Thorntons Chocolate Smothered Toffee

Last semester, I went to a Master’s Tea with Melanie Dunea, author/photographer of My Last Supper. The book consists of her photographs of 50 world famous chefs, including Eric Ripert, Wylie Dufresne, Daniel Boulud, Anthony Bourdain, Thomas Keller, and Mario Batali, and what they’d like their last suppers to be like. If you ever come…

More candy quickhits – another gifted edition

In continuing with Wednesday’s spirit of cleaning notes out of my candy tasting notebook, more quick reviews of candies that I didn’t have much to say about. These, like Wednesday’s, were all gifts, but they are not all international. South African Nestle Chocolates from former suitemate, future roommate Catherine (who doesn’t like chocolate!), who got…

TCHO Coupon

TCHO is an American chocolate maker in San Francisco that I ran out of time and didn’t get to visit when I was in California last winter. When I say chocolate maker, I mean they make their chocolate from scratch, and when I say visit, I mean stop by their distribution center and buy a…

Candy quick hits – gifted edition

A quick round-up of things that I ate and photographed but couldn’t come up with many words for. If the picture takes up more room than the review, it doesn’t warrant a standalone review. These were all gifts from friends who brought (or mailed) me candy from afar, which is why they’re mostly hard/impossible to…

Free Stride Gum

Stride Gum is having a promotion and giving away free,?packs of gum?if you have the patience to answer a bunch of silly questions. I asked for Always Mandarin. I heard about this promotion from an internet freebie website. Coincidentally enough, in the same week, Stride Gum contacted me to ask that I help promote some…

Gummis!

In the U.S., gummi bears and gummi worms are the main gummi go-to treats, though other gummis are available. Here in the U.K., thanks to the popularity and ubiquity of Haribo, there’s a huge assortment of gummi shapes and flavors to choose from. My personal favorites for creativity, if not taste, are gummi hard boiled…

Baci Perugina

Remember Sixpence None the Richer? No? Remember “Kiss me beneath the milky twilight/lead me out on the moonlit floor/lift your open hand/strike up the band and make the fireflies dance/silver moon sparkling” (weird grammar there)? Still no? Maybe this will jog your memory. It’s frightening how quickly those useless lyrics come back instantly, yet I…

Brach's Rich and Dreamy Chocolatey Cremes

Brach’s Rich and Dreamy Chocolatey Cremes

I think the unofficial theme for this week is something along the lines of “Candy that’s so fake tasting it may actually be a crime against nature.” Had I been paying attention when I picked these Brach’s Rich and Dreamy Chocolatey Cremes out of the bulk candy bins at my local HEB in Austin, TX,…

Taste of London and other food festivals

Today marks the start of the Taste of London festival in Regent Park, and I just happen to be hopping a train to London tomorrow. Of course, once I get there, I’m hopping a bus to Stonehenge for overnight early Summer Solstice celebrating. BUT I’ll be back in London for Saturday (though verrrry tired from…

Bassetts Allsorts – Fabulously Fruity

On the heels of Monday’s review of a strongly artificial tasting candy that I just couldn’t stomach comes a review of more strongly artificial tasting candy. Only this time, I’m ashamed to say that I completely polished off my bag of Bassetts Allsorts of the Fabulously Fruity variety. It’s also my first review of UK…