Read Treats and Beasts Right Now!

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A Candy Factor I'd Never Thought Of

When I designed candycritic.org, I thought that the main things I should examine are taste and texture. I added novelty because candy is fun, and it's a good catchall for elements that I maybe didn't think about. However, occasionally I feel like sound can also be an important part of enjoying candy. It could be an actual musical candy, it could be the satisfying crunch of a potato chip, or it could be the amazing sound that this newest candy review offers.  For now I'll include any rankings for sound in the novelty section, but maybe I'll make a list in the future of best sounding candies.

Check out this awesome, and very satisfying soundings candy right now.

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Cool Off And Watch This Video

 Who know that Andes Mints have been around so long?

My book Treats and Beasts hasn't been around nearly as long, but it is still a classic as well.

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Airport and Airplane Food To Oman, Qatar and Back

How do I put this, the food I ate while traveling to and from the Middle East was both very interesting and not at the same time. To be clear, we flew business class. While it seems like we've been doing this a lot lately, it has more to do with the current situation with airlines than it does with us being particularly fancy. First of all we found a really good deal with these business class flights, like really good. Secondly we had one overnight flight and several long waits in airports. This means we would get comfortable sleeping arrangements on the flight and lounge access in the airports. So it almost became worth the small amount extra to get business class... well sort of.

Our first flight was actually not business class, that's because the flight we took was a pretty short haul (prop plane), and they didn't even offer business class. This was also the most "interesting" meal we ate the entire journey. The photo does not give it justice because it just looks like a nice plate of butter chicken. The problem is that it was cold. When I say it was cold I don't mean it was heated up and then it didn't stay warm once it was delivered to me. This butter chicken was delivered to me as if it was a salad. Is this a thing?

Once we landed in Thailand (our first stop) we headed straight to the lounge... no we didn't. We headed straight to McDonalds. We went to McDonalds because the current place we live does not have a McDonalds. We seem to have a gift for living in countries that do not have the Golden Arches. Some might consider that a blessing, but I find that when I live in a place that doesn't have a McDonalds, I crave McDonalds all the time. So the first thing we did when we landed in an airport with a McDonalds is stop and get burgers.

We did eventually get to the lounge as we had a long layover and I picked up these absolutely beautiful desserts. The rose shaped tart was a mango tart and it was amazing. The cup dessert was the most fancy apple crumble I've ever seen in my life. It had blueberries and gold leaf added, which are both equally weird additions to apple crumble for completely different reasons. I'm starting to believe that apple desserts are considered fancy in South East Asia, even the ones we consider in North America to be very simple.

Somehow, after our first layover all we ate on the rest of our flights was breakfast. I think it had something to do with the long flights and how we were crossing over time zones. I'll be honest it was all a bit of a blur. We got onto our second flight of this adventure and prepared to sleep, which I didn't because I can't sleep on planes. I will however say, in good Candy Critic style, all of the breakfasts I selected were pretty much just desserts. It started with what I thought would be a couple of slices of banana bread (my favourite of all breads). I thought it would be a nice little snack to wake up to, instead it was probably the most over the top banana bread I've ever seen in my life.

It also came with a puck of butter. When I say puck, I mean the most perfectly round slab of butter ever created. I believe mathematicians could use this puck to calibrate their instruments.

I have a curiosity when it comes to sweets, so before getting off this flight I saw on the menu that as a snack they offered chocolate. There was no description of what kind of chocolate and how it would be delivered. At some point in the middle of the night the flight attendant saw that I was awake and asked if I wanted anything. Bleary eyed and confused I remembered that I saw the words chocolate on the menu, so I said "chocolate". She brought me back these, and they were pretty good. I mention this because it will come up again in the future. I also should mention that even though I wasn't hungry I ate both of these chocolates and while they tasted good, I don't think it was doing much for my health.

The third and final flight of this leg I decided to order waffles... and they gave me pancakes. I'm not sure where this breakdown happened, but everyone on the flight who ordered this got the same thing. I think it might be a language barrier or a simple mistake on the menu. As always my carbs came with a side of carbs and plenty of syrup and jam. Needless to say I was not feeling great after this.

We finally arrived in Muscat Oman, and had a wonderful time (I'll be posting about that later). After that portion of our trip it was time to head to Doha Qatar. This was a fairly short flight, but there were two things worth mentioning food wise about this leg. First of all I tried something in the lounge at the airport that I never thought about before, pineapple and mint juice. Adding mint to juice is a big thing in Oman, and I drank plenty of iced tea with mint throughout our trip, but pineapple juice? It strangely worked, really well. I would actually recommend giving it a try, but don't be stingy with the mint.

The flight offered a nice fancy meal, but the dessert (that round puck in the upper left hand) was amazing. It was some kind of custard treat that I could have eaten for the rest of my life. We arrived in Doha and also had a wonderful time (and once again I'll have more about that in its own post). 

After our great stop in Qatar we headed home (two flights). We left Doha at 1 am, so we decided to get to the airport around 9 and have a late dinner. Frankly the dinner in the lounge was okay, but kind of complicated. It was most complicated when the wifi didn't work for us at the airport and it turns out that if you want to see the menu of items at the lounge you "have" to scan a QR code. Fortunately they had a buffet with a few less items but it suited us well enough. While the food was fine, they had a few special items for the Chinese New Year including this beautiful and tasty orange dessert. I asked the person manning the dessert table which was the best, he said the chocolate cake was the most popular, but these orange desserts where a special for the New Year. I decided to go special over popular and I was not disappointed.

Our first flight home was another overnight flight that offered some kind of dinner at 1 am and then breakfast... again. I skipped dinner as we had just eaten in the airport, but opted to have breakfast. I thought I should get something sensible until I saw that they had a Nutella donut available. The thing about this donut is the menu said it was a "freshly made donut". I immediately assumed that they had a deep fryer on the plane and would be making them piping hot. I also assumed it wouldn't be gigantic. I was wrong on both accounts. While it looks very fancy, it was pretty average and cold in the middle.

I should also mention, on our flight back home that I ordered the mystery chocolate again, and once again it had no description. I had fond memories of the other chocolate I got on the earlier flight and I thought I would maybe get it again. I also should mention that I wanted some popcorn thinking it would be made fresh for some reason. This time however they gave me a Dairymilk bar instead of their fancy chocolates. I'd like to believe it's because they ran out of their fancy chocolates, but it also could have been how dirty and tired I looked on this last leg of our trip and the flight attendant just thought I wasn't fancy enough. The popcorn was also in bags and not fresh, but I did get both salted and caramel corn.

Our last leg we ate something that I don't really remember and I didn't get a picture. I was way too tired and just looking forward to going into my own bed. All in all the food we got while traveling on this journey was very fancy and tasty. We also got a pair of pyjamas to take home which is both weird but also amazing.

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The Questions I Get Part 1

I always enjoy talking to people about candy, and I can assure you that once anyone finds out that I do a website all about candy they have questions. While I do always enjoy these conversations, there are a few questions that come up again and again. I've decided to answer these questions here, most certainly not for the first time. I'm also pretty sure it's not the last time I'll hear these questions either.

Make sure to follow me on YouTube to keep up with all my new videos.

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Quality Literature is Treats and Beasts

 Make sure to pick up your own copy of Treats and Beasts.

You can also get all kinds of fun Treats and Beasts merch.

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Middle East Treats All Week!

I just got back from a fun adventure in the Middle East (Oman and Qatar to be exact). While there I ate a lot of great food, and found lots of candy to review. I thought I'd start off with a full week of special Middle Eastern treats in a fun review-a-thon. That means you'll find a new review every single day this week (assuming I don't sleep in) when you wake up in the morning. For this first review-a-thon I found a group of these candies that were actually somewhat similar, but also different.

Check out the current instalment in my Middle East candy review-a-thon right here, and check back (on candycritic.org or on my social media) every day for new reviews.

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Milkshake Candy Bar

 Of the many discontinued candy bars that I hear about, this is one I'd really like to try myself. The concept makes a lot of sense, and it seems like it would be popular today.

My comic book called Snack Facts might not be around forever as well, so why not pick up a copy right now.

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What To Do If You Run Out Of Salsa And Sour Cream.

When you're someone like me you do a taste test where you take every topping you have in your fridge and see if they work with corn chips. Fortunately the corn chip is a very versatile snack.

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Perfect For Everyone, Treats and Beasts

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For The Love of Sweets

Does anyone out there give their loved ones candy that is not Valentine's Day themed for Valentine's Day? I read an article recently that talked about the best places to get sweet gifts for those you love on Valentine's Day. The only difference is that this article suggested that people are more interested in getting regular candy, instead of the Valentine's Day candy. As it may surprise you, I don't actually give Allison candy too often for Valentine's Day, but that's because she can't really eat sweet treats. If I did give her candy I'd likely go for some chocolates or at the very least some cinnamon hearts. I just don't know if a Dairymilk bar is as romantic.

Check out my latest Valentine's Day review, I assure you it's on brand.

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Cotton Candy, Candy Floss, Fairy Floss

 I think we've all seen cotton candy getting made before, but maybe not on an industrial level.

If you want to see something I made, pick up my book called Treats and Beasts.

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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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Obviously You Should Get Treats and Beasts Right Now

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Sweet, It's a Potato

I feel like the sweet potato is one of the most underused ingredients in snacks, at least in North America. In parts of Asia the sweet potato is so common that you might even see it more often than regular potatoes. I think the thing that makes it unique is the fact that it really works well in both savory and sweet applications. The flavour is on the sweet side, but not so sweet that it doesn't work with a bit of salt. I've seen sweet potatoes as jams, cookie and chocolate fillings, coated in sugar, and as we see in today's new review, chips.

Check out my latest sweet potato snack review.

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A Snickers by any Other Name

I'm never really sure how this works, I think Snicker's bars are called Marathon bars in the UK, but a while back there was also a Marathon bar made by Snickers in North America.  I'd like to see all three versions of this bar in the same place at the same time.

Don't get confused, relax and pick up a copy of my comic book called Snack Facts.

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