The thrill and fun of Mardi Gras is over, ashes have been imposed and the Lenten season is in full swing as people prepare for the celebration of Easter.

And my quest for the elusive Gold Brick egg begins. Actually, it’s not really a quest as much an obsession.

Every year I scour the stores searching and looking for the cause of my biggest vice, hoping to strike, excuse the expression, gold.

I don’t think the folks at Elmer’s Candy in New Orleans knew what they were doing when they made the Gold Brick egg, that wonderful rich concoction of sweet or dark chocolate and pecans that will virtually melt in your mouth. The company makes pecan eggs and the popular Heavenly Hash egg, a combination of chocolate, marshmallow and almonds, but they don’t compare with the Gold Brick.

There are, of course, other forms of Easter candy to entice and tempt this serious, died-in-the-wool chocoholic — chocolate rabbits, marshmallow eggs, candy-coated chocolate bird eggs and other forms of the chocolatier’s work. There are non-chocolate goodies like Starburst jelly beans and Jelly Bellies, and the always enjoyed black jelly beans with their licorice flavor. But none match the Gold Brick egg for pure enjoyment.

My addiction goes back a long way, and I guess I have a high school girlfriend to blame. She got me hooked on the Gold Brick. It seems she told me about the Gold Brick egg, and out of my affection for her I gave her one at Easter. At the time, it was a foil-wrapped chocolate egg containing small, gold-wrapped Gold Brick bars inside. She gave me one and I was hooked.

We broke up after I graduated from high school and I relinquished our relationship as part of my past. But the Gold Brick egg has remained a part of my life, and every year after the ashes are spread on the forehead the addiction and the quest to find the elusive treat begins.

I search all the stores once, twice, three times before leaving to ensure I haven’t missed the stacks of packages holding those six gold-wrapped eggs. I resume the search every time I walk into certain stores in the city, and when I find them, I change from searcher to hoarder, grabbing several packs and hiding them among the other merchandise so no one will see what I have when I check out.

My search is not done alone. I have an enabler. My wife, bless her, who has never been seduced by my favorite confection, helps me and has at times bought several packs of the eggs for me. She also controls my access to the treats so they last me well past Easter and into the following month.

Right now, as we are just a bit more than a month away from Easter, my search for Gold Brick eggs is in full swing and my frustration level at not finding any has reached the panic point. Is this the year I go without?

Not hardly.

 

John Surratt is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at john.surratt@vicksburgpost.com.