Blog Archives
Choc Noodle?
So, when I first moved to the U.K., I discovered Pot Noodle.
To the untrained American eye, you’d think this creation was a Cup Noodles lookalike. But noooo… Cup Noodles is a completely different, dare I say, beast of a noodle in a cup.
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Cadbury Dairy Milk pairs with American classics
The last time I blogged about Cadbury, I was reviewing their line of Marvellous Creations, which paired Pop Rocks-style candy and honeycomb shards into its trademark British milk chocolate.
This time around, Cadbury has gone a little wild and paired Cadbury Dairy Milk with Oreo, with LU biscuits (why do I still remember the commercial jingle to this like I had just seen it yesterday? “A cookie is a cookie and a LU is a LU”) and Cadbury Dairy Milk with Ritz crackers.
I haven’t tried any of these so can’t review it properly, but if anyone has tried it, please let me know what you thought of it. I’m intrigued.
Stateside Candy Company
Americans who are homesick for their favorite candies can get them delivered in the U.K. now, thanks to the Stateside Candy Company.
The selection is impressive, including Hershey’s and Twizzlers, Life Savers, Willy Wonka candies, salt water taffy, Mike and Ike’s, jumbo gummy bears and the list goes on and on! Grocery items like American cereals, pancake mixes, cookies, cake mixes and barbecue sauces are also offered. U.K. delivery charges start at £4.50.
Busted for Kinder Surprise eggs
Before you attempt to head into the U.S. carrying Kinder Surprise eggs from the U.K., beware! The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized about 25,000 Kinder Surprise eggs in 2010 and reissued the warning that Kinder eggs are banned (due to the non-edible prize inside each egg). Rumor has it that if a Kinder egg is seized by customs, you can be fined for $2,500!
If you’ve never had a Kinder Surprise egg, they are quite fun little toys (i.e. cars, characters, even stamp rings) tucked inside a half milk chocolate and half white chocolate shell of an egg. You never know what you’re going to get! Nearly 30 billion have been sold worldwide.
And check out the Americanized version of the Kinder Surprise: The Choco Treasure! It launched last month.
Also, here are the top 10 items not to bring back from your international holiday.
Candy Review of Marvellous Creations: Jelly Popping Candy and Beanies
A few weeks ago, I did a candy review of Marvellous Creations: Jelly Popping Candy and Beanies, a Pop Rocks-infused milk chocolate from New Zealand, made by the British chocolate giant Cadbury. This weekend, I tried the second in the collection. Marvellous Creations: Jelly and Crunchie Bits. This one is similar to the previous iteration, with the exception of shards of honeycomb bits, like a Cadbury Crunchie Bar, in lieu of the Pop Rocks. It has a crunchy crisp rice texture you might get in a Nestle Crunch, but a little more crunchy and sweet.
I’ve always been a little fascinated by the use of said honeycomb and chocolate in the U.K., an ingredient absent from the U.S. candy market. If you haven’t tried it, it’s interesting, light and airy, but satisfyingly crunchy.
A big thanks again to my sister-in-law for sending the candy!
Candy review: Marvellous Creations
My sister-in-law in New Zealand sent us some crazy candy bars awhile back. I’m not a big candy eater, but this was a novelty I had to check out: Marvellous Creations by Cadbury.
They take a regular bar of Dairy Milk milk chocolate and then infuse it with a little bit of something gummy, a little bit of plain M&Ms and colorful Pop Rocks. Mad! It’s actually a strange but ridiculously fun thing to eat, particularly with the Pop Rocks. If I had unlimited access to Pop Rocks, I would add it to everything. Yogurt. Cheesecake. The possibilities would be endless! I can’t help smiling and feeling like I’m 5 when I’m eating Pop Rocks!
Would I prefer it if the chocolate base was dark chocolate, rather than this silky, creamy Dairy Milk chocolate? Absolutely! But on a feel-good factor scale, it’s still a 10.
The chocolate bars now have a Facebook page and Brits are already posting online begging for them to come to the U.K. With Cadbury World in Birmingham, England, I’m hoping it’s only a matter of time.
Happy Valentine’s Day
A box of Thorntons chocolate
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
May your day be filled with the best chocolate, along with the appropriate chocolate identifier glossary (which British chocolatiers smartly include so you know just what you’re getting before you take a bite. No surprises!).
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