Recently, via the Kitchn, I learned about a piece that ran in Palate Press. an online wine magazine, about the science behind chocolate and wine flavors. Apparently, science says they don’t pair so well because their flavonoids are too similar, and they bring out the worst in each other.

I’ll confess that I went to Chocolate and Vines more for the chocolate than for the wine. I’m not much of a wine connoisseur, so I didn’t notice anything funky from mixing my chocolate and my wine. What are y’all’s experiences?

Instead, I’m going to let one of you appreciate some of Send Fudge’s fudge! They agreed to let me do a giveaway in lieu of a review. Here come the rules:

1) You can enter once by leaving a comment on this post about which flavor of Send Fudge fudge you most want to try. Make sure you put a valid email address in the email field, NOT in the comment itself, so that only I can see it. The winner’s email address will be used to contact the winner; the rest won’t be kept.

2) You can enter a second time by tweeting @zomgcandy with a link to your comment on this post. Click on the timestamp to your comment for that direct link.

3) Continental 48 U.S. readers only, please, due to Send Fudge’s shipping restrictions.

4) Contest closes at 11:59 PM EST this Sunday, May 27th.

5) I will randomly select one entry as the winner of a box of SendFudge fudge.

Good luck!

DO dress nicely. This is a business trade show, and there will be buyers and sellers and brokers out there in full business suit attire. As a blogger, you get some leeway to dress down, but I was still glad that I was wearing flats, a dress, and a blazer. By day three, though, I had to switch to jeans with a nice sweater, as my feet were killing me. See next tip.

DO wear flats. You will be on your feet all day, and it will make your feet hurt. Heels would just be asking for trouble.

DON’T stay for the third day, unless you want to take home a bunch of free samples. I managed to see all the booths in the first two days. On day three, I aimlessly wandered. Many industry people will have already left, and many that are left will be mostly thinking about packing up and getting rid of all their excess samples. If you want to take home handfuls and cases of treats, though, you should stay for day three.

DO bring an extra suitcase. I guesstimate that I took home at least 20 pounds of candy. I had packed an empty duffel bag inside my carry-on and flew Southwest, so free checked bags on the way home!

DO bring extra canvas bags with you to the Expo. Like Cybele, I stashed a bag (or two) in the press room. You’re only allowed a smallish sample bag on the floor, so I’d empty that out into my press room bag and go back for more. On day 3, to discourage the free-for-all atmosphere, they were punching bags to limit the number of dumps and refills that you could do. By then, though, I was basically sampled out.

DON’T eat too much candy on the floor. You will make yourself sick. I overhead an NCA intern talking about how one of her fellow interns had to go home early because she ate three chocolate bars in a row one morning. I think I ate the equivalent of one or two candy bars across my three days on the Expo floor. However,

DO eat the snacks, especially the jerky. Protein will be your friend, and salty snacks will prevent sugar overload, real or mental.

DON’T be afraid to ask for samples. For the most part, people were great about giving me wrapped samples that I could take home. See Perugina guy as Exhibit A. I would introduce myself as a candy blogger and ask if they had anything that I could take home to photograph and review later. The only people who said no were the business guys who checked out as soon as they realized that I wasn’t going to buy anything (coughLindtcough), and small companies that needed their full displays. It also helps if you can find your way to a marketing or PR person, or, if it’s a small company, a president or VP, rather than the business guys.

DO get business cards made. You’ll need at least one anyway to register as press, but I also found myself handing them out to candy people at their booths. If anything, it legitimized me as someone worthy of free samples. I had 100 mini cards made up from Moo (note: that’s a referral link for me) for $19.99. It was a little pricier than going to a local copy shop, but they came out really nicely, and quite a few people complimented me on how they looked.

DON’T believe the registration website when it says photography isn’t allowed. I even tried calling the NCA to figure out the real camera policy and couldn’t get a clear answer, so I told Emma not to travel with her expensive and fancy camera. When we got there, they said photography was fine and even encouraged; it was just video photography that was restricted. Wasted opportunity!

DO bring a companion if you can. I am so happy that Emma was able to come with me. While I was chatting up people at their booths and taking notes on what they were telling me, Emma was busy Tweeting away and taking photographs. She also kept me on task (I nearly got derailed when they gave away Eiffel Bon Bons) and kept me sane. And it was just fun to have someone to chat with!

DO navigate the Expo in a systematic manner if you don’t want to miss things. We went up and down each aisle in sequence so we knew where to pick off where we left off whenever we needed a bathroom or pressroom break. DON’T diverge from your path, even if you see something really exciting, as it is really easy to skip a whole block if you’re not paying attention.

DON’T try to get a side salad from the salad bar at McCormick Place’s food court. I thought it would be nice to get a turkey sandwich with a small side salad from the salad bar. Turns out the salad bar is priced PER PLATE, not by weight like any other salad bar in the world. And it was $9.50 for my tiny side salad, and my lunch ended up costing me nearly $20. So not worth it.

That’s all I can remember for now. Feel free to leave any further questions in the comments!

I do, however, love their look and their decorating possibilities. And as I learned last week, I love me some Peeps merchandise. Check out what they were showing at the Expo.

Plush peeps. So cute! So huggable!

And a Peeps car. So cute! So impractical!

Apparently the plush Peeps are available in their retail stores. As for the car, your guess is as good as mine as to how you can actually buy one. So I’ll settle for just the plush, if you’ve got a spare.

On Tuesday night, Emma and I got to go to the House of Blues industry party. The party itself was sponsored by Hershey’s, Wonderful Pistachios, and Just Born. We got in free, courtesy of Just Born, who used the evening to further promote their Mike & Ike split and debut Mike’s music video:

In addition to an open bar, there were pistachios and Mike & Ikes and Ice Breakers scattered all over the place. In case you didn’t get enough sweets at the Expo. The second and third floors were off limits to us plebians, so I can’t report on what was up there, but really, we had the best seats – floor seats! – for the awesome band that was playing.

I am now a newly minted fan of Here Come the Mummies. They’re a Southern-style jazz/funk band that performs as mummies. And man, can they perform! They just exude energy and charisma through their bandages.

Warning: If you watch the above video, the tune will get stuck in your head. Here Come the Mummies was the highlight of my Chicago visit, and I’m happy that I got a chance to see them. As an added bonus, I got a chance to see candy people dancing as well. Good times!

Packaging photos are up in the ZOMG, Candy! Flickr, and I also listed everything in a spreadsheet. Sorting candy hit the intellectual demand sweet spot – enough work to keep me from being bored to tears, but not so much that my fever addled brain couldn’t handle it.

Things of note on day 2:

1. I got a bunch of samples of Niederegger marzipans in an assortment of flavors. Super excited to try those, as they’re pricey in stores, so I’ve never had them before.

2. Gamer Grub turned out to be much less weird than expected. The PB&J mix was like trail mix – peanuts, peanut butter chips, dried fruits, etc – and the pizza flavor was really tasty.

3. Dorval was super nice. I grabbed a Sortz for re-reviewing and another box of their new chocolate crispy thins.  They would’ve sent me home with one of everything if I’d asked, but I was starting to worry about transporting everything back to NC.

4. Hammond’s PB&J bar won an innovator award. Definitely excited to try this one from their relatively new line of chocolate bars.

5. Nutella & Go also won an innovator award. It’s a little plastic tub with a dipping well of Nutella and a bunch of breadstick shaped cookies for dipping. In other words, it’s a total knock-off of Yan-Yan that somehow won for being innovative. The Meiji guy and I commiserated about it.

Day 3 was quiet on the floor with flashes of craziness. Some booths were giving away handfuls and even cases of their product so they wouldn’t have to leave with it. People were genuinely surprised when I only wanted small samples of things. Another modest take.

I’m excited to share the dried corn snacks from Sensible Snacks with my corn loving boyfriend (he puts it on pizza and in chili). Can’t wait to see them in stores.

Also, worth noting that the Pop Chips booth was super generous with their samples. I think I visited with them at least once each day. And they staffed their booth with flirty young men to help sell the brand.

Well, that or my sheer animal magnetism.

Wish I had time to write more, but I’ve got a flight to catch! Let’s hope TSA doesn’t open my carry-on. It’s kind of embarrassing. I’ve got a rolly bag that’s half chocolate and half chips.

After Emma and I split the goods and leave more with our Chicago host, we’ll be taking the extras back to the Expo and donating them to be sent to troops overseas. So nice that the Expo is providing that service!

Here are some candy interactions that really stood out today:

1. The Perugina booth, where a wonderful Italian man gave me one of every single chocolate bar in their line. Here’s how it went down:

Me: I’m a candy blogger. Could I get a bar to take home for reviewing?

Awesome Italian man: Sure. Which do you want? All of them?

Me: Okay!

As he started grabbing bar after bar, he seemed to realize that “all of them” was a lot of chocolate to hand to one person, but he was too nice to rescind his offer. So now I am the Perugina queen.

Perugina is probably best known for their Baci. Their new thing this year was a white chocolate Baci, identical to the original except for a white chocolate coating.

2. Ritter Sport was represented by a US importer call Euro-American Brands. I chatted up their Gourmet Grande Dame/Goddess of Swagger, who gave me a limited summer 2011 edition Amerena cherry, a rum raisin flavor, and a limited edition dark chocolate with peppermint.

After I dropped hints about how yogurt Ritter Sport was my favorite and gosh, just so hard to find in stores, she gave me one those too. Thanks, GGD!

Ritter Sport’s new thing for the states is individually wrapped small squares in a holiday-esque gift box, similar to these little guys, but in four flavors.

3. Jelina Chocolatier is a Canadian chocolate company in search of a US distributor. I hope they find one, as they have an extensive line of Fair Trade bars in all sorts of flavors. I left with the two most intriguing (to me, at least), a honey nougat and a maple crunch. And some truffles. I can’t wait to break into these.

4. Nashville Toffee is a small, family run operation that makes a delicious chocolate covered almond toffee. When I asked owner and lone booth-manner George if I could have a small bag for a sample to review later, he said no, as he had just the one box of bags, and he needed them to show off and try to sell.

I could, however, take a whole half pound box. In fact, I could have two boxes, one milk and one dark. Thanks, George and Nashville Toffee!

5. Coco Keeno had a great display in Innovation Alley of different types of superfruits and superfoods covered in dark chocolate. I got a sample of chocolate covered golden berries, which were super noms. Formal review to come.

6. Chatting with export manager Manolo at the Fini booth was a pleasure. He was super nice and probably would’ve slowly given me one of each of their hundreds of products if paying customers hadn’t pulled him away.

To answer all the commenters’ questions, yes they are available in the U.S., but alas, he couldn’t tell you where. He sells to an importer and they sell to a distributor, so good luck to Fini hunters. Please report your Fini sightings in the comments for my original review.

7. Meeting fellow candy bloggers! I got a chance to chat with The Candy Fan and Joe of Eat More Chocolate. Note to self: update blogroll!

8. Emma and I hugged a giant Peep. And then she tried to take a bite out of it. Life is awesome.

We also get giant swag bags full of treats representing some of the 4600 new products debuting at this year’s expo. Hooray swag!

More to come later. In the meantime, check out our Twitter feed @zomgcandy

I’ll try to update here with some daily recaps, posting time to be determined by how good the wifi is in the press room. My friend Emma will be playing Twitter master. We’ll be tweeting as @zomgcandy from the expo floor, so check that for status updates.

Candy candy candy time!