Sorry for the lack of blog entries — things got busy for a while there (still are, in fact). Anyway, one of the things that happened while I was away was my stepping out of our front door to find this on the doormat:
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. . . most of what's left at our front door goes straight to the trash (realtors' flyers, grocery-store circulars, and the occasional Spanish-language newspaper), but here was news we could use. And to think that somebody went to the trouble to come up with this advertising campaign, print the bags and coupons, and leave this free sample in our average suburban neighborhood — obviously it's been decided that now is finally Nutella's time to shine in the American market. Only a few years ago, I can remember having to drive from supermarket to supermarket until I found the lone very special store that had jars of Nutella on the shelf.
Maybe they'll have to translate das große Nutella Kochbuch.
What's next? Hanuta? Smarties (these Smarties, not those Smarties) in racks next to the checkout? Jars of Rote Grütze in the dessert aisle? Bring on the European grocery invasion!
When we lived in San Jose, we were always in a quandry about what to do with out-of-town guests, particularly if they'd visited us before: outside of some pleasant shopping-and-a-cafe experiences, the metro area really only had two 'attractions': the Great America themepark (which is closed for half the year!) and the Winchester Mystery House. (Sure, you could go south to the redwoods and Santa Cruz, or north to San Francisco/Berkeley/Napa/whatever, but leaving the area was cheating — and usually made for a long day when you had to be back in SJ that night.)
Today BoingBoing pointed to a blog by a former Winchester Mystery House employee that consists of nothing but Mystery House pictures and anecdotes, many of them from 'behind the scenes'. He's been blogging for four months so far; I wonder how much longer his picture library will allow him to go ...
