Holiday business

I’ve got a crazy busy week ahead of me so I’ll probably be laying off the posts for a while. So just in case, thanks for hanging out with me this year, I hope you have a fun holiday and I’ll see you guys around next year.

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Christmas Update!

Balls, that’s what we got for you. Christmas balls that is, man I’ve always wanted to post a double entendre like that and who would have thought it would come around Christmas time. It’s probably not that appropriate but I had to think of something clever and I really procrastinated this update blog.

Click here to read the review.

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Gud for you?

I just got a whole huge package from the fine folks at GudFud. I know this is spelt differently than on the package but I don’t know how to make those dot things on top of my u.

I entertained myself imitating the package.
If eating these are even half as fun as making the faces I’m in good shape.

Gud times.

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How to make a candy cane

Seeing as the holidays are approaching I figured a little educational video about how they make candy canes was appropriate. It’s a little slow to watch but interesting too.

Baby Jesus Marshmallow

I’m thinking that this is a little blasphemous, yummy, but a little blasphemous.

Click here to buy one for yourself.

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Does everybody make chocolate now?

The New York Times has an interesting article about the founder of wired magazine and his new chocolate endeavour. I’m going to try and get my hands on one to give it a whirl.

Click here to check out the article.

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More snow sir?

Well here at Candy Critic we’re buckling down and living through a huge snow storm. It’s actually pretty cool if you ask me. First of all I have a great excuse to be super lazy and not leave the house. Secondly the whole neighbourhood looks like someone covered it with icing. Actually that’s kind of a cruel thing because I look outside and I think about how much I’d like some icing then I realise that it’s snowing so much that I can’t go out and get some. Cruel fate, why must you mock me?!! Well for now I’ll just munch on some chocolate covered pretzels, oddly enough that’s our review this week.

Click here to read the review

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Candy Cane question

So here I am in Ottawa freezing my butt off and spending a huge amount of my time getting my coat on every day to keep warm. Then someone hands me a candy cane and suddenly my mouth is freezing cold, and I want to know why in the world peppermint is the flavour of a holiday in one of the coldest months of the year.

The history of the candy cane is pretty vague and I had trouble finding any reasons as to why they became mint. I know you can get other flavours but peppermint is the most popular. It just doesn’t make sense.

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I learned two things today.

First of all I learned that my hole ridden shoes make my socks really wet when I walk in the slushy snow.
Secondly I learned that Tim Horton’s monthly donut this month is Candy Cane.

Since this is the Candy Critic blog I’m sure you’re most interested in the donut. It was ok.

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Ginger Giant

It would appear that the folks at Disney like to do things big, who would have thought?

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I’ll think about it

The people at Think Gum just sent me a box full of gum.

They claim that eating it can help you mentally. I’m not sure if they know how much of a challenge I might be for this task.

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Clever use of the word Dodge

How can you possibly enjoy playing “dodge ball”? Well giving you a chance to win a Dodge truck (see it’s clever) might help. Although I don’t really understand the whole lunch lady guy thing in this game, nor do I understand what stride gum has to do with any of it. It’s an ok game and I really like the live action people in the game.

Click here to try it out.

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The last shirt of the year.

I’m not sure why but I doubt I’ll manage another T-shirt design this year, so if you’re waiting to get that special gift for someone now’s the time. It’s the 4th of my series all about the life of Gummy Bears so pick one up for someone you love for the holidays. Or show them how much you love them and get the whole set.

Click on the picture to order a shirt for yourself.

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What’s the date?

With Christmas on the way we here at Candy Critic have one candy tradition that we’ll never give up. Well maybe if diabetes hits we might have to give it a break, but until then…

Every year we pick up the cheesiest advent calendars we can find, and this year it was a little special. This year Allison picked some up from France, did I mention that we also like them to be super cheap. Cheap French chocolate and festive good times, that’s what life is all about.

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Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Well with winter on full on snow it’s time to think about going someplace warmer. I’ve decided that it’s going to happen and that should help all of you fine people that are candy of the month club members. Now don’t get all sad and stuff because I’ll be sending the stuff I get from this trip most likely in January so it’s not too late to join and maybe get something really cool… come to think of it if you join you always get something cool. Speaking of cool, this weeks review is all about cool, particularly if you find countries split between Asia and Europe really cool. I do, but that could just be me.

Click here to read the review.

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Another T-shirt

Well my goal is to have two more T-shirts from the gummy bear set out before the New Year. This is the first of the two. Allison inspired it and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

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Headlines

As if ripped from the headlines of the Ottawa Sun today… wait a minute I did rip it from the headlines, in fact I probably pissed off somebody today because I ripped a hole in their paper, but here it is. A dress full of chocolate balls of the Lindt variety. It looks yummy, but I’m sure Allison may not appreciate the fact that I’m drooling over another woman.

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The people at Emily’s come through.

Today was another happy day here at Candy Critic, for today a box came full of fun treats from Emily’s chocolates.
The coolest looking thing they sent was two mitts full of chocolate covered gram crackers. It’s too bad that they where both left hands because it gets cold here in Ottawa and I could use a new pair.

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I’m a genius on update day! (Sorry it’s a day late)

I have a great idea for a slogan for Candy Critic. It’s such a good slogan that I think it’s pretty horrible, and I say this because for the most part I hate slogans. “It is so good you can say it twice, bonbon it’s French for candy.” I know it’s a stinker but I have pretty bad judgement about slogans so I figure if I think it stinks it’s probably gold. This weeks review on the other hand doesn’t stink at all; in fact I didn’t really notice any kind of odour.

Click here to read the review.

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Um… yeah.

It would appear that I’m totally out of the loop when it comes to Internet items that become big things. I am but apparently Dr. Pepper isn’t. This guy has a whole bunch of stuff online and I’m not sure why, but this video is all about Chocolate (and sex I think), and it was made by and features a lot of Dr. Pepper. Does this mean I’m in the loop now?

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Smok’em if you got’em

While digging through my basement the other day I came across this interesting little gem. At first it would appear to be a matchbook declaring its dislike of smoking in restaurants. Ironic no?

When you flip it over you see an interesting statistic. Did you also know that 9 out of 10 people in Toronto eat hot dogs? Now that’s a statistic, well in that I just made it up.

The cool thing, and probably not that shocking since I gave this “match book” so much hype is that there are in fact no matches at all. There’s just a little mint to enjoy after not smoking. I’m just glad I didn’t pack these as camping matches, my breath would have been fresh but my meat would be raw.

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Updated Gummy Bear Shirt

I’ve updated the latest gummy bear shirt, but don’t worry if you liked the old version I’ll leave it up for sale as well.

Click on the picture to pick one up.

Heart of hearts

Artist Nathan Sawaya made this cool lifelike heart out of candy hearts. It’s artistic, anatomically correct, and yummy all at the same time. That’s a triple threat!

Link Via Boing Boing

Click here to check it out.

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U-P-D-A-T-E Day!

So why would I pick something like this as my review, I mean it’s a simple treat, nothing that “special” about it. It’s a staple around Halloween and at theatres… wait a minute maybe I’m using this “theatre” snack review to plug a film that a friend of mine is in. Maybe I’m going to drop a name and say that my friend was in the newest movie with that famous person. Maybe I still haven’t actually gone to see this movie and I feel really bad about it so I figure I’d plug it on my blog, not that it needs it because it’s a huge film.

Go see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium my friend Rebecca is in it.

Click here to read the review.

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New shirt!

I just finished my latest shirt, which is part two of a whole series of gummy bear designs. Show your love of candy and candy conception. The third instalment should be up next week.

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Click on the image bellow to buy one for yourself.

NEW PHOTO ALERT!

Just wanted to show off this new photo I added to the store. I’m really happy with it and for only 20 bucks you could have a limited print of it hanging in your house.

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Feeling hot, hot, hot. Part 2 (or Warm Dr Pepper)

So tonight Allison and I decided to go out for a little walk. As it turns out the weather report called for cold icy rain. So when we got home let’s just say we where a little frozen.

With a bottle of Dr. Pepper in the fridge I figure I’d put into action my latest online discovery (one I had posted on November 15th), warm Dr. Pepper.

So turning my stove to a somewhat low temperature. I was worried about boiling the Dr. Pepper too quickly and ending up with syrup. I started my little experiment.

At first nothing really seemed to happen, not that I expected much to happen too soon at a low heat.

But quickly I noticed that the Dr. Pepper started to really fizz up. I figured this meant that my warm Dr. Pepper was going to be pretty flat. As soon as I started to see steam I decided it was time to take it off. I also decided that this particular pot was really stained.

The verdict? Basically it tastes like really sweet tea. I keep thinking back to when I was a kid and I used to have tea with the grown ups but I didn’t like the taste of tea. My solution was to put about 12 sugars in it so the bitterness would go away. That’s pretty much what this tasted like. I was just happy it didn’t taste like warm cough syrup.

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Happy National Cookie Week

Or so the people at Emily’s Chocolates tell me:

“Hi Chris,

The fourth week of November (18 - 24) marks the return of National Cookie Week! In celebration, family-owned Emily's Chocolates has dedicated a special cookie for each day of the week."

http://www.emilyschocolates.com/

I was also hoping that since I gave them a plug they might send me one of their chocolate covered fortune cookies to help me celebrate.

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Guess what I got?

On Friday a fun little box came in the mail.

I opened it up…

And it was filled with all kinds of chocolate covered pretzels.

They had them covered with peanuts, sprinkles, white, and dark chocolate. I’m so happy!
Thanks people at Oh! Nuts. And by the way Allison really likes your cool Oh! Nuts tape.

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One Love, and I think it’s chocolate.

I’m glad we finished that review every day thing, but I’ll do it again I’m sure. This weeks review mixes two cultures you never really think of having anything in common, but that’s why candy is great, it breaks down walls. I have this theory that some day all the world will be at peace because of candy, I also have a theory about x-ray glasses that really work.

Click here to read the review.

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What the heck are they riding?

I think this commercial for Lifesavers is a little suggestive, I don’t know maybe it’s just me.

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Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Well today I’m a little freaked out. I’m going for my drivers licence and my mind is a little in the clouds. I did however come across this article about hot Dr Pepper on Retro Thing and thought I’d share. I’m thinking of picking up a bottle tonight and trying it out. That is if I’m in the mood after the test.

Click here to check it out.

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Rocket Man

Allison just got back from France and she picked me up all kinds of cool things. Many where candy related, some stuff members will find in their next package. On her way back she picked me up this awesome little bag of chips on her flight.

Not only do they have a cool drawing of a rocket ship. I mean that’s enough if you ask me.

But the name and promise made on it is awesome. Just in case you can’t read it the French says “Chips that give you wings” or something to that effect. I guess the only thing bad about these is the corn chips themselves. They really didn’t impress me at all.

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