We stopped in Hokitika for a toilet and snack break. We walked into a store thinking it was a cookie shop, despite the large sign out the front that identified it as a fudge kitchen. We soon discovered that the large, round things in the prominent display cabinet were, in fact, not giant cookies but instead were large wheels of fudge.
We were the only people in the shop and the shopkeeper, who also appeared to be the owner of the shop, greeted us with a smile and offered us some fudge testers. Neither me, nor Tom are particular lovers of fudge but we couldn’t turn down a free tester. While we tried some of the fudge testers, the owner of the store proudly told us about how the fudge was handmade on the granite counter over in the corner and had been shaped into the traditional logs before being cut into rounds (thus giving them the deceptive cookie shape).
Unfortunately, now that we had tried the fudge and talked to the lady and had agreed that her Coffee Walnut fudge was good, it seemed extraordinarily rude to exit the store without purchasing anything. Tom enquired how much the fudge cost while I took some photos on the DSLR, which was a cover for what was really going on – I was stalling and scanning the shop for the cheapest purchasable item and/or something we might actually actually want to eat, ie. not fudge.
While I was scanning the store for things we might actually want to eat, Tom had bought a piece of expensive* fudge. Just as Tom was making the transaction, I realised that the shop sold reasonably priced icecream, something we both loved! So we ended up getting two icecreams to go with the fudge, from memory they were Hokey Pokey and double chocolate. The store owner assured us that the fudge would call out to us and it would soon be completely eaten. We laughed good naturedly.
So the thing about testers is that they’re not REALLY free. You feel obligated to buy things once you’ve had a tester. Especially if you’re the only person in the store and the person who gave you the testers has made the product by hand.
*Just to reiterate – the fudge was tasty, we’re just not people who particularly like fudge. It wasn’t really that expensive considering it was handmade and the piece was so large. It’s only expensive when you consider the enjoyment we get from eating fudge and the amount we could eat before we sadly had to throw it out. However, the icecream was really good!
On a random note – as we were finishing our icecreams, a fluffy dog walked up the street and looked expectantly at us, whilst he edged slowly closer.
He was adorable! We didn’t give him any icecream though, I don’t think icecream is good for dogs.
