Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Shake it like you mean it.

Adrian writes with the following message:

“Candy Critic,

I heard about a contest, maybe other readers might be interested?

Anyway here’s the contest info:

The Tic Tac ® Brand Invites You to Remake the Shake!

There’s a contest going on at www.remaketheshake.com: download songs with the legendary Tic Tac ® shake sound, then record a video of you doing an original dance or musical act inspired by Tic Tac ® mints. Upload your video to enter the contest. The winner gets $10,000.

Thanks so much,”

Two things:

First of all I’m fairly convinced that Adrian works for the folks at Tic Tac.

Secondly I suddenly got flooded with memories of me eating Tic Tacs then filling up the little container with water and having a little drink stash in my pocket.

Click here to check out the contest.

CC

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Happy corn chip day!

Today is the day that we all get together in quite libraries and crunch down on crunchy corn chips. But it’s not just to annoy the librarian (that old goat) but also to enjoy smushed up corn all toasted and flavoured up.

CC

Monday, January 28, 2008

A phone in question?..

Wait a minute; this isn’t a phone in show.

Ok so I got this call from my friend Anne (with Kelly’s help apparently) and she wants to know if they make dead baby gummies. Now for those that think Kelly and Anne are sick individuals you have to know about the rash of dead baby jokes that went around in the 90s. Sure they weren’t pleasant but they made my teenage self-giggle. So maybe a little nod to this fine (and unwholesome) tradition wouldn’t be a bad idea. Any candy companies out there willing?

CC

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Cold clear… Update day.

Well now that I’m feeling a whole lot better things here at Candy Critic seem to be rolling a whole lot smoother. For example I’m back on the review fun train so no need to dip into my standby list. Also I’ve been working hard on getting some cool fun blog ideas out, so stay tuned.

Click here to read the latest review.

CC

Friday, January 25, 2008

Chew on this!

Is that a gummy disk filled with gummy bears?!! That’s brilliant; it’s the best way to add more gummy to your gummy bear. Also I love the voice over when the fruit is dancing in the strange orange coloured water.

Later

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Misspelled and Confused

I recently picked up this cool bag of… Well they say “Shreded Stick” but I’m thinking that they mean “Shredded Sticks”.

Sure they look all cool and plastic like but I’m not really sure what they are. I was assured that they’re some kind of food but other than that I’m at a loss.

I’m not even sure what’s in them beyond “Shreded Stick”.

I checked the back and all I got was nutrition facts that told me I should consume 4 tbsp to make a serving but no clue as to how to serve it. This may be the one treat that stumps me.

As a side note when I looked up “Shreded Stick” on google it asked me if I meant “"Shredded Stack" instead.

CC

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Bug me treat

Laughing squid has this great look at little candy bugs (apparently made from squid). It’s funny because they’re made in a place where Allison used to live, from a fish product that Allison can’t eat, and they’re bugs, something Allison can’t stand. (Link via Boing Boing)

Click here to check out the link.

CC

Monday, January 21, 2008

Wizards and stuff

I don’t know if you remember but a while back I posted a link to a blog where some fine candy fanatics decided to recreate the battle of Helms Deep from Lord of the Rings in candy. Well it would appear they’re at it again, but now it’s The Battle of Pelennor Fields. So if you love candy, and you’re a little nerdy, this is a site to be recond with.

CC

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Update again?

Well I’m feeling a lot better and that means I’m back to the reviewing game again. In fact this weekend's been a pretty good weekend for snack eating for me. This particular review unfortunately isn’t at all “pretty good” but that’s just my opinion.

Click here to read the review.

CC

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Late… I think not!

Sure it may appear that my regular Friday video was late, but in fact I decided to hold off for today so I could inspire you National Popcorn Day festivities!

CC

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Toffee and caramel snack pack pudding

Now I’ve been a big fan of pudding for my whole life. Chocolate and or Butterscotch always top the list when it comes to flavours. The other day however I came across what could only be described as the greatest flavour combination ever, or the most useless flavour combination ever.
As it turns out it’s pretty useless. Both colours pretty much have the same flavour and both basically taste like crappy butterscotch. Now I’m not super picky about pudding so I wouldn’t go so far as to say don’t eat it, but if you want something great invest in some cozy shack pudding, now that’s tasty.

CC

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Link Roundup

I’ve been a little off the ball lately keeping up with so many interesting links I’ve found online, so here they are all together.

I’m a big believer in Vanilla as a flavour. I believe the best ice cream can only be judged in its vanilla stage. It is the simplest of all flavours (even sometimes being mistaken for plain), yet it’s really good. This little site shows you how to make your own vanilla extract. Check out this link here.
All I can say about this is chocolate flavoured strawberries. Check out this link here.
In Science Daily they have an interesting article about how smells make us do things might not do regularly. In particular how the smell of chocolate chip cookies makes us buy expensive things in malls. Check out this link here.

Well that’s all the surfing I’ve been doing lately.

CC


Monday, January 14, 2008

The update was yesterday the update blog is today.

You see last night I got to updating kind of late and I figured getting the update online was the most important and getting the update on the blog was second. I say this only because doing it the other way around wouldn’t really make any sense at all. I’m also still really, really sick right now so any sympathy on the subject is also greatly appreciated. This leads me to our second issue here at Candy Critic. Let me put it like this, I don’t believe in doing reviews when I’m sick, so that means that I’ve been sick for a while and that means I haven’t really been doing reviews in a while. I also know the value of having a few reviews waiting just in case I’m unable to do a regular review. So what I’m saying is right now I’m digging into some “backup reviews”. I have a few treats that people have sent or that I got in San Francisco that are just waiting to get eaten, but they have to wait till I’m feeling ok so they can get a fair shake. So I’m sorry to those that are waiting on some treat reviews but they have no been forgotten.

Click here for the review.

CC

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Daddy?

I went to the cool pastry type place called “beard papa”.
I was interested in this place because I saw many puffed pastries and people pumping things into these pastries.
I ordered a couple of the pump filled baked delights and I was overjoyed because the nice man filling my puffy bun wasn’t stingy with the chocolate and green tea cream (note I ordered two pastries one green tea and one chocolate).
Although the treat was fine the name of this place kind of creeped me out a little. All I can think about is eating some old mans chocolate filled beard.

CC




Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Confusing cake

While in Japan town in San Francisco Allison and I ate a fish pastry. Only it didn’t taste like fish, or have fish in it… Come to think of it that’s a pretty confusing desert. It was in fact a cake like fish filled with chocolate cream. Tasty, but I’m not sure why it’s a fish.

CC

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Colourful treats

Let’s face it San Francisco is known for a lot of things, Candy, Cable Cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, and yes it’s known to have a really large gay population. The hub of this community if found in the Castro area and since it’s still San Francisco the chocolate/candy store Mecca I found this fine little shop while touring the area.
The candy was what you find all over the place but this cool little rainbow flag made of Jelly Bellies in the front really impressed me. Way to represent.

CC

Monday, January 07, 2008

How much is that cupcake in the window?

Have you ever paid too much for a cupcake? Well I can’t say that I did but I have to admit that I did pay a lot for a little cupcake.
It’s from this place called Kara’s Cupcakes in Ghirardelli Square. The cupcake in question cost about 3 dollars, and it wasn’t that big.
It was well decorate though. The nice big dollop of chocolate icing and cute little design like flower on the top were rather attractive.
It also didn’t taste too bad either; the icing was actually what I might call amazing. Although the cupcake itself was really just ok. I’m not sure if I’d buy a whole box of these but trying one was well worth it.
CC

Sunday, January 06, 2008

It’s hip to be square

If you’re going to San Francisco be sure to wear flowers in your hair, but if you happen to be a candy fanatic be sure to stop in Ghirardelli square as well. Fro what I understand they’re ok if you wear flowers in your hair while you visit.

From what I can make out of the random plaques all over this place Ghirardelli square is the founding spot where the famous Ghirardelli chocolate was made.

I don’t think they’re made there anymore but the place is full of Ghirardelli shops as well as other fun shops. They have a few pieces of Ghirardelli history around too but to be honest not that much.

For the holidays they put up this huge tree with all kinds of chocolate bars on it. I was disappointed that they weren’t real but happy later because this California and it gets warm and melted chocolate makes me sad, unless I’m dipping something in it.
Driving to the square, well you can park in official Ghirardelli parking. I wonder if the tickets are made of chocolate?

The thing to do now a day at Ghirardelli square is try the ice cream. There are several Ice cream shops all over the square, but don’t be fooled they’re all the same, they sell the same thing at the same price, they’re just spread out. The night I went apparently many of them had either sold out of stuff or for some strange reason closed remarkably early. That meant that the line that was already normally very large was huge. I waited though and was rewarded with a pretty good sundae. The ice cream was creamy and the chocolate sauce was pretty good. Worth the wait, but maybe not worth the wait that I saw during their peek hours.


CC


Saturday, January 05, 2008

Fortune mistake

While venturing through China town in San Fran I came across a little place that apparently baked all kinds of Chinese cookies, including the illustrious fortune cookie. They didn’t just make regular ones either they had them in a whole bunch of shapes, colours, and flavours too. But what I discovered there was something that made me go squirrelly with delight.
See when they make fortune cookies, sometimes the folding or the baking doesn’t go just right. They collect the error cookies and sell them in huge bags for super cheap. Now I’m a huge fan of fortune cookies, and the fortune is really the least important part to me. So a bag full of fortune cookie bits was in my future. Man this is why I live.

CC


First update of 2008

Wow has it been 2008 years already? Time sure does fly. We really don’t seem to get around as much as we used to. The great thing is that we always have some great treats in store for us. This week is no exception. Actually it might be an exception but in the good direction.

Click here to read the review.

CC

This place does it all

I’ll take the chicken ball fritter please.
CC

Friday, January 04, 2008

Who would have thought?

I never knew that the fortune cookie came from California.

San Fran ain’t all roses you know

While walking the streets of San Francisco I was really surprised at what a candy town this place is. I know Chicago has a really strong love of sweets but San Fran ranks pretty high as well.
I found all kinds of cool treats and sweets all over the place but I have to say I was little disappointed about one aspect of this towns sweet offerings, high-end chocolate stores.
Don’t get me wrong there where great snacks available in many of these stores, all of them even. The problem was most of the treats in these stores where the same treats in each of the store. Few if any had something original to offer and many of the treats where just the same thing you could buy at a grocery store. Most often I just found that these store where trying to sell you Ghirardelli chocolates at discount prices instead of offering something new.

CC



Thursday, January 03, 2008

The Stinking Rose

One of the only eateries I knew about in San Francisco was a small place called the Stinking Rose. I knew about it because I heard it has the most garlic filled menu on earth and I’m a big fan of garlic.
Most importantly I heard that it had Garlic Ice cream, and there was no way I was going to let that go un-tasted. I have to admit I was geared up for disappointment. I’ve tried many novelty type deserts before and most often they layer it with another flavour so heavenly that you can’t even make out it’s weird sake.
Now I tried for a while to write what I thought of this treat but I just couldn’t give this description what it deserved. Then I remembered that Allison took some notes of my reaction so I’m just going to put them down and you decide:

“This is bizarre, I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Perplexing”

“It taste like raw garlic”

“My mouth isn’t working right.”

“The caramel mole sauce cuts down the garlic flavour”

CC

This just popped up

While in San Fran I noticed a huge ad campaign for Orville Redenbacher popcorn. Most of the signs where ok but this one really caught my eye. I tried to see if I could get me some of this yummy looking popcorn out but it was truly locked up tight.

CC

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Say Cheese Cake

On one of our first nights in San Fran we walked by Macy's and in Macy's they had a Cheesecake Factory. Allison had never been to a Cheesecake Factory before… I know… It’s shocking.
I was so excited about the yummy treat in store I kind of lost my mind.
Worst of all the containers they come in are a little tricky. So with a lost mind and a tricky container I was one frustrated sweets junky.
I eventually got my chocolate sundae something or other cheesecake open.
Allison had no problem opening her special 6-carb cheesecake, but that’s because she has something I don’t. Self-restraint and a gift to open complicated boxes.

CC


I lied

It wasn’t that I was really busy doing holiday stuff over the last week, in fact I decided to take a fun little trip to San Francisco. But don’t worry because over the next few days I’ll be regaling you with all of my fun candy adventures there. Also members this month will be able to win some cool prizes from the trip as well. It’s like heaven only with more hills.

I figure I’d start off with this amazing treasure. I found this store that sold gigantic fortune cookies. Need I say more?

CC