This just in

October 8, 2006 - 6:40 PM by Sarah

By the way, winter is here. It may still be hot outside (the nights are cool, though), but it must be winter because…the Krembos are here! For those not in the know, this is a delicacy (to some, anyway) consisting of “a round biscuit base covered with a dollop of egg-foam and coated in chocolate” (from the “Wikipedia entry. Read the whole history of this local favorite, it’s actually very interesting.). They’re only sold during the winter months- I think they’re meant to be a (very poor) substitute for ice cream. I find them very watery and not at all tasty- my kids don’t like them either, but they are very popular here. I saw cart after cart loaded with boxes of them at the supermarket today.

Here’s another value-added bit of information (from Sarah): In the first chapter of the first Harry Potter book, the famous wizard Albus Dumbledore takes a candy out of his pocket. In the original British version, the candy was a “lemon sherbet.” Since “sherbet” is a melty sorbet-like dessert in America, the American version calles it a “lemon drop.” In German (yes, I read the German version, too), it’s a lemon bon-bon.

In rendering the book into Hebrew, translator Gili Bar-Hillel chose to have Dumbledore draw a Krembo from his pocket. This set off a firestorm of controversy in Israel. Bar-Hillel said she chose it because it is extremely familiar to Israeli children. But, to Harry Potter purists (such as myself) the choice of an extremely crushable, mushy chocolate-and-vanilla treat as opposed to a lemon one, as in the original, is an act of heresy. Heresy, I say.

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