February 2010

Liquorice Allsorts are sadly uncommon here in America.  One of those things that most people can only find at a Cost Plus imports (if you happen to live within the range) or Ikea (ditto).  Oddly enough I have found that the Fred Meyer store in the town nearest me happens to carry them, which makes me very happy indeed!

Allsorts are so common in England that I have found English people are surprised that most Americans haven't heard of them.  It's like telling an American that people in other countries haven't heard of Snickers or Hershey bars (which is true, by the way).  
Read more

Can you believe such a thing exists?  I never would have dreamed of it, but the instant I saw them, it felt so very right.  Why wouldn't you want Peeps covered in chocolate?  I mean, you're already halfway to Type 2 Diabetes with Peeps to begin with, you might as well finish the job!

All joking aside, chocolate covered Peeps turned out to be so delicious that I regret having tried one.  Now I will be obsessed with them for the next however long until Easter.  (Six weeks.  Easter is April 4th this year, I just checked.)

What makes these delicious, frankly, is that it's not a Peep inside there.  Instead, Just Born has subbed in a more reasonable marshmallow filling.  It's creamier and more tender than a real Peep - more like the filling you get in a Rocky Road bar, or in the middle of a Mallomar.
Read more

Ah, Valentine's Day!  A lame holiday, but an excellent opportunity to get yummy candy at half off on February 15th.  Traditionally this is the time of year when I start stalking stores for chocolate covered cherries, even though I think technically they are a year-round candy.

This is another "fringe candy" that I associate with drug stores like Walgreen's.  They always have an entire aisle devoted to candy, and you have to stock it with something, you know?  Why drug stores have entire candy aisles, when grocery stores devote only about 1/8th of an aisle to candy, is just another mystery.  
Read more

If you live outside the Pacific Northwest, you are doubtless wondering why an article about an "Idaho Spud" is being posted on a dessert blog.  Idaho Spuds are one of the few remaining regional independent candies in America, and in an era of globalization and the inescapable force of market expansion and corporate buy-outs and mergers, that is a very rare thing, indeed.

The Idaho Spud is made by the Idaho Candy Company, and has been since WWI.  The Idaho Candy Company is located in Boise, and although they make a lot of different candy bars, it's the Idaho Spud which has been "exported to a wider audience," so to speak.  If by "wider audience" you understand I mean "Washington and Oregon."
Read more