AUSSIE YA MONTH: Guest Post - Simmone Howell

Okay, so when the lovely Simmone Howell agreed to do a guest post for the amazing Aussie YA Month, I was completely thrilled.  Then we kind of had a rather silly, insanely fun convo about what she should write about.  We decided chocolate.  Because after books, this is my one true love.  Then I read Everything Beautiful and I was like YES PLEASE LETS DO THIS.  So here she is!



A Brief Guide to Aussie Choc* by Simmone Howell

Like most writers I eat a lot of chocolate. It really should be tax deductible. I also let my characters eat chocolate because often they are going through hard times. I lived in the UK for a couple of years. And there I drank many pints but certain delicacies were sorely missed:

Tim Tams – the go-to chocolate for women in crises! Tim Tams cure PMT and broken hearts – honest! You guys have Penguins. They look the same but They Are Not. In Australia there is a Tim Tam tradition I neither adhere to (nor like to watch) of fashioning a hole in the centre of the biscuit and using it as a straw through which to drink your tea.

Violet Crumbles: belonging to the same family as the Crunchie bar but not quite so orange-y on the inside and therefore you can delude yourself into believing them less processed. The Violet Crumble was made by Mr Hoadley. This nice informative Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_Crumble) will also tell you about the birth of the Bertie

Beetle – basically made out of all the crushed bits of Violet Crumble from factory mishaps. Resourceful or what?

Golden Roughs, Mint Patties and Wagon Wheels – lunchbox staples of ‘power’ primary schoolers (not me – I was the one with the sunflower seeds.)

I did not miss the Chokito bar. The chokito is the poor cousin to the Picnic – it has crunchy balls. Chokitos always seemed to be marketed to the kind of person I am emphatically not: http://youtu.be/aYWkEYz2e5M

UK readers I have to tell you that Cadbury’s tastes different in Australia. This may sound traitorous but I think the UK Cadbury’s is better. It’s certainly cheaper … But I suppose one can get used to anything.

* Disclaimer: Brands mentioned may be widely available in the UK and everywhere and not even owned or produced in Australia. Maybe.

THANKS!! now I want to eat ALL of the chocolate!! you can go visit Simmone at her website right here and follow her on twitter right here! How fab is this theme month turning out! I am so proud to be a blogger right now.