Nearly a year has passed since my ill-fated attempt to make halvah, and I am embarrassed to say that up until two days ago, I had completely given up on making or even finding this elusive deliciousness anywhere locally. If Whole Foods and Trader Joe's don't carry something, who does? I'll confess I browsed Amazon and various international food bazaars online, but shipping is quite a deterrent, and for some reason it didn't even occur to me that there are international food bazaars right in my own neighborhood. I pass by them all the time and don't even notice.

Scattered all around town are these little hole in the wall grocery stores with big open bins of fruits and nuts and beans. I might have never thought outside the commercialized box, but my dad suggested I drop into one, and lo and behold I discovered huge slabs of halvah-y goodness.

So I guess this is really a no-brainer, but I learned that there are a lot more options for buying exotic treats than just the big name grocery stores and the health food industry. If my palate were a bit more sophisticated, I'd probably be able to rave about how this deli-fresh halvah is even SO much better than the prepackaged stuff as well, but even as a foodie philistine I can say with starry eyes that it is just as amazing as I remember.