Dutch Treat

I adore it when my job affords me the opportunity to travel. And, yesterday, I was lucky enough to visit the lovely New England town of Norwalk, Connecticut on business.

Now, I know that all of you think I'm being facetious - but I'm not. This wee village is down right charming.

We're talking cute restaurants and bars, fashionable boutiques, a drop-dead gorgeous waterfront district with a Maritime Aquarium, and most importantly - a shop entirely devoted to gourmet foodstuffs from the Netherlands: Kaas & Co. - A Taste of Holland (store display pictured above).

The place was chock-a-block with a myriad of deep, dark, mysteriously salty-sweet licorice (pictured below), decorative Delft tchotchkes, beautifully packaged cookies, a variety of cheeses, windmill-adorned dishcloths, an array of Indonesian spices, jars of rosehip jam, tons of chocolate and cocoa, honest-to-goodness wooden shoes - and even more deep, dark, mysteriously salty-sweet licorice.

It took all my will power not to make a purchase. Not really fan of black licorice - but darn it, if those shoes wouldn't have looked terrific on me!