Mike and Ike Sundae Sweets - Jo Ann Fabric

Mike and Ike Sundae Sweets - Jo Ann Fabric

Did you know chinchillas like fleece? Neither did I!

Well, not until this June, anyway. That's when my boyfriend's daughter graduated and we got her a cuddly little chinchilla all her own. He's her baby, but seemingly overnight we've turned into crazy chinchilla people.

Segues are hard. 

So I'm at JoAnn fabrics, buying a few yards of fleece (which is on sale) to use in a chinchilla litter box (you know, totally normal food-blogger stuff) and this colorful package catches my eye. It's a cute box, and I like Mike and Ikes, but I LOVE all things banana. I figured I owed it to myself to check this out.

Flash forward to today, when I saw the very same box, a few cents cheaper, at The Dollar Tree. Kind of kicking myself, since I could have gotten it cheaper, but maybe it'll taste so good that I won't care anymore? Fingers crossed!

Project 7 Front Porch Lemonade Gum - JoAnn Fabrics

Project 7 Front Porch Lemonade Gum - JoAnn Fabrics

I had been trying to track down these Project 7 chewing gums for almost a year. The packaging is so clean, and all the other food bloggers were posting about them, and I (like the foodie sheep that I am) wanted to check them out too. Since I try really hard not to buy food or candy online, I was scouring the grocery stores hoping to find these, and back in January I finally found them! At Jo Ann Fabrics of all places! I started out with the Birthday Cake version (which was reviewed here) but thankfully more and more flavors are popping up here in Jersey, so now I have this beautiful summery lemonade to review!

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!

Project 7 Peppermint Vanilla Mints - Jo Ann Fabrics: Cherry Hill, NJ

Project 7 Peppermint Vanilla Mints - Jo Ann Fabrics: Cherry Hill, NJ

I've seen this brand mentioned on a few foodie blogs, and I always thought the flavor selection and packaging were really cool! (Plus the logo reminds me of Dr. Who.) I've been searching fancy grocery stores, like Whole Foods, trying to find a few flavors to review, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I needed some new palette knives, so I stopped at Jo Ann Fabrics on my way home, and I saw this (and another of their items I'll be reviewing in the new year) in the impulse-buy area. Really? Of all places, the craft store? When did Jo Ann's get so hip and cool?

I grabbed a package of each of the items I saw and headed home, since this is minty I thought I'd knock out this review while candy canes are still in season.

Ovation Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Orange - Jo Ann Fabrics: Cherry Hill, NJ

Ovation Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Orange - Jo Ann Fabrics: Cherry Hill, NJ

I remember seeing this pumpkin spiced chocolate orange (or is it meant to be a pumpkin?) on Candyblog a while ago, and I really wanted to find one this year so that I could compare it to the Pumpkin Spiced m&m's I reviewed last year. Some of you might remember last year's review, but to sum things up, I wasn't a fan of those m&m's. I'm actually surprised they returned this year. They were barely spiced, and what little I could detect was cinnamon heavy. I feel like they are no different from the cinnamon m&m's that came out a while ago, or the gingerbread.

I originally thought the problem with the m&m's was that the base was chocolate, and that the chocolatey flavoring overpowered the spice blend, but this is another chocolate candy with a spice blend, and Candyblog gave it a 7/10. I had to find this chocolate and give it a taste to see if chocolate candy can really do pumpkin spice justice.