More Fruit and Chocolate

Let's get back to chocolate!  But still fruit!!  As you all know, I am not a big drinker.  But when I saw these, I wanted to try them.  That's part of my problem - I see a new chocolate candy (or cookie or cake or ice cream or frosting) I want to try it.

These are chocolate-covered wine grapes by Bissingers:

The verdict?  If you like wine, you'll like these.  I think I was hoping for something a little more grapey and a little less winey.  But wine lovers will love these and Bissinger's does chocolate right.  They're also unique - I've never seen them anywhere else.  And I love unique!

Bissinger's also makes these Fig Truffles:

They look pretty good, (white chocolate drizzle is a nice touch) but they reminded me of fruitcake.  Not chocolately enough.  They also have cognac in them - ugh.   Where's an alcohol-loving boyfriend when you need one? 

Lindt has a so delicious raspberry truffle:

You just can't go wrong with Lindt.  So creamy, so delicious and this has just the right amount of raspberry and chocolate - LOVE them!!

These little treats are AMAZING!!!  This one is Wildberry Yogurt Eisdessert - a mix of blueberries, raspberry and blackberry filling over yogurt covered in smooth milk chocolate (Eisdessert means ice cream dessert - Lindt suggests you slightly chill these):

This is raspberry:

These are sooooo good - they taste like little fruit and chocolate cheesecakes!  I'm telling you - get to a Lindt store and buy a few - soooo worth it!

This is dark chocolate covered strawberry:

While WAY better than orange, after the awesome baby cheesecakes, why bother with these?  I actually thought the dark chocolate overpowered the strawberry.

Ghirardelli has a dark chocolate square with raspberry filling:

It was okay.  Nothing earth shattering.  Lindt truffles kick Ghirardelli butt.

Lindt also has a raspberry bar:

Lindt's bar has a liquid center sealed in that amazing creamy milk chocolate.  It has a good flavor, but I don't really love the liquid center.  I'd rather have a raspberry cream  filling.

Perugina has a raspberry bar:

It has an interesting center - almost like a raspberry jelly.  I liked it better than the liquid, but I don't love the jellyness.  But what I really like is a creamy raspberry filling (like the filling in the strawberry Lindt above).  So I can't really suggest you run out and get any of these bars.  Get the yogurt/cheesecake eisdessert!!!  Do it, do it!!

One of the big flavors at Candy Expo was black currant (some kind of weird berry).  Lindt has a dark bar in their Excellence line with it:

The bar also has almonds (yum!).  When you open it, all you smell are the weird black currants - a grapey, berryish smell.  I'm not big on blackcurrent (as you heard with the purple bear cookies).  Too bitter.  Don't like it.

This one I got at the Anthon Berg booth at Candy Expo - most of their chocolates are infused with alcohol:

This one was super sweet with just a hint of the blackcurrant bitterness.  While not bad, I don't really want to eat another one.  Not really a rousing endorsement, huh?

Go with the amazing, awesome cheesecake (yogurt, whatever) eisdesserts!  They are fabulous!!!!!  Oh - and if you need some motivation - keep a couple in the fridge!  Yay!!

Chocolate, Yogurt and Roses

Hi Gang!

I've been off the grid - took a few days off to head out to the mountains of North Carolina and one of my favorite places in the whole world - the Grove Park Inn. My buddy Kristina and I spent a great day at the spa and I put the latest relationship disaster behind me (or as far behind me as you can ever put those things).

Thanks to all of you for the good thoughts and the support - I love you guys!!! Obviously I need to find a man with an addiction to chocolate - then I'll be golden! : )

As summer is rapidly fading, I wanted to deliver the promised ice cream post!  But first I felt compelled to do a yogurt post.  Surely we can rationalize the consuming of chocolate if yogurt is involved.

Lindt has a wide array of flavors - some in milk chocolate and some in white chocolate.  While I love yogurt, some of these combos were more successful (in my opinion) than others.  Peach-Apricot with milk chocolate was my least favorite:

All of these have a great yogurt flavor - so if you don't like yogurt, you won't like these.  I happen to love yogurt, so I found them all pretty darn good.  Lindt seldom disappoints me.  I think with this bar I just don't really care for the peach/chocolate combo.  Not bad, mind you, just not as good as the others.

Strawberry-Rhubarb had a great, great strawberry flavor:

This was one of my favorites - a great combination and it works well with the white chocolate.

All these bars suggest you try them chilled.  I tried a couple chilled (blueberry being one of them) and didn't think it added much.  I actually found them creamier if not chilled and liked that more.

Blueberry was not as good as I thought it should be.  I like chocolate covered blueberries way better.  Amarena Cherry Creme (below) is better.

Cherry yogurt is good:

But this one didn't thrill me as much as strawberry or Amarena Cherry Creme (actually ice cream inspired):

This cherry was tarter - the milk chocolate also seemed to work better than the white chocolate.  Cherry yogurt was just a little too sweet.  This one was very, very good and I had a hard time not eating it all!!  Sooooo good!

Raspberry Vanilla Yogurt I also tried chilled. 

I found this one too sweet also.  The only white chocolate that worked for me was the strawberry-rhubarb and I think it's the tartness of the rhubarb that makes it great. 

Ritter Sport also has a yogurt bar:

And while it seems to contain plenty of yogurt, the rich milk chocolate overpowers the yogurt.  I like the Lindt bars better.

Ice cream next!!!!!  I think ice cream works a little better with chocolate than yogurt.  But these bars are well worth trying if you like yogurt!!

One of the great things about the Grove Park is the stone everywhere.  It's such a gorgeous place.  The stones in the massive lobby have quotes painted on them, and I want to share one of my favorites with you:

This old world we're livin' in

Is mighty hard to beat

We get a thorn with every rose

But ain't the roses sweet.

                                    - Stanton

Here's to forgetting about the thorns, stopping to smell the roses, and savoring all the beauty of this world.  Oh - and here's to good friends and chocolate.  Life is mighty hard to beat!!  Have a great week!!

Chocolate and the Bathing Suit Body

Everywhere I look I see some weight loss ad encouraging us all to get our fat, pale winter bodies in shape for the beach. Apparently after living under a rock for the last 8 months we are all going to spend our summer romping in the waves half naked.

And to be ready, we have to be so weak from hunger that romping will be impossible. But what the hell, I'll go with the fantasy. Have you seen any of the marketing for these? I wonder what took them so long? Of course, if these are a hit, we'll probably start seeing Cheerios in every flavor under the sun:



Love the "may reduce the risk of heart disease" message. The FDA is soooo going to pull the plug on that BS. I have to confess, I've always thought Cheerios were the most boring cereal on the face of the Earth. Their best use seems to be to give to small children who leave a trail of them in their grubby little wakes. So small children of the world - rejoice! These are WAY better than regular Cheerios! Yay!

But if you are an adult and you are eating cereal to be healthy - step away from the Cheerios and get thee some cereal with fiber! I'm not kidding - to me the whole point of eating cereal is to incorporate some fiber into my diet and Cheerios ain't doing it. They have 1 gram of fiber. Slap yourself if you are wasting your cereal quotient with this. I'd recommend Fiber One's frosted shredded wheat if you want something sweet (9 grams of fiber) or Fiber One's raisin bran clusters (11 grams of fiber). And I actually like both of these better than boring Cheerios - even the chocolate ones. zzzzzzzzz

And how about this? Chocolatey delight Special K:

And check this out - take the Special K Challenge (pretty much eating nothing but their products) and lose 6 pounds in two weeks! Please.

The first scoop I pulled out had zero chocolate chunks in it - and I did shake the box before scooping. I had to fish out some chocolate for the photo:

That's what the chunks look like - pretty big, huh?

Well - if you carefully divide up the chocolate chunks to make sure you get some in every bite, this is pretty good. It ads some zip to the second most bring cereal on the face of the earth. But again, I say - get some damn fiber! This also has 1 gram of fiber.

So bottom line - if you like really boring cereal made slightly less boring by the addition of some chocolate, these are for you! And while a better health choice than eating a sugary kid's cereal, I think you should eat a better tasting and better for you adult cereal if your top concern is your health. Also fiber is more filling if you're trying to lose weight.

Now here's something I was delighted to see! Chocolate Greek yogurt! Greek yogurt is even better for you than regular yogurt - it has more protein. For 110 calories, this little yogurt has 10 grams of protein:

And the best part? It tastes GREAT! Most chocolate yogurts I've had were either high in calories or not that great, but this one is perfect when you want a creamy chocolate fix. Now don't get me wrong, if you don't like yogurt, you won't like this - it's still yogurt. But it's a great chocolate yogurt - healthy AND good! Yay!

It also came in caramel:

I didn't like this one as much - I've found that caramel doesn't seem to translate so well into dairy treats. I don't like Skinny Cow's caramel ice cream bar either - they just taste kinda weird. Now I'm not talking about ice cream with a real caramel ribbon - that's a whole different matter! But these low fat caramel things aren't as good as you would expect. And I love caramel and yogurt (and ice cream - there isn't much I wouldn't do for ice cream), so you can take my word for it on this one.

See how creamy and chocolaty? Caramel on the left, chocolate on the right.

The takeaway? It's great to see some healthy food incorporating chocolate, but just know your goal. If you're eating cereal to be healthier - take a look at the nutrition panel and look for something with some fiber. If you just want something that tastes good - try some different things and see what you like best. Same for yogurt - if you don't like it, don't eat it. But if you're trying to be healthier or lose weight, finding a low-fat, low calorie alternative to ice cream is a must. Or just don't eat the whole carton! But who can do that? Gandhi?

And, what is probably the most important - don't worry about having the perfect bathing suit body - please. The most beautiful people at the beach are those who are having fun and are filled with joy and laughter. (And just maybe, chocolate!)

F'ing Sorbet

I am a sick, sick woman. I love sweets. I now have so much chocolate and candy in my house, it's scary. If I do have a date that I actually bring home, he'll be blogging about the freaky candy lady. Clearly the base of my food pyramid is sugar, fat and cocoa butter. And you know what? I like it like that!!! Because of this sickness, when I attend a luncheon or a dinner, I always want to know what dessert is going to be. Who cares about the entree?

Recently I was at a dinner with my new cool friend, Tracy and several of our buddies. I had spent most of the meal wondering what dessert would be. When the plates had been cleared, I wondered this out loud. I told everyone to keep their expectations low, it might be the most dreaded of all desserts - sorbet. Knowing that that was a remote long shot. Of course, no one listened and one friend started telling about a dessert she recently had that involved peanut butter mousse. (Holy God!) I told everyone about the awesome chocolate pyramid at the CPA Dinner. Soon the dessert arrived! I'll be damned. Oh yeah, you guessed it - sorbet.

Tracy immediately takes a picture and posts it on her Facebook page:







with the caption "F'ing sorbet!" (That would be my thumb.) Tracy is my new best friend. I like her way with words.

I want to get a t-shirt that says that. Maybe start a band called F'ing Sorbet.

I mean, really? Sorbet? Who gets excited about that? What could be more anticlimactic? That dessert is a great disappointment. I wished I had eaten more bread.

We're going to the restaurant with the peanut butter mousse on Monday. It's payback time!

Along the lines of sorbet, no one has yet to do anything decent with yogurt and chocolate. I reviewed that heinous Weight Watcher's stuff a while back. Boston Cream Pie? I don't think so. Well someone at Breyers lost their mind and came up with this:



Aw - look at that - it's called Inspirations - how motivational! Look how great it looks in the picture! In real life? No so much:

Inspirations? Yeah that inspires me to reconsider sorbet.

Let's compare reality with Breyers' fantasy:

GLACK!!! These suck! Sorry, but I love yogurt. This is horrible. The chocolate chips are good, but Breyers should stick with low fat ice cream. Pass on these - they're just nasty.

Apparently the temptation to do something with chocolate and yogurt is just too much. Here's Yoplait's latest entry:

Delights. Delights, Inspirations - bring it down a notch, people. Delight is what I think peanut butter mousse would be. This ain't that delightful. It's better than the Breyers stuff and had 40 less calories, but Jello low fat pudding is like a million times better and has 60 calories.

Here's the bottom line - regular yogurt is way better than both of these. So far if you want chocolate, you're better off with frozen yogurt or low fat ice cream or even pudding. I love chocolate, but yogurt may just not be the venue.

And don't even TRY to give me chocolate sorbet!!!!

Saving All My Kisses for You

Since I'm been talking so much trash about the men I'm meeting (and am obviously NO closer to finding love), I thought I would give you all some kisses! We'll go back to The Chocolate Fetish tomorrow.





I am still LOVING the white chocolate raspberry Kisses - and get this - I didn't even know there was milk chocolate in the middle! What a savvy reviewer I am! They are actually milk chocolate wrapped in white chocolate hugged by raspberry. I should have performed an autopsy. Everything comes out in the autopsy.


Check these Kisses out - are they trying to be healthy?

These are not so good. I like vanilla yogurt. I like Hershey's Kisses. I do not like them together. Bleech. Here's the autopsy:

They look much better than they taste. Get the raspberry/milk/white combo - it rocks! Pass on the yogurt.

But the yogurt foil design is gorgeous - it has a light taupe striping - very cool and elegant. It would make a kickin' dress or sweet wallpaper. It really is a great design.

Just goes to show you can't judge a candy by its wrapper. (Ditto for men.)