On Motivation and Chocolate

Pavlov's Coupons

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:18:00 +0000

I'm happy to announce that my brother took his boys out Trick or Treating - dressed as a very cool Darth Vader and Boba Fett, I might add. And there were loads of Trick or Treaters where they lived. Yahoo!! The tradition lives!! At least for those on the dark side. : )

And my good friend Mike was visiting friends at the beach - and they had tons of Trick or Treaters. In fact - they almost ran out of candy. But they managed to save three white chocolate Reese's cups for themselves, so all was not lost. Happy Belated birthday, Mike! He was 30 minutes shy of being born on Halloween.

I'm feeling better about the future already.

I have come to realize in recent weeks that I am a sucker for coupons, especially those fabulous e-mail offers from companies like Bath and Body Works and Harry and David. In fact, I'm like Pavlov's Dogs. Remember them? The experimenter would ring a bell and then feed them. Pretty soon all the experimenter had to do was ring the bell and the dogs would salivate - food didn't even have to be present. Well, all these retailers have to do is send me a coupon and I immediately go to their website and buy things. I don't even have to need anything. Bow wow!

And they are smart - once you spend money and use a coupon, they send you more coupons! I'm salivating just thinking about it!

Well, this week I got a coupon for 25% off your entire purchase at Harry & David - sweet!!! That was a no brainer - I totally scored some great stuff to blog about! Wheee!! (This is a brilliant marketing strategy, by the way. Marketing directly to the people who are most likely to buy from you. Give them an offer they can't refuse - and voila - instant sales.)

So let's see what I got!

Harry and David has some pretty darn good chocolate. The truffles are smooth and creamy and the flavor good - not too subtle, not too overpowering.

Fruit flavors are seldom my favorites, but these are good. As you can see, these aren't those cheesy cream filled things like you get from my enemy, Russ Stover. This is delicious chocolate ganache. I liked cherry and raspberry better than orange, but it's all a matter of personal preference.

Now these truffles look like they have nuts on them, but look at the real picture below:

These are Moose Munch truffles. Moose Munch is their collection of popcorn blended with a variety of flavors. So crazy me thought there might be something more to these - like a crunch. They were described as "starting with a thick layer of decadent milk chocolate". "Inside, we've blended real nuts with even more creamy chocolate, then added toffee's crackle." Hmmmm.......the nuts are so blended that you can't detect them. And you can see the toffee. Not much crackle going on.

The flavor doesn't seem nutty - more like a like coffee flavor. Not bad, just not at all what I expected. These are not my favorite. Too wishy-washy. What makes the Moose Munch line is the crunchy popcorn and the mix of flavors and textures. These ain't got it going on.

Is this not the perfect collection? I LOVE all these flavors, so I'm pretty excited about this one! At the top is hazelnut - and you can see the nut there - no messing around! This one is delicious. BUT there are better hazelnut offerings out there - Perugina Kisses leap to mind.

The almond is smooth and creamy, but I think it should have a nut too. I actually prefer chocolate covered almonds to almond flavored truffles. Who knew? But I know now.

Peanut Butter is my favorite - no surprise there, huh? But are these better than Reese's Peanut Butter cups? I have to say no. I know, crazy right? The cost like a million times more. They just don't really kick. The peanut butter isn't particularly smooth and creamy or really peanut buttery tasting. Trader Joe's Peanut Butter cups are way better too.

So I just want to let you all know that Halloween is alive and well. And so is scientific theory.

Sinners and Saints

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:16:00 +0000

I got 6 Trick or Treaters. Boo! I guess I just don't live in the right neighborhood. I can't accept that Trick or Treating might be a dying tradition. That breaks my heart. What did you all see? Any good stories?

I'm on the road all week - which is great! But not much time to blog. I did get to go to the Saints game Monday night - what a blast! My awesome clients at Republic Finance took me. I saw more costumes there than I did at Halloween. And I don't think seeing a football game anywhere else can be as cool as seeing the Saints win number 7 in New Orleans! For one night I was a member of the Who Dat nation! Woowee! Go Saints!

The Grand 2009 Halloween Finale!!!

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:01:00 +0000

The Sorbet Sistahs hit the mall today and poor Tracy let me drag her through Lindt and World Market so I could score some last minute Halloween deals. We were thrilled to be offered a sample of the pumpkin cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory - OMG! That is the best pumpkin treat I've had this year - hands down. If you get a chance - get some, get some, get some!!!!!

I found these cute little ghosts at Lindt:

They are cute - just good, solid, delicious milk chocolate. But I have a feeling these will soon be Christmas bells. Remind you of anyone? Russ Stover?

All the Halloween candy at World Market was half price and I've had my eyes on these:

This bag is huge - look at everything that was inside:

It takes a village. Let's look a little closer:

There was only one of this guy - the village idiot?

There were several of each of these - a witch, a Frankenstein, and a ghost with a pumpkin head. The village council? Congress?

And a darn army of these three - a witch pumpkin with three teeth, a leafy pumpkin with two teeth, and a country pumpkin with only one tooth. At least they are all smiling.

Now, here's the secret - look at them naked:

Do you see what this really is? It is chocolate bowling! How fun are these??? Also - I saw this company's Christmas bag and I suspect - like the ghosts are going to be bells - these are future Santas and Christmas balls.

They are hollow, by the way:

The company that makes them is Riegelein, a German company, http://www.riegelein.de/ The chocolate is good, but very, very sweet (rich, not waxy like Palmer but only 30% cocoa) and who really wants hollow chocolate bowling pins? These are festive - would be great for a party - but I get bored with this much plain milk chocolate. But bowling, now THAT might be fun!

Speaking of having my eyes on something, Riegelien also makes these:

I think the skulls are way cooler than the eyeballs, but maybe that's because I already saw eyeballs with Palmer. These are creepily bloodshot, however. Ewwww. Leave it to the Germans to crank things up a notch.

The wrapper says these are cream filled chocolate. Let's slice one open:

They look a little like the Lindt Lindor truffles, right? But they aren't!!!! The Lindor truffles were filled with creamy white chocolate. This is milk cream and it tastes a little like spoiled milk. Yuck - I didn't like it. I've had some Belgian chocolates filled with this type of cream and it just doesn't work for me. Regional preferences, remember?

Now let's talk about Godiva.

They have some festive Halloween chocolate pops:

The adorable ghost and the bat went to my good buddy and loyal blog reader, Diane. I kept the leaf because I wanted to compare it to a leaf I found at World Market:

They really both are gorgeous. The one I got at World Market is on the left (by Splendid Chocolates, both larger and cheaper than the Godiva leaf). Splendid Chocolates is a Canadian Company http://www.splendidchocolates.com/htm/about.htm and their leaf has maple flavor. They should OWN the maple leaf, right? And you know what? They do! I really prefer the Splendid leaf. The subtle maple flavor is a great touch. The more Godiva I try, the more overrated (and overpriced) I think it is.

Godiva had 4 special Halloween treats - two of which were sold out when I tried to get them. There was a blood orange bat and a caramel apple tombstone - and dammit, I missed them! I did manage to score two Death by Chocolate Skulls:

This is a rich dark chocolate ganache in a bitter sweet dark chocolate shell. The top has a black and white coating to make it look like a scary skull - which it does. This one, I have to admit, was pretty damn good. The dark chocolate ganache was very, very good. A+ - very artistic and very good.

I also got a Candy Corn Ghost:

This is a white chocolate candy corn ganache in a white chocolate shell. This one did nothing for me. Too sweet and too weird looking. It looks more like an amoeba or a flu germ than a ghost. Why does it have weird flipper arms? Why is it orange? F It gets an F because it is ridiculously expensive ($2.25 each) and it's just no good.

Wow - we covered a lot of ground this year! From the cheap (Palmer) to the expensive (Godiva) from the local (kind of) (Hershey) to the distant (Riegelien) - we have had some fun! We tried new things, celebrated creativity, and had a blast! Tomorrow night make sure you have some fun - and if you can, give some candy to some Trick or Treaters. Halloween gave me some of my greatest childhood memories - let's pass them on.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Harry, David, and Russ - The Boys of Chocolate

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:56:00 +0000

The Great Pumpkin is almost here! But first let's hear from the Boys of Chocolate. Let's start with two I'm becoming increasingly fond of - Harry & David. Remember the kickin' pumpkin malt balls and the pumpkin caramel balls? H & D are producing some stellar treats. And these are no exception:

These are Halloween Scream Balls - caramel, milk chocolate and peanut butter covered in a candy shell. Can you say, "Addictive"? These are really, really good - the combo of the textures - chewy and crunchy and peanut buttery - BAM! I think they could use a little more peanut butter, but then I think everything can use a little more peanut butter.

I had a bag of these on my desk and I couldn't stop eating them - maybe that's why they call them scream balls - you realize you have eaten them all and you start to scream. These alone are worth a trip to a Harry & David store near you. (I'm betting they'll be on sale soon - I don't think most shoppers realize what they are - so you might score a deal. I thought they were just those foil wrapped chocolate balls until I looked a little closer.) I'm falling in love with Harry & David - both of them - what a dilemma.

Russ Stover, however, does not have a piece of my heart. But he's about to get a piece of my mind! Love York for making their Peppermint Pattie Pumpkins both orange and a pumpkin shape. Love Palmer for their complete creativity and artistic genius. Hate Russ Stover's laziness. See the proof below.

Behold the Christmas Coconut Wreath:

No red, no green, no bow, no hole in the middle. More like the Christmas blob.

But wait, behold the Coconut Nest (for Easter):

That would be the Christmas blob with some jelly bean eggs.

And now, the Buzzard Nest:

The Christmas blob reworked for Halloween with some different color jelly beans. They could have at least used candy corn. Come on!!

This is the only Russell Stover candy I actually like, but I sure would like to see a little more creativity. It's not like it's THAT great - I like Almond Joy better - more coconutty. So at least they could get a little more creative. It wouldn't take much - have red and green sprinkles on the wreath. Go crazy - make it an actual wreath. Call the Easter thing a basket and put some green candy in there that looks like grass. Have fun! Come on, Russ - show us something!!!

How about you - is there some way you can use that powerful creativity of yours? I think we get in a rut and do the same things over and over - and there is so much more in us! In the candy shop of life - who to you want to be? Boring Russ? Dynamic and delicious Harry & David? Wild and crazy Palmer? You get to pick - every day. Just make sure you do. You don't want to be on your deathbed as a Christmas blob when you know you were really a Halloween Scream Ball.

OMG - only one more post before Halloween!!!!!! And stay tuned - it's going to feature Godiva!

Back to the Chocolate Pumpkin Patch 2009

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:49:00 +0000

Last year we had a face-off between Hershey's Marshmallow Pumpkin and Russell Stover's Marshmallow Pumpkin. Hershey crushed Russell Stover in my opinion. But there's a new kid in town this year. I found this contender hanging out in Cracker Barrel:

Made by the never heard of Chocolate House, aka the Georgia Nut Company http://www.georgianut.com/. The wrapper seems mysteriously similar to the Hershey wrapper:

The Hershey one is better, but both feature purple foil and giant orange pumpkins. Maybe just a coincidence, but in Chocolate CSI we know there are no coincidences.

Here they are naked:

Hershey is on the left, looking more like a pumpkin. Georgia Nut's version is a little flatter, but actually weighs a tiny bit less.

Autopsy:

Hershey has marshmallow, whereas Georgia Nut (GN) has marshmallow creme. It's like that Fluff stuff you can put on sandwiches - very sticky, kind of yucky. So sticky it gets all over your fingers, and lips, and elbows and maybe even on your eyelashes.

So they have two very different tastes. I prefer Hershey - it has a more chocolately flavor. In the GN version, the fluff overpowers the chocolate. But for only 120 calories (130 for GN), they are both pretty good Halloween treats. Not much calcium though - don't get your hopes up.

New to the patch this year is Palmer - remember the peanut butter pumpkin I reviewed a few posts ago? I admired its artistry. It had the ugliest wrapper I have ever seen, but the candy itself was very festive. Well, check these out:

The ugly wrapper tradition continues! But look inside:

So cute! Look at the green stem! That's no blob - look at those leaves - admire the detail!! We're talking Chocolate Michelangelo here! As far as taste? Well, this IS Palmer, but again, the chocolate cream filling saves it. These are actually pretty good. We're not talking artisan chocolate, but for 39 cents - it's a winner!

Bad wrapper:

But, look at this!

Look at that orange - yahoo! But as soon as you notice the orange, you are hit with an overpowering, sickly sweet orange creamsicle smell. And WOW these are sweet! Too sweet - unless you really like orange creamsicle - in which case you have just died and gone to heaven. For the rest of us - no. This is not a maybe, this is a no. But it's festive!!

Now after a feast like this, we need an after dinner mint:

These are solid - York Peppermint Pattie Pumpkins are just as you would expect. The dark chocolate is not the richest, best dark chocolate and the mint isn't creamy, but they're good. And so cute and little - about the size of a fifty cent piece. I like cute, little candy - you can tell yourself they have hardly any calories. A slice of fried pecan pie? Not so much.

I'm proud of the York people - they didn't have to bother to but a stem on the PPPs - and they didn't have to put that unholy orange color in there. They could just have put regular ol' peppermint patties in orange wrappers. But no - they made special ones for the holiday. Yay York!!

You never know who out there appreciates what you do. You may have been kind to someone just in passing, but it made their day. You might have helped a customer and not thought twice about it, but it meant the world to them. Heck, right now someone could be blogging about you - making you the unsung hero of the candy world. I bet the York workers have no idea how cool I think their efforts are and how it makes my Halloween! Realize that what you do doesn't go unappreciated. You impact many more people than you know. Never doubt that you make a difference - what you do matters to more people than you will ever know.

And Russell Stover, I'm watching you.

Chocolate, Quakers, and Poe

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:44:00 +0000

I am soooo excited that candy season is upon us! I think I'm more excited about Halloween this year than when I was a kid! Okay, maybe not. But the few kids that come to my house are going to be loaded up with candy. I have got to get rid of my surplus or you all are going to see me on the next A & E Hoarders episode. I'll be known forevermore as the Crazy Candy Lady.

Forevermore - how Poe of me! If I only had a raven.....

I'm going to go on one of my famous rants here, so get ready!! I am completely opposed to so called "healthy" Halloween treats. I'm still bitter about that box of raisins I got back in 1975. Who the hell wants raisins for Halloween? I had my Mom giving me crummy raisins in my lunch box all year, I want SUGAR at Halloween!

Which brings us to this:

Quaker Mini Granola Bars. Now let's give this product some thought. How does our friendly Quaker man feel about having his happy, smiling visage plastered on a product celebrating a pagan holiday? There he is smiling like a cherub surrounded by angry looking spirits of the undead. At least Palmer gives us a mad Doctor, not a Quaker! What is the world coming to?

Hell, I'd be angry too if I got one of these in my Trick or Treat bag:

The "sprinkles" are all crushed and look crappy and to call these chocolate chip is right. Chip - as in one. One chip. I kid you not. The chocolate chips are mighty hard to come by. And the Quaker is on every bar. Apparently no one at Quaker Oats thinks twice about the poor Quaker man anymore. He has become completely meaningless. Where's Aunt Jemima when you need her?

Now let's talk about the bold statements on the package - "a good source of calcium." If you eat three of these for 180 calories you get 10% of your recommended calcium. For fewer calories I can get twice as much calcium from my yogurt. I wouldn't really look to these for my daily dose of calcium. (Somebody call the FDA - tell them you're a Quaker.) These do have less fat and sugar than a comparable candy bar, but more calories. (And they taste like crap in comparison.) Let's see - mini Twix or mini granola bar. Any kid that willingly picks the granola bar has obviously been brainwashed by his parents and should be removed from that home immediately. (Call DSS - but don't say anything about being a Quaker, they might think you're a Mormon and try to take YOUR kids away.)

Hmmmm....so just how "healthy"? And will it really make any difference to have 10 less grams of sugar on a night when you might eat 10,000 grams of sugar? I say give me sugar or give me death! It will probably be both, but at least I'll die happy. My ghost will be smiling.

Maybe those of you morally opposed to such candy decadence as the mini-Reese's or mini-Snickers (my all time favorite as a kid - what a score!), could go for these:

Cute little mini Twix! Three different flavors and only 50 calories each.

Starting from the left, we have dark chocolate. These are the perfect bite size and dark chocolate fans should love this. (Parent you can pick all of these out for yourselves.) I've always liked the texture mix in a Twix - chocolate, caramel and the crunchy cookie - delish! Next is triple chocolate which is REALLY good! Milk chocolate, and a chocolate caramel with a chocolate cookie. The last is regular old Twix with milk chocolate, caramel and the cookie. The autopsy photos always reveal the truth. I so want a T-shirt that reads Chocolate CSI. : )

Those damn chocolate chip granola bars are a crime scene, that's for sure. The whole bag has 15 of them - that's 15 chocolate chips who gave their lives. Eat all 15 bars and you could have half your calcium for the day. I'm putting crime scene tape around Quaker headquarters right now, surely this is illegal.

My favorite of the Twix bars was the middle one - the Triple Chocolate. If you're a Twix fan, you might want to check these out. The package (beautifully decorated for fall, I might add) says they are a limited edition. And we know what that means - get them now or you might find them nevermore.

Bwah, ha, ha!!!!! Happy Halloween!!!

Update on Trader Joe's Almond in the Coconut

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Quick update! After I reviewed this to die for treat, several people wrote in and said it was discontinued at their Trader Joe's. So I wrote TJ's and asked them about it. I got a generic response, but, hey - it's better than nothing. I guess.

Hi Denise,
Thank you for your interest in our products. We are sorry to hear that we have discontinued a favorite product of yours.

At Trader Joe's our mission is to bring you the best quality products at the best prices. In order to manage our store space well products must meet a certain sales criteria in order to earn their way onto our shelves. If a product does not sell well we take this as a vote from our customers that they would like to see something different.

Although the Almond in the Coconut has been discontinued, at times because of high demand we have seen discontinued items make their way back on our shelves. We will forward your comments and request to bring this product back to our Buying Department and that will be taken into future consideration.

Sincerely,
Tiffany
Trader Joe's
Customer Relations

So I guess we can keep e-mailing and asking and maybe they'll bring it back. It makes me sad to think it's gone.

But hey, there are always caramel filled eyeballs!!

From the Sublime to the Hilarious

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:44:00 +0000

I may be the only human who gets pulled over, not for texting, but for looking at leaves. (I think that makes me an Eco-Geek.) They finally started to turn here and they are gorgeous. I am already wishing they could stay this way forever. I so love the fall. I spent a few years out west and I missed the fall more than anything. No trees = no leaves. Bummer. Fall is the most glorious season.

I also have to give a shout out to everyone who has offered help or ideas or info about the hip replacement!! Kris in New England posted a whole blog about her hip replacement experience and sent me a link: http://mygermanshepardproject.squarespace.com/ I have no excuses for not knowing what to expect. The Internet ROCKS!! Remind me what we did before? Wasn't there something called the card catalog?

Okay we have got to get down to business! Halloween is fast approaching and I have way too much candy still to tell you about! Holy Holidays, Batman! Where does the time go?

Let's start off with something delicious, mouthwatering and simply sinful:

Lindt's Lindor Truffles are simply the creamiest, sweetest, most decadent things EVER. They melt in your mouth, they are soooo rich and creamy. No one in their right mind is wasting these babies on Trick or Treaters. This is an adult candy. What I love beside the great taste are those adorable ghosts. So cute!! Yes, I dream in chocolate and I would probably marry for Lindt.

Now you can see in the autopsy photo that these are filled with white chocolate. Dark chocolate lovers will find this way too sweet, but I loved it. (Hey you're dealing with a woman who loves fried Reese's and thinks eating frosting out of the can is a good idea.) Suggestion - buy the heck out of these when the Halloween candy goes on sale if any are left. Keep them all for yourself. And before you say anything about calories, they are so rich one will hold you for a while. Although they might call to you at night. Lindor Truffles really are the thing dreams are made of.

And now for something completely different......

Oh Palmer - such bad chocolate, but such creative candy!! Palmer mockolate is mostly sugar and the dreaded partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, so it has a waxy taste unique to cheap chocolate. But damn, look at those fangs - some have blood on them - how cool is that??? I'm sorry - I have to give Palmer huge points for creativity. Okay - so all the white vampire fangs don't come out perfect - most do and they tried!! Russell Stover has crummy chocolate and we've seem their "artistry." BAH!

Palmer didn't have to make some of the wrappers with bloody fangs, but they did! And I celebrate them for it! That is very, very cool. As far as taste, these have the waxy chocolate outside with a fudge filling and I have to say, for el cheapo chocolate, they weren't half bad. The fudge filling really helps.

I found all of these at Party City for .99 a bag. A whole lotta fun for a few bucks! These were the least creative and my least favorite:

Although Plumpkins is at least a funny name. They did use different foil wrappers, but the waxy chocolate was too much to overcome. And you know I'm no fan of the whole crisp rice thing. Rice Krispy Treats - yes! Waxy chocolate with some crispy air pockets - no.

Next up - the audacity of Boo's:

Now - let's take a moment to appreciate the sheer audacity of this - someone had to say - "Let's make a chocolate Boo!" I know I for one would have crushed that idiotic idea - I can hear myself right now - "You have got to be kidding me! All the material you have to work with on Halloween and you want to make a chocolate Boo! Send in the Ooompa Loompas - you're fired!"

But it works - these are kind of crazy and cool. And look at that - I found eight different foil wrappers! Eight! And these aren't huge bags! I like that scary ghost skeleton thing - that's no Lindt ghost - you don't want no dreams made out of that!

Taste? Waxy chocolate with a fudgey inside. Sugar and fat - kids will love it. If you buy it, you'll find yourself eating them. (That is the really scary part!!)

It gets better - look at these:

You gotta love that! What a great twist! Very creative! Very artistic! Very peanut buttery! And I'm about to scare myself - very good!!! I know, I know - how can it be? But these are good! They're sweeter than a Reese's and God knows what's in them, but I say - hit me again! They taste good, they are creative and festive - Go Palmer! Screw my arteries!

And the grand finale, Creepy Peepers:

Waxy chocolate eyeballs filled with caramel. I can't believe it, but these too are good. Now we ain't talking sea salt sophisticated caramel, we're talking sugar and weird chemical fats caramel. And it's damn good. It's so good, I ate the whole bag and WENT BACK TO FIND MORE. Let me repeat that - I went back to find more PALMER chocolate. I have clearly crossed over to the dark side.

Guess what? The eyeballs were the only one completely sold out! So I have been vindicated! My recommendations are valid! The marketplace agrees with me! And so does this guy:

Lindt - thank you for your quality and your elegance. Palmer thank you for way more than $5.00 worth of fun. There's a place in this world for all of us - make the most of your strengths and the right people will love you. You'll have customers, friends, and associates who value you for the unique things you bring. Celebrate you - don't even try to be anybody else. Rock the world like only you can. Happy Halloween!!!

Warning! Fried Ho Hos are Not Good for You!

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:14:00 +0000

I saw a letter to the editor of the Raleigh paper lambasting them for not following an article about Fair food with a talk about nutrition. The writer said there was an obesity epidemic and articles like this were reprehensible.

So, for all of you who think a fried Ho Ho might be good for you, it's not. You shouldn't even go to the fair. You should stay home and eat carrots. Raw. No ranch dressing. And for God's sake don't drink a regular soda! Are you insane?

I'm crazy like that. I figure adults can make their own food choices. Hey - if you can reproduce and vote, I think you can decide what to eat.

Speaking of deciding what to eat - I ate a pumpkin Krispy Kreme doughnut today. I've been wanting to try one for weeks!! It was good, but you know what? I didn't think it was pumpkiny enough. It was like a heavily glazed cake doughnut with a slight taste of pumpkin. Good, but not great. And for a whopping 300 calories, I want greatness.

However, these are really popular - they are selling out - so if you're curious, get thee to the doughnut shop!!

Note: the doughnut is not a health food, if you or someone in your family is participating in the obesity epidemic you should consult your Doctor or a health care professional before having a doughnut.

Deep Fried at the NC State Fair

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:42:00 +0000

I want to warn you readers that this entry is not for the faint of heart. Small children should not be exposed to these images. Stop now!!

The Sorbet Sistahs went to the absolute opposite of sorbet by visiting the N.C. State Fair. Most of our time was spent at this booth:

Would there really be any point to going anywhere else?

We lucked out in that it was a fabulous day - gorgeous blue skies, great temps - the perfect fall day. Ah, but where to start! We decided to get a fried Ho Ho and fried Oreos:

Tracy and I liked the Ho Ho better than the Oreos, Beth preferred the Oreos. We think the Oreos might have been better if they used the double stuffed Oreos. I think maybe if they had used Cakesters - that would have rocked! But neither of these REALLY blew us away.

So we decided to try the fried Reese's:

OMG - these were pretty damn amazing. I would like to try these again. What a great idea!!! And how insane! Only in the south, right? Hell yeah!!

We decided we should walk around a bit before we struck again. These looked too outrageous even for us:

These things are huge - about the size of a dinner plate. They are thick fried dough bases loaded with chocolate, custard, cherries, and cinnamon apples which you can get in any combo you can dream up. Yehaw!!

We saw the N.C. Fudge booth - look at these flavors:

And look at the man in the booth. What a sad sack. I asked him if he was the King of Fudge, but he only sighed and said "No, I just work here." I guess that means that there is a King of Fudge somewhere that he reports to. They had pumpkin fudge which I had to try - it was great!!! They also had Cheerwine which Beth tried - maybe not so good. But VERY creative! No fried fudge. Yet!

There was an ice cream booth that had PUMPKIN ice cream! YAHOO! Had to try it:

Fabulous!!!!! This I want some more of - it was soooo good!!!

Are you starting to be scared by everything we ate? Keep reading!!!!

Beth introduced us to these babies:

Little fried doughnuts they make right there. They were mouthwateringly good! I couldn't buy my own bag because I knew I would eat every one immediately and I still had things to try.

I could not leave the fair without trying fried pecan pie and... drum roll please...fried peanut butter and jelly:

Pecan Pie - good, but really too rich. Would have been better if it were pecan pie nuggets. But peanut butter and jelly - whoa!!!! This was great!! If there were a little less breading, it would have beaten the Reese's, but as it is, I have to call a tie. But maybe I should try them again.....

Here's the take away - it was a crazy, fun adventure on a gorgeous day. We broke all the "rules" - we took off in the middle of the day, we ate "forbidden" food, and we had a blast!! This is the stuff memories are made of. Make sure you take some time to break some rules and enjoy the season. Spend time with your good buddies. Life is way, way too short not to.

And don't let it end without having tried a fried Reese's Cup!!

Yee Haw!! The North Carolina State Fair!!!

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:16:00 +0000

I'm heading out to the State Fair with my Sorbet Sistahs - look for a posting tonight!! I plan to try Fried Ho Hos, fried pecan pie, and fried peanut butter and jelly - at a minimum!! If you read a story about a woman exploding like a weather balloon - it will be no hoax.

The Horror, The Horror!

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:51:00 +0000

This just in from Motivation By Chocolate reporter David Lindquist (David - thanks for the link to WRAL's story!):

Wreck spills 41K pounds of Little Debbies (41,000 pounds! OMG!)

Tarboro, N.C. — A tractor-trailer wrecked on U.S. Highway 64 in Edgecombe County Thursday afternoon, spilling 41,000 pounds of Little Debbie snacks.

State troopers said the 18-wheeler had gotten on U.S. 64 West after dropping off a load of food at the Sara Lee plant in Tarboro. The truck's front tire ran off the rod, causing the trailer to twist around. The cab and trailer both flipped over and landed upside down.

The snack cakes and frozen food in the truck spilled across the highway.

Both westbound lanes of U.S. 64 was closed for several hours as crews cleaned up the scene.

Can you imagine seeing that happen? I would have pulled over immediately and starting loading up! I mean, I would have pulled over immediately and checked on the driver (who was okay, BTW). I wonder what 41,000 pounds of Little Debbies would look like. I wonder if they had any of those fall brownies in there. How exciting! Wait, I mean how tragic.

Mmmmmm................Little Debbies.......

Little Debbie and the Exorcist

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:03:00 +0000

Thank you all for the well wishes on my surgery! I'm going in on the Monday of the week of Thanksgiving. I'll keep you posted. On to happier stuff.....

I have had a love affair with Little Debbie Snack Cakes for as long as I can remember. The Swiss Cake Roll is my most beloved. But this year I thought I'd try some seasonal treats. My eyes lit up when I saw these:

How cute are these? I mean, when was the last time one of your cookies smiled at you? These are delicious - very cakey, very spicy and pumkiny. But I wanted to eat the whole box. In one sitting. These cookies possessed me, called to me at night and wouldn't give me peace until I ate every last one of them. As much as I lover her and as cute as she is, Little Debbie is the spawn of Satan.

Now look at these:

They look fabulous and festive and chocolatey!! I was so excited!! But you know what? Not so good. Seriously. I was thunderstruck. Gobsmacked. I had to take another bite.

How could it be? What was wrong? I dunno. They just didn't work. I like the chocolate cake, white icing combo better. These were so lame I trashed them. Let me type that again - I trashed Little Debbies. You know they must have been bad. It was tragic. It makes me sad now just to think about it. What a waste of sprinkles.

There were also some Little Debbie fall brownies. I went back to get some and they were gone! Who knew there would be a run on Little Debbie brownies? Some of these fall products aren't around very long, so if you see something you want to try, grab it!! And if you like pumpkin, those cookies are soooo good! And if you buy some and need someone to perform an exorcism after they possess you, call me. What was it the priest said to the demon in The Exorcist? "Come into me, Pumpkin Cookies! Come into me!"

Happy Halloween!!

How to Conquer Fear

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:19:00 +0000

I've kind of been holding out on you guys. My hip saga has continued and I actually have scheduled the surgery. I thought the best way to update you might be to use my situation to help you think about any scary situations you may be facing. It's the season to think about scary things, right? And we're all in this life together.

We all have times when we’re worried about things. Hell, we all have times when we are downright afraid. Fear is the great enthusiasm destroyer. If we want to burn with passion, we have to conquer fear. But how?

I’m going to use the hip surgery as an example. You can substitute whatever you are afraid of (asking for a raise, confronting a problem employee, a health issue, a financial issue, a relationship issue – whatever it is that’s stealing your joy).

As you guys know, I have severe arthritis in my right hip. It’s gotten to the point that it’s bad enough to keep me from doing the things I want to do. We’re not talking things like running; we’re talking things like walking down the streets of Chicago pain free. I was limping on my way to the Chocolate Tour!

They surgery is at least two nights in the hospital and weeks of recovery. It scares me. Let me mention here that it doesn’t matter what other people think – if something scares you, it scares you. And you have to deal with it.

Okay, here we go.

1.) Admit it and understand it. We’re supposed to be tough in America. It’s hard to admit that you’re scared. It makes other people nervous and uncomfortable. I’m not saying you have to rent a billboard, but you do have to admit it to yourself. Once you admit it, you have to really understand it. Okay – here’s what I’m afraid of. I’ve never spent a night in the hospital before – it scares me. I’ll be completely at the mercy of strangers. I’ll be knocked out and in pain – utterly vulnerable. Also, I’m going through this alone. I’m not married, am not dating anyone, have no kids, my Mom passed away, and my father isn’t coming within 100 miles of a hospital during flu season. And let’s face it, surgery is dangerous, something could go wrong. I could die.

Who would carry on my chocolate blog?

2.) Knowledge is power. Okay, let’s be honest here. What I’m scared of is the unknown. I don’t know what the heck is going to happen and it is terrifying. So I have talked with people who have had hip surgery – the consensus is that the only thing they regret is not having it sooner. I went to a pre-operative class. I’ve been asking all kinds of questions and reading everything I can find. The more I know about it, the less afraid I am. I realize a lot of people have done this. I feel a small bit of control.

3.) Slap yourself and get rational. Yeah, yeah, it’s sad that I’m alone. I wish I had a husband or boyfriend to be by my side and hold my hand. But the reality is that the last two guys I dated would probably be spending more time trying to hook up with the nurses than comforting me. And I love my friends to death, but I’d really rather see them when we can celebrate my recovery than when I’m high on drugs and look like the angel of death. It will be best for me if I AM alone during this so I can rest and get the hell out of the hospital! Also my surgeon did a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. I’ll be at Duke Hospital. I’ll be in good hands. And if I die? Well, what will I care? I’ll be dead! At least I’ll know I had one hell of a life!

4.) See the sliver lining. I’ll be pain free – can there be a better goal? Also they just called today and asked if I’d be part of a clinical study about the biomechanics of hip replacement. I’ll get to go to the College of Sports Medicine at Duke and see how I’m doing before (with the old hip) and after (with the new hip). I’ll contribute to science! How cool! I’ll have great new stories for my speeches. And I’m going to start telling people I’m bionic. Or at least I’m made of titanium like the Terminator.

5.) Pay attention to the alternative. If you let your fear rule you, what will the consequences be? I could cancel the surgery. They gave me a cortisone shot and the pain has really decreased. Maybe I could make it another 6 months or a year. Yeah, maybe so. But I’ll never be younger and stronger than I am now. And if I back down now, I might even be more scared next time. And do I want to keep living in pain? I don’t want to plan another big trip because I’m afraid I’d be overseas and the pain would come back. The hell with that! One of the things my surgeon said was that if you are making life choices based on your hip pain, it’s time to get a new hip. How long will you let fear steal your joy?

6.) It will make you stronger. Nietzsche was right on this one. If I make it through this – one of my greatest fears has been facing a health crisis alone – I can make it through anything. I will no longer feel that I have to have a man to lean on. I will know that I, myself, can get through anything that life can throw at me and I will NEVER let myself down. Think about your fear – if you can get through it, won’t you be stronger? Won’t you grow and discover who you really are?

Fear can make you stronger or bring you to your knees – you get to decide. Use these tips to help you through. You know what I’m going to say right before they put me under? “I’ll be back.” With the Austrian accent.

Adorable Desserts

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:50:00 +0000

Last week one of the Sorbet Sistahs was struck down with an illness and missed our dinner. (Tracy, I'm just glad it wasn't the swine flu!). We carried on without her and were actually considering passing on dessert in her honor. You know - a fallen comrade and all. We decided we would just look at the dessert tray (almost always a fatal mistake).

We were at Brio http://www.brioitalian.com/dessert.html

They offer these small "sample" servings:

Strawberry Panna Cotta Parfaito
A Tuscan version of Strawberry Shortcake. Creamy vanilla bean Panna Cotta topped with sponge cake, strawberry sauce and fresh whipped cream 2.45

Creme Brulee
Creamy housemade custard with the season's freshest ingredients. Choose from Kahlua, Vanilla or Caramel 2.45

Key Lime Pie
Tart and refreshing with fresh lime and a pecan graham cracker crust topped with vanilla whipped cream 2.45

Brio's Famous Cheesecake
Rich and creamy cheesecake topped with caramelized sugar and creme anglaise 2.45

Milk Chocolate Caramel Cake
A decadent chocolate cake, layered with milk chocolate ganache, caramel, rich chocolate frosting and vanilla whipped cream 2.45

Tiramisu
Lady fingers layered with coffee liqueur, mascarpone cheese and cocoa 2.45

They were small. They were only $2.45.

We got four.

I know - crazy, right? But there was CARAMEL creme brulee, and Beth really wanted Tiramisu, and there was milk chocolate caramel cake. And they were cute. And did I mention they were only $2.45?

See how small they are?

I like to make it look like my Sistah, Beth is going to eat them all. See how sneaky I am?

Here they are:

Here they are - so cute!!! In the lower left hand is the chocolate caramel cake. Now here's something interesting - the waiter said this was no good - too sweet. Beth and I LOVED this one - it really blew the other ones away! Above that is Tiramisu. Not bad, but Tiramisu is Tiramisu. The one on the dessert tray was covered in chocolate shavings and that distracted us. Like a diamond. Sparkly.

The other two are the creme brulees. And you know what? They were no good - too soupy. Since I took my cooking class at Williams Sonoma, I knew that they had not been given enough time to set. (Oooh - are you impressed? I kinda was - especially since my most common act of cooking is defrosting things in the microwave.)

Of course, being the food snobs we are we only ate the chocolate and left the rest as a statement for the Chef.

Yeah, right.

The only dessert we leave is sorbet. And maybe biscotti.

Okay - what did we learn?

The expert (in this case our waiter) doesn't always know everything. If we listened to him, we wouldn't have had the best dessert! Get advice, but trust yourself.

Say yes!! When our Sistah fell ill, Beth and I almost didn't go out. But I'm so glad we did! Having fun with my Sistahs is so much fun and such a recharge for me - I don't make enough time for my friends and for fun. Do you? Make the plan and then make it happen.

Sometimes taking a look at the dessert tray is okay. Most of the time we diet, exercise and push ourselves. Our Sorbet Sistahs night is one of our rewards. Are you balancing your hard work with rewards? Make sure you do it - it just doesn't happen. Chances are pretty good you are much harder on yourself than you have to be.

And NEVER let the waiter talk you out of chocolate.

Chocolate and Jam

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:30:00 +0000

Our Halloween adventure continues! And marshmallow seems to be big this year - check out these Halloween Mallows by Cadbury:

I love the packaging and these would be fabulous if not for the blackcurrant jam center:

The chocolate coating and the cookie base are great (just what you'd expect from Cadbury) but the jam had a bitter taste that took away from the Mallow. Maybe strawberry jam would have been better. BUT I think this is a matter of personal taste and those who like blackcurrant jam would really like these. Maybe it's a UK thing.

One of the things I'm finding as I try more chocolate offerings from other countries is that there are definitely some different taste preferences. That makes sense of course - think of the differences in southern cooking and what you might eat in say, California. My parents are from New Jersey and I still don't like sweet tea or grits. We drank crazy stuff like water and soda and ate cereal at my house. We tend to like best what we grew up with.

Now, of course, that doesn't mean our tastes can't change over time. As we try new things and learn about different flavor combinations we broaden our horizons. For success, just realize how those early experiences impact ALL aspects of your life - the people you are comfortable with, your values, your beliefs, other likes and dislikes. Try to keep an open mind and try new things - you might find something you like even better than your usual. (Maybe even blackcurrant jam.)

Marshmallow Show Down

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:01:00 +0000

Marshmallows are not all bad - they are great in hot chocolate, in cereal (who didn't like Lucky Charms as a kid?), and roasted over a campfire. They're also low in fat and calories. But not all marshmallows are created equal.

Kraft, creator of the infamous Swirlmallow (which also comes in strawberry - yikes!), has this Halloween entry:

These are supposed to be ghosts. All taste the same - vanilla. I'm not sure the brown color really adds anything to the mix, but it is fall-like. (Think dead leaves.)

Now look at these from our friends at Just Born:

and my favorite - chocolate mousse flavored cats:

Here's what they look like outside their packages:

Aren't they cute? The ghosts and the pumpkins taste the same - they are filled with white marshmallow. But the cats really taste like chocolate (well, as much as marshmallow CAN taste like chocolate). The Peeps really taste a lot better than the Kraft GhostMallows (good grief - I think Kraft needs to fire their creative team) - they are coasted with granular sugar crystals whereas the Kraft ghosts have that dusty powdery sugar coating. And the Peep marshmallow is fluffier, has more give. And there is just no comparing the artistry:

I really think Kraft needs to work on that brown color. It's just not good.

The GhostMallows still have the choking warning (although I can't imagine needing to cut one into bite-sized pieces - they are tiny. Come on, Kraft, lighten up!). No warning on the wild and crazy Peeps. I guess you'll just have to take your chances. Oh, and Peeps have a Halloween costume:

If a kid came to my door in that adorable costume, I would give them ALL my candy.

Is Your Life a Trick or a Treat?

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:28:00 +0000

I love fall – the colors of the leaves, the crispness in the air, the fall flavors of pumpkin and spice, and, of course, Halloween. As a kid, it was like dying and going to heaven. You wound up with more candy than you could believe and types you hadn’t even tried. It was, hands down, the greatest night of the year.

Okay – that was then. What made Halloween so great and how can we get a little Halloween into our lives as adults?

1.)You could be whoever you wanted to be. You put on crazy costumes – whatever you thought was cool or funny – you could be anything you were creative enough to come up with. What would you like to be at Halloween now? The sexy witch? A superhero? Something hilarious? What do you really want to be in your life? I’m serious – do you want to be sexier? More powerful? Do you want to make people laugh? Who would you be if you could be anything? When we were kids, we were dreamers – we dressed up as astronauts and princesses and firemen and warriors. As we got older we let all these dreams go. But you know what? We didn’t have to. And we still don’t. You can still live out a lot of dreams – but you have to have them first. Who do you want to be?

2.)You had no idea what might happen. I still remember getting scared out of my mind when neighbors had really scary decorations or would dress up and jump out at us. What could be better than scaring the crap out of a bunch of little kids? Of course, we’d always come back laughing and delighted. You never knew what your friends would be wearing – sometimes you didn’t even recognize them! You never knew what candy you might get – the whole thing was a great adventure. What great adventure have you had lately? Yeah, I know we’ve had the recession, but I’m talking a GOOD adventure. Something where you really didn’t know what would happen – maybe it was a trip to a new place or a visit to a new restaurant. I challenge you this fall to plan at LEAST one adventure – go to a haunted house, do a cornfield maze, take an afternoon and do a leaf drive with no predetermined route. We don’t allow ourselves enough adventures.

3.)You didn’t compare yourself to others. You dressed up, you went through the neighborhood, you collected candy. It was just fun – you didn’t have to learn anything, you didn’t even have to have a very good costume. You could go to 1 house or 50, there was no rat race. Strangers ooohed and aaahed over you. No one said you were too fat to be a ballerina or too puny to be Superman. We don’t have much of that as adults – everything has a goal – we feel bad if our costumes aren’t good enough and jealous of those with better costumes. We cry foul if someone gets more candy than we do – we demand a redistribution of candy. We decide before we leave the house that we’re too fat to be a ballerina or too puny to be Superman. So we don’t even go out. We make our lives small.

4.)You got candy! And you ate it!!! It’s not like candy is an expensive thing. Our parents could have gone out and bought us bags of candy and that would have been that. But this was an assortment of candy! All kinds! Sometimes you got raisins or pennies or gum – it was so cool!! And you had gotten it YOURSELF! It was magic candy. As adults we deny ourselves candy (and we’re fatter than ever), we punish ourselves for what we enjoy, and we don’t try new things. One of the best things was trying candy you’d never had before. Don’t think of this just in terms of candy – think of it in terms of life. Are you denying yourself things you really enjoy? Can you figure out a way to have moderation? Are you shutting yourself off from new things (people, places, foods, experiences)?

5.)You connected with others. I still like Halloween, though not many kids come to my door. I see more of my neighbors then on any other day of the year. I LOVE seeing all those little cuties in their costumes, timidly holding out their bags. When I was a kid, some of our best family bonding was done around the Halloween candy haul. Today we’re shutting ourselves off from others more and more in our busy, technology driven lives. How can you create some opportunities this fall to interact with people in person, not just online? I don’t know about you, but I laugh hardest when I’m with my friends in person. Make the time, extend the invitation – life is short. Are your best memories from a Facebook interaction or from a face-to-face experience? We need to stop fooling ourselves that they’re the same.

6.)You had fun. The ROI on Halloween is low. I mean, think about the time and money spent on your costume; the time it took to go door-to-door. All that effort for what was probably less than $10 worth of candy. Clearly not a good use of your time, energy and resources. Halloween is an act of stupidity in the adult world. And as a result, we adults don’t have much fun. I don’t think fun just happens – sure it did when you were a kid. Suzy came over and asked if you wanted to go play – and boom – you were out and having fun. Adults need to allow for fun (the hardest part for many of us) and plan it and make it happen. If I don’t put it on my calendar, it won’t happen. What about you?

Starting to realize that your life has become more of a trick than a treat? Get it back in balance by reviewing these ideas and taking action. Plan a couple of fall adventures right now. Invite your best buddies to watch football or plan a girl’s night. Take the family to a corn maze. What if this was the last fall you would ever have? How would you live it? I don’t know about you, but if I have to go, I hope I go with a big bag of magic candy and a sexy costume, surrounded by my friends. Seize the fall!!!

Snicker's Fudge is Here!!!!!!!!!

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:10:00 +0000

Candy season is here and I'm so excited!! Halloween starts it and it rolls right through Easter. Happy Days are here again!!

This is just a quick post to let you know what I found Friday. I've been checking out all the Halloween candy to see if there's anything new and lo and behold! I came across these:

Oh yeah, baby - Snickers Fudge is in the house! Snickers Fudge debuted at Candy Expo and I reviewed it a while back. It really is fantastic - the nougat is peanut butter and the caramel (in the regualr Snickers) is replaced with fudge - see below:

I found these at Target in with the Halloween candy, but they aren't decorated for the holiday. (I don't think they are Halloween candy at all - but you might have to look there.) They ARE marked limited edition. So you better be on the lookout if you want to try them. (And, of course, I think you should!!) I love Snickers, but I actually think these are just a little bit better - it's the saltiness of the peanut butter.

You never know where you might something new and exciting - keep your eyes (and your possibilities) open.

The Chocolate Pumpkin Patch 2009

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:56:00 +0000

I keep trying to like Russell Stover. This year I tried their orange marshmallow pumpkin:

It looks vaguely pumpkin like - has ridges which is impressive for RS.

Whoa - hello! This isn't just brightly colored regular marshmallow - it is orange flavored. I think if you really like orange and marshmallow, you'll like this. I'm just not a big orange and chocolate fan - and these three together are not rocking my world.

They also have this one:

So much for the ridges - we're back to the usual RS artistry. At least it looks like it has a stem.

Okay - this doesn't have much strawberry taste at all - just a lot of fluffy cream. It's not very good. How surprising. When will I learn??

I also have yet to find much by Palmer that I don't think is horrible.

This wrapper was so ugly, I had to buy one:

Isn't that terrible? The pumpkin is BLACK with greenish eyes and mouth. Ewww!

Imagine my surprise when I opened it and saw this:

Wow - now that is artistry!!!! How impressive!!! Damn!

And it's filled with my favorite:

Peanut butter! And I can't believe I'm going to say this, but this was good, really good!!!

So what do we have here?

The rules don't always apply. I was going to say that once something shows you what it is, you should believe it. In other words, if Russell Stover has been awful so many times before, I should just accept that it is awful. But look at what happened with Palmer!

How about this - keep your expectations realistic. Don't necessarily expect something to change (Russell Stover to suddenly become my fav; people who have let you down numerous times to be dependable) but be open to the possibility.

But - if you only have a dollar - I wouldn't spend it on Russell Stover. And if you only have one life, I'd spend it with the people I know won't let me down, rather than giving second and third chances to those who have shown they will.

Ah - the many lessons of chocolate!!!! Yay!!!

The Evil and Dangerous Marshmallow

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:25:00 +0000

Remember the cool new Goldfish cookies I reviewed? There were chocolate, cinnamon, and honey graham and they were surprisingly good. Well, check out this smart concoction:

Goldfish S'mores! This bag basically has both the chocolate and honey graham and they added some little marshmallow fish:

I wanted to not like them, to be unimpressed. I tossed a handful into my mouth, then another. Before I could stop myself, I ate the whole bag. They are even harder to stop eating because of the marshmallow. The new texture, the blend of flavors - evil, Pepperidge Farm, evil.

Another attempt at combining flavors involving the marshmallow:

This is an attempt to combine chocolate and vanilla - creating a Swirlmallow. (Oooh - I hope they locked down the copyright on that one!) Quite simply, these are horrific. Look at the picture - they look kind of grey. They don't taste as good as a plain ol' vanilla marshmallow, and they sure don't taste like chocolate. These seem like a good idea - and might be better in a recipe or roasted, but they are God-awful right out of the bag. GLAACK!!

But there was a handy Choking Warning on the package:

Eat one at a time. (What?)

For children under 6, cut marshmallows into bite-sized pieces. Children should always be seated and supervised while eating. (My mother never cut up a marshmallow - apparently she was trying to kill me.)

I never knew marshmallows were so dangerous.

Halloween - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:55:00 +0000

I am sooo happy that Fall is here! What a great time of year! All this new candy, all this cool pumpkin and cinnamon and ginger flavored stuff - yahoo!! I can't wait till the leaves start turning and that crisp feeling is in the air.

But not all fall candy is a winner. Check these out:

Great fall colors, interesting shapes - there's an ear of corn, a bat, a cat, both a pumpkin and a jack-o-lantern, a little brown jug, a moon, and some wheat. These would be great on a Thanksgiving cake or to toss around the center of a table.

Now get this - yellow tastes a little like BANANA (not really what I'm looking for for fall), dark brown tastes a little like chocolate (but nowhere near as good as Tootsie Roll - not even close - kind of gross), the light brown was my favorite (tastes like maple). I don't know what flavor the orange ones are - not orange - and not bad. But mysterious. These are all VERY sweet - pretty much all sugar. The good news is that they have zero fat and 6 of them have only 130 calories.

They get even more interesting. I bought two bags (they looked better than they are) and half of them looked like this:

Okay - it's probably just sugar, but it looks gross. This kind of messes up the whole - use them for decorations idea. But hey - they are cheap - if you had to pitch some of them it wouldn't be the end of the world.

Good for decoration (gotta love all those crazy shapes - I mean, a little brown jug? Who woulda thought!), not so great to eat. About ten million times better - Brach's Maple Nut Goodies and/or Tootsie Rolls.

I reviewed these last year and I'm just mentioning them again in case you guys forgot:

I bought these Pumpkin Spice Kisses at Target and was surprised at just how damn good they are. They were even better than I remembered! Now you will see there is no chocolate here. But I figure if Hershey's can make Kisses with no chocolate, I can review Kisses with no chocolate. : ) These are all about the pumpkin and the spices and they are so creamy and so good - WOW! A+++ There is even a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Swirl Cheesecake Pie on the wrapper (Holy God).

This is a clever update from Reese's:

It's a bag of their miniatures, but with half milk chocolate and half the new dark chocolate. I love the orange and black foil wrappers - VERY festive! These look terrific in a bowl on your fall table.

What can I say? Reese's Miniatures never let me down. The perfect bite size peanut butter and chocolate combo. But I have to confess - I still like the milk chocolate best.

Now here's something you probably haven't heard of - spiced pumpkin seed brittle. I tried to buy this at Williams-Sonoma last year, but they were sold out. I wasn't about to miss out this year:

Okay - I know it's kind of ugly. But man, it tastes GREAT!!! It's made by Anette's Chocolates in Napa Valley.

https://anettes.securesites.com/shop.html?Category=Beer%20Brittles%20plus...

It's about half the price I paid on their website, so you might want to go there first, although I didn't see this exact brittle. I really like peanut brittle, and you know how I feel about pumpkin, so I thought this might be good. Oh yeah - I can see why it sells out every year. YUM!! Try it before it's gone!

So, what do we have?

The ever popular - don't judge a candy by its appearance. Brach's looked great - awesome shapes and colors, but it was pretty bad. The spiced pumpkin seed brittle looks pretty ugly, but it is excellent. Unfortunately we too often think that the attractive person is better than the unattractive one, and we are so very often wrong. I'd like to give a shout out to O.J., Ted Bundy, and Britney Spears.

In our constant search for the new, the novel, the different, we sometimes forget the tried and true. It's pretty damn hard to beat a Reese's. You all know I love the new as mush as anyone, but I think we often overlook what we already have in search of the next new thing. Look how many marriages end in divorce, how much stuff we buy when we already have perfectly good stuff, etc. etc. etc. We take the old stuff (which often is the best stuff) for granted.

And finally - celebrate the season!! All this stuff won't be around forever. (And neither will we.)

Chocolate Catfight

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:06:00 +0000

Ha, ha - not really, but it's all about the headline, isn't it? My favorite recent newspaper headline was "Deranged Killer on the Loose." Now there's something you don't see every day! Apparently some mental patient who killed an old lady back in the 80's gave his keepers the slip when they took him to a local county fair. Okay - I'm thinking when you say "Deranged Killer" people are dying, like, NOW. He was caught a couple days later trying to turn himself in. Can you say - "Overreaction?" Poor guy missed the county fair for nothing.

Back to the catfight.

The Sorbet Sistahs - continuing our fight for truth, justice, and the death of sorbet, made a trip to 518 West, the restaurant where my Williams-Sonoma chef presents his Millionaire Pie - described as: chocolate glazed peanut butter mousse on a graham cracker crust served with whipped cream and chocolate sauce...

Here's a picture:

Now this looks freakin' amazing, yes? Well, Tracy and I thought, "Not so much." Here's the deal - there are two slabs of fudge-like chocolate surrounding the peanut butter mousse. These are NOT mentioned in the description, I might add. Now, I love chocolate as much, if not more, than the next person. Hell, I'm writing this insane blog about it, for Church of Chocolate's sake! But this was too much - the slabs were too thick and too rich. This is what I did to my pie:

I scraped off the chocolate to get to the graham cracker crust and the peanut butter. Let me say that again - I scraped off the chocolate. If it were lighter - more like frosting - or thinner, I would have been all over it! But this was too much. It overpowered the peanut butter. Tracy and I were disappointed. We MUCH preferred the peanut butter mousse we had at our last gathering of the Sistahs.

However, Beth - who had wanted to split desserts - which Tracy and I IMMEDIATELY rejected (we had been dreaming of our own plates of Millionaire Pie all day) loved this thing. She thought it was great and ate every bit of hers. In true Sorbet Sistah's spirit she mocked me for leaving so much chocolate on my plate. I do agree it was a waste, but hey, sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

So - the lesson? Even the Sorbet Sistahs - united in their hatred of sorbet, don't always agree. One size does not fit all. That's why you have to find your own way through life - trying things until you find what works for you. You can ask for and receive advice, but your own experience is always the best teacher.

That's me, Tracy and Beth - after the catfight. In October we're planning to go to the State Fair and look for deranged killers.

I HAVE DIED & GONE TO HEAVEN!

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:33:00 +0000

I stopped in Walgreen's today, just to check out the Halloween candy. They know me there, probably calling me the Crazy Candy Lady behind my back. I don't care - it's worth it. Look at what I found in the regular candy aisle:

Do you see this?? Who would have thought life could get any better??? Reese's has made a peanut butter lovers peanut butter cup!!!!

Look at that! Isn't it beautiful? There's still some chocolate on the base, but this baby is all about peanut butter. And it ROCKS!!!!! It really is for peanut butter lovers - definitely more peanut buttery than regular Reese's. I don't think it is actually better than the regular Reese's - you just can't beat that chocolate/ PB combo, but this is oh so good! The wrapper says it's a limited edition, so you might want to try and find one. (I'm still bitter I missed the peanut butter/banana creme Reese's cup in released in honor of Elvis back in 2007. What the hell was I thinking?)

Then I had to check out the Halloween candy, which you'll be hearing more about. But look at this:

As you all know, I love the Tootsie Roll. I know chocolate snobs are horrified, but I don't care. And this bag is GIGANTIC!!!! Here it is with my Blackberry for scale:

Whoohoo!! It was carrying a baby to the check out counter!! That's my kind of candy bag! Today was a gooood day! Here's what's inside:

Those mini midgees are just a waste of time in my book - too much trouble to unwrap for that tiny tease of Tootsie Roll (only about 10 calories, BTW). Those are what I'll give to the Trick or Treaters. Hey - they have smaller mouths!

Now many of you have asked how the hell I can eat all this candy and not be hugely fat. Well, one weapon in my arsenal has always been diet soda. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm pretty much addicted to the stuff. And, as far as I'm concerned, there hasn't been a really great diet soda innovation in years.

Until now!

I present to you Ultra Violet Diet Mountain Dew. It says it's a mixed berry flavor. All I know is that it is really, really good. I just refuse to drink my calories - I want to save them all for food!

What a great day!! Reese's with MORE peanut butter, bags of candy bigger than small children, and a diet soda that tastes great! I LOVE AMERICA!!!!!!! It's a great life. Focus on the good stuff and let the other stuff go.

My Love Affair with Pumpkin

deniseryan@firestarspeaking.com (Denise Ryan) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:22:00 +0000

Well, my love life continues to suck. Been on another couple of dates - one guy WAY too young, but he was a hottie, so I couldn't help myself. And he was the persistent one - I blew him off at first, saying he was too young. The date actually went well. He asked for a second one, but bailed out at the 11th hour. I'm sure my decrepitness panicked him. The other date was fine - nothing to complain about - we just didn't "click" - it was like we were just out of sync with each other. Bummer.

But, here's one love of my life that never fails me.....PUMPKIN!!!!!!! I know I've waxed poetic about pumpkin before - I mean I love this stuff. I'll eat pumpkin with some Splenda tossed in, right out of the can! (We've also discussed my idiosyncrasies.)

Anyway, I was in Harry and David a couple of weeks ago - I have some of their chocolate, which is actually really, really good and I'll review at some point. But today I want to talk about these:

Pumpkin Spice Milk Chocolate Malted Milk Balls - their description:

"Two autumn flavors combine in this limited-edition treat, made here in our own Candy Kitchen. Outside, a coating of traditional pumpkin pie spices. Next a layer of milk chocolate. And at the center, our crisp malted milk. Yum!"

Well, I don't think that milk chocolate is a autumn flavor, so I don't know exactly what the writer was thinking. I also have no idea why Candy Kitchen is capitalized. Maybe to give it the reverence it deserves. The important thing is that these are freaking AWESOME!!!! and they are a limited edition - so you need to get some NOW!!

You you are going to think that I am insane when I say this, but I'm going to say it anyway. These are better than Godiva's pumpkin truffles. There is is - I said it. I reviewed the truffles last year and thought they had a funky weird aftertaste. These just rock - the pumpkin spice flavor is terrific. And I'm not a big malted milk ball fan. But I'm telling you, these are GOOD!! (And WAY less expensive - $7.95 for the whole bag vs. like $1.50+ per truffle.)

They aren't on the Harry and David website, so you have to go to one of their stores. But it just might be worth the trip! Check out these:

Could life be any better?? Pumpkin Spice Caramel Balls!!! I really do love the fall!

What can I say? These are great! Richer in flavor than the malted milk balls and just as delish, add these to your fall shopping basket. They are about the size of a peanut M & M - perfect for popping! I am crazy about the Harry and David stores and have found some really great treats there. But these are super, super good - especially if you adore pumpkin.

Oh a sad note, apparently due to the cooler weather we've had this year, some of the pumpkin crops were damaged and in some areas the harvest was terrible. I hope all the pumpkin farmers out there know I love them and I have never appreciated their efforts. I have taken them and their pumpkins for granted. So this year, if you go to buy a pumpkin - thank a farmer - we are damn lucky to have them!! And if you have to pay a little more - don't complain - pumpkin is worth it!! (And the Great Pumpkin may be watching.)