Welcome to the sweetest view in my apartment. I pounced on this tub of Maltesers at Costco over the holidays, and bulldozed through them in a matter of weeks. I did share a bunch with B’s Scottish boyfriend. But more or less, finishing this tub was entirely my own achievement.
Do you know about Maltesers? They’re the British (and superior) version of the comparatively chalky Whopper candy. My sister introduced them to me years ago when she was living in Hong Kong. Let’s hear it for colonialism! The chocolate on Maltesers is milkier and smoother than Whopper candies. The malted crunch center is less sweet and, just as important, often much fresher. Of course I’ve had plenty of stale Maltesers in my life but when you get a good batch, oh it’s very, very good.
There was no way I was going to let go of the tub after it satisfied its first use. Initially it became an adorable item of decor. Then I used it as a chocolate-scented collection bowl when I had a fundraiser-party at my apartment a few months back (the backlog of blog posts is LONG) and then it returned to the top of a book shelf for a few more months, being its bright, cute self.
This past week Narinda was in town and I pointed her toward a rapidly wilting basil plant on my window sill. “Looks like it wants to be repotted,” Narinda said. But what kind of planter would do? Enter the cheeriest tub ever. A little of Narinda’s confident plant wisdom and a lot of my squealing later, this happened. Look at this little guy! I want to hug it.
On a related note: I’ve started passing on some snacks that have lots of extraneous plastic and individual pouches. It’s hard to justify the extra packaging, even when it’s crazy adorable or extends the freshness of a snack. I buy a lot of bulk snack mix from my local produce market, and reuse the same plastic produce bag over and over when I refill it. Definitely not the cutest. But my environmental conscience is the tiniest bit clearer.