Disappointment at Trader Joe's

Standing in line at Trader Joe's the other day, I nearly dropped to my knees and wept with joy. There, in the checkout line, were bags upon bags of their new Milk Chocolate-Covered Potato Chips. When I worked at the chocolate shop in college, we had chocolate potato chips that were sublime, a perfect balance of sweet chocolate and salty chips. The chips used were Ruffles because, I was told, they didn't get soggy once they were dipped. The result was something akin to a Nestle Crunch, only with a hint of salt. They were $10.95 a pound back then (I'm shivering as I now realize that was 16 years ago), so I can only imagine what they go for now. Seeing them at TJ's for less than $3 a bag made the purchase a no-brainer.
After I distracted the Sugar Baby with a granola bar, I surreptitiously stole a potato chip out of the bag for myself. I bit into it, expecting to hear angels sing. Instead, I got "wah, wah, wahhhhhh." The chip was stale-ish tasting. It didn't mesh well with the chocolate. It was so not good that I still have the entire bag, untouched, in my pantry. Believe me, something's got to be pretty bad to stick around here.

My other purchase from that trip was the Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Caramel with Sea Salt. Again, this seemed like an instant win. The bar is super thin, which made it very difficult to break into sections. In fact, I ended up getting caramel all over the wrapper because it was impossible to get a clean break. As for the taste, well, it was much better than the potato chips, but it's not one of my favorite TJ's chocolates. The problem with this was that the chocolate was too dark (70%) for the rather large salt crystals. To me, it bordered on savory.

Possible 2010 Candy of the Year: TJ's Dark Chocolate Nutty Bits

Seriously, I'm beginning to think I'm one of those people who have some crazy magnetic/electric field thing going on, because it seems that there's always something going on these days. First it was my computer, then my camera, then back to the computer, then the camera and now, the computer again. Hence, my lack of posts and also the future lack of pictures until I get this situation straightened out.
As a reward for your patience, though, I'm about to reveal my latest find that is so wonderfully crunchy/salty/sweet, so chocolatey good that I think this is very definitely a contender for the 2010 Candy of the Year.
Yumsters, may I present to you...
WAIT! Where have they gone? I just went to the closet to get the bag and it's not there. This is not a good sign. Methinks Mr. Goodbar has been in the pantry again. I can't even tell you how sad I will be if I find out they are all gone.
"They" are Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Nutty Bits. (And just to confirm, yes, I just fished the empty bag out of the garbage.)
The description says, "Our Dark Chocolate Nutty Bits are a crunchy mix of almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, pistachios and sweet toffee. They're kettle cooked in small batches, then dipped in rich, dark chocolate and sprinkled with just a touch of Fleur de Sel, for a superbly sweet and slightly salty treat."
I mean, honestly, does it get any better than that? These babies have everything I look for in a candy: smooth chocolate (not too sweet, not too bitter; it's 60% cacao), nuts and salt. If I recall correctly, they were about $3.50 or so for a 7 oz. bag. Kinda pricey, but so worth it.
Like I said, I have no pictures due to the alien chip that's been implanted in my wrist, but they're every bit as lumpy delicious as you'd expect. Run, don't walk to get these. In the meantime, I'm calling Mr. Goodbar and telling him he'd better stop at TJ's on his way home, if he knows what's good for him.

Happy Birthday to Me!

The doorbell rang on Friday and I was psyched to see two boxes on my step. One was really big, like the size of a box of copier paper, and the other was smaller, about 8"x8". What could they be?
I opened the giant box first. Inside was a big styrofoam cooler. Inside that was another box. And then, inside this Russian nesting doll box was: taadaa! A single Lindt chocolate bar with a tiny decorative glass bottle full of salt. Can you say Holy Packaging, Batman? But I was excited to try it. The flavor: Lindt Excellence A Touch of Sea Salt. The aroma is deliciously chocolatey, like walking into a candy store at Easter. I was nervous to sample it, though, because it had the possibility of going terribly wrong. If the salt crystals were too big, or the chocolate too bitter, this could be a bad thing. No worries, though. This is a mighty yummy bar. The salt is strong, but it goes well with the surprisingly creamy dark chocolate. You know what this would be ideal with? A croissant. Get a nice, flaky, buttery croissant, warm it up and melt one of these bad boys in the center-- heaven! With a cup of coffee, oh man. I'm thinking I need to do this a.s.a.p. On its own, a little square with a glass of red wine would be fantastic.
So what was in the second box? A red tin packed to the brim with "Pralines by Leon." Funny, I thought, I wasn't expecting any samples of pralines. Then I saw the gift card from Memaw and Grandpa David. A birthday present! Hooray! The pralines are an assortment of flavors: Bourbon, Jack Daniels, Amaretto and original. These little sweeties are chock full of nuts and are super sweet, not unlike fudge. They taste of cream and butter and sugar ... what could be better?
(Sidenote: the Sugar Baby was thrilled to see the tin of pralines, because they're one of the candies mentioned in the now-famous candy book. Later that afternoon he called me upstairs during his nap to say, "New Orleans-style Pralines are a kind of candy!")