June 2010

  • It's Iced Coffee Season!

    By erika on 6/30/10 3:40pm
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    Hooray for summer!  Here in the Pacific Northwest, summer doesn't really get under way until July 4th, so this weekend is the official start of our season.  Although I realize that in a lot of the country, it's been over 80 degrees since March or so.  We start the iced beverage season late up here.  But since we invented coffee, what we say goes, right?  (Kidding!)

    There are a lot of subtleties to making a good cup of iced coffee.  As you may have noticed if you ever tried to just pour day-old brewed coffee over some ice and call it "iced coffee."  (Surely I'm not the only one who has tried to do that?)  


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  • Almond Joy Pieces

    By erika on 6/29/10 5:32pm
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    It seems so obvious in hindsight: Reese's Pieces are little M&M-shaped versions of Reese's Peanut Butter cups.  A realization that was only recently made clear when Hershey trotted out Pieces versions of several other classics, including the beloved and relatively antediluvian Almond Joy candy bar.


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  • Oatmeal Cookies

    By erika on 6/28/10 1:10pm
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    Oatmeal is one of the finest kinds of cookie you can make, and not just because it lends that air of healthfulness.  Although that definitely doesn't hurt!  Oatmeal after all provides dietary fiber, as well as soluble fiber which can help lower cholesterol.  (That is great, because it helps to balance out all the butter.)  Oatmeal gives a cookie body without making it too heavy.  It lends a nutty flavor, and a chewy texture that cannot be reproduced with any other ingredient.  Oatmeal is also really cheap, especially if you buy it in bulk!


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  • Giant Chewy Nerds

    By erika on 6/27/10 12:29pm
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    I've been a fan of Nerds candy ever since they first hit our shores in the late 1980s.  As much as I love Nerds, I loathe all of their unusual variants.  It seems like every few years, the Wonka Candy Company finds a way to turn out another weird Nerds product.  From Nerds Cereal in the 1980s to today's topic, Giant Chewy Nerds candy.  


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  • Starburst FaveReds

    By erika on 6/26/10 3:58pm
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    I never thought about it until I picked up this pack of candy, but the red Starburst flavors really are my favorites.   Apparently I'm not alone in this, because Starburst's new variant is called "FaveREDs," and includes only the red flavors: watermelon, cherry, strawberry, and fruit punch.  No lemon, no orange, just the good stuff.


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  • The New Starbucks Frappuccino

    By erika on 6/23/10 4:07pm
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    I could tell today was going to be a lovely day, so I packed it up and headed to Starbucks for my first Frappuccino of the season.  I was excited about the nice weather (72 and sunny, does it get any better?) and eager to try the newly overhauled Frappuccino.


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  • Sour Nerds

    By erika on 6/23/10 11:45am
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    The box of Wonka Sour Nerds caught my eye at the store last night.  For one thing, it was wrapped in cellophane, which was a little unusual.  And while I have heard of Sour Nerds for a while now, I hadn't tried any.  But in the name of broadening my candy horizons, lo, to include even sour candy, I decided to buy a box.


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  • Rocky Road Candy Bar

    By erika on 6/22/10 11:10am
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    After the horror that was my Fizzl'd Fruits Skittles experiment, you can only imagine the relish with which I launched into my Rocky Road candy bar.  I could barely stand to photograph it before nomming it.  It's a miracle that picture doesn't have a big sloppy bite mark in the side, Jaws-style!


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  • Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits

    By erika on 6/21/10 11:57am
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    This must be one of the most successful marketing campaigns in all of candy-dom.  Even I heard about it, and I don't have a television, for pity's sake!  I must have seen the ad on Hulu or maybe the AdultSwim.com website in between episodes of Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law or something.


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  • Big Hunk

    By erika on 6/20/10 12:21pm
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    I have always hated nougat-only candy, but I was convinced to give it another try after I enjoyed a Look! Bar so much.  And it turns out that the Look! Bar is just a chocolate-coated version of another Annabelle Candy Company standard, the Big Hunk.  I thought it would only be fair to track one down.


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  • Bargain Coffee Round-Up

    By erika on 6/17/10 2:29pm
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    You know I love a bargain.  (I'm not cheap; I'm THRIFTY.)  Unfortunately I also love good coffee.  And sadly, good coffee is usually pretty expensive!  Here's a run-down on some of my bargain coffee experiences over the last few years.


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  • The U-No Bar

    By erika on 6/17/10 1:00pm
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    The U-No is basically the indie version of a 3 Musketeers bar.  In fact, I have always assumed that the name was a sly play on the theme - instead of three it's just one, or "uno."  Although I could just be over-thinking it, because the dash in the name indicates that it's probably meant to be pronounced "you know."  


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  • Scientists Discover what Women Have Known for Centuries: Chocolate is an Anti-Depressant

    By lisala on 6/15/10 11:22pm
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    Australia's Black Dog Institute, a non-profit educational and research institute with interest and expertise in the treatment and diagnosis of depression and bipolar disorder, has, via a study of 3,000 people, made a revolutionary discovery. Sort of. Of those in the study (all of whom demonstrated various symptoms associated with depression) 45% craved chocolate. The fact that women all over the world have known about chocolate staving off some of the symptoms of depression since some time in the mid-eighteenth century in no way diminishes the value of the study. Particularly because of that 45% who craved chocolate, 60% found that chocolate improved their mood if they indulged while depressed (that's 27% of the overall study participants, for those eating chocolate at home).

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  • Strawberry Festivals!

    By sarajean on 6/15/10 4:59pm
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    It’s that time of year again—when everything is ripe and juicy and berrylicious. The scent of strawberries is in the air, and not just because the round red fruits are in season. There are strawberry festivals popping up all across the country—be sure to find and hit yours or you’ll be sorry you missed it!

    I don’t know how the strawberry festival near you works, but the one near us is always heavenly. Sure, it’s hot outside, but the homemade strawberry lemonade (doesn’t that just make your mouth water?) makes it all worth it. Plus, there are bushels of ripe strawberries ready for purchase—along with strawberry ice cream, strawberry pie, and of course, my favorite, strawberry shortcake. Strawberry festivals are a strawberry lover’s dream!

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  • Tomorrow is Fudge Day

    By sarajean on 6/15/10 3:28pm
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    Do we really need an excuse to eat more fudge in our lives? Maybe we should all just take down those Chik-Fil-A signs that say “Eat Mor Chikin” and replace them with “Eat More Fudge.” Wouldn’t we all be so much happier as a result? I think the pounds gained would probably be about the same, so no adverse health benefits there. Whether you can only stand a bit at a time, or you could enjoy the richness of fudge all day, every day, June 16 is definitely a day to indulge.

    In honor of National Fudge Day, you can take part by…

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  • New M&Ms: Coconut and Pretzel

    By erika on 6/15/10 12:15pm
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    I should say that I really like coconut.  Although I definitely prefer it in the form of, you know, actual coconut.  (Like Almond Joy and Mounds.)  As opposed to just coconut flavoring, which is what's inside Coconut M&Ms.  Don't get me wrong, it's a very strong and convincing coconut flavoring.  It's just a little unsettling, is what it is.


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  • Mixing It Up: Two Classics Get Wacky

    By erika on 6/14/10 2:07pm
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    This is a dual review of the Reese's Peanut Butter Lover's Peanut Butter Cup, and Skittles Crazy Cores.  In both cases, the manufacturer got a wild hare to mix things up a little.  Take what you usually get, and skew it just a touch off center.  Sometimes this works; sometimes it doesn't.


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  • Health Benefits of Watermelon

    By sarajean on 6/12/10 7:20am
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    The other day I read that watermelon is a better source of lycopene than tomatoes—which is really awesome for me, since I don’t like tomatoes but I love watermelon. It got me thinking: other than freezing the thing and filling it with vodka for a good time, eating its sweet juicy goodness to cool off, throwing a seed-spitting contest, making cool fruit baskets, and this new lycopene revelation, what else is a watermelon good for?

    It turns out that there are plenty of health benefits to be had from eating watermelon. Here are just a few highlights.

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  • Gender Stereotyped Ogre Snack Cakes

    By sarajean on 6/12/10 6:54am
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    Right now, I am a sucker for anything with Princess Fiona from Shrek on it. I’ve always been a Fiona fan anyway, but since she ended up being even more badass than she was in the original Shrek film in Shrek Forever After—complete with a warrior costume, gear, and awesome Amazonian hair—I totally want her on everything from my folders to my journal, a la seventh grade.

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  • Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies

    By erika on 6/9/10 12:54pm
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    Ah, Little Debbie, purveyor of ultra-cheap sweet treats and desserts!  When I was a kid, I heard of Little Debbie treats, but their distribution didn't extend to my state.  Now that I'm an adult living in the Lower 48, I still think of Little Debbie with a little thrill of the excitement of novelty, of advertising promises finally - after long last - fulfilled.


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  • Wonka Rainbow Nerds Rope

    By erika on 6/8/10 10:38am
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    The same candy shelf that produced Kazoozles also offered forth Nerds Rope.  I'm a fan of Nerds, and Nerds Rope has been out for ages, but I had never tried it.  Something about the idea struck me as too juvenile, even for me.  I never could stand that bubble gum tape, which was just regular bubble gum, except in an unusual format, and with a 20,000% price mark-up.


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  • Wonka Kazoozles

    By erika on 6/7/10 11:47am
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    It's been a long time since I bought a candy without having the slightest idea what to expect.  I studied the package and learned only that Kazoozles are "Delickoricious Chewy Candy."  The contents are described as "2 lemon ropes with cherry filling."  Whatever was inside that super-shiny mylar package, it felt firm yet flexible.

    I was led to expect something kind of like licorice.  What I found was… not that.


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  • The Reese's Bar

    By erika on 6/6/10 10:32am
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    I actually have no idea what to call this.  Where a Cups wrapper says "Peanut Butter Cups," this bar has a blue swoosh that says "FILLED WITH REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER."  I can hardly call this a "Reese's Filled With Reese's Peanut Butter," as hilarious as that name may be.  In fact, nowhere on either the package or on the official website does it have any mention of what this thing actually is.  Despite the fact that any rational person would call it a "Reese's Bar."


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  • Big Cherry Candy

    By erika on 6/3/10 10:30am
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    With surely one of the most descriptive names in candy-dom, the Big Cherry is a lot like a cherry Mountain Bar, but with the addition of an actual maraschino cherry inside.  Aside from the cherry, it's virtually identical, and I would challenge anyone to tell the difference in a blind taste test.  (I mean, if you surgically removed the cherry, I guess.)


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  • Whoppers: Strawberry Milkshake

    By erika on 6/2/10 10:26am
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    I usually don't go for pink foods.  I mean, pink isn't really my color, you know?  And yet, there is that part of me that craves Hello Kitty.  I might be the sort of person who owns a Hello Kitty toaster - the one that toasts her face right onto the bread - but I would never EVER admit that in public.  So.


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  • Mike & Ike

    By erika on 6/1/10 12:40pm
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    After reading up on the Just Born candy company for my recent review of Peanut Chews, I realized it had been ages since I had nibbled on Mike & Ikes.  I remember having long drawn-out discussions in grade school about which ones were the Mikes, and which were the Ikes.  


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