, kangaroo, or ostrich, in any form, much less one of my favorite meat preparations: jerky! They are Buffalo Bob's brand from Zick's Specialty Meats Inc. ...in Michigan? I'm adding that to the list of states to explore!

www.buffalobobssnacks.com www.zicksmeats.com

Then, I saw the bugs! What?! That's crazy! I wasn't expecting to find both in the same package! I've been yearning to eat bugs of some sort since I've learned that they were perfectly edible, but I still haven't been able to bring myself to just go into the yard and dig in the garden. I think the BBQ seasoning and convenient packaging may just do the trick! :D

I'm just about the biggest chocolate snob you'll find. I have tasted just about every major European chocolate, and most of the ones in North America. Yet, my Secret Santa managed to find three items I've never seen, much less tried. And, one of them from one of the chocolatiers I consider to be among the best in the world - Valrhona! I am surprised to see that I haven't tried everything they make! I've also never heard of Espelette peppers, before and can't wait to see how they taste with 73% cocoa solid content chocolate from a French chocolatier I didn't even knew existed (Bovetti)! :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espelette_pepper

www.bovetti.com

*dances happy dance*

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFNLbAs3KAU#t=16s

The Horst Schluckwerder Marzipan was delicious. No, I couldn't wait to finish this, before I polished it off. It was very fresh, too, which speaks highly of Jungle Jim's International Market! Finding a bar of Perugina 70% was also a welcome treat! Although I have consumed much of their chocolate, sadly my area supermarkets, in their infinite wisdom, stopped selling them. I really thought I was buying enough to keep them in business just with that, but I guess not.

www.schluckwerder.de www.junglejims.com www.perugina.it

Thank you, la2arbeam! I think it's going to take a lot to top Secret Santa 2013, for me!

UPDATE 1: If you've never tried Larvets, you really, really must! They taste nothing like I expected! I was expecting them to not taste as bad as they look, but I wasn't expecting them to taste AMAZING! They are very light and crunchy. They're kind of like a miniature cheese puff, only with BBQ potato chip flavoring instead of powdered nacho cheese (I received the BBQ variety). It seems they are also available in "Cheddar Cheese" and "Mexican Spice". They're also kind of like the most delicate pork rind you could imagine. I am truly blown away by this experience!

UPDATE 2: It's difficult to identify (blindly) that you are eating alligator or kangaroo, in these products. That kind of defeats the point, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong. They are delicious. But, in a salami sort of way. They're far, far better than Slim Jims. I suspect it's a combination of mixing beef in with the other meats as well as chopping and forming (instead of using whole muscle). Nevertheless, I am glad to have tried them, because they were delicious! I'm eyeballing the Ostrich & Beef as I write this... ;-)