Name That Doughnut

 I have a quick question for you, what do you call a small round doughnut? It seems like an odd question to ask because I’m sure you have an answer. I’m also sure that you believe your answer is the right and possible the only answer. 

The thing is, there are so many different words for these kinds of doughnuts. I’ve personally known this style of donuts by three different names. The first name I knew them as was doughnut holes.

Doughnut holes is a peculiar name for these treats because it suggests that they are the centre part of the doughnut that’s been cut out. I know that there are some doughnuts that are made by cutting circles of dough, then cutting out the centre, but that’s not always the case. In fact often doughnuts are made by extruding a round shape right into hot oil. There are also many kinds of doughnuts that do not have a hole in the middle (this is also problematic for the name doughnut), so it just seems a little bit of a lie. Doughnut hole, for me suggests a story of a doughnuts that may or may not be true, but it’s a narrative about how this shape came to be. One would imagine a crafty baker that didn’t want to waste dough.

The second name for these round doughnuts that I use, and still use to this day is Timbits. I know that this is a very branded name, but as a Canadian it’s something you just can’t avoid. In Canada using the word “Timbits” for small round doughnuts is like using the word “Kleenex” for facial tissues. I do my best to use the word only when referring to the small round doughnuts sold at Tim Horton’s, but I’m pretty sure it slips out for other small round doughnuts I see outside of Tim Horton’s. I’ll also be honest with you, when I’m in Canada Timbits are pretty much the only small round doughnuts I eat.

The third name I’ve used for these doughnuts is very specific to a 4 year period of my life, and that’s loukoumades. I spent four years living in Greece, and just about every loukoumades I saw there was a small round doughnut. I even made some myself and I shaped them as small round balls. I’m pretty sure the direct translation of loukoumades is doughnut, but since they’re almost always sold as small round balls, I feel like the word fits into the category.

For all of you Americans out there, I haven’t forgotten about you. The word munchkins is what many Americans call their small round doughnuts. The name come from Dunkin’ (Donuts), and has been around for a really long time. While I recognize that name for this style of doughnuts, it’s just not a word that I’ve used having never lived in the USA. I know that there are Dunkin’ locations outside of the USA, but honestly I’ve never really seen the munchkins as something I would regularly get at Dunkin’ since they have some pretty cool regular sized doughnuts to choose from.

I’ve had a long history of eating small round doughnuts, and the name has evolved based on my age and where I’ve lived. I’m curious if you have a different name for these round doughnuts. Drop a comment and let me know what you call them.

Tim Hortons in the Middle East

 For all of you Canadians traveling to the Middle East, know this, you will likely find a Tim Horton's near you. When I first started traveling to the Middle East (Dubai I believe), there were tales of a few Tim Horton's locations in that part of the world (I would seek them out whenever I could). Recently I went on a trip to Oman and Qatar, and there were Tim Horton's all over the place. I've actually learned that there are hundreds of Tim Horton's locations in the Middle East at this very moment.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, or why this is a little bit odd, let me explain. Tim Horton's is a chain of Canadian doughnut and coffee shops. I would argue that if you're in Canada, you're more likely to come across a Tim Horton's over a McDonalds. I've visited very small towns, large cities and even very rural truck stops with Tim Horton's locations. In some ways this coffee shop has become a part of Canadian culture, even if it means complaining about how it isn't as good as it used to be. 

Over the last few years, I've started to notice that Tim Horton's has decided to spread itself out into the world, including the USA, Thailand and apparently Middle East just to name a few places. The great thing is that it never looses its Canadian spirit. In the Middle East however, I feel like there's something extra going on. In most non-Canadian Tim Horton's locations, there's something about them that makes you feel like you're in a Tim Horton's themed restaurant rather than an actual Tim Horton's. Something that makes you feel like it's a place for people to have a Canadian experience almost like Epcot at Disney World. The difference is, in all of the locations I've visited in the Middle East, it feels more like a regular Tim Horton's, as if the people just enjoy Tim Horton's for being Tim Horton's and not a special Canadian place.

Having said that, there are a few differences between Tim Horton's in the Middle East and Tim Horton's in Canada, and I'm going to name a few.

The one thing I noticed is that they don't have a specialty doughnut feature, instead they have many special doughnuts all of the time. At Tim Horton's in Canada, I feel like there's one, maybe two special doughnuts available at any time, each available for a limited time. In the Middle East they have a bunch of specialty doughnuts available all of the time. This includes:

A very serious Oreo cookie doughnut.

And a tasty Lotus cookie butter doughnut.

On top of having a boat load of specialty doughnut available all of the time, they also offer a few unique treats as well. First of all they offer a pistachio doughnut that actually tasted pretty good. It wasn't just pistachio nuts sprinkled on a doughnut, they also flavoured the icing.

Did I mention that they offer many Timbit versions of their speciality doughnuts as well.

They also offer many different mint themed drinks, since mint is a very popular flavour in the Middle East to add to drinks. This includes this very tasty mint lemonade that was made with real mint and very mint forward.

They also have something called a Zaatar Croissant which is available on its own or with a halloumi cheese sandwich. Zaatar is the green herb you see on the outside of the croissant. I'm not really sure what it is, but it adds a nice herb flavour to the croissant.

One of the more interesting differences I found between Canadian and Middle East Tim Horton's is the way they glaze their doughnuts. In Canada glaze is pretty much a hard sugar crust on the outside of your doughnut. In the Middle East they seem to go with a syrup that soaks into the doughnut instead. While I wouldn't call it better than the Canadian version, it's pretty unique and worth giving a try.

I've been very lucky to travel the world, and sample Tim Horton's in many places. Some might find it a little weird to go into a Canadian doughnut shop when you're a Canadian traveling abroad, but I find it a little comforting. First of all I'm away from home more than I'm at home, so it's a little taste of home when I need it. Secondly it's nice to see that people appreciate one of the great Canadian traditions all over the world. In the Middle East they not only appreciate it, but I feel like they treat it very well. Every time I've gone into a Tim Horton's in the Middle East I see people just relaxing, enjoying their drink or treat, talking, or just contemplating whatever has crossed their mind.

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Timbits In Thailand

I'm a Canadian through and through, I'm so Canadian that I believe it is my duty to visit each and every Tim Horton's that I can. Whenever I travel to any country that has a Tim Horton's I'm sure to check in and pick up a donut or a few Timbits. There are probably a few people reading this that didn't know that Tim Horton's had spread out globally, and maybe even a few of you have no idea what Tim Horton's is at all. For those who are completely unfamiliar, Tim Horton's is an iconic donut and coffee shop in Canada. If you ever visit any city in all of Canada, chances are they have a Tim Horton's. Chances are also good that the locals either love the place, or love to complain about how it's gone downhill and not worth visiting.

For those familiar with Tim Horton's, but didn't know that they're global then you might be a little surprised. I've visited a few Tim Horton's locations in my life, including UAE and China. The one thing I can say about all of the international locations I've visited is they each take the theme and make it their own. UAE is probably the most similar to a regular Tim Horton's, with a few custom creations. China is more like a Canadian themed restaurant, with less focus on the donuts. Thailand is probably closer to the Tim Horton's from Canada, but it's still a little more Canadian themed restaurant like. They offer a few of the classic Tim Horton's treats, but many of their treats are just a little different. I've decided that the best way to show you is by picking up a box of assorted Timbits and rating each one. Allison and I picked up 10 Timbits and got 5 different flavours. We'll start with the standards, then move our way to the more unique.

Chocolate Glazed - The nice thing about this donut was that it was pretty much exactly the same as the Canadian equivalent. I'm happy they offer a few of the classics so Canadians can feel a little taste of home, and locals can taste a little Canadian authenticity. Allison was particularly happy because this is her go to Timbit.

Strawberry Snow - While this goes by a different name than I remember, the Strawberry Snow is basically just a strawberry powdered Timbit. This isn't a donut I'd seen much on my recent stay in Canada, but I do remember them from when I was a kid. The "snow" name is also clever as many people in South East Asia have never actually seen snow and see Canada as a beautiful white land during the winter.

Chocolate Snow - While the concept is the same as the Strawberry Snow, I don't have any memories of there being a chocolate powdered donut at Tim Horton's in the past. Let me know if I'm wrong, but this seems like a different variation. It's also a variation  I think people would really enjoy in Canada (this is going to be a theme from here on out).

Chocolate Truffle - This Timbit now holds the title for the most decadent Timbit I've ever eaten. What you have is a chocolate Timbit, covered in a dark chocolate coating, which then has real chocolate curls on the outside. It was the more rich Timbit I've ever tasted in my life. I feel like this would probably be a really popular Timbit in Canada with one problem. I feel like Tim Horton's would lose money selling this in Canada because it's obviously made with good quality chocolate (expensive) and you pretty much just have to eat one Timbit and you're full.

Maple Coffee - If I could somehow transport a Timbit to you through the internet, this would be the one I send. This Timbit is pretty much the poster child for flavours of Tim Horton's, a Canadian coffee chain. It's a vanilla Timbit with maple icing that's then liberally dusted with coffer crunchy bits (maybe even some real coffee). While I'm not a huge fan of coffee myself, I can't deny that the flavours worked, and created something that just made me feel patriotic at every bite.

These were my 5 Timbits. I've mentioned before, but now that I'm living in South East Asia again, I feel like I'll be visiting Bangkok a few times over the next few years. It's a comfortable place for me, and the fact that there's a Tim Horton's only makes it more comfortable.

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Bangkok Snacking

 We recently got back from a quick trip to Thailand, and boy are my arms tired. That's a really lame joke, and not very relatable to my trip. It would be more appropriate to say that our stomachs are totally stuffed instead of our arms being tired because we filled up on all kinds of great food. What you have to know about this trip before you continue reading is two things. First of all we have been to Bangkok many times, we've lived in South East Asia for several years in the past, and we're living there now. The second thing you should know is something I just said, we live in South East Asia right now. What that means is we're not really going crazy over the South East Asianess of this adventure. We can get street food, great hot pot and all kinds of rice and noodle dishes where we live. In some ways we go to a big city like Bangkok to get a little big city life as well as western food. So don't complain that we did South East Asia poorly on this adventure because we pretty much live it every single day.

As I said, this is a quick journal highlighting some of the things we ate on this adventure. I feel like this is an interesting representation of Thai eating from the perspective of people who lives in South East Asia, and haven't seen a McDonalds in months.

Needless to say, the first thing we ate when we got into the airport was McDonalds. It was nothing special, just a way to get that craving out of the way and eat something quickly before the long cab ride to our hotel. Those of you who have visited Bangkok before know that you need to be prepared for a long cab ride from the airport and fueling up (along with a bathroom break) is essential.

The next morning... McDonalds again (this will be a reoccurring theme). We had a busy day planned and we just wanted to get breakfast quick and we all know that McDonalds breakfast is a travelers dream. The cool thing about this particular breakfast at McDonalds is that I managed to sample one of the Thailand McDonalds exclusives the McPatongko. It's basically a crispy deep fried donut that comes with a condensed milk dipping sauce. Happy that I tried it, but didn't feel the need to get them again.

When we visit Thailand, there are certain places we always like to get food. We'll often go back again and again until we're kind of sick of it, or at the very least until we no longer feel like we'll regret not going one more time. Something you learn traveling in certain parts of the world is that some foods are more dangerous than others when it come to food born illness. Most seasoned travelers will tell you that meat it not the true danger, ice cubes and lettuce are the silent killers. Because we live in South East Asia, in a place that could be a danger for food born illness, we don't often get to enjoy a good salad. The great news is that we know a place in Thailand that not only offers a clean safe salad, but the salads they make are excellent. This place is known as Jones's Salad, and I feel like we ate there at least 3 times on this adventure, and we certain stopped there on our first day.

For those of you looking for something a little more South East Asian, this is your time to shine. Another one of my always first day must have foods is mango sticky rice, bought off of the street. I have two vendors that I always frequent, and they've never disappointed. Mango sticky rice will always be the first and last dessert I get on any trip to Bangkok. Sometimes I'll get one or two in between as well, I believe I've even had a trip where I got a serving of this amazing dessert each and every day of my stay. As a person who loves sweets, I can easily tell you that a well made mango sticky rice is the best dessert on offer in the entirety of Thailand, maybe even in all of South East Asia.

Our next stop in Bangkok makes the least sense of them all, Tim Horton's. Sure we lived in Canada just a few months ago, but for some reason I just can't stop in a city with a Tim Horton's without seeing what they have on offer. For those of you that don't know, Tim Horton's has had great success with locations all over Asia. I love the idea of seeing how these international locations differ and how they're the same as the classic Canadian shops. I'd like to tell you all about that right here, but you'll have to wait a little while as I'm currently writing a blog dedicated to my experience eating Timbits in Thailand.

For one of our lunches we decided to get some Japanese tonkatsu. It was a fine meal, however the interesting part of it was the decorations. The entire restaurant was filled with fun tonkatsu characters all dressed up for Christmas. I found the fact that little pigs were celebrating the holiday season right next to breaded pork cutlets to be a little weird, but that's mostly because I was raised to disassociate my food from the animal. In most Asian cities it's celebrated.

The one thing Allison can't resist when we go to Thailand is Sao Ping. Once again, all of you out there who think that we overdo western food in Thailand, you'll enjoy this. Sao Ping is a fried bean based cake that's a very common street food. They have various fillings and can even have differing ingredients in the cake, but they all have a similar texture and always taste great warm. I've seen them for sale in a few bakeries and grocery stores, but I always feel like the street version is the best. This is probably because of their very short shelf life. While they taste fine a little old, they're so much better fresh off of the heat.

One thing that seems to be constantly growing in all parts of Asia is ice tea. Milk tea, boba tea, and fruit teas run rampant at every corner. There are combinations of these teas, speciality version and over the top dessert ice teas available everywhere. I decided to jump into this trend head first and tried something called a Dirty Nutella Milk Tea. It consisted of a chocolate milk tea, chocolate sauce, many generous scoops of Nutella at the bottom, and oddly marshmallow used like boba balls. The marshmallows were the strangest part, but kind of fun to hunt down throughout the drink. Getting the occasional mouth full of Nutella was fun, but also pretty heavy. While I did enjoy this sweet treat, it left me more thirsty than when I started.

For our last meal we decided to sit down to some shabu shabu. The great thing about shabu shabu is it allows everyone to get a lot of whatever they want. We of coarse stuffed ourselves silly, but I didn't pass up the free scoop of ice cream for dessert.

Given the fact that I just stuffed my face with a great deal of meat a vegetables, I thought I'd give the charcoal ice cream a taste. It made sense since charcoal is known to help with an upset stomach, and it's ice cream, so it'll make it fun too. It actually tasted pretty good, but I can't say it did much to settle my stomach considering the amount we ate.

My final treat, you guessed it, McDonalds. This time I blame the fact that I had 45 minutes between the time we checked out of the hotel to the time we needed to get picked up for our cab ride back to the airport. I did however manage to get another Thailand signature dessert. It's the pineapple pie a la mode. There are so many great things about this dessert that make me wonder why all McDonalds can't have this. First of all the pie is deep fried, unless the filling of a McDonalds pie is ultra unique, I really only go for the deep fried pies. Secondly the pineapple is a fun filling, maybe not something I'd always order, but once in a while it's supper tasty. Finally, putting it in ice cream is a brilliant move. I'm sure if they don't actually offer this at your local McDonalds you could probably just get a sundae and put your pie in it, but I'm kind of lazy, so I've never done that before.

Seeing as we're back in Asia for a few years, I seriously doubt this will be my last stop in Bangkok. I might write another recap, but frankly most of my trips to Bangkok look a lot like this one. 

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Double Vision?

To me, this candy totally makes sense, but that's because I'm Canadian. While I'm not sure if this is the most Canadian candy ever made, I'm pretty sure it only makes sense if you are Canadian. To understand this bar you have to be familiar with a Coffee Crisp and Tim Horton's. To Canadians both of these things are very familiar, I would even say that these are every day foods in Canada. Some Canadians might not even realise that these are Canadian exclusives since they're so common in Canada.

Click here to find out if this Canadian candy represented us well.

Also be sure to check out my very Canadian Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds.

You can also read my not so Canadian comic called Snack Facts.

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10 Second Kitchen - Tim Horton's Shanghai

This is a shot of the first Tim Horton's kitchen in China.

Check out the Candy Critic map to find out exactly where it is.

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Tim Horton's, China Edition

A few months ago, Allison and I decided that we would plan a trip to Shanghai, China. Since we're living in Asia right now, the distance wasn't too far, and we had a long weekend to use for just such an adventure. The focus of our adventure was going to be Shanghai Disneyland (you'll be able to read more about that later), but with an early flight into the city, we decided to spend our first day in Shanghai proper.

We didn't know what we were going to do on this day. We would have just got off a strange midnight to 5 am flight, likely with little sleep. The only thing we knew for sure is we wanted to walk along the Bund. Other than that we had nothing planned until we checked into our hotel in the afternoon at Disneyland. We asked a few friends about what we should see, and got a list of fun neighbourhoods and sights to check out. Then it dawned on us, we had heard rumours that there were Tim Horton's opening up in China, and Shanghai would be the perfect city to do this. We did a little research and were delighted to find that this was the case, and that the one location (two more have opened in the last few days) was well within our touring plans.

While it would have been great to make Tim Horton's our first stop in Shanghai, geographically it didn't make any sense. We decided instead to start with the Bund, and work our way into the city towards the People's Square (where the TIm Horton's is located). The day pretty much happened as expected. We wandered around Shanghai finding a few snacks and treats to sample along the way, but we always kept a bit of room for some Timbits (and whatever else we might come across at Tim Horton's). It was a fun day seeing the sights and enjoying the vibe of  the city, and it wasn't until after lunch that we finally came to the doorway.

When we came to the door it was as if we were back in Canada. The sign is perfect, even slightly understated (very Canadian). There were a few advertisements stuck to the window as well promoting things that seemed very Tim Horton's and the might have even been recognizable (it's been a little while since I've been back in Canada). But the outside is where any similarities to a regular Tim Horton's stopped.

Once you walked into this place the decor took a drastic change. There was a lot of wood and heavy tables and chairs. There were also neatly stacked mugs and bags of coffee stacked for sale in an elegant display in the middle of the store. The decorations were much more modern than one might find at a regular Tim Horton's, but most interesting was the employees uniforms. They were all wearing bright red plaid lumberjack shirts. Stranger still was the lack of any kind of doughnut rack. Instead there was a glass display case with the various doughnuts available displayed under glass. I'd never seen Timbits displayed on a slate black stone plate before, fancy to say the least.

The look was a bit jarring, but the menu did have a few things to make you feel comfortable. It was a little odd to actually see a book style menu as well. I'm glad the menu was there though because there were a few different items available, and these menus provided a good way to communicate with the people taking your order. My favourite part of the menu was the full description of what a Double-Double was and how to order it. While a few menu items tempted us, we thought that Timbits and coffee would be the prudent thing to order. We also thought it would be quick, and just in case we couldn't get a table, something we could carry outside if necessary.  Did I mention that the place was packed, it made me happy to see so many Chinese people celebrating Canada.

This is the part where things kind of fell apart a little. First of all they don't offer Timbits the same way that most Tim Horton's offer Timbits. It appears that you could only order Timbits in batches of six. We asked for assorted (since the example Timbits in the glass case didn't mention what flavour was available), when we said we wanted assorted, the girl helping us looked at us strangely. It seems like the only way one can order Timbits in this location is to buy a box of six different Timbits. It worked find for us, but if you had a craving for a full box of chocolate dipped you might be out of luck.

This is what you get if you order 1 Timbit... how cute.

Remember that they didn't have doughnut racks, so that meant that the donuts had to come from the busy kitchen. The thought was that they had racks, but they might be in the back, out of the way. As it turns out, this might not have been the case. We waited a good 20 (or 30) minutes for our Timbits to be prepared. I was peeking into the kitchen and I spotted an employee carefully preparing our Timbits, one at a time. This did turn our quick Timbit grab into a longer adventure, but a table opened up in that time, so it worked in our favour. I'm not sure if this slow Timbit issue is just a kink to be worked out, so I'm willing to give them a pass on that. I'm particularly willing to give them a pass because of the quality of the Timbits we finally got.

We ordered 12 Timbits, and we each got a box of six, the math works I guess. In each box were 6 carefully decorated Timbits that were frankly beautiful. Two in particular were absolute masterpieces (one was a little too strange for Allison). There was a maple iced Timbit that was covered so carefully with just the right amount of maple icing., but the real hero was a Timbit that was coated with chocolate icing, and then sprinkled on top was some kind of amazing chocolate powder/milk chocolate. These two doughnuts were just amazing, well beyond anything I've ever seen at a Canadian Tim Horton's.

The chocolate glazed, sprinkled, and cherry powdered Timbits were pretty close to what you might get at home with one exception. In the case of all of these doughnuts, they were far less sweet than what you find in a Canadian Tim Horton's. I imagine that this is a change made to deal with Chinese tastes, and it was a really nice twist. It helped the flavour of these Timbits come through a little bit better, and if you're like Allison, the lack of extra sugar is a plus.

The last Timbit was truly the strange one in the mix, and most certainly the one geared towards Asian tastes. It was a cheese filled powdered Timbit. It wasn't cream cheese though, it was a creamy version of something I would describe as similar to cheddar. While this seems like something out of left field, cheese doughnuts are actually pretty common in Asia. While it wasn't my favourite, I'm glad I had the chance to taste it.

All it all I would say that we had a pretty good visit to Tim Horton's in Shanghai. It didn't really fill the nostalgia hole I was hoping, but it was fun to see. A friend asked me later if it felt like I was in a Tim Horton's in Canada, and I'd have to say that the answer is no. It felt more like I was in a Tim Horton's themed restaurant. It was a little bit too fancy and complicated to feel like a Canadian Tim Horton's. There was also a lot of Canadianana being thrown in my face from all angle. The lumberjack shirts, the wood everywhere, and the general Canadian iconography all over the place (hockey sticks as door handles) made it feel like it was trying so hard to be Canadian. I would by no means call this place a failure, but for Canadians looking for a taste of home, it's a little strange.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with any of our travel and snacking adventures.

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Visiting Canada? Here's 3 Foods That We (as Canadians) Never Miss When We Go Home.

I was inspired on my last visit to pay attention to the foods that I just can't miss when I go back home. There were a few others that almost made the list, but these 3 are ones that I just can't live without.

Check out our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feed to keep up with all of our adventures.

And also be sure to follow us on YouTube to find out when we post a new video.

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This Week In Candy

I've decided to go on a bulk buying extravaganza.  I came across 20 dollars in our candycritic.org budget, and I've decided to spend it on bulk candy.  There's a chain of bulk food stores in Canada called Bulk Barn (I know it's a silly name, but it's really an amazing place), and I've decided that I'm going to spend the money there.  I love buying bulk candy because it allows me to buy a huge variety of treats without having to buy a huge quantity.  When you buy in bulk there's often no minimum, so you can go into a store, put one gummy bear in a bag, and pay for it. It reminds me of the old days of penny candy, which as far as I can tell no longer exists anywhere.  So I've got a few bucks to spend at a bulk store, what do you recommend I get? Let me know in the comments, on Twitter, or Facebook.

This week we're also posting some great new content, including a new episode of our podcast Junk Fud On The Road.  Junk Fud On The Road is all about the places and foods Allison and I have discovered all over the world.  This episode is about one of our favourite foodie places, the UK. I know it's not really a country, but a collection of countries attached to an island, we just couldn't help ourselves.

This week we'll also be posting a few new additions to the Doughnut Project, this is where I attempt to sample as many different Tim Horton's doughnuts as I can.  Since it's Rrrrroll Up The Rim To Win time, I find myself going to Tim Horton's fairly often no a days. For those that don't understand Rrrrrroll Up The Rim To Win, it's an annual contest at Tim Horton's where you have to roll the rim of your cup up to find out what you've won.  It's a contest that's so popular in Canada that it makes the news every year. As of this morning I've only one a free coffee, but I'm hoping my luck changes. Make sure to check out the Doughnut Project on our Instagram feed.

This week's new candy review comes from our latest episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! The candy was a gift from some friends that went on vacation in Cambodia, and they picked me up some rather strange treats. This one had the most unique packaging ever, but I'm not sure how it affected the candy itself.  Click here to check out the latest review.

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This Week In Candy

I've been working on the article all about winter themed candy ideas, and it lead to a new idea.  I was asking my friend Jess about some winter themed candy ideas when she started to get into the idea of Canadian candy ideas.  Since Canada is turning 150 years old this year, it sounds like designing some special edition Canadian candies would be a good idea.  I'm still at the early stages of this idea, however if you can think of some good ingredients, flavours or themes for Canadian candies, let me know.

Speaking of Canadian candies, not too many people seem to be interested in my campaign to get Tim Horton's to make a Beavertail style doughnut.  I'm still going to keep pushing it, but I really need your help too.  Call your local MP, write to the Prime Minister, at the very least make sure to post our fun little graphic (found here) on Facebook or Twitter.

This week on candycritic.org, we should be posting the latest episode of Junk Fud On The Road, all about the UK.  Hopefully we'll also post the special article all about winter themed candies that we've designed (as we mentioned above). We're also starting to think of fun future adventures later in the year, and gearing up for a big one (but we'll talk more about that later).

As for this week's review, it's a "new" variety of Sour Patch Kids, that I hope sticks around for a little while.  In fact I hope they keep trying new varieties as I think these gummies work really well with alternative flavours.  Click here to read the review.

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This Week In Candy

I have a mission. Allison has recently inspired a mission that I feel the whole world (or at the very least Canada) must achieve. We as people of earth must convince Tim Horton's to make a Beaver Tail inspired doughnut.  This would achieve the greatest, and most, Canadian thing every accomplished and what could be better than that? The thing is I cannot achieve this mission alone, I need your help. I've posted an image (click here to see the image) that I encourage you to share, and make sure to include @BeaverTails and @TimHortons in the post. Tell them that you want a #BeaverTailDoughnut, and you want it now!

I don't want anything in return except the opportunity to sink my teeth in into a Beaver Tails Doughnut. Check our Facebook and Twitter for regular updates on our noble mission.

Speaking of doughnuts, we're still adding all kinds of doughnuts to our newest project, the Doughnut Project on Instagram. Our continuing goal to sample every doughnut Tim Horton's has to offer (and hopefully one day this will include a Beaver Tail doughnut) is going well, and we've now decided to include Timbits. This week we're also recording (and hopefully posting, the latest episode of Junk Fud On The Road, I believe this episode will be all about the UK.

This week's new candy review is a classic bar that I was so convinced I had already reviewed, I taped an episode of In Hindsight early this year about it.  As it turns out I hadn't even reviewed it yet, so looking back on the review was a little silly. Instead I decided to rectify the missing review and make sure it was well represented.  Click here to read about my favorite white chocolate bar.

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This Week In Candy

The food poisoning from last week is finally gone.  I can't say that we're 100% healthy, but we're (Allison got sick too) getting stronger every day.  We're also finally eating regular meals, and regular desserts as well. This is perfect timing, because we're just about to head off on our next adventure, India.  I've never been to India before, but it is a foodie destination, and there are lots of sweet treats that I'm very excited to try. I can't say that I'm not a little worried about getting food poisoning again, but I'll just have to be a little bit careful.  Anybody out there have any suggestions on must try treats in India?

This week we're making up for lost time.  First and foremost we're going to post a new episode of Junk Fud On the Road.  It should have been online two week's ago, but talking about food when you have food poisoning is no fun at all.  Because of the food poisoning incident, we won't have a new episode of Junk Fud History this month.  This week however we're going to post a special article, possibly the first in a sporadic series where we compare marshmallows to Circus Peanuts.  For this article we're comparing the two soft treats in how well they work in Rice Krispie Treats.  Check back later this week to see how the Circus Peanuts compared.

This week on Snack Facts, our Instagram feed, we're looking at Tim Horton's.  Every day this week we'll post a new fun fact about my favorite doughnut shop.  You can follow Snack Facts on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

This week's review was a gift from some friends of mine who just returned from a trip to Australia.  They picked me up a few treats, but these "Pods" intrigued me.  In the end they turned out to be the most disappointing treat I've ever loved.  Click here to find out why.

CC

Another Update Of My Canadian Adventures

Well it's been a while since I've been able to sit at my laptop and collect my Canadian candy/junk food/treat thoughts, so this post is going to be a long one.  Some of these experiences have been mentioned on our Twitter feed, Facebook page, and Tumblr page already, but I'll get into a little more detail.  A few of these fun adventures are new as well. This first photo is of a peanut plant, and I can't say that I've ever seen one before.  It's on my friend's organic farm, and hopefully he'll send me a photo of the crop once it's ready.

For the next few photos I'm going to talk a little bit about the fast food that I've sampled on this journey.  This first photos is of the new Wendy's pretzel burger.  I'm not really sure why they call it a pretzel burger because the bun isn't really pretzel like at all.  I guess it kind of looks like a pretzel, but that doesn't cut it for me.  I think the dough should have been much more dense, and maybe a sprinkling of salt on the top would have worked.

This next treat is what I consider to be the best and worst idea of the trip so far.  Some might argue, but I'm pretty sure that Toronto has the best quality street hot dogs in the world.  Those that argue that New York has better street hot dogs are delusional.  The meat and topping selection in Toronto street meat is second to none.  While I do believe that Toronto hot dogs are the best, they will still often lead to indigestion.

Another important stop for us whenever we're in Toronto is Burrito Boyz.  Toronto has had a big influx of burrito places over the last few years, and I'm sure some might say that there's better burritos out there. The thing is Burrito Boyz is pretty tasty, and it's been our favorite burrito place since we first started going out.

This pizza is the thing of legend. No we didn't take a side trip to Chicago, this is all Hamilton Ontario.  There's a little place hidden in the backstreets of this steel town called "Chicago Style Pizza" that offers what I can only describe as the best pizza in the world.  It's full of cheese and ingredients, and will make you regret eating it the minute you stand up.  The meat lovers version of this pizza is called "No Self Respect", and it's true.

You can't visit Canada and not eat copious amounts of meat, it's un-patriotic.  I'd just like to ad that only 4 people pretty much polished this platter of dead animals off in one sitting.  We weren't proud, but we were full.

This place has the best sign ever, and being a photographer I love the name too.  Unfortunately it's out of business.  I've noticed a few grilled cheese places out of business on this trip.  It appears that I've completely missed the grill cheese craze.  Was it good, was it something worth doing, or was it just a silly fad?

The person that thought of mixing Jamaican and Italian cuisine together is either a genius or a monster.  The place was closed when I walked by it the other day, but I sense I might have to check it out later.

We decided that a road trip to Niagara was in the cards this past week, and no trip to Niagara is complete without visiting Maple Leaf Fudge.  This is probably my favorite fudge shop in the world. They had a few new interesting flavours on hand to sample including peach, butter tart, and maple bacon.  I decided that I would just go for a simple slice of chocolate nut, but I'll be back.

Allison told me that I couldn't have a full bowl of Froot Loops. She did agree that I could throw a few on top of my Cherios though.  As it turns out a few Froot Loops sprinkled in a bowl of Cherios is pretty good.  The sweet fake fruit flavour is well balanced with the nutritious grain flavour. If you're the type of person that normally sweetens their cereal with a little sugar, you may want to consider sweetening your healthy cereal with sugary cereal instead.

I'm not sure what I think of this "World's Largest  Hershey's Kiss".  It's not really a giant Kiss, and more of a thin shell of chocolate, holding a bunch of regular Kiss's.  I was thinking of picking it up, but in the end I decided that it just seemed like a rip off.  If you're going to sell me a giant Kiss, it better be solid and covered in foil.

On our trip to Hamilton Allison informed me that there was a Tim Horton's that sold a particular style of Timbit.  This style of Timbit is only available in 6 Tim Hortons around the world. The question is, was it worth searching it out...

The answer is yes.  In fact I encourage ever  Tim Hortons to carry this awesome Timbit, that way I don't have to travel so far to get it.  What you have here is a vanilla sour cream Timbit, covered in  chocolate glaze.  Here's a tip from Allison, while this Timbit is tasty fresh, as a day old it's even better.  The glaze gets a little crunchy a day later, and the sour cream dough is still soft.  It adds an interesting texture to this already tasty donut.

Speaking of Tim Hortons, did you know  that they have rules as to how many donuts they can fit in each bag.  Personally I don't think you should ever put any donut in this bag if it has icing.  I'm tempted to order 10 Timbits one day, and see if they'll put it in a bag anyways.  Then I'll complain to the management.

One night Allison and I visited Allison's family at their country home.  Every few years this farm produces some maple syrup from the local trees.  I was asked if I wanted to make some maple candy with their home made syrup, and being who I am, I couldn't refuse.  I learned a few interesting facts about maple syrup that night.

First of all I learned that you can freeze maple syrup.  Now any syrup experts out there correct me if I'm wrong, but all you have to do is put your syrup in the freezer, then when you're ready to us it, just let it thaw.  The crystals will simply break apart and in no time you have perfectly tasty syrup ready to go.  The second thing I learned is that I'm not really great at making candy, but I'm still good at eating it.

A couple of days ago we spent some time with our friends Adriana and Alessandra. Adriana is a former pastry chef (and often advisor for this blog), and her daughter Alessandra has tasted Nutella on more things than anyone I know (I'm told that it's surprisingly tasty on flank steak).  We spent a few days hanging out with them, playing board games, and most importantly talking food.  Alessandra introduced me to microwave cookies, made in a mug or ramekin.

It's a similar idea to cooking cake in  mug (which I highly recommend  you try), so you have to be sure not to over cook it.  If you're siting at home right now, and you want a cookie, than all it takes is a few basic ingredients, a microwave, and a mug.  It's really tasty, and with a scoop of ice cream, it will satisfy all of your sweet cravings.

Finally Adriana gave me a pie.  When a pastry chef gives you a pie that they made at home you might as well kill yourself when you finish eating it, because it's all down hill from there.  This pie made from fresh berries was amazing.  Best of all she let me help her make it.  Adriana is so good at making pies that she will often substitute money for her desserts, and it works.  Imagine paying for your gym membership with pie, that's how good her desserts are.

Well that's it for  now from my adventure in Canada.  I'll try to post another entry later in my journeys.

CC