Day Thirty: Galaxy

This one was recommended to me by a friend. She said it was the BEST chocolate I will ever taste. Oh and this month only has 30 days my friends...
Galaxy
Make the most of your special moment...just add Galaxy

Did you know:

• Galaxy is the UK version of Dove chocolate (also sold in the Middle East)
• The Galaxy and Dove brands also market a wide range of products including ready-to-drink chocolate milk, hot chocolate powder, chocolate cakes, ice cream and more

Well this one definitely had a smooth shape and taste like the packaging claimed. This bar was solid milk chocolate. Although it wasn't the BEST chocolate I have ever had - it is definitely up there!! This one is definitely a bar to savour and not to scarf down (as I do a lot of my chocolate bars :))

Rating:
Milk Factor: 2
Smiles: 3
Calories it was worth: 230 out of 250

What was the best chocolate I have ever had? Well if you must know, it was when Lorri (dad's gf) was living in Germany and would bring home chocolate at Christmas. Those Germans certainly know what they are doing when it comes to cocoa and milk!! Hence why the Kinder Surprises are SOOO good!

Anyway, this being my LAST chocolate bar (good riddance), I thought I would summarize my top five bars of the month:
1. Double Decker
2. Coffee Crisp Chocolatey Crunch
3. Max 5
4. Mars Caramel
5. Kit Kat Senses

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen...my month of chocolate is officially done. Thanks for your suggestions and comments, and keep reading. If anyone has any comments on what I should blog about in April let me know!!

Day Twenty Nine: Wispa

Wispa
Aerated Milk Chocolate Bar

Did you know:

• Has also seen variations such as: Wispa Gold (caramel filling) introduced in 1995, Wispa Bite (caramel and biscuit filling) introduced in 2000, Wispaccino (coffee flavoured filling) and Wispa Mint (mint layer)
• The Wispa was discontinued in 2003 and then reintroduced as the 'Dairy Milk Bubbly'
• Wispa has since been relaunched in the UK and Ireland markets

Thanks to Cadbury there are two Aero bars out there. Although this definitely has the same take as an Aero bar, this one has way less bubbles. The chocolate is delicious and the bubbles smaller, so it lasts a lot longer! The bar is also narrower and thicker then the regular Aero bar.

I am sure that everyone has their own way of eating their favourite chocolate bars and seeing as this is one of my last chocolate blog posts, I thought I would share a few of mine with you:

Smarties - I very gently eat the candy outside first, leaving just a chocolatey inside
Aero - I let the bubbles pop and the chocolate melt in my mouth
Skor - I take a bite then let the chocolate melt in my mouth first, revealing just the crunchy inside
Oh Henry - I enjoy eating the peanuts off the outside before eating the rest of the bar

How do you eat some of your favourite chocolate bars?

Anyway, getting back to the Wispa...chocolate lovers indulge. If you've ever had the feeling that the Aero just doesn't last long enough, then I'd definitely recommend this one!

Rating:
Milk Factor: 2
Smiles: 2
Calories it was worth: 190 out of 210

Day Twenty Eight: Baby Ruth

Only two more posts to go! Yay! I can't wait to start writing about something more worthwhile.
Baby Ruth
Bursting with Peanuts, Rich Caramel and Chewy Nougat Savour the Good StuffDid you know:

• There is speculation to who this chocolate bar was named after: Babe Ruth or President Grover Cleavland's daughter Ruth
• This bar carries lots of pop culture references including Caddyshack, Goonies, That 70's Show, Hellboy, Friends and Hairspray
• The advertising and marketing for this bar have had a heavy baseball-oriented theme and during the summer and post-season of the 2007 season, a TV ad for the candy bar showed an entire stadium filled with people munching Baby Ruths, and thus having to "hum" rather than singing along with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch.

Grand Slam! Ha ha well it wasn't THAT amazing, but this was pretty good. There was less focus on the chocolate and more on the nougat and caramel. Very yummy indeed.

This bar had caramel on the bottom nestled under some tasty (yes, i'm getting attached to it) nougat, which was coated in peanuts and then dipped in chocolate! There was definitely a lot of tastes going on here which was great. It was flavourful and there was lots of 'good stuff'. Wikipedia was right: the nougat tastes more like fudge in this bar.

This one gets a 'recommended' (for those of you who like nougat) from me.

Rating:
Milk Factor: 1
Smiles: 2
Calories it was worth: 230 out of 280

Day Twenty Five: Fruit & Nut

Remember when you used to watch your grandparents and parents eat all that gross candy and chocolate and could never understand why?
Fruit & Nut
Milk chocolate with raisins and almonds

Did you know:

• Combines the creamy taste of Cadbury's milk chocolate with crunchy nuts and chewy fruity raisins. Absolutely delicious and really wonderful with tea!

At my last job, I stumbled upon someone under the age of 40 who actually enjoyed this!!! Imagine that? Well obviously being being as skeptical as I am, I did not even hesitate to express my feelings toward dried fruit, nuts and chocolate all co-existing!!! This only resulted in me being forced to eat one...I was amazed to find out that it wasn't all that bad.

Mind you, I have not eaten one since. I thought I'd give it a go again. It wasn't horrible. Once you get past the idea of raisins coexisting with yummy chocolate (outside of Glosette Raisins, cause those are AWESOME) this actually is quite managable. The 'fruit' (just raisins) and 'nut' (just almonds) actually give this otherwise solid milk chocolate bar some texture. It's just a matter of being able to handle the little surprises!

The chocolate is, as usual, delicious (thanks Cadbury)!

Rating:
Milk Factor: 1
Smiles: 2
Calories it was worth: 170 out of 220

(I'm officially caught up now - that is if no one noticed that i was missing 15-18 - I was sick!!! And only 6 days to go!)

Day Twenty-One: Kit Kat White

Time for another variation of an already amazing chocolate bar....

Kit Kat White
Crisp Wafers 'n Creme

Since the fail of the Kit Kat Dark, I thought I'd give the White bar a chance. This was actually better than the Dark bar, because (if you read it) you will remember that the Dark was too bitter to accompany the sweet wafer inside.

Well the white chocolate definitely wasn't too bitter! It was deliciously sweet and rich. The white chocolate paired well with the sweet wafer inside, however, I still prefer the plain old milk chocolate Kit Kat.

This bar is just proof that you shouldn't mess with an already amazing thing.

Boring post, but it's Saturday so I'm sure no one is reading anyway!

Rating:
Milk Factor: 2
Smiles: 2
Calories it was worth: 180 out of 220

Day Nineteen: Double Decker

What a week! So I've been traipsing around town with my mom and sister all week, and having a great time. I think I bought every shoe in Toronto (not really, but I added three to my collection :))

Anyway, I know I haven't updated in a few days...but I've been busy.Double Decker
Milk chocolate with smooth, chewy nougatine and crisp, crunchy cereal filling

Did you know:

• First introduced in 1976 its name derives from the double-decker bus
• There also exists a 'Double Decker - Nuts', which has the advertising slogan "crispy, crunchy, chewy and nutty". This chocolate bar is essentially a Double Decker with nuts contained within the nougat layer.
• Double Decker bars originally had raisins embedded within the base layer but they were removed in 1986 in response to market research.

This was a mouthful! (both the description and the bar itself!) Back to the nougat, which I am still not sure how I feel about it. It just seems weird, this creamy substance that doesn't really taste like chocolate, but more like sugar. This chocolate bar was like a CRUNCH bar inserted into a Mars bar!!! No wonder they call it Double Decker.

I very much enjoyed this. As mentioned before, the nougat wasn't my favourite part, but it brings an additional consistency to the bar, which makes it more interesting. I think that they should throw a little caramel in to make it even better! I enjoyed how this one was chewy and crunchy at the same time!

I think that Cadbury made a good call on removing the raisins in this one!! This bar originates out of the UK, which explains why I had never heard of/seen it before. My favourite part of this bar was the bottom layer which is chocolatey as well as crunchy!

Rating:
Milk Factor: 1
Smiles: 3
Calories it was worth: 240 out of 265

Note: So there are questions about my rating system. Milk factor is referring to the number of glasses of milk that are required or that would accompany this chocolate bar (otherwise referring to it's richness) and the smiles are the number of times it makes me smile (neither of these are on a scale. It's just however I feel after/while eating it!) The calories section just refers to how worthy I feel the bar was to waste said amount of calories.

My blog = my rating system :) and YES it's funny.

Day Thirteen: Drifter

Ok so it's been a couple of days, but I will catch up. I promise! I found a great candy store on Yonge Street with a wide selection of chocolate bars that I have never tried (or even heard of before...) so here it goes:
Drifter
Crispy wafer dipped in chewy caramel and covered in chocolate

This one's from the UK :). I was intrigued by the fact that I had never heard of it before!

Did you know:

• It has been referred to as "the chewy chocolate bar that you really have to get your teeth into."
• As of 2008, the bar is increasingly hard to find in most parts of the United Kingdom, due to 'a fault in the manufacturing process' according to Nestle.
  
• It is said that Nestle are redesigning the Drifter due to its high content of 'transfats'.
• It is also supported by the slogans: 'Too much chew for one bar ' and 'Chewier than the average chocolate bar'.
  
• This bar takes, on average, one hour to make a Drifter bar from start to finish

Well I feel special, that I was able to get a chocolate bar in Canada that is hard to find in the UK!

Upon first bite, my first thoughts were 'yummy caramel'. This chocolate bar is great! It has tons of sweet caramel that engulfs crunchy wafer all while being complimented by milky chocolate. The chocolate on the outside melted a little in my hands, but that just means you need to eat it faster! It certainly was chewy due to the great caramel and was very enjoyable.

This was definitely one of my favourites so far! Check out this commercial from 1992.

Rating:
Milk Factor: 2
Smiles: 3
Calories it was worth: 230 out of 264

Day Eleven: Kit Kat Dark

Oh here goes the second chocolate bar in a day!!! Oh the dedication I have!
Kit Kat Dark
"Have a Break! Have a...Kit Kat"

Did you know:

• In the UK Kit Kat is the number one brand both as a confectionery item and as a biscuit
• In Canada and the US, it is one of the top ten
• Kit Kat's have become popular in Japan, due to the name being similar to kitto katsu, which translates roughly to "You will surely win!"

Well this was pretty much a regular Kit Kat but covered in Dark Chocolate. I am a dark chocolate fan, but I didn't really feel that it went well with the wafer on the inside. Seeing as this is made with cocoa, it does have stronger health benefits then regular milk chocolate.

I was a big Kit Kat fan when I was a kid, but I think part of the thrill for me was the packaging. I loved unwrapping it piece by piece. The packaging these days is all in one now, which is likely a little bit better for the environment, but not nearly as fun.

When researching Kit Kat, I was astonished by the amount of information available!!

I'm sure you all remember the 'Gimme a break' commercials (1986). Kit Kat has had many slogans over its time: originally advertised as "the biggest little meal" and "the best companion to a cup of tea" (1930s), "what active people need" (during the Second World War), "Have a break...have a Kit Kat" (1954) and "Make the most of your break" (2004, UK)

In a desperate fight for market share against Cadbury's Dairy Milk in the UK, Nestle has introduced a variety of 'limited time only' flavours/variations...some listed below:

Japan - Iced Tea, Caramel and Salt, Kinako (soybean), Wa Guri (Chestnut), Green Tea, Apple, Kiwi Fruit, Strawberry, Peach, Cantaloupe, Azuki (red bean), Caramel Macchiato, Jyagaimo (potato), Pumpkin, Edamame, Watermelon and Salt...etc

Canada - Banana, Chunky, Chunky Caramel, Peanut Butter

UK - Low Carb, Caramac, Tiramisu, Golden Caramel, Kubes

There are tons more listed, and it looks like Japan is the most adventurous in releasing new flavours of chocolate bars. It makes you wonder though, if their branding will suffer in the long term, with not being able to stick to one overall 'taste'

In the end, I wasn't thrilled with the chocolate bar. I am a fan of dark chocolate, but I don't think that in this case the bitterness goes all that well with the sweet wafer. This makes me think that I would be one of their consumers that wouldn't be overly receptive to all of the new flavours that they have introduced around the world.

Rating:
Milk Factor: 1
Smiles: 1
Calories it was worth: 180 out of 240

Day Ten: Max 5

Ok, so I was incredibly ill yesterday, so I had to put my chocolate consumption on hold. But have no fear...I'm going to eat two today!!!

My first pick, this is for Day Ten, was a recommendation:

Marshmallow Max 5

Did you know:

• Named for it's 5 ingredients: milk chocolate, peanut butter, pretzels, caramel and peanuts
• Max 5 is actually the Canadian version of a Take 5

I chose the Marshmallow Max 5, so the caramel was replaced with marshmallow creme. I couldn't find a picture of the Marshmallow Max 5.

I was at first apprehensive about this one, the packaging and name didn't really compel me to purchase it, but thanks to Max - who recommended it, I did!

My first bite was actually interesting. As I'm not a marshmallow fan, I was a little worried, but I was amazed at how well everything tasted together. There was a great mixture of sweet and salty in this bar. And who doesn't love chocolate covered pretzels!!

This being a fairly new bar (it was introduced in 2004), I would definitely recommend this one if you are looking for something chocolatey but not too sweet. The pretzels seemed to neutralize the sweetness of it. I couldn't really taste marshmallow in it, but I could tell that it was there due to the texture...

Overall, this was a nice surprise!! I would really like to try the regular Max 5.

Rating:
Milk Factor:0
Smiles: 3
Calories it was worth: 170 out of 180

Day Eight: Reese Big Cup

Alright, so it's day eight and this is getting harder each day...I'm definitely a commitment-phobe right now, so dedicating 10 min EVERY day is taxing.

Today's selection:Reese Big Cup
Peanut Butter Cups Candy

Did you know:

• Created in 1928 by Harry Burnett Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for Milton S. Hershey.
• The H.B Reese Candy Co., established in the basement of Reese's house in Hershey, Pennsylvania, merged with the Hershey Company in 1963.
• Big Cups – an oversized version of the traditional cup (also available with peanuts, mixed nuts, and with a combination of nuts and caramel) ---this is definitely good to know!!

Alright, so this is definitely BIG. For those of you who love (not like) the regular Reese Peanut Butter cups then I would say RUN, don't walk to your nearest convenience store to get one of these!! There was virtually no change in taste, except for the massive amounts of Peanut Butter and Chocolate! Yummy!!!

Just a few words on their current marketing. (I couldn't find a slogan on the package. It just said 'Peanut Butter Cups Candy and my first thought was that Hershey could do BETTER!)

• The current slogan, introduced in the mid-2000s, is simply: "Perfect."
• In July 2008, Reese's made a commercial stating: "Stop global warming now...or all the Reese's will melt."
• Another ad stated: "Twins do not want to ever be apart, so eat both of your Reese's."

Well, twist my arm will ya???

This delectable piece (or pieces in my case, cause I bought the King Size package OF COURSE) just proves that good things really do happen in basements ;) (on a side note, I was accompanied by a daddy long legs in the shower tonight! GO basements!)

Perfect indeed.

Rating:
Milk Factor:1
Smiles: 3
Calories it was worth: 350 out of 400 (holy crap!)

So in celebration of this being my eighth post, I have decided to tally things up for you guys:

Calories consumed in chocolate: 2160
Calories burned this week: no where near that! But I did play soccer twice, went boxing once and went to the gym once! Go me!

N.B. I would love to see more nominations for chocolate bars....(Heather tomorrow is Big Turk day...don't you worry!) So I'm leaving it in your hands - you tell me to eat it and I will (as long as it's a chocolate bar!)

Day Six: 3 Musketeers

Who knew eating a chocolate bar every day would be such hard work.

After a little too much of the liquid courage last night, I am definitely not sure I want to cram more sugar into my system. Today would have been the perfect day for a deep-fried Mars bar!!! But alas, here's my selection for Day Six:

3 Musketeers
Whipped Up, Fluffy Chocolate-on-Chocolate Taste Big on Chocolate, Not on Fat!

Did you know:

• Outside the U.S. and Canada, the product is known as Milky Way, which is also known as the Mars bar.
• Originally, it had three pieces of candy in one package, flavored chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, hence the name.
• At 5 cents, when it was introduced, it was marketed as one of the largest chocolate bars available, one that could be shared by your friends.

Ok - so before I open this, I must admit that I have never had one of these, nor have I ever seen someone eat one, so this is going to be a total surprise for me!!

Wow, this may be the only chocolate bar that I cannot finish! It is super rich and lives up to its claim of being whipped up and fluffy. The inside of the bar is an interesting chocolate flavoured nougat. That`s about all there is to this chocolate bar - simple and chocolately.

Speaking of nougat, I have encountered this in many of the bars I have eaten, so I decided to dig a little deeper...(thanks Wikipedia)

The "nougat" used as an ingredient in many modern candy bars in the US and UK is different from traditional recipes, being a mixture of sucrose and corn syrup aerated with a whipping agent such as egg white or hydrolyzed soya protein or gelatine. It may also have vegetable fats and milk powder added, and is typically combined with nuts (usually peanuts), caramel or chocolate.

Sounds yummy!

Upon further research, I discovered that this bar is and or has been available in a variety of different flavours including: vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, mint, cappuccino, french vanilla, cherry, raspberry, orange and chocolate strawberry brownie. Talk about choices! This lovely bar is also produced by Mars Inc and claims to have 40% less fat than other bars....could be cause there is nothing but chocolate in it. :)

I would definitely recommend sharing this one with a friend.

Rating:
Milk Factor:4
Smiles: 1
Calories it was worth: 200 out of 260

Bonus: 40% less fat than the average

Day Two: 5th Avenue

Oh boy,

Well out of sheer hatred for the cold (and not wanting to lose my fingers to frostbite for a chocolate bar), this is what I had in my bag today...
5th Avenue
Crunchy Peanut Butter in a Rich, Chocolatey Coating

Did you know:

• This chocolate bar was introduced in 1936 by the same man who founded Luden's cough drops (weird)
  

• This chocolate bar previously sported two thick chocolate-coated almond halves on top. This was discontinued some time in the mid-1990s.

• The candy bar is named for a street in Reading, Pennsylvannia, where Luden's throat drops were first created.

I would be more apt to have the following slogan:
"a rip off of Crispy Crunch coated in melted chocolate"

Now, fair enough, chocolate melts. But for those of you who aren't in the same postal code as myself right now, it's about 30 below zero, and therefore, no chocolate should be melting.

As for the taste, it was essentially a Crispy Crunch bar (which I suppose makes Crispy Crunch the fraud as the 5th Avenue has been around for decades).

The bar itself was quite tasty once I got around all the melted chocolate everywhere. It definitely was a mess! The chocolate was definitely RICH and chocolately (if that's a word) as it claimed and the inside was crunchy, but not quite the peanut butter taste I expected.

Overall, I am glad Luden reverted back to creating candy bars and not cough drops, and especially glad he didn't try to combine the two. I'd say, bring back the almond halves on top!

Rating:
Milk factor: 2
Smile factor: 1 (possibly two if I had licked the melted chocolate off the wrapper)
Calories it was worth: 220 out of 280

Day One: 100 Grand

Well, here goes.

It's Day One of my chocolate bar challenge. I spent a good 15 minutes looking around the Acme Candy Store in my neighbourhood for the perfect victim to start the month off. After much deliberation, I selected........

100 Grand
Chewy Caramel $ Milk Chocolate $ Crispy Crunchies

Being an American chocolate bar, I have never actually tried one of these yet!

Did you know.....

• The candy bar has been the instrument of radio pranks, where the host will specifically say "100 Grand" will be given away, and gift the winner with the candy bar instead of $100,000. The radio hosts Opie & Anthony did this once while they were on WAAF-FM. Seriously, you can listen to the radio spot here. Haha SUCKER!
  

• This 'candy bar' as our counterparts refer to it has been cameo'd on The Office, Seinfeld and the Colbert Report.

The bar itself came in two portions, which I find entertaining because of course I'm going to eat both of them anyway!! Upon my first bite my taste buds were both shocked and pleasantly surprised. I would say that the outside crispy chocolate coating reminds me of a CRUNCH bar, while the inside was more like fudge then caramel. Overall, I enjoyed the outside coating, but the fudge 'caramel' on the inside was a little to rich for my blood....hey, maybe that's why they call it 100 Grand.

Rating:
Milk factor: 2
Smile factor: 1
Calories it was worth: 80 out of 190

Bonus: There was a contest on the wrapper to win a suite for 10 ppl for an MLS game...although I didn't win, I enjoyed the otherwise plain wrapper.

This sugar high should get me through my late night soccer game tonight :)

I'm Baack!

Allo!

OK - so you can see it's been over a year since I wrote on this thing. I've been humming and hawing about what to write for about that long. When I started this blog, I had good intentions, but alas, I got caught up in life and got too busy. Story of everyone's lives these days.
When did we get too busy to enjoy life?
Anyway, as a kind of post new year resolution (who believes in them anyway) and to keep myself sane as work amps up, I've decided that I'm BACK in the blogging world. I still am not sure what to write about, but since I have no readers as of yet, I am kind of writing to myself...or talking to myself...does this classify me as crazy? Someone please read me!

SO my one superbly awesome idea for this blog is...just you wait...here it comes...are you ready?...

A chocolate review blog! For those of you who know me, you probably don't find this all that surprising. Imagine me finding an excuse to eat chocolate (just so I can write about it)! I figure I eat enough everyday (my 3pm cravings) that I might as well do something useful with the wasted calories.

So here it is, for 30 days (or until I get super, super fat - whichever comes first) I'm going to eat a chocolate bar a day and then write a review about it here...(I can see my keyboard cleaning fees going up - but hey it's a work computer) :)

Kind of reminds you of that guy who ate McDonalds forever eh? But remember Jared who ate Subway? (not the store, but their sandwiches) He got skinny, so that's what I'm going for here.

If any of you have any suggestions as to choices of chocolate/candy bars for me to try, then fire away. I will begin this awesome feat this Sunday (can't believe it's March already) but will be taking suggestions all month long!

Toodles for now,

Erin (the skinny one)