The Sweetest Sweets

Last Thursday, one of the speakers of the conference that I ran surprised me. After I greeted one of delegates in the registration table, Mr. Van Schaeren of Belgium suddenly presented me with a gift. Mr. Van Schaeren is a marine lecturer from Antwerp and flew all the way to Singapore just to give a 45 minutes speech at the conference. He was honored to be invited to speak in Singapore and had a chance to visit this island for the first time.


"This is a little gift from Belgium. I thought of giving this to the organizers. I hope it survived after the long flight. You can share the content with Shirley", he said. The gift was cold, as if was just let out from a fridge, heavy and beautifully wrapped.

Later that afternoon when Shirley and I opened the box wrap, we found out that he gave us a box of Leonidas chocolates. We could not believe that someone has just given us massive amounts of signature pralines from Belgium. Fresh and just brought directly from Europe! This is just sweet!



We both were so touched by his kindness and thanked him many times. Good people nowadays are in short supply but they still exist indeed. One of them is surely this Mr. Van Schaeren - kind, sincere and sweet in nature. In return, after the conference Shirley and I bought him a small souvenir of Singapore - just as a little token of appreciation. Not expensive but I hope he could feel our goodwill in it.

Pralines Assortments in the Box:

Butter Cream

Eve Fondant
Dark chocolate with butter cream with vanilla flavor

Manon Fondant, Milk and White
Chocolate praliné with coffee butter cream


Manon Cafe Fondant, Milk and White
Chocolate praliné with coffee butter cream and a whole hazelnut

Ganache

Poésie Fondant
Dark chocolate, ganache with Cointreau

Liqueur

Cerise Emballée
Dark chocolate, whole morello cherry with liquor cream

Feuille Fondant and Milk
Milk chocolate with vanilla flavoured liquor

Marzipan
Bûche Pistache Fondant
Dark chocolate, pistachio flavour marzipan

Fraise Massepain
Marzipan - strawberry flavour

Noix Massepain
Pure marzipan topped with half a walnut

Praliné

Bûche Pralinée Fondant, Milk and White
Praliné coated with dark, milk and white chocolate

Carré Croquant Fondant and Milk
Dark and milk chocolate, praliné with crisped rice

Casaleo Fondant, Milk and White
Praliné with crisped rice coated with dark, milk and white chocolate

Gianduja Emballée
Pure praliné

Moka Fondant and Milk
Dark and milk chocolate praliné with a hint of coffee flavour

Noisette Masquée Fondant, Milk and White
Dark, milk and white chocolate praliné with a whole hazelnut

Seahorse Milk
Milk chocolate with vanilla flavoured liquor

After meeting quite a number of Europeans at the conference these past two days, I think of my times spent in Holland a couple years back. Now I terribly miss and am dreaming about Europe again. The atmosphere. The people. Autumn and spring. European small villages and beautiful architectures. Wish I could return to Europe again very soon.

Europe, wait for me. I'm coming over again soon!!!

"Have faith in your dreams and someday, someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through
Whatever you wish for you keep!"