Smarties Squeeze Candy - Five Below

Smarties Squeeze Candy - Five Below

It's like candy and toothpaste had a baby just to spite dentists everywhere. This kind of squeeze style liquid candy has been around for quite some time and they're really popular with small children, but you don't need to be a child psychologist to understand why. It's liquid sugar, with bright colors, packaged in a squeeze tube. What's not to love? I remember buying a bunch of Hubba Bubba's Squeeze Pops from Blockbuster video back in the 90's and thinking I was the coolest kid on the block, but looking back, eating them was super awkward and messy, and I honestly don't remember them tasting all that great.

I was walking around Five Below a few months ago to get some sour sweets for the Candyology 101 podcast, and I saw this lonely tube of squeezable candy sitting on the shelf. I picked it up for a closer look and someone who was restocking the merchandise said it was really popular and that they couldn't keep it in stock. Welp, that sold me! Into my handcart it went. I wonder 28-year-old-me will like this stuff as much as 8-year-old-me.

Limited Edition Holiday Dum-Dums - YouTube Review

Move over Jelly Belly, Dum-Dums have seasonal flavors too!

Candyology 101 Episode 23: Trader Joe's!

Cybele and I wanted to talk about Trader Joe's store brand sweets, so we called in the experts! 

The awesome group of people behind What's Good at Trader Joe's (and our sister podcast, Let's Talk TJ's) join us on today's Candyology 101 to talk about all things sweet at Trader Joe's!  We share our favorite products, biggest disappointments, and talk about what makes Trader Joe's so addicting and worthy of it's cult following. What's your favorite candy from Trader Joe's?

Have you been liking Candyology101 so far? 

Please head on over to itunes and give us a little review to let us know how we're doing.

Meet the cast:

Cybele from Candy Blog

Maria (Me) from Sometimes Foodie

Listen to the player above, check us out on Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 file. If you want to subscribe to the show, it’s available on iTunes and via RSS.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

Like Sometimes Foodie's Facebook page to keep up with all my foodie adventures!

Candyology 101 Episode 22: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

You got chocolate in my peanut butter!

On this episode of Candyology 101 Cybele and I discuss one of the best candy combinations of all time, chocolate and peanut butter, and no one does it better than Reese's. We'll give you a little bit of history, dish on our favorite versions of the classic PB cup, and go over all of the limited edition versions that are no longer with us. (I wish I had the chance to try the banana and peanut butter Elvis-themed cup!) Be sure to grab a snack or a spoonful of peanut butter for this one, you're gonna need it. What's your favorite Reese's product?

Have you been liking Candyology101 so far? 

Please head on over to itunes and give us a little review to let us know how we're doing.

Meet the cast:

Cybele from Candy Blog

Maria (Me) from Sometimes Foodie

Listen to the player above, check us out on Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 file. If you want to subscribe to the show, it’s available on iTunes and via RSS.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

Like Sometimes Foodie's Facebook page to keep up with all my foodie adventures!

Warheads Sour Worms - Dollar Tree

Warheads Sour Worms - Dollar Tree

Remember these from our Candyology101 Treat or Trick section? It was a while ago, but I finally found them! Warheads were really popular when I was growing up in the 1990's, so I was excited to see what the brand was doing these days with their newer products.

I'm hoping that these are some kind of super sour gummy worm, but they look just like normal gummy worms sold by Trolli and every other candy company out there. Maybe they made these look like normal gummy worms so that you could easily swap the two out for pranks? I guess we'll find out! After all, looks can be deceiving. 

Candyology101: Episode 13 SKITTLES!

Taste the rainbow, and the occasional disappointment. (I'm looking at you Skittles Chocolate Mix.)

On today's show, Cybele and I tackle all things Skittles! Everything from the green apple vs. lime controversy, to our favorite flavors, and then we take a trip down memory lane looking at all the fancy flavors that have come and gone from around the world. Some great, some awful. (Did you know there was once an entire licorice mix of Skittles? That's right ALL of them had licorice in them.) 

Tune in to join us on this colorful candy adventure and comment below letting us know what your favorite Skittles are! (Do any of you actually miss Chocolate Skittles?)

Have you been liking Candyology101 so far? 

We'd like to hear from you.

Please head on over to itunes and give us a little review to let us know how we're doing.
What segments to you love? Which ones are leaving a sour taste in your mouth, and what would you like us to cover next?

(Click the Candyology link to see all the different items we talk about in this podcast and find out where you can buy it!)

Meet the cast:

Cybele from Candy Blog

Maria (Me) from Sometimes Foodie

Listen to the player above, check us out on Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 file. If you want to subscribe to the show, it’s available on iTunes and via RSS.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

Like Sometimes Foodie's Facebook page to keep up with all my foodie adventures!

Starburst Sweet & Sour Jelly Bean Mix- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Starburst Sweet & Sour Jelly Bean Mix- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

After the Sour Patch beans ended up being a flop I moved on to another supposedly sour take on this seasonal sweet, and this time it's Target exclusive.

Good & Delish Dark & Sinful Pear & Almond - Walgreen's: Pennsauken, NJ

Good & Delish Dark & Sinful Pear & Almond  - Walgreen's: Pennsauken, NJ

If you've listened to our most recent Candyology101 podcast, you'll recognize this bar from my rants and ramblings about store-branded candy. Way back in July, I bought and reviewed THIS pear and almond bar from whole foods, which was a store-branded item, and I thought it was really delicious. Even though I liked it a lot, I rarely shop at Whole Foods because things can get pretty expensive, and it's a bit out of my way, so I hadn't had another bar since.

Flash forward to winter's ever awesome cold and flu season. I was at Walgreens picking up my cold medication and I noticed the same flavor combination was being offered in their Good & Delish candy bar line. Could these be the same bars? The Walgreen's version was really affordable, and I figured I deserved a little treat since I was sick, so I picked it up. Oddly enough we decided that our theme for the most recent podcast would be store brands, so this worked out awesomely. I know I already talked about it in the podcast, but I figured this item was worthy of it's own post.

Yoshi Island Gummy Egg - J-Box

Yoshi Island Gummy Egg - J-Box

I posted a little teaser of this over on my Instagram a few days ago. I said it once and I'll say it again, I freaking love Yoshi's Island. I grew up with the original NES, which my mother and grandmother played while I was a baby (That's right, they're that cool.), and when I was older, I had my own SNES with a handful of games. I had Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, and Super Mario World 2, also known as Yoshi's Island. That's it. I would play these games over and over trying to get everything on each level, I'm a total completionist, and I couldn't of been happier.

Brand Name vs. Knock Off - Aldi's Titon vs. Mar's Milkyway

Brand Name vs. Knock Off - Choceur's Titon vs. Mar's MilkyWay

Since we just recorded a store-brand focused episode of Candyology101, which will be out relatively soon, I thought this would be a fun post to write up. I don't think I'll end up making this a regular kind of thing, I just happened to have both of these on hand and I thought this could be kind of interesting.

Normally I'm not a brand loyalist. (Which is why I love Aldi so much.) I usually go with the off-brand items to save money, and a lot of those items are comparable and occasionally better than the big name brand versions, but once and a while a name brand product shows that it's truly superior. MilkyWay has always been my favorite chocolate bar, and so far I haven't found a cheaper alternative. Can Aldi's Titon bar beat it? 

Mike & Ike Strawberry Reunion - Dollar Tree: Berlin, NJ

Mike & Ike Strawberry Reunion  - Dollar Tree: Berlin, NJ

I'm finally putting a dent in my foodie-stash! There's still a ton left for me to review, but I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. (Or in this case, I can see the bottom of the box.) I bought these Mike & Ike's a really long time ago, embarrassingly long, and I'm finally ready to give these a try!

Caramel Filled Waffle - Gift

Caramel Filled Waffle - Gift

It's been a very, very long day, so I'm taking a break to treat myself with this little chocolate covered treat. This is going to be a pretty short review, since there's really no packaging, so let's just get right to it!

Fettuccine Gummi (Strawberry Cherry) - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Fettuccine Gummi (Strawberry Cherry) - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Okay, now that I'm done with all my Sailor Moon chocolates, it's back to the normal everyday foodie grind.

My last 5 posts were chocolate-related, and even though I love the stuff, I'm really happy to move on and start reviewing other things. (I am chocolated-out!) Since gummi candies are one of my absolute favorites, and I love fruit flavored sweets, I thought I'd treat myself to a candy that's been sitting in my to-be-reviewed-pile for almost a month, these adorable Fettuccini gummis!

Sailor Moon Prism Power Tin - JBOX.com

Sailor Moon Prism Power Tin - JBOX.com

No matter how many times I photograph these tins, I'm never happy. The art is really lovely in person, but these pastels are a major pain in the butt to photograph! I have photographed this specific tin and it's chocolates three separate times. I would have kept going, and tried again, but the chocolates were getting soft and melty from being handled in front of all the photo lights. I had to suck it up and go with this set, even though I'm still not entirely happy with it.

Bah, enough rambling about my first-world-food-photo problems, let's talk about magical girls and candy!

Red Velvet m&m's - Target: Marlton, NJ

Red Velvet m&m's - Target: Marlton, NJ

These are a re-release, so the flavor isn't really new, just seasonal, and last year I refused to buy them. I really thought they'd be a huge flop. I mean Red Velvet m&m's? With their milk chocolate base, I thought there was no way these would taste any different from their normal chocolates, and that this was just a gimmick. Apparently the flavor was popular enough with consumers to return, so I thought I'd check them out and see if they were somehow better than I had expected.

Candyology101 Episode 7: Be Our Valentine?

Love it or hate it, Valentine's Day is on the way. Even if you don't have a sweetheart, you still have your sweet tooth! On this episode of Candyology101, Cybele and I discuss our favorite Valentine's Day candies, what items we scoop up when it all goes on clearance, and who actually eats all those chalky little conversation hearts?  Plus, Cybele gives me the scoop on some new candies that are headed out way. (Click the Candyology link to see all the different items we talk about in this podcast and find out where you can buy it!)

Meet the cast:

Cybele from Candy Blog

Maria (Me) from Sometimes Foodie

Listen to the player above, check us out on Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 file. If you want to subscribe to the show, it’s available on iTunes and via RSS.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

Like Sometimes Foodie's Facebook page to keep up with all my foodie adventures!

Sailor Moon Chocolate Packaging Review!

This is a (pretty clumsy) video I shot looking at the packaging for the Sailor Moon chocolates I ordered from jbox.com. I'm in the process of taking photos for a full fledged bog post, or three, they'll be really photo heavy, so I might have to break it up, but for now, watch me fumble with packaging and check out the beautiful pastel artwork of Sailor Moon! (I mean, let's not kid ourselves, I bought this for the packaging, the chocolates are just an added bonus.)

Sorry for the jumpy editing, all I have in Movie Maker and I had to edit out some clips where my dog was barking and what-not. I have to get better at this YouTube stuff.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

Like Sometimes Foodie's Facebook page to keep up with all my foodie adventures!

Meville Candy: Honey Spoons - Marshall's/Home Goods: Cherry Hill, NJ

Meville Candy: Honey Spoons - Marshall's/Home Goods: Cherry Hill, NJ

It's that time of year, everyone around me has a cold, the flu, or one of those oh-so-fun viruses. Even though I'm surrounded by sick people, I'm still going strong, well not really. I have a bit of congestion and raspy throat, but so far that's it, and I intend to keep it that way.

This is another item that's been sitting in my review pile for a while, and what better time to try it out? Honey is perfect for raspy throats, so let's give these spoons a try.

Project 7 Sugar Free Birthday Cake Gum - JoAnn Fabrics: Cherry Hill, NJ

Project 7 Sugar Free Birthday Cake Gum - JoAnn Fabrics: Cherry Hill, NJ

Birthday cake flavored gum? And it's not from the Dessert Delight's line? What madness is this?

I had been on the lookout for Project 7's products after seeing a few fellow foodie bloggers review a few of their items, and I finally found them in my area, at the crafty store of all places! I already reviewed the vanilla peppermints from this line, and I liked those quite a bit. They've been in my purse ever since and everyone I've shared them with has enjoyed them as well. Since the mints were such a hit, I decided to give this gum a try, even though I still feel like "Birthday Cake" is a subjective flavor. Come on! There is no one-way to make a birthday cake! It could be any flavor of cake and any flavor of icing, then again, I guess "vanilla cake and icing" doesn't have the same allure as "birthday cake."

Oh well, on to the review!

Candyology 101's Best of 2014 (& Items We Never Got Around To Reviewing)

On this episode of Candyology101, listen to us dish on our favorite candies of 2014, and talk about a few candy items that never made it to our blogs. (Click the Candyology link to see all the different items we talk about in this podcast and find out where you can buy it!)

Meet the cast:

Cybele from Candy Blog

Maria (Me) from Sometimes Foodie

Listen to the player above, check us out on Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 file. If you want to subscribe to the show, it’s available on iTunes and via RSS.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

Like Sometimes Foodie's Facebook page to keep up with all my foodie adventures!