Xococava
1560 Yonge Street
416-979-9916

One of those secrets that no one ever tells you about Spain until you get there is that, in addition to tapas and bull-fighting, the country is crazy about candy. In train stations, in tiny beach towns, in department stores, it’s easy to find a respectable selection of sugary goodness that would put any Sugar Mountain to shame.

Though the tapas at Chris McDonald’s much-loved uptown restaurant Cava are influenced by Italian and French cuisine as well as Spanish, Xococava (pronounced “sho-co-ca-va”), its new next-door neighbour, plays firmly into the Spanish sweet tooth. Decorated with marble counters and a wall covered in broken dishes from Avalon painstakingly glued on by McDonald, Xococava opened a month ago. Taking over Mother’s Sweet and Nuts, a candy shop whose owners had retired after years of serving the neighbourhood’s kids from bins of confections, McDonald saw an opportunity to create an off-shoot of his brand that would speak to the same tastebuds, just a different audience.

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Valentine’s Day is:

a) a day to celebrate love and passion
b) just another exploitive commercial event
c) a reminder of singledom
d) extra pressure on relationships
e) my birthday

I don’t know if anyone really looks forward to Valentine’s Day. Even though people always coo, “Oh you’re a Valentine’s baby that’s nice,” I can’t really believe that they mean it. Typically, what it does mean is that my coupled friends have plans, and I get pushed to the week before or after. If I do try celebrate punctually, restaurants and any other establishments that can cash in on the red and pink are usually too overpriced or fully booked. Over the years, instead of feeding any acrimony, a solution arose: the “birthday week”, during which I treated myself to a little something each day.

Forget waiting for candy and cards from Cupid. That’s why every year I gift myself with some I “Choo-choo choose” me, indulgences. The following are my treats for 2008. Sometimes bitterness, like in dark chocolate, can turn out to be something nice.

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Halloween and Easter are two holidays where there’s a large return on candy, but none can compare to the sheer quantity of candy available at Christmas. There are the standards - candy canes, chocolate lollipops, foil-wrapped chocolate balls, and red and green jelly beans - and then there are the more nostalgic and limited edition treats that make everyone feel like it’s Christmas as much as all those classic TV specials. Here are some festive finds - both old and new - I came across downtown.

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Halloween is coming up, and that means sugar rush season is upon us too. Kids and adults alike will be chomping down on confectionery treats much to the delight of the big candy manufacturers out there. This year, I went on a mission to find Halloween candy and chocolates that were beyond the mini size branded wrappers and lollipops that I am used to seeing in drugstores and supermarkets. Is there Halloween candy out there beyond the big names that one can put in their candy tray to give out at rocking parties or to trick-or-treaters? I did a city wide trek to investigate beyond the multi-pack boxes and bags to see what else is out there.

For those who want to go down nostalgia road for Allan’s Kisses, candy corn and pumpkin shaped mellocremes, bulk candy stores are the best bet. I perused through three stores with bulk candy offerings to see what they have in stock, and they are all priced at $1.09/100g (or approx. $11.00/kg). Two stores on the Yonge Street strip between Bloor and College, The Bulk Mine (655 Yonge Street) and Tutti Frutti (1 Carlton Street) both generally had the same selection, but Tutti Frutti also sold pre-packaged treat bags priced between $2.99 - $4.99 before taxes. These are perfect for parting gifts at house parties.

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Some of the best food businesses start up small, in a home kitchen and at the urging of friends. Confectionery is the most obvious of these “cook as you go” business plans. All it takes is for one person to share some treats made by a friend or family member and a new business idea is born.

Such was the case for Fionna Hanna of Alice’s Pastryland, who created a chocolate-covered toffee studded with pretzels; a combination of salty crunch, smooth dark melting goodness and the lingering sweetness of English-style toffee. Hanna originally made a batch at home and shared it with friends. Encouraged, she donated some to a craft show last fall and continued to tweak her product until she was satisfied, taking chocolate-making classes at George Brown to perfect her technique and working on a certificate in Bakery Arts.

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It was the promise of mangoes that lured me across town to Little India; sweet, juicy, luscious things available only for a few weeks each year. But since I was there and all, it didn’t hurt to pick up some other sweet tasty treats, like burfi.

Burfi or Barfi is an Indian sweet, similar in consistency to fudge. Also known as Indian cheesecake, it is made by boiling milk, usually condensed milk, along with sugar and flavourings and spices and then allowing it to cool.

Nuts are a common flavouring, particularly pistachios, but burfi can also contain cashews, mango, chocolate, coconut, rose and saffron, as well as spices such as cardamom.

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