Candy In The Media

Ernie!!!!

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A Emoji Cake Filled Candy Thing

I don't know how I feel about making poop emoji cupcakes, but if you want to make some, here's the perfect cookbook.

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The Week In Candy... The Last Of 2016

I call this time of year, the mid-holidays.  It's that time between Christmas and New Years when you're not out of holiday mode, but still have to go to work.  The official end of the holidays for me is the second day of the new year.  The mid-holidays are also the time of year that you have to eat all of your leftovers, for better or for worse.  Fortunately for me there's plenty of great desserts and sweets left over at my house, so I should be good for sugar filled fun well into January.  The one I'll savor the most, a box of untouched Toffifee, my favorite Christmas tradition.

Here at candycritic.org we're starting to get ready for the new year, because it seems that every year we seem to hit a bit of a reset switch here.  One thing we're restarting is Snack Facts, our Instagram feed.  We're not posting as many Snack Facts, but we're adding a new element, the Doughnut Project.  The goal of the Doughnut Project is to sample as many Tim Horton's doughnuts that I can.  So every so often (when I get a doughnut at Tim Horton's) I'll post a picture of the doughnut. I'll also post the doughnuts on our Candy Critic Map, so you can see where I got it.

This week we'll be posting our regular Wednesday Candy Thing, and our Friday Candy In The Media posts.  We'll also likely be posting a lot about some of the treats we sampled during the holidays on our Facebook and Twitter feeds.  This week we'll also be editing our next episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! featuring (for the first time) a special guest.  That episode will be online in January.

This week's new review is pretty epic, in fact it might be one of the best chocolate bars I've tasted all year.  Speaking of which, we're working on our list of the most notable reviews we've posted this year.  Is there something you've tried this year that you can't forget?  For now you can read all about this amazing review that we're going to close the year out.  Click here to check it out.

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Merry Christmas Everybody! It's a spefcial episode of Junk Fud On The Road!

In this episode Allison and Chris talk about their Christmas trip to the Christmas capital of Europe, Vienna.

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Christmas Candy In The Media

I think I post this commercial every year, it's just so simple and very entertaining.

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This Week In Candy.. Sort Of

Things are a little topsy-turvy this week and that means that this isn't really an official episode of This Week In Candy, but a quick filler.  I'm off visiting some family and friends before the holidays, and that means I'm not able to update Candy Critic right now. Tomorrow on the other hand things should be absolutely fine.  So we're mixing things up a bit today.  Instead of a new review, we're posting a special edition of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!  It's our Christmas special featuring myself, and a piece of fruitcake.

Tomorrow we'll be posting the first of two special Christmas reviews.  For some reason both of our Christmas review feature marshmallows.  Later this week we'll also be posting an episode of Junk Fud On The Road where Allison and I will be talking about the time we spent Christmas in Austria.

So enjoy this special episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! and we'll have more tomorrow.

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Christmas Candy In The Media

This is proof that you don't need to be extra fancy to make an amazing Christmas candy commercial.

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The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

Use the force to make some fluffy popcorn, because that's what it's for.

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The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

This is the perfect marriage of beer and pretzels.

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Holy Cow, It's A Special Episode Of Junk Fud And You

On this episode of Junk Fud And You we're not messing around.  We have a real expert to talk with us, she's even got a PHD and real credentials.  Dr. Sarah Wilner talks about her latest paper that looks at the size of candy bars, and how they're marketed.

If you want to keep up with our latest podcasts you can follow us on SoundCloud or YouTube.  You can also check out all of the old episodes here.

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It's The November Episode Of Junk Fud News!

We seem to be getting worse and worse about posting these on time.  Seriously, we'll try and do better next month.

If you want to keep up with our podcasts, you can follow us on YouTube or SoundCloud.  You can also find old episodes here.

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A Cuddly Christmas Candy Thing

My favorite childhood toy was a stuffed dog named Snuggles, I think I got him around Christmas time, and he's never left my side since (still have him today). I wonder if there's any children out there with a candy cane as their childhood stuffed toy?

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This Week In Candy

Winter has officially hit us here in Canada.  Actually winter has been hitting us pretty hard (for someone who hasn't seen snow in 6 years) for the last six weeks, but today we got a serious cover of the white stuff.  I both hate and love the snow, it's soft and fun to play in, but cold and hard to get off my walkway.  I both want the snow to stay, to make it a white Christmas. But I also want it to go away, so I don't have to deal with my pants getting wet anymore.

This week we're putting together a lot of content for Candy Critic.  We're finally going to post Junk Fud News for the month of November.  We're also going to be editing, and maybe posting, a special episode of Junk Fud And You featuring an actual academic that knows a lot about candy.  Finally, we're going to be recording a special Christmas episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! where I eat fruitcake.  It took me a while to figure out what to eat for a Christmas episode of CWWYET, but fruitcake seemed to be the best idea.  I haven't eaten fruitcake in probably 10 years or more, and fruitcake has the distinction of being one of the most hated of all Christmas desserts.  So we'll see how this goes later this week.

I'm also officially announcing the return of our Instagram feed, but with a twist.  We're going to continue Snack Facts on our Instagram feed, but we're only going to post randomly (before we posted every day).  In addition, on our feed we're also going to be starting the doughnut project.  My goal is simple, to taste every doughnut Tim Horton's has to offer.  This isn't an all at once project, it's going to happen over time.  Every time I taste a new doughnut, I'll post it on Instagram.  Then, every so often, I'll add the donuts to our Candy Critic Google Map, so you can see where I ate that particular doughnut. Our return to Snack Facts is going up today, and the doughnut project will be going online in the next few weeks.

This week's new review was a gift from a very nice Icelandic man.  I was talking to him and I mentioned that I wasn't familiar with any Icelandic candy.  As fortune would have it, he had a giant bag of Icelandic candy with him.  Click here to read my first Icelandic candy review.

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Christmas Candy In The Media

I'm not sure if this commercial is for Christmas or Halloween.

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The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

Who wouldn't want a candy cane that will last a lifetime?

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The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

Give them smoked sugar, and maybe they'll make something for you.

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The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

Take a bite out of the dark side.

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An Ugly Christmas Candy Things

I don't really understand the whole "Ugly Christmas" clothing trend. I also don't know if I'd define these socks as "ugly" either.  Maybe a little too busy instead.

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This Week In Candy

It's officially started, Christmas. Here at Candy Critic we're all ready for the holiday season. It all starts with putting up a few lights, and spirals out of control from there. This year we picked up some candy canes to decorate the living room but it was actually a second thought. I think that's because no one seems to eat them. Every year as I'm taking down the Christmas decorations I always find that almost every candy cane is still hung up where I left it. 

I'm not really sure why this happens either. Is it that people just don't like a cool candy cane? Maybe my guests are too polite and feel that taking a candy cane ruins my Christmas decorating? It could be that I feed my friends too many other sweet treats so they can't bear anything else. All I know is that when I take down the decorations, I have to come up with ways to use up candy canes.

This week on Candy Critic we're continuing our countdown to Christmas. We're also going to post a new episode of Junk Fud News looking back on all of the junk food news for the month of November. We may also start to post some random Christmas gift ideas on the blog here, for the sweet tooth on your Christmas list. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with all the Christmas stuff we're posting during the holidays.

This week's new review came from the wonderful folks at Ice Chips Candy. They sent us a bunch of boxes of Ice Chips to try, and I instantly gravitated to the Root Beer Float. I was particularly interested in seeing how they used the latest trendy sweetener, Xylithol. Click here to see what works and what doesn't.

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Candy In the Media

Robots are making our hamburgers, it's either the end of the world, or a bright new tomorrow.

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New York City Round Up

It's been over 10 years since I've been to New York, but before that time I'd been to New York several times.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I went back this time.  New York is a trendy city, and there's constantly change, this goes for food as well as fashion and general trends.  The thing is, New York is also known for certain mainstays, things that make New York the city that it is, this also goes for food.  The problem is, as a non-native New Yorker, I'm not always sure what is a mainstay and what is a trend.  When I was visiting regularly I thought I had a few ideas, but I'm never really 100% sure.  This trip was going to be a revision for me, of what New York is right now.

The one thing that shocked me most of all was the change in restaurants, mainly the delis. While the old fashioned delis are still around, there seems to be a growing trend toward larger "food markets" that look more like a cross between a deli, health food store, and supermarket.  They're all in one, like delis are, but much larger and a little fancier.  These food markets are a lot more expensive than the delis I remember as well.

With the expansion of these food markets, you're also getting more and more "healthy' snacks available as well.  Things like power bars, and high protein bars are all over the place at these markets. They seem to be pushing the baked treats out a little, as well as the chocolate bars.  I can't say I'm happy about that, but since they have yet to eliminate the baked goods I can't complain entirely.  I also don't mind that more and more fresh fruit is available, since I really like fresh fruit.

The good news is that sweet treats are not going away from New York, the candy stores and bakeries of this city are here to stay.  They're a solid part of the foundation of food in this city because they both innovate and offer the classics as well.  From black and white cookies, to cronuts, this city has some of the best baked goods you'll find anywhere. From cakes that will set you back hundreds of dollars, to a cinnamon treat that won't cost you more than a few dollars, it's really a great place to discover your loved for baked goods.

Candy wise, New York is really fascinating.  It is a trend setting place, with brands like the Mast Brothers working out of this city, but what New York really offers the candy aficionado is selection.  New York is a place where you can find tradition candies from all over the world, including one of the only high end Japanese snack shops I've ever seen outside of Japan. You also can't miss the giant Hershey and M&Ms store in Times Square.  These two stores are huge, but the selection they offer is pretty minimal, in fact the M&Ms store doesn't even carry that much candy at all, mostly just merchandise. There are also many retro and classic candy stores in the city, with Dylan's Candy Bar being the big show in this category.

I've been to Dylan's Candy Bar before, but this place just keeps getting better and better after each visit. I imagine that the competition in New York must be pretty serious, but this place keeps going, and they're even growing.  I think one thing that keeps this place interesting (at least for me) is the fact that they don't really sell anything outside of the candy world.  Many candy stores get into novelty and retro items that are outside of candy, and eventually seem to peel away from candy, and focus on the novelties.  Dylan's really seems to keep the focus on the candy and even expands the candy world. They offer all kinds of their own candy treats, and even have their own candy fashion (that's more than just their logo pasted on a t-shirt). If you're a candy fan (and I imagine you are if you're reading this), and you're in New York, you have to stop at Dylan's.

I think the only problem I have with New York's candy, and maybe even their food, is that it's really hard to find something that is exclusively New York.  The city is a place where you can find food from all over the world, or at the very least variations on that food.  You can also find a lot of American food, it's a pretty patriotic place when it comes to cuisine. But you can't really find anything that's exclusively New York, particularly a style of food.  This isn't a big problem since you're inundated with all of the other foods available from all over the US and parts of the world, but I've always wondered what food represents New York, maybe an apple?

On my last day of my visit I was walking through Times Square and I came across something that represented New York to me perfectly.  Taking place at the Square was the finals of the world championship of eating.  It was US VS Japan, and the contestants were eating fried rice.  There was a crowd gathered around, most chanting "USA", but there were also a few people chanting "J A Pan". It was good natured, over indulgent, and a little strange.

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It's Time For Another Episode Of Junk Fud On The Road!

This ones a little late this month because we couldn't record it till after our trip to New York.  You'd think that it would be because we wanted to do an episode on New York, but that's not the case.  This week's episode is all about Pakistan.  It's a place where we lived for a few years, and a place that's pretty interesting to talk about food wise.  Keep in mind when you listen to this, that most countries advise against visiting Pakistan right now, for personal safety reasons.

If you want to keep up with all of our podcasts, you can follow us on Sound Cloud or YouTube.

You can also find everything at candycritic.org/junkfud.

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A Pizza (Not) Candy Pool Thing

You have to buy at least 8 of these so you can have a whole pizza.

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This Week In Candy

We're back from New York, and what a fun adventure we had. It's been a while since I've been to New York (more than 10 years), but some things didn't change at all, other things changed like crazy, and that's why I love New York (Cliche I know). The one great thing that hasn't changed about New York is the food, or the fact that there's great food all over the place.  There's constant food innovations coming out of New York since this city is all about trends. There's also some mainstays in this city that will never go away, and that's what makes this city feel comfortable to me.  I've got a whole article about our trip to New York going up this Thursday, and I'll talk all about the places I checked out on this trip with a bit more detail.

Now that this trip is over, as well as American Thanksgiving, it's probably time we start to focus on Christmas... right? I picked up a few Christmas treats in New York, and will certainly post those reviews later in December.  I'm also going to be keeping an eye on Christmas candy trends here in Canada as well.  I'm always keen to hear about your sweet Christmas traditions, so let me know on Facebook or Twitter what you can't miss over the holiday season.

This week on Candy Critic we're posting all kinds of content.  Tomorrow we hope to have our latest installment of Junk Fud On The Road online. We're also posting our regular Candy Things, and Candy In The Media posts. That with our New York round up this is a pretty full week.

This week's new review is a treat I picked up at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York. It was likely the strangest candy that they make, and I was warned that it might not be for everyone. Make sure to check back later this week to learn more about my trip to Dylan's, and click here to read my review of their very strange Pizza chocolate bar.

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Candy In The Media

As it turns out, generic might not be much worse than regular, but not always.

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A New Episode Of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! Is Online

In this episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! Allison sets up a fun little taste test for Chris to find out if he can sniff out the fake Nutella.

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A Donut Candy Pool Thing

It's already got a bite out of it, so it's used.

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This Week In Candy

We're in New York.  Not for very much longer though.  Since I'm writing this ahead of time, I can only assume that we've had an awesome trip.  I also hope to pick up a few more American treats, this time maybe with a Christmas theme.  I also hope to visit a few of New York's famous eateries and sweet shops.  I know a few places I just can't miss.

Unfortunately because we're away there won't be a new review posted this week, but I'm sure we'll have a few interesting posts going up on Facebook and Twitter. I also imagine that a future review-a-thon is in order.  Don't worry though, our regular Candy Thing and Candy In The Media posts will be online this week as usual.

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Candy In The Media

This blanket fulfills several fantasies I've had, and creeps me out, all at the same time.

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A Squishy Candy Pool Thing

Don't bite it, no matter how tempted you are, you'll pop it.

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This Week In Candy

I don't like to be political on this blog. I believe that snacks, candy, and treats are universally loved no matter what political party you align yourself with.  This week's American election was a pretty big deal, no matter what the result, history was going to be made.  This got me thinking, what could I enjoy during this election that would be both neutral, yet also yummy.  I decided on brownies (root beer brownies to be precise), but you may be asking why is a brownie neutral?  It's simple, brownies are good for both celebrating and consoling.  If you show up to a party with a batch of brownies, people are not sad.  However, if your friend just broke up with their significant other, and you show up at their house with brownies, it's pretty good at consoling them.  I figured that brownies are the perfect election treat, if you're happy with the results, yeah brownies! If you're not happy, sorry to hear about your loss, brownies.

Here at Candy Critic we're gearing up for our trip to New York. We've got a few plans already worked out, including a stop at Dylan's Candy Bar.  I first went to Dylan's so many years ago, and it became a regular stop for me whenever I visited New York. Since I haven't been there in a while, I'm interested in seeing how it's changed.  I'm also looking forward to seeing what kind of Christmas treats and treasures I come across on this trip. You can keep up with our New York trip by following us on Twitter or Facebook. Also let me know if you have any other New York tips for me?

All our regular posts are ready to go on the blog this week.  I'm also looking at re-starting our Instagram feed Snack Facts.  Likely it'll be in the new year, but that's coming up pretty quickly.

This week's new review is about as Canadian as it gets. If you know a Canadian you'll know why, if you don't then it might be a bit of a mystery. I can tell you that these made me very happy to be back home. Click here to read this very Canadian review.

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Candy In the Media

People that leave gum on any seats (or anywhere for that matter) are the worst people in the world.

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It's A New Episode Of Junk Fud News!!!

It's a little late because I'm working on ways to try and improve the quality of this particular show.  It means a few technical tweaks, as well a few creative tweaks.  The tech tweaks are easy, the creative ones make me nervous.

You can check out other episodes of Junk Fud on our YouTube page, SoundCloud, and right here on our website.

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A Bubble Gum Candy Pool Thing

You can inflate it with any extra oxygen you might have after blowing bubbles.

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This Week In Candy

This week I came across what seems like a new candy trend (at least to me) and that's snack mixes.  The snack mixes I'm talking about are like Chexmix, mixed nuts or trail mix, but instead of being anything even remotely healthy these mixes are mostly candy.  My local bulk store (Bulk Barn, yeah you Americans will laugh but it's a Canadian institution) had a whole bunch of these crazy mixes, filled with many treats I'd never really thought of putting together.  The one pictured above has the "clever" name of "Should Be A Food Group".  The thing that worries me about these mixes is their origins.  Are they carefully created through trial and error to get the perfect balance of flavours, or are they simply what was left at the bottom of several bins at the end of the day?  Should Be A Food Group was OK, but not a breakthrough in candy mix-ology. Do you have a favourite mix, do you make it yourself?  Let me know.

This week I also thought I would announce that I'm heading back south again, this time New York city.  I have lots of things to check out while I'm there, and likely lots to re-discover considering I haven't been there in over 10 years.  There are a few bakeries and candy stores I know I want to check out, but New York always had a lot of fun surprises around every corner as well.  When I go, you'll be able to keep up with all the fun places I visit on Facebook and Twitter.

On the podcast front, we're working on getting the October edition of Junk Fud News online tomorrow.  We're also working on a few special interview/collaboration episodes of Junk Fud online later this winter.  We're also doing a special collaborative episode  of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! which we hope to get out in either December of January.

This week's new review was a really big surprise for me.  It surprised me that a candy with an apple flavour could work so well.  There were other flavours in this bag of Skittles "Orchard", but not all of them seemed to fit the theme perfectly, or as well as the apple.  Click here to find out why.

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Candy In the Media

When you think of a McDonald's smoothy, this is likely not what you imagine.

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A Cold Candy Pool Thing

If the water's cold, and multi-coloured, you'll know why.

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This (Spooky) Week In Candy

It's Halloween!!!

I'm sure all you ghouls and ghosts are getting ready for some trick or treating, either you're getting the candy or giving it out.  Either way you're probably going to eat a lot of sugar today (I know you sneak more candy than you give adults). Me, I'm not sure what I'm doing this year yet.  Likely I'll be giving out some candy, but I'm still not sure.  This year is a pretty great Halloween for me, being back in a country that celebrates this holiday after six years is pretty fun.  Even better is the fact that Allison and I got to celebrate Halloween twice, once tonight and once at Disney World's Not So Scary Halloween Party (You can read more about that here).

As for my impressions after being away for so many years.  For the most part I'm really happy, I'm happy to see that Halloween seems to be bigger than ever, and people are still giving out lots of fun (and mostly high quality) treats.  I'm glad that the "teal pumpkin" program exists, but I'm also happy that it hasn't taken over. My only compliant this year is flavours.  This year I went all out with Halloween candy, in order to immerse myself back into the North American way of doing up this holiday.  The one thing I found again and again (and you'll see this in my Halloween reviews this year) is that almost no candy companies are experimenting with Halloween flavours. I found so many "Halloween" candies that were simply the same candy that the company normally made, but with Halloween packaging. This is seriously disappointing as the Halloween flavour library is huge, and some of these flavours are very popular right now.  Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to see classic treats in small packages for Halloween, but don't label it something it's not.  Unless you change the candy, and the candy is truly Halloween themed, don't give it a new identity.

After that little rant, this week at candycritic.org we'll be working on a few projects. First of all, later this week we'll be posting Junk Fud News for October 2016.  There's been a few interesting goings on this month, including a lot of fun Halloween shenanigans.  We'll also have our regular Candy In The Media and Candy Thing posting later this week right here on this blog.  We're also working on a few projects that we hope to start up in the weeks to come.

Review wise, we're finishing up our epic Halloween Candy Review-A-Thon with two more reviews today.  We're starting with one of the few bars that actually themed themselves to the holidays... at least a little.  Click here to find out if the Twix Ghost scared me or not.

Also, make sure to follow us on Facebook or Twitter to keep up with all the Halloween fun today.

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Candy In The Media

You kids stay safe this Halloween, OK.

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Another Halloween Costume Candy Thing

Is there really a kid out there that wants to dress up as a generic mint candy?

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This Week In Candy

Holy cow, Halloween is coming fast. It feels like it was summer just a few days ago, and now the leaves are changing and the amount of candy for sale at my local grocery stores is insane. It's been a few years since I've lived in a country that really celebrates Halloween with such energy, and I've been caught up in the spirit of it all. This weekend Allison and I had to make a decision, do we give out candy or go out trick or treating. The reason we had to make the decision is that this weekend is really our last good opportunity to get a pumpkin to carve. Since we're still in the middle of our grand unpack, we decided that it's probably best to go out. We have a few ideas where to go, and if things work out we'll tell you all about it.

As for what's going on this week on Candycritic.org, it's going to be a busy week. We're a little behind filming the last episode of In Hindsight, but we're still hoping to post it early this week. You can keep up with all of that by subscribing to our YouTube channel. We're also continuing our Halloween themed Candy Thing and Candy In The Media. I also hope to post an article about something that's really disappointed me this Halloween later this week.

We're also continuing our epic Halloween candy review-a-thon this week with lots of reviews going up throughout the week leading up to Halloween. This morning we posted the first of two entries from the folks at Just Born, they make Peeps.  I think we'll probably post the second one this afternoon. You can read the new Peeps review here, and you can keep up with our epic Halloween review-a-thon by following us on Facebook, Twitter, or by checking regularly here.

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Candy In The Media

I'm way too out of touch to know who Chance the Rapper is, but I love his Kit Kat commercial.

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It's a New Episode of Junk Fud On The Road All About Disney World!!!

In this episode Chris and Allison talk about their epic 12 day adventure in Disney World (that's the one in Florida). It's a unique episode because it was recorded while driving back home after their trip.

For more episodes of Junk Fud you can check out our YouTube page, Soundcloud, or our webpage.

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A Halloween Costume Candy Thing

Innocently this is a fun costume, with a dirty mind it's horrible.

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Hey Everybody, It's Episode 3 Of In Hindsight!

In this episode I look back at one of the most complex bars on the market, the Snicker's bar.

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This Week In Candy

Look at this, for the first time since moving back to Canada, This Week In Candy is on time.  I know it's not a big deal for you guys out there in Internet land, but I'm pretty happy about it.  I'd like to say that things are finally settled in, but our sea shipment is supposed to arrive this week, so it just means things will be unsettled pretty quickly.  One thing that I haven't done since moving back is restock my baking supplies.  Each time I go into a grocery store I spot a bag of flour or sugar and pine for a batch of banana bread or cupcakes.  The goal is to have the sea shipment mostly put away before we even start with re-filling the baking supplies, so it'll have to wait a little. Until then I'll just pine for a batch of Coca-Cola brownies.

This week we'll be keeping busy with the blog.  Tomorrow we'll be posting the 3rd installment of In Hindsight, our special video series where I look back at some of the reviews I've written in the past to see if they still hold up. You can check out the last two episodes here and here.  We'll also features our weekly Candy Thing and Candy in the Media, both with Halloween twists.  Snack Facts is still on hold, and likely will be for a little while still.

This week is also the first in our epic Halloween Candy Review-A-Thon.  We'll have a new Halloween candy review posted every day until Halloween, and on Halloween we hope to post a few reviews.  It's been a while since I've been in a country that really celebrates Halloween, so when I had the opportunity to get Halloween candy I went a little nuts.  Click here to check out the first review, and follow us on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with the new reviews added daily.

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Disney World Roundup (With Bonus Review)

I'm not sure how many people know this, but Disney World is really a foodie destination.  I think some people think that this theme park's best food offerings are corn dogs and chicken nuggets, but that's just not true. Granted these options are available, but this series of 4 theme parks, many resorts, and so much more offers some pretty amazing food as well as attractions.  There's everything from "fine dinning" to some pretty interesting niche snacks.

Since this is a blog about sweets, and candy, we'll start there.  Disney excels at some sweets, and fails almost completely with others.  When it comes to bakeries and hand made sweets, Disney has a huge assortment of things to try and almost none of them will let you down.  Some are classic Disney treats, like the famous Dole Whip, and others are far more unique and fancy, like pumpkin fudge (a special treat for the fall season).

Disney has also jumped onto the cupcake bandwagon with guns blazing.  Every single restaurant, bakery and many snack stands offer cupcakes.  Some are unique to their area of the parks, others are available all over the resort, almost every single one we tried was tasty, some were down right fantastic.  These weren't the only trends that  Disney seems to be trying out (we saw "cronuts"), but cupcakes are certainly the sweet treat that seems to be working for them.  They're all over the place, and there are some pretty amazing choices available. If you check some of the Disney World food blogs (yes these exist) you'll find that people collect these cupcakes like others collect Disney trading pins.

The good thing about their fine hand made and baked sweets is that they spread them throughout the resorts, including to the restaurants.  They've even taken the idea of dessert to a new level and started dessert parties.  These are parties that you pay extra for, and are associated with another event.  We went to the Star Wars dessert party, and it was pretty good.  The party consisted of a huge dessert spread in an indoor area with all kinds of Star Wars characters wandering around.  After the dessert party, we were ushered to a reserved spot for fireworks, and also given a special Chewbacca mug.  It was  a great night, and the food was constant.

Speaking of constant food, if we're to talk about the meals at Disney there are two descriptions that work, huge portion and fancier than you might think.  We had some days where we just felt sick at the end of the day.  One piece of advice that comes up on many Disney travel blogs is that sometimes you might want to share a meal.  I would say that most of the time you'll want to share a meal.  These massive portions were actually a down side for me.  The food was interesting, so I wanted to try as much as possible, but the portions are so big that you can't.  Since I'm a person that likes variety, I found myself really limited, and often overstuffed.

While the portions were a bit of a bummer, as the Candy Critic, I have one huge complaint about the sweets, and it breaks my hears since I'm a huge Goofy fan.  Disney has a few series of packaged snacks and candies including Goofy's Candy Company, Chip and Dales Snacks, and a few others.  These are prepackaged candies and snacks available everywhere in the resorts.  For the most part, I found these snacks to be very disappointing.  Most of them were just regular snacks packaged in Disney packages.  A few had Disney shapes when they could, but even that was limited.  I would think since they're putting so much money into creating some epic foods and hand made sweets throughout the parks that maybe they'd have some clever candies as well.  Alas that was not to be found, and you can read my review here to find out how disappointed I was.

All in all I would say that Disney World is expensive, but worth it. I don't see us going back in the near future, but not because we didn't have fun.  The portions were huge, and some of the flavours a little dulled down for North American palettes, but all in all I really enjoyed the food.  Some was OK, but most was surprisingly amazing.  If you're really into food, and you want to visit, I recommend visiting the Epcot Food and Wine Show (it was going on while we were there), it takes the surprising food variety of these parks and amps it up a bit.

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Candy In The Media

This is likely the creepiest Snickers commercial ever.

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The New Episode of Junk Fud News Is Online... Finally

In this episode we look back at all the fun things that happened in the junk food world for the month of September.

Click here to see older episodes of Junk Fud News, and if you want to subscribe to our YouTube or Soundcloud you can keep up with all our new episodes.

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A Halloween Cookbook Candy Thing

These recipes look so good, it's scary.

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