If you are over 40, you may appreciate this post more than the “younger” audience. I realize it’s a bit early to discuss anything Valentinish…but if you wanted a kitschy or retro gift of chocolates for a particular generation of “baduy” folks like me, there is a brand new shipload of 
all kinds of Whitman’s Sampler chocolates at Cash & Carry in Makati (and I presume at Unimart Greenhills and Makati Supermarket Alabang since they are one and the same owner if I am not mistaken)… and none are in the trademark yellow box with crosstitch design…instead the company has brought back vintage tins, cheese-y heart shaped boxes and all kinds of variations for the nostalgic chocolate lover in you. If my mom were alive, she would be ecstatic if I got her a box of these goodies for Valentine’s…heehee. I never did like the chocolates themselves, but the whole drill of searching through the box to find something decent (no coconut, no cherry, yuck to liquers, etc.) was an adventure by itself. At any rate, I post it now as I suspect they will sell out quickly; after all, the Lettermen have apparently sold enough tickets to do shows at five venues throughout the Philippines, and I suspect that is about the right generation… so there is a huge market out there. And the prices of the retro chocolates? Very affordable, with items from PHP140-500, so get them early, hide them in a cool place until you need to give them to your sweetheart(s)…Heeheehee.
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haha..you’re right! cheesy as they come, but we’re in the right generation. my mom always had a box of this in the fridge (the yellow ones with the cross-stitch design)when i was 4 or 5. my dad gave her an endless supply of these, so it was a nightly ritual for me and my sister, after dinner, to choose one treat each. in no time, we had memorized the whirls and whorls on top of each piece so we could tell which ones had the caramel filling,the too-sweet cherry. then somehow the “ritual” stopped for some reason- maybe my mom got tired of them, or maybe this was the time imported items were hard to come by? i never saw them again until i was studying in the bay area. lo and behold, i saw a whole shelf full of the boxes at woolworth’s, and the sight brought back a flood of memories, i could have bought the entire stock! talk about cheesy! but yes, like barry manilow and the lettermen, whitman’s sampler brings on warm feelings and good memories by being baduy. ganache made from callebaut does not bring about those feelings.
will be in manila with my mom next week..have to get her a box. that would be the perfect valentine gift for her. thanks for the tip, MM!
The boxes are quita a nice touch. I agree, however, that the chocolates inside are not much to speak of. My girlfriend and I are such chocoholics that if I were to give here one of these for Valentine’s Day, I’d probably be in the dog house for a week.
“Vintage†chocolates, “vintage†box, but not, I hope, “vintage†taste? Even then, I suppose it’s the thought that counts.
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“Erlinda, a friend from Cebu’s local media was sharing how the entire summit bruhaha is bringing so much trouble to Cebuanos, like last December everyone was forced to contend with the policy on the closed businesses, including banks, and roads, near at the Summit sites. Authorities claim it is for security reasons but the policy just brought too much trouble to the locals” —–Jacqui.
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Thanks loads for the info, Jacqui. I kind of suspected what would happen. If I were in Cebu during the summit, I‘d probably go to Dumaguete City and visit friends. Sounds like a war zone in Cebu City right now. The ordinary citizens always suffer. I bet your friend could use and would probably welcome a box of chocolates that MM posted about today!
In the spirit of MM’s post, Happy Valentine to All!
You are absolutely right they are in the 60s era. They bring back a lot of nostalgic feelings. Whenever a man was buying love then (courting) he brought a box of Whitman’s candies to his princess. I truly love the cross stitch yellow box more than the candies themselves. I was in grade school then and used the box to keep my crayons, pencils and my home economics gadgets, tape measures, pin cushion, threads, etc. When I was in grade school, I had a tablecloth summer project for our dining table for 12 dining chairs with the cross stitch design from Whitman’s box. It was a white basket weave material with all these pastel colors stitching of DMC threads – good embroidery thread. I went crazy with DMC threads then that I spent my school baon on them without getting my morning and afternoon snacks. All these years I am amazed how I did that project in just two months.
In my k-6 class back then, the “curly tops” was always the one for monito/monita. Are those still around?
Yes, curly tops are still widely available in Manila. If you happen to live in the U.S., some Filipino stores carry them here too. But getting back to Whitman’s, I tried them once and didn’t like them…guess I’m a member of the “curly tops”, not the “Whitman’s” generation. :-)
I was once told that as a suitor my dad won my mom’s heart with a box of Whitman’s Sampler in the classic yellow box. My mom kept the empty box in her aparador to keep her trinkets until all 5 of us kids were well into highschool. If I remember correctly, she only got rid of that box until it almost fell apart.
Curly Tops – now I remember those during my grade school days. I got a couple of those from a boy who had a crush on me and I don’t even remember that boy’s name now.
Pinky, I have those yellow Whitman boxes and do keep my trinkets there. Mom used to call me a “hoarder” because I kept those chocolate containers, which by the way I still have – along with tincans of Black Magic. Although some are a bit rusty, I just can’t get myself to throw them. Probably memories. I’ve got to get one of these tins. Thanks for the post MM
It is a well-loved family story for my family that my Lolo got Lola’s attention by bringing her a 5-layer box of Whitman’s chocolates. He’d bought them in Manila and had somehow kept them cool and whole all the way (on horseback or kalesa) to Cavite. We had a box every Christmas up until she passed away when I was a teenager.
Kulasa,
Black Magic!!!! That was the other chocolate box/tin that my mom had in her aparador. I forgot about that because the Whitman’s Sampler is the only one that I still see around here. When you mentioned this, a flood of memories rushed through my being – the smell, the sight, the sounds of me standing in front of that aparador and going through my mom’s “stuff”.
My brother and I’d pick at the bottoms of the Whitman’s selections when we were younger to avoid the coconut, cherry, or any of the liquor flavors. My sister didn’t eat the chocolates, but would keep the boxes for her stuff, and I found an old Whitman box full of her cross-stitch equipment over xmas.
I wish someone would bring in Mrs. See’s franchise!!!
Sorry, I’m a ChocNut person — does that count as chocolate? LOL But thanks for the tip, MM. A box of Whitman’s Sampler does bring back memories of simpler times, and I’m sure the mother-in-law will love that.