This is how I like my bourbon.

I find I'm one step nearer a filled chocolate bar that tastes like it's stuffed with frosting. That's what I'm looking for, if you didn't know, and the Ritter Sport Bourbon Vanille I bought today came really close.  It's yet another new-to-me flavors of Ritter Sport. This brand just does not disappoint. One of these days I'm going to skip lunch and sit down with about 6 more flavors -- just for you, of course. It's all for the blog, not because I'm some sort of candy glutton. Geez.

See also:
Ritter Yogurt and Ritter Peppermint
Ritter Coconut (and Ritter Ratings)
Ritter White Chocolate Cornflake and Ritter Caramel Hazelnut Crisp Rice



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London Swall'wing: Part II

 

I heartily approve of the Toffee Crisp. I don't really taste toffee, but whatever. There's plenty of chocolate, caramel, and crisp rice cereal. The baby happens to be toddling over to bang on the keyboard, or I'd say more. It would all be positive, but would I compose an epic poem in its honor? Nah. It's no Jaffa Cake.

 

 Mr. Tom is peanut brittle, but easy on the glaze. The peanut flavor is allowed to come through without being drowned in sugar. Nor does it feel like it wants to break your teeth. I appreciate that in a brittle. Thank you, Germany  (Mr. Tom happened to come to London via Germany).

Hurry! Eat the candy!

(London Swall'wing: Part I)

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I was right!

I have mentioned several (too many?) times on this site that I suspected 3 Musketeers makers had dumbed-down the bar's chocolate somehow in order to make it lower fat.  The color has seemed off for years, and I swear the flavor hasn't been up to par either.

Now! The Universe may have heard my lament, because I discovered this beauty waiting for me at my local pharmacy a few weeks ago.  It's a 3 Musketeers Bar that proclaims, "Now Richer Chocolate Taste" on the wrapper.  And it delivers!  See above; to these eyes it even looks prettier than it used to.



Some prayers are answered in easily identified ways.  This is one of those stories.
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Gasp!

Can it be? Too MUCH caramel? In one candy bar? I never thought I'd see the day.



Milky Way Simply Caramel has upset the balance of my sweet and salty cravings. Quick! Bring me potato chips!

This is one candy bar that would benefit from being packaged in two smaller bites (unlike Peanut Butter Snickers, which comes in two pieces but in a way that seems chintzy and unnecessary).

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Poetry Tuesday: The Difference of Its Parts

Smaller than Snickers, I choke back the laugh
Less than p. buttery, nod to that jar
Not rating a video, accidentally un-still
Underwhelming words, and indeed no muse.

The Gas Stations Are Alive With the Taste of Reese's

Dress by Velvet -- Anthropologie; Tights by We Love Colors; Leg Warmers by MMAN, according to the tag (source forgotten -- Sock Dreams?); Alpaca Scarf (a gift), made in Argentina

Okay, so the title of this post isn't very melodic, but I just returned from a whirlwind trip to the midwest (Kansas, as it were), for my Grandfather's funeral.  We often watched The Sound Of Music while visiting him and Grandma for the holidays, so I've had some Julie Andrews tunes from that movie running through my head and it's clearly gotten into my blog titles.

Anyway, we spent some time riding around in cars, which meant several stops to get gas and use rest stop facilities, and I couldn't help but notice all the Reese's Peanut Butter products in the gas station candy displays.  Dan picked out two contenders (shown above) for us to sample.

I think I've had a "Whipp" once before.  They're like peanut butter Three Musketeers bars, but I like them better than the current permutation of Three Musketeers, which I believe I've mentioned taste less chocolatey to me than they used to.

The "Crispy Crunchy" was quite nice, too -- and sort of of an upscale Nutty Bar.  I only ate half of this one (I was trying to share with my car-mates), and I'd like a few more bites before I comment extensively.

I'd go for both of these again.

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Direct from Korea.

Though these Green Tea Kit Kats are made in Japan, Paul brought them back from Korea.

As you can read here, I quite like this flavor.  I was happy to receive more.  Thanks, Paul!

It seems that Nestlé will incorporate almost anything edible into a Kit Kat, but they seldom sell in the U.S.  The Japanese may have the most exciting choices.  Have you tried or seen any unusual ones?

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A little cookie, a little Kit Kat

The Japanese have the right idea.  Everything sweet SHOULD be a flavor of Kit Kat.  Let's go!

Mebbe. Mebbe Nah.

Problems with the Mint 3 Musketeers Bar

• too skinny
• chocolate flavor not dark enough
• mint doesn't meld well with original "3 Musketeers" taste profile
• two mini bars instead of one whole bar seems like a design intended to cheat me out of some candy bar action.
  

Better Alternatives

• Regular, "classic" 3 Musketeers Bar (though I still say Mars ruined it when they started advertising it as a "lower fat" candy bar. Some say the formula is the same. I say it looks lighter and tastes less like chocolate.)
• York Peppermint Pattie

P.S. Read Wikipedia's explanation if you are outside the US/Canada, where apparently 3 Musketeers are called "Milky Way" bars and the US Milky Way bars are called "Mars Bars!" Also, did you know 3 Musketeers bars were originally 3 flavors packaged as one?

When in a blizzard:

Look out for snow balls.




Make snow things.




Eat your emergency chocolate (nuts = energy!).

Oh, Paul, I'm sorry.

I fear Mr. Newman might roll over in his grave, were he suddenly and posthumously made aware of how little toffee crunch is contained in the "Butter Toffee Crunch" bar that bears his name.

Go ahead. Take out ALL the chocolate. See if I care.

Reese's Limited Edition Peanut Butter Lovers still contain a chocolate layer on the bottom of each cup, but I don't need it. The more parts of the peanut butter cup you make peanut butter, the happier I am.





Call my bluff, Reeses, and we'll talk again, but for now I'm daring you to have the guts to go all peanut butter. I know your "thing" was, if I may paraphrase, "Who got peanut butter in my chocolate?" and etcetera, but I think peanut butter has been carrying chocolate all these years. The creamy candy pb part is my very best friend.

Land of 10,000 Snacks

When we were in the Twin Cities, one of my favorite brother-sister duos (Matt and Laura, which is not to say that their sibling, Claire, is not also delightful, just that she wasn't in town) made generous gifts to me of assorted local snack foods. I must apologize for the delay in getting up a responsive blog post. But, at last, I have tried them all!

If only I didn't like these snacks so much; I could have called this blog post, "Minne-so-so," which seems pretty clever to me right now (I wouldn't say I'm blogging drunk, but I also wouldn't say I'm coming from a place of total sobriety). But how could I not enjoy the following?!

1. Pearson's Salted Nut Roll. I am so into salt with chocolate. Nothing tastes better after two white Russians and a big glass of water. This is like if peanuts that had only ever been to the zoo went to the CIRCUS!




2. Old Dutch Ketchup Potato Chips. Sweet. That's a description, not an interjection. Sweet and slightly tangy, the bag announces they are "Delivered fresh from the heart of the Upper Midwest." These are perfect for early evenings when you're just home from work and not looking forward to making dinner. The flavor isn't complex enough, so you're required to chase them with real food, but they're interesting enough to tide you over those minutes you need to sit on the couch and just recharge.

3. B.T. McElrath Chile Limon Chocolate Bar. Light on the limon, the chocolate has a rich, cocoa flavor and the spice builds with each bite. The citrus peeks through after a few. It can't make me Mayan, but it can make me miss Mexico.



*sigh*

4. Pearson's Milk Chocolate Bun with Caramel and Roasted Peanuts. Sticky in a delightful way, the Bun grabs hold and doesn't let go. Want to chew something over? Try one of these. Thick with caramel, it's a fistful of yum without being totally tooth-threatening.

5. Pearson's Nut Goodie (Original flavor). The Nut Goodie is a lot like the Bun, with chocolate and peanuts encasing flavor, but somehow the chocolate in the Goodie tastes like it is of a higher quality. The tan filling must be maple, which I don't always enjoy in sweets (beyond syrup), but it isn't bad. I can see why this would be a classic -- especially for maple fans.

6. Pearson's Milk Chocolate Bun with Vanilla and Roasted Peanuts. I don't know why, but I was suspicious of this one. I expected it to be heavy-handed on the vanilla. I also didn't see how it could compare to the caramel variety. But it is pleasing, filled with a subtle, though sweet, vanilla mash.

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Mmmmmminnesota! Thanks, Matt (and Jessica) and Laura! I hope you don't mind if I come visit again sooner, rather than later. The Twin Cities taste sweet to me.

Dark Twin = Good Twin

Finally, a Snickers Bar that you don't have to eat in the shower to make interesting. It's Snickers Dark, and I like it. Dark chocolate improved this candy bar's game.

Now that I think of it, I might try this one in the shower next time anyway. It could be even better that way.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!

I Break for Tea

Saturday morning, I finally got around to trying the green tea Kit Kat Nick brought back from Japan.

I would only complain that the packaging is a tad excessive. Inside each cardboard box, the four Kit Kat sticks are separated into two small plastic-wrapped packs of two sticks each.

A small plus? The slogan seemed less strident in this version than in the American campaign. For this Japanese permutation, they've replaced "Gimme a break...Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar" with "Have a break, have a KitKat."

Enough about the package, though. The snack's the thing. Kit Kat has well-captured the lighter-than-pea-green color of the tea. The candy smells sweet, milky, and almost of almond. The flavor is very similar -- sweet, with subtle green tea and milk notes, but without the bitterness that green tea can sometimes have. The wafer layers add a nice crunch.

I quite liked this -- more than original chocolate Kit Kat, I'd say. In fact, I'd be happy eating some more. Who's going to Japan next?

Snickerpuss

And why not eat an Snickers Ice Cream bar while watching the movie Tapeheads (in which John Cusack does a remarkable David Arquette impression several years before anyone had heard of David Arquette)? It's a holiday weekend! Live a little.



I think this is a candy bar that is better in ice-creamed format than in its original (though harder to eat in the shower).

Snacking as sustenance

I have a deadline to make a few gifts for nearly-born babies, and in order to do that I needed to have a day of knitting. Of course, when knitting on a deadline one must snack a lot to keep up one's strength.






I found Limited Edition Hershey's Brownies 'N' Chocolate ("Creamy Milk Chocolate with Brownie Morsels") at Zerns. The bar had no bloom when I unwrapped it, but tasted a tad old. That could have been my imagination, as there is no expiration/sell-by date on the wrapper and it is only my suspicious nature that feels it may have been out of date. Still, there was a good brownie density to the thing, even as individual "brownie morsels" were hard to identify on the tongue.






Nutty Bar Singles - same great Nutty Bar taste. New, less-satisfying, 100-calorie size. This was a silly idea. Don't make the Nutty Bar slimmer (and therefore lower in calorie) by cutting down on its delicious layers. Dieters can eat something else. I ate two. So there.


I also had a handful of KeyFoods roasted, salted peanuts. For a grocery store (and cheap) brand, they were not bad at all!

Turkey Jerky

Surprise! I found another item from Anastasia's box of British (etc.) snacks. I thought I'd eaten them all, but I was wrong. A Fry's (now owned by Cadbury) Turkish Delight just popped up out of the ether.




"Full of Eastern Promise?" If only that promise were fulfilled. It's funny how the trash can is lurking in the background of the picture above. That, ultimately, is where half of this candy bar was headed. I mean, the wrapper said I could mail it back if not satisfied, but international postage can be a bear.

This "Turkish Delight" is going to RUIN the Narnia books for me. How in the world did the White Witch entrap Edmond with something so jellied and floral tasting?* The flowery flavor snuck up on me, but it was undeniable and purposeful.

But it's chocolate-coated. Shouldn't that redeem it a bit? I suspect that no amount of chocolate on the outside could allow me to enjoy this, and in this case the chocolate doesn't tastes like it's of a particularly high quality.

I'm having bad luck with items described as Turkish, come to think of it. I'm no fool; I won't write off a whole country on the small sample of evidence I've gathered so far (especially as I don't think any of these have actually been manufactured in Turkey). I like the music. I like the hats. Someone tell me about something edible, yummy and Turkish. Quick!


* p.s. for further reading, I discovered this article.

Mountain High; Sentence Fragments

The Brown & Haley Mountain "bar" (they're round) triumvirate. From Tacoma, Washington. By the makers of Almond Roca Buttercrunch. Thinking of Ranier.

Mountain. Round lumpiness. Smells nutty. Vanilla cream filling. Like a cherry mash with no cherry. Which brings us to.

Cherry Mountain. Same thick, irregular lump. Intensely cherry smell. Very sweet cherry middle. Less filling than in the original bar. Less nutty. Nicely smooshy as you chew.

Peanut Butter Mountain. Best for last? Most oblong and puddly looking. Faintest scent. First bite all chocolate - cursed oblong! Rich, soft chocolate. Crunch of nuts. Peanut butter inside. Want more. Happy smooth.

Who else a Northwest favorite? Tia!