THIS JUST IN!!! NEWS ALERT!!!
LifeSavers changes its stripes Friday
By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — LifeSavers will announce on Friday a new flavor lineup for its classic, nearly 70-year-old five-flavor roll. Raspberry-, watermelon- and blackberry-flavored "O's" will replace the traditional orange, lemon and lime.

Pineapple and cherry will remain in the new rolls, which will be on sale next month.

The new flavors were picked in Web-based promotion in which nearly 2 million consumers voted from February through April.

The change is the first since the original five-flavor combination rolled out in 1935. It's a move to freshen the appeal and sales of the sugary, hard candies with a hole that have been losing market share to mints and bolder tart candies.

So here's how I feel. Personally, my favorite flavor is the pineapple, and I'd love it if Lifesaver made a roll of all pineapple. But then again, that might take some of the anticipation away. Too much of a good thing. I'm not much for the lime or lemon, but the cherry and orange are good. The thing is, the classic five flavors are just that...CLASSIC. Why, why is Lifesaver changing to these trendy berry and melon flavors? Why not make an additional five-flavor roll? It's perplexing. In any case, I'd say stock up now on the original five flavors. There's gonna be a market for them. You just wait.
While I'm on the topic of Lifesavers, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the Spear-o-Mint ones. They're so addicting. At the Minuteman, my boss Cindy bought a big bag of them and put them in a candy dish in her office. Not only were they Spear-o-Mint, but they were also the chunkier variety. I think I ate the whole bowl that day. Pep-o-Mint can be refreshing, and Little Grandma loved them, but I can take 'em or leave 'em.

Just got back from Washington D.C. where Joy and I shared a wonderful candy moment on the Metro. We were sitting across from a guy who reached into his CVS bag and pulled out a package of Starburst. Now, instead of tearing the paper away at one corner, this is what he did-- he snapped the package in half in the middle! Brilliant! The best part was when I looked over at Joy and she looked over at me and we both knew we were thinking the same thing. Ha! Joy, however, was bothered by the fact that now all the little Starbursts would be loose in the bag rather than all nicey-nice in the package. Something to consider.

Nick and Vin came over last night and Nick surprised me with something called a "Big Stuff Lip Pop." I'm not usually one for toys/candy (there's a word for that...what is it??) but this is really cool. It's like a pacifier--the part you stick in your mouth is a cherry lollipop. But then the outside (where the ring would be on a pacifier) is actually a funny pair of lips with teeth. It's quite funny. There's also a version that has braces on the teeth.

Oh--also in D.C. I went to a candy store where they had individually wrapped Circus Peanuts! While there, I got a Skybar. Haven't had one in years and years...and it was absolutely heinous. Joy had the fudge part, I had the peanut and vanilla and Claire had the caramel. At least Claire liked it.

Yes, I just finished reading "Candy & Me." It was a way quick read-- took about two hours. Overall, I'd say the writing was scattered at best. I could've done a much better job. But I did learn some stuff. Such as:
Smarties are actually flavored according to their colors. I always just thought they were random fruity flavors. But no, purple is grape, green is lime, pink is cherry, yellow is pineapple (!) and the best-- are you ready for this?-- white is "orange cream". Who would've guessed??? White was always my favorite, but orange cream? I never could've imagined.
More later...I've got to go cover a blood drive now. The excitement never stops.

After lunch, had to have a little sweet, so I succumbed to the siren call of the "Walnut Whip." This candy bar intrigued me for several reasons: 1) I love the name; 2) It says on the package milk chocolate with a whipped vanilla center, but there's no mention of walnut; and 3) the shape. It comes in a pouch rather than a bar. It was a delightful surprise to open it. The Whip is shaped like a beehive and there were two walnuts in the bottom of the package. So here's the deal: You bite into the thick, chocolate casing and inside is a creamy white, whipped filling, very close to frosting. It's vanilla, but there's also a hint of walnut. What a lovely candy! This is what candy should be all about....delicious candy with fun names, not the crap they sell here-- gummi snot and candy spray paint and all that garbage.

Okay, here's the latest on the Euro candy. First of all, on the Curly Wurly Squrly package it gives nutritional information "per squrl." Ha! Ya gotta love the Brits. The second bar I tried was Cadbury Fuse-- "A Fusion of Milk Chocolate, Raisins, Crispy Cereal, Peanuts and Fudge Pieces." This was sooo yummy. The perfect balance of goodies in Cadbury chocolate, which is, of course, much creamier than our chocolate because it has a lower sugar content. I would absolutely buy this candy bar again.
The second I tried was Cadbury's Double Decker-- "Big Up Top." It's described as "Milk Chocolate filled with smooth, chewy nougatine and crisp, crunchy cereal." Now, here's the thing. I love real nougat--none of our American candy bars really have it. (Charleston Chew, maybe, but not really.) And, of course I love crunch. But upon first try of this candy bar, I didn't like it. The crunch seemed too textured for the smooth nougat. But then I tried it frozen and it was a whole different experience. The nougat got hard and was perfect with the crunch. Would buy this again and stick it in the freezer first.
Speaking of nougat, it reminds me of my days at Munson's. Every Friday afternoon, this tiny 40-ish woman would come in and order 2 lbs. (our biggest box) of dark chocolate almond nougats. One day I asked her what she did with all these. She said she eats them all herself. So then I commented on how thin she was and she said she did two hours a day on the treadmill just to be able to eat these chocolates. You go, girl!