I got an email today from the producer of the CNBC TV show The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. They wanted me to appear in their Minutes to Millions segment as a “candy expert”. So, I’m flying to NY on Monday to film it! How awesome is that? And… one of the other panelists is Kevin Nealon from SNL! I’m not sure if I’m more excited about being on TV or meeting and sitting on a panel with Kevin Nealon!

Hmmm… I just checked Kevin’s website (I just called him Kevin, like we’re all buddy-buddy) and he says he’ll be there at 1:00 AM - I hope his site is wrong because I was told taping starts at 2:00 PM. His first book, “Yes, You’re Pregnant but What About Me?“, just came out. I should get a copy and ask him if he’ll sign it for me, though I don’t want to appear to be a huge fanboy.

I’ll take lots of pics to show everyone and I’ll post the air date as soon as I find out!

UPDATE: Just found out it will air the same night, Monday, May 19th, 10PM EST.

• The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch
• Kevin Nealon

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I’m an easy target for the impulse buys at the grocery store checkout counters. I think it’s a good time to scan the candies and see if there’s anything new, and then of course if something catches my eye, I have to try it. Take, for example, these Ice Breakers in Iced Tea Lemon flavor. I have long been a fan of Ice Breakers candies, and I usually have a container of the Ice Breakers sours in my car. I am also a fan of black tea, so these Ice Breakers sure seemed like a winning combination!

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A couple of years ago (yeah, we were that up on the trend), Brian wrote an article about Ecoist’s Candy Wrapper Handbags, a line of bags made from recycled and repurposed candy wrappers, food packages, and soft drink labels. Well, since then the whole Green Movement has really taken off and Ecoist has kept pace by expanding their popular line to include bracelets, coasters, napkin rings, and placemats.

Now I ask you, what better way to proclaim your support of sugar in public or at intimate dinner parties? It’s like the Livestrong bracelet for green candy fans. (That would be environmentally-friendly Addicts, not those of you with a penchant for a certain color M&M – though you can get in on the action, too.)

Like Brian, I have yet to identify any recognizable brands (these are 100% handmade in Mexico and Peru and my guess is that many of the wrappers are those of Latin American treats), but the origins of both the eye-popping, confetti-like palette and the chic silver line are undeniably sweet. And for the more brand-conscious amongst you, Ecoist produces equally stunning products with packaging from Coca-Cola and Diet Coke, Luna Bars, Dasani water, and a “swirl” that looks conspicuously like the Good Humor logo.

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I have a crush. I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ll be driving my car or typing away at work or sweating in the middle of a Pilates class when suddenly, wham! I’ll picture the object of my affection and my eyes will glaze over a bit. I smile just enough that one would assume I’m daydreaming about Clive Owen again. But sorry, Clive. You’ve got some competition and the name is Damla.

Damla, a Turkish import, is a taffy-like fruit flavored candy with a delicate gel center. Each piece comes individually wrapped and the flavors - apple, cherry, orange, peach and strawberry - are clearly labeled with darling little illustrations on their wrappers. The candy has a bit of a chew, but nothing that will destroy a filling. Actually, it takes on a lovely melty consistency after a bit of chomping.

And oh, the health benefits! The candy touts its fat-free status and at less than 20 calories per piece, I can easily justify eating five at a time for my daily empty calorie snack.

Is it worth it, you ask? Am I blinded by candy lust? Here’s the flavor breakdown:

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The emails have gone out to the winners of the Sandy Candy Giveaway so if you entered, check your email! Make sure emails from candyaddict.com aren’t flagged as spam. It will seem spammy since it has phrases about you winning and asking for your address. We ended up giving 13 prize packs to 48 entrants - so more than 25% of those that entered won! Those are some good odds.

• Sandy Candy Giveaway (contest is closed)

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So it’s not exactly candy, but an Addict’s gotta have some reason to wake up in the morning. Sure, grabbing a Snickers and calling it a morning meal is always an option, but for those nutritionally-minded readers looking to load up on vitamins and minerals before noon (I kid, I kid – we all know these are basically incognito candy bars), I – Candy Addict’s resident cereal expert – am happy to bring you our list of Top 10 (or so) Chocolate Cereals. Honorable Mentions go out to Cap’n Crunch’s Choco Crunch, Chocolate Chex, and Life Chocolate Oat Crunch, but without further ado, let’s get our AM sugar fix…

• Top 10 Chocolate Cereals

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Forrest Gump’s mother once told him that life was like a box of chocolates. That’s all well and good, unless that box of chocolates happens to be opened by someone else in your family who eats all of the caramels before you get a chance.

There is nothing better than a candy box piece of chocolate-covered caramel. Or at least I thought so, until I stumbled upon a magnificent candy known as Storck Chocolate Riesen. In essence, having a bag of Riesen (pronounced “reason”) is like having an endless supply of the best part of the candy box- the thick, chewy chocolate caramel squares covered in a thin layer of rich, creamy chocolate.

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Being the uber computer geek that I am, I can’t help but love these Ctrl-Alt-Delete candies, despite the fact that they are made with black licorice (YUCK). I’m sure Caitlin, our licorice expert would LOVE these. If they only made these in red “licorice” I’d definitely have to get some.

Unfortunately, they are all sold out right now and there is no indication of when/if they will be back in stock.

• Ctrl-Alt-Del licorice candy

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It’s not often I find a candy maker in my neck of the woods. North Carolina isn’t exactly exactly the candy-making capital of the world. One of my wife’s co-workers found out about Candy Addict and convinced his friend, who has a business making chocolate truffles, to get a batch to me to review. This friend runs Azurelise.

The story of Azurelise is an interesting one and well worth a read at the Azurelise website. Basically, a tenured associate professor in Philosophy abandons teaching and decides to make chocolates (there’s more to it than that, but that’s the basics). What I have before me now are Azurelise chocolate truffles, made by this former Philosopy professor.

The truffles aren’t your ordinary fancy, embellished truffles. These look, in fact… ordinary. They are approximately 1.25″ x 1.25″ x 0.5″ - they have no fancy flowers on them or swirly-q or anything else. Just a simple plaid pattern and the word AZURELISE diagonally across them. I received five dark chocolate truffles and four milk chocolate truffles.

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The following was sent to us via email and since all of us at Candy Addict have fallen in love with a Limited Edition candy or three, I figured it was worth sharing (with permission):

Like the mysterious beauty of sumptuousness that waddles in the night, it is not a deniable charge, we Americans are rather rotund. We are not however, stupid. (mostly)

I have always had a sweet tooth, hell I’ve always had a sweet mouth. And as a child, whatever I found at the store delighted me. “Oh I found a big Hershey bar - magic has surely been done here!” But I am no longer a child and I am fairly certain the tooth fairy is a tooth junkie, and I am not amused, candy companies… not amused….

You litter the field with genre after genre of limited edition candies, some I hate and some I love, and then you yank them away leaving me the crumbs of the same tired fooking thing time after time. Like expecting a full fridge and finding only milk, eggs, and bread… sure you can do lots with them but ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Getting rid of Twix Java and leaving us with another PB disaster is the last straw.

Stop giving us remixed, boring candy and take a page from the other countries who do something amazing, and spread themselves out, like the branches of a well-grown tree. Enough crap. Bring back the good, the bad and the different!

We pay your salary, you miserable two-bit toothless old tooth fairies… we may like our butter and creme and fattening convenient things… but that doesn’t mean we’re paying you to kill us with monotony! We’re paying you to make it pleasant to live with dunderheads like YOU!

Signed,
a concerned and peeved consumer
M. Burns

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? What’s your favorite current or past Limited Edition candy?

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