Happy Halloween!

I hope all you ghouls  and ghost get more treats than tricks.

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A Random Video - I Eat Gum From A Toy Car... Yup, That's Random.

I don't know why I find this to be so strange, but a free piece of gum in a toy car is just a little odd to me. Strange since I think a piece of gum in collectable cards is totally normal.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to see some of the  other fun stuff we did in Japan.

Also follow us on YouTube to keep up with all our crazy videos and podcasts.

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This Week In Candy

Every once in a while someone will hand me desserts and ask my opinion.  Often I will be told that if I'm not willing to give my opinion, then I will not be given the dessert.  It's a pretty interesting problem to have.  It's great because I'm always offered desserts, even when it's not really appropriate (having said that dessert is always appropriate in my opinion).  It's not always great because then I have to scrutinize whatever it is that I'm eating, and if it's not great, I'm not really sure what to do.  It can be awkward standing in someones kitchen eating cookies out of their refrigerator when there's a dinner party going on in the next room, only to have to tell them that I didn't really like their cookies.

This week I was given the poached pears you see above.  It was actually given to Allison to be given to me, as long as I promised to write about it.  Fortunately it was a fine batch of poached pears.  This can be a tricky dessert since if you poach the pears for too short a period the red wine is too acidic and alcoholic, and if you poach them for too long the wine turns to a sickly sweet syrup.  What you want, and what I got, is a nice fruity flavour, with no acid kick back.  The creamy cheese like topping was fine, and cut into the fruity flavour just perfectly, and I really enjoyed the pistachios as well.  I personally could have used more cheese like topping, but that's a personal choice.

This week I'm feeling a little strawberry like.  I can't explain it, but once in a while I just crave these tasty little berries.  So all this week on Snack Facts (our Instagram feed), we're looking at Strawberries.  Tune in each and every day this week for a new fact about this sweet berry.  If you don't use Instagram, don't worry, you can follow Snack Facts on our Facebook page and Twitter feed as well.

To keep with my strawberry mood, this week's review is one of the strangest strawberry flavoured snacks I've had in a while.  Unfortunately it didn't solve my strawberry cravings, so I might just have to go out and try and find a pint of strawberries to munch on later this afternoon.  Click here to see why this treat didn't fulfill my strawberry cravings.

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This Week In Candy

Over the last few week's I've become obsessed with Dutch foods.  Until visiting this great place, I'd never really known how great their food traditions were.  Most importantly I'd never known how much they love crazy, and tasty treats.  Last week I posted about my visit to the Netherlands, this week we're posting about licorice on Snack Facts, and next week I'm working on an article about hagelslag.  I also have a Dutch licorice review-a-thon planned for the near future.

Last week at the Candy Critic offices, we did something that we have to do about 3 times a year, clean out our candy stash.  Somehow candy accumulates around here, I'm not really sure how since we do eat a lot.  When candy accumulates beyond what we can possibly eat, we have to clean out our stash to make room for all the new treats coming in.  The stuff we clean out goes two places, most of it goes to locals and friends, while a small amount gets chucked.  We also take this time to go through the candies we still have to review, and decide when we plan to review them.  It's not a complicated affair, and it can be really fun to see some of the candies we'd forgotten.

As we said above, inspired by our visit to the Netherlands, and in particular by their crazy licorice, Snack Facts is going to be all about the most polarizing candy in the world, licorice.  Some people love the stuff, others hate it, this week though you're going to learn a little bit about it. Follow us on Instagram to learn some fun facts every week day.  If you don't use Instagram, you can also follow Snack Facts on our Facebook page and our Twitter feed.

This week's new review is making things right from last week.  Last week's review was for the Kinder Bueno "Dark", not realizing that we hadn't actually posted a review for the regular Kinder Bueno.  So this week we found a Bueno and now all is right in the Candy Critic universe. Click here to find out how the Bueno fairs compared to it's dark cousin.

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How Would You Like Some Free Mike & Ikes?

This week we've started a new contest, brought to you by our friends at Just Born (the folks that make Mike & Ikes and Peeps).  They have some new/retro flavours of Mike and Ikes coming out soon, and they want to share some with one of our readers.  To win this prize pack, all you have to do is send an email or message explaining what your favorite flavour of candy is.  Tell us why this flavour is your favorite and whomever can convince us the most will get the new Mike and Ikes sent to their house (You must be a resident of the USA to enter, sorry rest of the world). You can submit your answer in the comments here, or send us a message on Facebook, Twitter, or here. Make sure include some way for us to contact you back (email always works), and the contest will end in two weeks (February 9th a midnight Eastern).

I mean who doesn't like free candy delivered to their front door? I like it so much that I built this site.

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This Week In Candy

This last week was really a pizza filled week for me.  First of all I was invited to a BBQ potluck pizza party, and it was fantastic.  The idea was that each person was supposed to bring ingredients for a pizza.  The dough was provided, so all you needed to bring was the toppings.  Then, one at a time, a pizza was put onto the BBQ, and each person that brought ingredients would have to top their pizza.  After the pizza was cooked, it was sliced up, and everybody got to have a slice.  I think by the time the night was over dozens of pizzas were made, including 3 dessert pizzas.  I brought one of those dessert pizzas, which consisted of marshmallows, grated milk chocolate (Dairymilk to be exact), and crushed graham crackers. S'Mores pizza!

Also this weekend, I recorded a new episode of the Junk Fud podcast.  This episodes theme was pizza.  Mark, who has been a guest on the Junk Fud podcast in the past had some great stories and insights into the world of pizza.  Hopelly this episode will be online later this week. Mark being such a great guest in the past and this time, is now going to be a regular on the Junk Fud podcast.  For now we're looking to post a new episode of Junk Fud featuring Mark every month.  We're still working out the details, so stay tuned.

This week we're also starting out a contest, brought to you by our friends at Just Born (the folks that make Mike & Ikes and Peeps).  They have some new/retro flavours of Mike and Ikes coming out soon, and they want to share some with one of our readers.  To win this prize pack, all you have to do is send an email or message explaining what your favorite flavour of candy is.  Tell us why this flavour is your favorite and whomever can convince us the most will get the new Mike and Ikes sent to their house (You must be a resident of the USA to enter, sorry rest of the world). You can submit your answer in the comments here, or send us a message on Facebook, Twitter, or here. Make sure include some way for us to contact you back (email always works), and the contest will end in two weeks (February 9th a midnight Eastern).

This week's Snack Facts we're looking at one of the best selling drinks in the world, Coca-Cola.  Every day we'll be posting a new fun fact on Instagram all about this soft drink giant.  If you don't have Instagram you can also follow Snack Facts on our Twitter feed, or Facebook page.

Our new review this week is from a chocolate shop in my home country.  Not only does the fact that they're Canadian make them awesome, but they also have the best name I've ever heard for a chocolate shop, Beanermunky.  Click here to read the Beanermunky's chocolate review.

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This Week In Candy

This last week the big news was the change of recipe for the Cadbury Creme Egg.  It appears that Cadbury, now owned by Kraft, has decided to change the chocolate used for the outside shell of the egg, as well as change the number of eggs sold in bulk packages (this can only be confirmed in some countries). The one place that is apparently not being affected by the changes is the USA, but everywhere else they're now no longer using Dairy Milk chocolate for their eggs.  This has rocked the candy world, and many have taken to social media to complain about this.  We here at Candy Critic are at the very least skeptical about the new shell, but we plan on getting our hands on one of these new eggs and giving them a try.

Stay tuned this week as we'll be starting a contest that could get you some free Mike & Ike's candies.  They're introducing a couple of new flavours and they've graciously offered to send some to me and to some of my followers.  I'm still working out the details of the contest, but I'll be sure to announce it on Facebook and Twitter the minute I have everything worked out.

This week on Snack Facts, our very fun and informative Instagram feed, we're looking at the French Fry.  It's going to be a week filled with greasy, starchy and salty information about one of the most popular fast foods in the world.  You can follow Snack Facts on Instagram, or you don't use Instagram, you can also follow it on our Twitter feed and our Facebook page.

This week's review is a fun little treat that I picked up in Turkey.  I wasn't sure if I should put this under European candy or Asian, since I bought it in Istanbul (it's the city that stretches over two continents).  I finally decided on Europe only because I actually bought it on the European side of the Bosphorus. Click here to read about this bar I bought in Turkey.

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A Cool Candy Thing

With Halloween approaching it's time to prepare yourself for all of those trick or treaters.  I used to live next door to a guy that would decorate his front lawn full of all kinds of spooky manikins, coffins, and other creepy stuff.  The strange thing I noticed is that he didn't have a themed candy bowl.  You'd think after going through all that effort and expense of decorating your front lawn to look like a graveyard that he would also have a creepy bowl to go with it.  I looked around and frankly this bowl was one of the creepier ones that I came across.  I like it because it seems fairly cheesy on the outside, but inside there's a creepy robotic hand moving around.

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One Last Plug For Our Sister Site Beware The Cheese

Seriously, if you're in the Athens area, come on down tomorrow night to what's going to be a great show.  Come see some great art, meet the Candy Critic, and maybe score yourself a free treat.  Here's more information about the show:

Come see our final art show in Athens entitled "Αντίο κι ευχαριστώ για τα ψάρια" opening tomorrow night June 4th from 7:30 to 9:30.  On display will be several fine art mixed media pieces, as well as beautiful photographic prints.  The show continues till Wednesday June 11th.  You can learn more about the show here: http://www.bewarethecheese.com/solong/

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Art Show From Our Friends at Beware The Cheese

Here's a quick message from our friends, and the people who photograph all of our candy, bewarethecheese.com:

Come see our final art show in Athens entitled "Αντίο κι ευχαριστώ για τα ψάρια" opening on June 4th from 7:30 to 9:30.  On display will be several fine art mixed media pieces, as well as beautiful photographic prints.  The show continues till Wednesday June 11th.  You can learn more about the show here: http://www.bewarethecheese.com/solong/

Come one down and meet the Candy Critic!  You'll know it's me because I'm both the artist, and I'll have treats.

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This Week In Candy

Well I'm back from Venice, and what a fun trip it was.  As some of you might be following our Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr sites, you may have seen a few snippets from our adventure.  If you haven't been keeping up don't worry, we're going to feature a few of our favorite Venetian snacks tomorrow on a post here on the blog.  Frankly I wasn't disappointed by any of the food, unless you count this week's review which I got on the trip.

How much do you know about milk?  I'm working on a project right now, and I think I'm going to focus on milk.  I want to learn the history, the science, and how much it's used in the candy industry.  I've got a few ideas about where to go with this project, but if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Finally, I've been receiving a lot of treats in the mail lately.  For everybody that's sending me candies to sample, I assure you that I'm getting to them as quickly as possible.

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This Week In Candy

Valentine's Day is approaching, isn't it?

I got an e-mail from the fine folks at Candy Kid Candy and they wanted to know if I wanted to get a free sample of one of their candy boxes.  As you know from reading any part of this site, free candy is pretty much one of the greatest things in my life, and these candy boxes look like they're going to be pretty cool.  It seems to work as either a one off buy, or a subscription service, depending on how many boxes you order.  In any case, you basically seem to get a box of random candy every month to enjoy, which is a great thing for those of us with a broad taste in candy.  So they've agreed to send me a box to try out, which I'll write about when I get it, but they've also agreed to give all of you 10% off if you decide to order one for yourself.  Just go to their site, order a box (or two), and enter the discount code "CRITIC10" (make sure to order soon as the deal closes on February 1st).  This is a great new idea, and they're sending out their first boxes in February, so if you order a box, let me know how it goes.

Also, last week I got peanut butter on my mind, since it was National Peanut Butter Day.  Allison is a huge peanut butter fan, so she was happy to celebrate as best she could.  But we got into a conversation, and a question came up, "are the crunchy bits in crunchy peanut butter added, or part of the peanut grinding process?".  I sent out a general request for an answer and in no time Mr. Peanut Butter (@pbj06) gave me an answer.  According to him, most of the time the crunchy peanut bits are actually added to the peanut butter to make it crunchy.  Apparently only the finer "boutique" style peanut butters will actually be crunchy through the grinding process.

If you're interested in learning more fun snack facts, make sure to check out our Instagram feed that features a daily "Snack Fact".  We also stream this feed to our Facebook page, Twitter Feed, and our Tumblr Site.  We're also constantly looking for new snack facts, so if you have one, and you can share it, let me know.

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This Week In Candy

What the heck is "Green Cola"?  I've seen this can of cola on the shelf of my local grocery store for a few years now, but I've never had the nerve to buy it.  When I first noticed the design, I thought that it was an official Coca-Cola product, but on closer inspection I realized that it wasn't.  It sure looks official though.  I still couldn't figure out why it was called "Green". So after sampling it, do I know?  Not at all.  The cola is not green, the can doesn't seem more environmentally friendly, it's basically just a can of Coke 0.

About 3 weeks ago I announced a contest that would net the winner a huge box of retro candy from our friends at candycrate.com.  We asked people to write about their favorite candy memory, and we got some great answers.  But alas we could only have one winner, and it was a nice mix of nostalgia and sentiment.  Congratulations Holli, and thanks for telling us a little bit about your fond candy memories:

"Ahh retro candy...  My fondest memory is of Cadbury Astros.  Remember those?  Chocolate outside, crispy centered, multicolored balls?  It was a favorite treat on family nights. Once a month or so, we would bring our mattresses down to the living room, and my sister, mom, and I would eat junk food and watch movies. This was the only time we ever had Astros, so they were a coveted treat. We were never a very close family, but those nights were always fun. Even the cats would get in on it. One loved to steal a red Twizzlers and run off to eat it.  Apparently, you can now only get Astros in Africa. Sad times :("

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If You Like Waiting Till The Last Minute... This Is It!

Midnight tonight is your last chance to win yourself some free retro candy from Candy Critic and our friends at candycrate.com.  If you're just holding back because you wanted your entry to be perfect, now is the time to cross your final "t's" and dot your last "i's".

If you want to come up with a last minute entry, here's the rules.

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Two More Days To Enter

Remember, your chance to win a box of retro candy from the fine folks at candycrate.com is coming to an end this Wednesday at midnight.  So make sure to tell us about your fondest candy related memory, so you have a chance to pig out on some awesome snacks.

Click here to learn more about the contest.

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Next Wednesday's Your Last Chance

If you're having a hard time coming up with a good candy related story from your past, don't worry too much.  You have the weekend, and even a few days after before you have to submit your entry.  Also, if you really can't remember a story from the past, just make it up, after all, I don't plan on checking the facts at all.  I just want to make sure that some deserving Candy Critic reader is able to enjoy this retro box of candy from our friends at candycrate.com.  So think about it over the weekend, and draft up something fun, touching, or just plain wacky.  If you need more details about the contest, like how to enter, click here.

What's Your Best Candy Memory?

Just answer the question, and you could win a whole box of candy goodness from our friends at candycrate.com.  All you have to do is explain to me, and a few Candy Critic officials, that you have the most awesome story from your candy past, and you could win.  It's really simple because you don't have to make it up, I'm sure you have a really cool candy story to share.

Click here to find out how to enter our candy contest.

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Free Retro Candy For You?!!

That's right, if you haven't heard yet, we (along with our friends at candycrate.com) are giving away a box of retro treats. To win this box of treats all you have to do is tell us what candy treat has the best memory for you and why.  You can click here for more details, but I assure you entering this contest could not be easier.  Soon you could be sitting at your dinning room table enjoying a bunch of retro treats remembering days gone by, or creating some new sweet memories.

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This Week In Candy

What a fun week we have in store.  First of all I'd like to announce, officially, a contest we're having with our good friends at candycrate.com.  For the next two weeks we are going to be singing the praises of cool retro candy.  Best of all, the folks at candycrate.com are going to give one of our lucky winners an awesome box filled with retro candy.  That's right, one lucky winner is going to win a box of candy for free.  This box has everything from an Abba Zaba to Walnettos (What's this Walnettos are this week's review?!!), and everything in between. You can read all about which fine treats you'll be getting right here.  So how do you win this awesome prize?  It's actually very simple, tell me what candy treat has the best memories for you, and why.

A crack team of candy enthusiasts will go through the entries and pick out the one that tugs on our heart strings the most.  That person will win the awesome box of candy provided by the fine people at candycrate.com.  You can enter by sending us a message here, leaving a comment anywhere on this blog, dropping us a line on our Facebook page, on our Google+ page, or if you can cut it down to 140 character our Twitter page.  Feel free to get creative, if you want to shoot a video on YouTube, or take a series of photos, that's fine too, just include the link.  The key is to make sure we can get back to you, so make sure we can contact you via social media, or e-mail.  If we can't contact you, and you give us a beautiful story, we'll have to give it to the guy with the second best story instead.  The contest ends November 20th at midnight, so you have time now, but it will run out quickly. The only bad news is that this contest is limited to folks living in USA and Canada only.

So as you can see from this awesome announcement, we're going retro for the next little while, that means I have to pull out my Hammer Pants, and Blue Blockers.

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Here's But a Sample of One of The Treats You Could Get For Free!

So you're thinking to yourself, sure I have a bunch of candy right now to enjoy.  Halloween just finished and there's candy a plenty for me to munch on, but what about in a few weeks from now.  How do I cope with life without free candy?  Well my friend, one lucky Candy Critic reader (and it could be you), is going to walk away with a huge box of assorted treats for free from our friends at candycrate.com.  What kind of treats you ask, well I can tell you for sure that an Abba Zaba will be one of many treats you can expect.  Check back on Monday for more details about this contest.

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