Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I'm still struggling with my life balance - dating a great guy, running my business, trying to keep working out AND writing the blog.  It's all obviously not going to happen.  So far, the blog has been taking a butt kicking.  Sorry gang!  The good news is I'm not buying my own Valentine's Day present this year, and I'm sooooo lucky to have love in my life.  But, I know what it's like to be solo, so I'm not going to turn into a sap.  For those of you who are single - hang in there - there's always chocolate and fun and loads of life to be lived.  For those of you who have love - hold it dear.  For those of you hanging on to someone who doesn't treat you right - get the hell out.  They are not going to change and you deserve better.  For all of you - this is my Valentine's Day gift to you!!!

Dove introduced these dark chocolate and cherry swirl heart promises:

I love the way they look:

I wish I liked the taste as much as their cool apprearance.  Too much cherry for me.  I still think the Hershey's Cherry Cordial Kisses do this combo best.

And while I think the messages in the wrappers could be better, at least Martha Stewart is out of the picture.  I just don't want that felon in my candy. 

Woohoo!  My freinds at Just Born haven't let us down!  Milk chocolate and dark chocolate covered Peeps!

You know how I like to compare.  Before now, my favorite chocolate covered marshmallow heart was from Hershey (hate the evil Russell Stover):

I don't know what happened to the Hershey heart, but it looks like it had a very bad night:

Look at what happened when I autopsied the Peep hearts!  Holy cow - this color has never before been seen without the help of a black light (those of you under the age of 35 probably don't even know what that is).  It's raspberry marshmallow - possibly from the planet Zenon.

And here's the autopsied Hershey Heart:

The verdict?  The marshmallow in the Peep Hearts is fluffier; it's more chewy in the Hershey Heart.  So marshmallow wise, I gotta go with the Peeps.  The Hershey milk chocolate is the best, but the combo of the super sweet raspberry marshmallow and the dark chocolate is a winner.  Overall - the best is the dark chocolate raspberry Peep Heart.  But if you don't like raspberry - hello Hershey!!  If you don't like marshmallow, well, keep reading.

I was amazed by these (I thought they would be horrible) - from Tootsie, maker of Junior Mints - raspberry cremes:

When I first saw them, I thought - what a great idea!  Why didn't they think of different flavors before?  And where the hell is peanut butter??? 

I popped the poor autopsy subject picture here into my mouth, honestly expecting them to suck.  I have to tell you, they are great!  A lot of it is that awesome size (totally poppable) and the chocolate shell/creamy filling combo that makes the Junior Mint so addictive.  I find these impossible to stop eating.  Go Tootsie Roll!

Thanks for reading!  I hope all of you have a fantastic Valentine's Day - regardless of the state of your love life.  I think it's a great day to celebrate our love affair with chocolate and with life - something that will never change!  Love to you all!!

Soft and Smushy on the Inside

I am alive!!!!  I know I've been off the radar for the past month or so, but I have a great reason.

First, let me catch you all up.  Flower Man (the guy who I had a lunch date with and who sent me flowers the next day) disappeared.  He had said we might go out that weekend, but I heard nothing.  In the meantime, I had a date with someone else.  He and I have been going out ever since.  Flower Man e-mailed a week later, said he called and left a message on the wrong voice mail.  Seriously? 

The good news is the new guy does what he says he will and loves to eat almost as much as I do.  I feel I've found my soul mate when we're picking an ice cream flavor to share and he chooses Cake Batter.  He makes me laugh.  He even saw me speak before we went out so the dreaded Big Personality doesn't bother him.  He even took the time to read my book!  So things are good, but finding time to work, work out, date AND blog is tricky!  Thanks for not giving up on me!!!

In honor of my mutation into a big marshmallow, I thought I'd review this great new product:

As you all know, I've been railing that something like this should be made!  Those horrible chocolate "flavored" marshmallows are creepy.  Those marshmallows at Candy Expo with some dark chocolate drizzled on them (Zebras) didn't have enough chocolate.  Kraft finally got it together!!!  These are miniature marshmallows, which makes the chocolate to marshmallow ratio perfect.  They are addictive alone and would be great in trail mix, over ice cream, in popcorn - you name it!

Not only are they impossible to stop eating - I ate the whole bag today - but the whole bag has only 300 calories.  Yahoo!!!

One comment - Kraft has got to change the choking warning.  It says: Eat one at a time.  (HA!) For children under 6, cut marshmallows into bite-sized pieces.  Children should always be seated and supervised while eating. 

For God's sake, Kraft, lighten up!  These are MINIATURE marshmallows, after all!  And who wants to sit down and be supervised while eating marshmallows?  I want to eat them while running with scissors!

And speaking of marshmallows, the new guy and I went to a fondue place this weekend - ordered the Triple Play - peanut butter, caramel and chocolate in the fondue pot with pretzels, fruit and marshmallows to dip in.  He let me have almost all the peanut butter.  Is he a good man or what?