Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate with Raisins & Pecans

Surprising as it may seem, I don't always remember every candy bar I've tried. It took me a while before I stopped being surprised by Reese's Dark. For some reason, they always looked new to me, and then after buying them I'd remember that I'd already had them.
So here's the deal: I bought a Trader Joe's Organic Dark Chocolate Raisins & Pecan bar the other day, not remembering if I'd tried it before. I was about to go through the Candy Yum Yum archives, but then I thought, wait, let me write a review first. Then I'll go back and see if I've written another review about it and how they compare. Here goes nothing:
I actually hesitated about this bar because pecans are not my favorite nut. If this was raisins and almonds or peanuts, I would've scooped it up in a minute. But pecans? Eh, not so much. The chocolate is 57% which is low on the dark chocolate snob scale, but I find I really like this percentage. It was a very fruity dark chocolate, which I also like. The raisins were appropriately sticky and chewy and the pecans were a nice balance. I really, really liked this bar.
Now let me go back and look. Nope, I guess I haven't had this one before. Thumbs up!

Utterly Shameless.

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but last week, the House of Yum entered Emergency Mode. There was no chocolate in the house. Well, okay, there were some mockolate Easter bunnies shoved in the back of the closet, but that was it. There wasn't a single chocolate chip, Fun-Size bar, nothing. How, dear Yumsters, did I let the situation get so dire?
I will tell you how.
I have one of those stupid "milestone" birthdays coming up in less than three months. That's right. I have approximately 70 days to lose the Freshman 15, the post-wedding 10 and, of course, the baby weight. Writing a blog about candy doesn't make this situation very easy.
So you'll have to cut me some slack over the next couple of months. But here's the thing: I plan on having one huge-ass, fantastic candy buffet to celebrate my (insert year here) birthday. We're talking Atomic fireballs to Zotz, the whole shebang.
Now this is where I'm going to go all Star Jones on you now. Remember when she got almost her entire wedding for free by having sponsors? I figure, why not offer up the same deal?
Hey Hershey's, Nestle, Godiva, Dove! Calling Haribo, Heide, Mars and Cadbury! Want your product to be highlighted at the coolest event of the year? How about your company name in lights (or chocolate, or gummies) at the buffet table? Or be a part of the swag bag of the century! This honor can be yours! Have your people call my people. We'll talk.
In the meantime, I'm off to Zumba class. It's going to be a long two months.

Starbuck's Jelly Beans

In Starbucks the other day, I almost didn't see the little box of jellybeans on the counter. For $1, I grabbed this little packet of assorted-flavor jellybeans and tucked them into my bag. I totally forgot about them until I picked the Sugarbaby up from camp one day and he was starving. As you can see, he had no problem devouring the whole package before I even had a chance to take a picture. The flavors were strawberry, peach, fruit punch and I think lemon and orange. From the few that I tried, they were good but a little too sweet for my tastes. They made my teeth hurt.
I don't know if Jelly Belly is the maker of these beans, although I suspect they probably are. I've compared the Starbucks package next to a Jelly Belly sample-size package. I still haven't tried the honey jelly beans, but they've been given good reviews across the board. Needless to say, there were more jelly beans in the Starbucks package than in the sample bag, which is a good thing, especially if you're the Sugar Baby.

Solving the Candy Mystery and Other Important Things

Holy heck! Where have I been? Despite the rumors, I am not on a beach in Bermuda enjoying a rum swizzle, nor am I incarcerated in the cell next to Lindsay Lohan. I've just been busy, I guess. And, oh yeah, the Sugar Baby has been gone all week, so I've been catching up on important stuff, like visiting friends, celebrating Happy Hour, hitting the gym (what's with all the hype about Zumba?) and taking the occasional nap. I've also been knee-deep in research for the follow-up article on Mrs. Barske, the candy lady. Check it out here.
In the meantime, I'll be getting back to our regularly-scheduled blog posts.

Candy Yum Yum Book Nook: Read All About It

So check this out. The Baroness gave this to the Sugar Baby for his birthday.
What a tease, huh? It's a cookbook but it looks like one giant block of chocolate. My friend came over the other day and saw it on the coffee table. She was like, "Hell, yeah!" Needless to say, she was disappointed to discover recipes instead of chocolate. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I'll be sure to report back when I do.Look at this gorgeous magnum opus. This book is big enough to be a doorstop, however I'm happy to say that it's being used for reading, not propping. (In fact, I just got chocolate on the cover while I was writing this. Dang!) If you have any interest at all in food styling, get thee to Amazon right now. I find food styling fascinating, although I'd be terrible at it. It takes a special kind of Type-A perfectionist to be a stylist. I worked with one dude once who was supposedly very in-demand, however he took my recipe (which could've been absolutely stunning appearance-wise) and turned it into a wonky-looking lame dessert. I still harbor ill feelings toward him. But I digress...
I skipped forward in the book a bit to the section entitled, "Chocolate: The Problem Child for the Food Stylist." "This is a food that illustrates chemistry in action," writes the author Delores Custer. "It blooms, seizes, and melts at different temperatures."
Chemistry in action. I like that. Needless to say, while I find food styling captivating, I won't be doing it anytime soon. But I do like reading about it.

Swedish Fish Italian Ice! Hell Yeah, My Friends!

What does one do when it's so hot and muggy that you can't even keep your eyes open despite the fact that a four-year-old keeps batting you over the head telling you to wake up? You get in the car and go get Italian ice, that's what you do. Imagine my excitement when we walked into Rita's and saw this:
I tried a sample of it and, yes, it tasted just like a red Swedish Fish. Now I'm going to be obsessing over this all summer. I wonder what other candy flavors would seem as enticing? White Smarties, perhaps? Or green gummi bear? What flavor would you like to see?

Life Savers Lime Punch

During one of the sweltering days last week, I took the Sugar Baby to the Garbage Museum. It's a funky little place where you can see the whole garbage/recycling process and they have all sorts of art made from trash. This tower was made out of soda cans, and I was surprised to see the Life Savers Lime Punch soda. I don't think I remember ever seeing this. I do, however, remember the Tahitian Treat quite fondly. The Baroness and I used to ride our bikes down to Cumberland Farms and buy cans of the carbonated fruit punch. Ah, those were the days.

Move Over, Octomom

This here is Octopop. He'd shake your hand, but right now he has his hands full.

Too Hot To Write... Read My Other Stuff

We're experiencing a heat wave here in the Northeast. I believe I am the only person in Connecticut without air-conditioning. This is my gift to future generations; I can only hope that my extreme discomfort will make for a better, greener future for our children. I'm sitting in front of a fan attached to a water sprayer, so needless to say, it's a bit hot for a candy review. But I thought maybe you'd like to read this, an article I wrote about a candy mystery in my hometown. Stay tuned. The mystery is unraveling even as you read this.

Genuine Belizian Chocolate

No-Nuts was here over the weekend moving all her junk into our house just to visit and she brought along a surprise: a chocolate bar straight from Belize. Her friend had gone there and I asked her to bring me some chocolate back.
"Here you go," said No-Nuts. "I think it's missing an 'R'." (She's getting more clever by the day.)
The bar had seen better days by the time it got to me. I'd say it probably melted and re-hardened about 4 times. You want to see chocolate bloom? This thing had blossomed! But still, we had to try it.
It was kind of difficult to thoroughly taste it, which I'm assuming is because of the abuse it went through. It had a very airy quality to it, similar to an Aero bar. But you could definitely tell this was the real deal. The chocolate had almost a savory quality to it.
We peeled off the sticker that said "Milk" to see what was underneath. It just said "Dark," nothing exciting like "Contraband" or "Monkey" or anything.
Half of it remains in my fridge and I'm sure it'll be there until next Christmas when I decide to clean out the refrigerator.

Stride Shift: It's Fruity! No Wait, It's Minty!

You know that scene in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" where Violet Beauregarde snags a piece of the three-course dinner bubblegum that's still in testing mode? She starts chewing and tastes tomato soup, roast beef and then finally blueberry pie, before she, herself, turns into a giant blueberry.
You have to wonder how long real gum companies have been working on creating a taste-changing gum. Well, now Cadbury has apparently achieved that with their new Stride Shift, "the first-ever flavor changing gum." The two flavors are Berry-to-Mint and Citrus-to-Mint. I definitely had my doubts about this. I figured it was like so many other fruit-mint products that combine the two different flavor profiles, usually resulting in something awful.
Well, I have to admit, they did succeed with this challenge. The gum starts off with a berry (or citrusy) taste and then evolves into mint. I'm sure this was much more exciting to the focused taste testers than it is to the general public, who don't pay quite as much attention to what they're chewing. The fruity flavor seemed to be strong during the first ten or so chews, and then the mint started to kick in. I suspect some of this flavor technology has to do with the little gritty bits in the gum (not unlike the scrubby stuff in apricot facial cleansers). Over time the texture gets softer and the flavor turns into a sweet, not-too-strong mint. It's pretty good stuff. I'll be curious to see where they take this technology. You know what I think would be cool? A triple-mint gum: peppermint, spearmint and wintergreen. Now that would impress me.

Candy Yum Yum + Regretsy - Michael Jackson = Tootsie Pop Owl

There are times when I think, okay, I'm pretty creative. I've got it going on. And then there are times when I think, wow, now that's why I'm not famous. Like whenever I read Regretsy. With her rapier wit and razor-sharp sense of what makes something craptastic, April Winchell is one of my bloggy heroes. Her site, in which she showcases handmade items of questionable quality, was the kick-start for her newly-released book, seen here. (Don't click to look inside because nothing will happen. Go to Amazon for that bit of magic.)At a recent book signing, one of her fans was wearing a T-shirt with the Tootsie Pop owl on it. She writes, "I thought it was intentional, but he didn’t even know: my father was the voice of the owl in this commercial. And it was the day before Father’s Day, and just a few days from the 5th anniversary of my dad’s death. So it was a little weird."Weird, yes, but also fascinating. I had to know more. April kindly agreed to an exclusive interview with Candy Yum Yum about this amazing bit of candy history.

CYY: In a recent Regretsy post, you revealed that your father was the voice of the owl in the iconic Tootsie Pop commercial from the 1960’s. Does that mean you’re rich?

AW: Sadly no. My father didn't leave his money to his children.

CYY: That’s a really cool piece of family trivia and I’d brag about it to everyone. Do you take advantage of the opportunity or do you save that gem until you’re deep into a relationship?

AW: I don't talk about my dad too much. It's not that I'm not proud of his accomplishments, because I really am. But I never wanted to feel like I was trading on his name, or getting undeserved favors from people because of their affection for him. I just got used to being discreet about it. When I got older and made a name for myself, I relaxed about that, and it became interesting personal trivia about me, as opposed to something I threw around to open doors for myself.

CYY: Was it your father’s idea to pronounce the “two” like “a- two-whoo”? Cuz that’s really cool.

AW: Well that's hard to say. I've done cartoon voice over work for over 30 years, and it tends to be a fluid, collaborative thing. I can't really remember where ideas come from; good directors bring interesting things out of you.

That being said, the voice he used for the owl was very similar to voice he used for a puppet on his TV show. The puppet was named Snitchy, and it was a very proper, almost British sounding snail. He had been doing Snitchy for so long that the "a-two-whoo" probably just came out of his mouth naturally.

CYY: Did you get a lifetime supply of Tootsie Pops? If not, have you ever considered contacting the company and asking for some kickbacks?

We did not get a lifetime supply of Tootsie Pops, but then, they probably had no idea how long the spot would run. It turned into an incredibly iconic, classic piece of advertising. He recorded that in the 60's, and people still love it.

My dad actually had a very long association with the Tootsie Roll people. Before I was born, he had a prime time variety show that was sponsored by Tootsie Roll. They invited him to tour the factory, and my mother still talks about it. This was over 50 years ago, and standards were very different then. She said people were smoking while they rolled out the candy! She didn't let us eat Tootsie Rolls for years.

CYY: I used to own a kick-ass Mini Cooper. It was blue with white racing stripes and I had a Tootsie Pop Owl on my antenna. Then I had a kid and there went the car. Would it be really lame to put the owl on my Hyundai Sonata?

AW: On the contrary. I think putting the Tootsie Roll Owl on a Hyundai would elevate it considerably.

CYY: If you could invent a Tootsie Pop flavor, what would it be?

AW: Gin. With an olive in the middle.

CYY: Is there anything else you'd like to say to all the candy lovers of the world?

AW: Only that it's the greatest thing on earth.Thanks April! If you're ever in town, I'll bring you a pair of Lederhosen made from Tootsie Pop wrappers.

Candy Fun Fun!

Mrs. Connection and I have gone out together, sans children, exactly three times in the 2 or 3 years we've known each other. Two of those times have been Costco trips. I know, I know... pathetic, right? (Although I will say that they were the two most fun Costco trips a person could have.) In any case, during one of these ventures, we stopped at Barnes & Noble and Mrs. Connection found this for the Sugar Baby: Yum Yum Crafty Fun!
I mean, seriously, how perfect is that for the kid that makes candy trees out of construction paper and cuts out photos of cupcakes from magazines? This week I brought it out so we could have some yum yum crafty fun. I will say, the kit is assembled very nicely. Each project comes in its own bag, so you don't have to go rifling through all the paper and stickers trying to figure out what goes where. The execution of the projects, however, wasn't quite as polished as the picture on the box.
Yeah, that thing on the right-- it's supposed to be a swirly lollipop. And the triangle on the left is a piece of three-layer cake.
My house is now littered with stray bits of tissue paper and stickers. But as a gift for a 4-year-old candy-obsessed boy (or a 39-year-old candy-obsessed mom), it was very fun. Not as fun as a trip to Costco the Saturday before Christmas, but still pretty amusing.

Eye Candy

A while ago I wrote about some licorice that Bazooka Betsy brought me back from Amsterdam. She went to a shop called Mariska Schaefer's Candy Store. Check out this great photographic portrait of Mariska in her store by Martin Alberts. Don't you just wish you could go there?

Wonka Giveaway Winner!

Congrats to Ashley who was picked to receive an assortment of Wonka candies. And thanks to all of you who entered. Check back again soon; I'll be having lots more giveaways and good candy fun!