Zzang Candy Bars and Passion

The Fancy Food Show really was awesome.  The best part was getting to meet people who are really passionate about food and chocolate in particular.  One of them was Charlie Frank with Zingerman's Candy Manufactory (http://www.zingermanscandy.com).


Zingerman's (http://www.zingermans.com/) makes all kinds of amazing things.  But these candy bars are over the top.  Charlie and his team make them almost entirely BY HAND.  It's always so cool when you get to meet the chocolatier!!  And Charlie is so excited about these bars!  They actually have ingredient lists you can read - not a bunch of added weirdness.

The boxes are very cool - that's a collectible Christmas card in the purple box (love the peanut in a Santa hat!).

The Cashew Cow is described as milk chocolate cashew butter gianduja, cashew brittle and roasted cashews dipped in dark chocolate.

OMG - this is amazing!  Fantastic texture and if you like cashews - you'll be in heaven!  Not too many bars have cashews so this is a real treat.  Also some puffed rice, so it has a really light feel to it. Wow!!!

The original bar is described as butter-roasted peanuts, caramel and peanut butter honey nougat dipped in dark chocolate.  Holy God - how great does that sound?

How great does that look?

And the bar is awesome - a nice salty taste and loaded with peanuts.  Great chewy texture.  Awesome. I wish it were covered in milk chocolate rather than dark chocolate, but that's just my super sweet tooth talking.

The Wowza is described as creamy raspberry-chocolate ganache, raspberry preserves and fresh raspberry nougat in a crisp dark chocolate shell.

Again with the textures!  Wow!  The preserves have a grainy, sugary quality that plays perfectly off the nougat and the chocolate.  Super sweet and totally made for lovers of raspberry!

The What the Fudge? bar is described as milk chocolate fudge, Muscovade caramel and malted milk cream dipped in dark chocolate.

If you like fudge, this is the bar for you!  So rich and coated in chocolate!  It's WAY too rich and sweet for me, but if you can handle fudge - you will love this.

The great thing about all these is they are candy bars!  Not weird excursions into la-la land - they are gorgeously rich, decadent bars of candy!  Charlie isn't messing around - these are delicious, rich celebrations of classic flavors.  Different from any of the classic candy bars, but comforting like the best of them.  Yummy!!!

The best thing (besides the awesome flavors and quality ingredients) is Charlie's passion. It is really contagious. Are you passionate about your work?  If not, is there something in your life you're passionate about?  It could be a hobby or other pursuit.  If nothing comes to mind - get on it!  What do you like?  What are your dreams?  What would you regret not doing or experiencing? 

You have to find your own passion - no one else can bring it to you. 

While you're mulling it over, make sure you eat some chocolate. 

Deep Fried at the NC State Fair

I want to warn you readers that this entry is not for the faint of heart. Small children should not be exposed to these images. Stop now!!

The Sorbet Sistahs went to the absolute opposite of sorbet by visiting the N.C. State Fair. Most of our time was spent at this booth:










Would there really be any point to going anywhere else?


We lucked out in that it was a fabulous day - gorgeous blue skies, great temps - the perfect fall day. Ah, but where to start! We decided to get a fried Ho Ho and fried Oreos:

Tracy and I liked the Ho Ho better than the Oreos, Beth preferred the Oreos. We think the Oreos might have been better if they used the double stuffed Oreos. I think maybe if they had used Cakesters - that would have rocked! But neither of these REALLY blew us away.

So we decided to try the fried Reese's:

OMG - these were pretty damn amazing. I would like to try these again. What a great idea!!! And how insane! Only in the south, right? Hell yeah!!

We decided we should walk around a bit before we struck again. These looked too outrageous even for us:

These things are huge - about the size of a dinner plate. They are thick fried dough bases loaded with chocolate, custard, cherries, and cinnamon apples which you can get in any combo you can dream up. Yehaw!!

We saw the N.C. Fudge booth - look at these flavors:

And look at the man in the booth. What a sad sack. I asked him if he was the King of Fudge, but he only sighed and said "No, I just work here." I guess that means that there is a King of Fudge somewhere that he reports to. They had pumpkin fudge which I had to try - it was great!!! They also had Cheerwine which Beth tried - maybe not so good. But VERY creative! No fried fudge. Yet!

There was an ice cream booth that had PUMPKIN ice cream! YAHOO! Had to try it:

Fabulous!!!!! This I want some more of - it was soooo good!!!

Are you starting to be scared by everything we ate? Keep reading!!!!

Beth introduced us to these babies:

Little fried doughnuts they make right there. They were mouthwateringly good! I couldn't buy my own bag because I knew I would eat every one immediately and I still had things to try.

I could not leave the fair without trying fried pecan pie and... drum roll please...fried peanut butter and jelly:

Pecan Pie - good, but really too rich. Would have been better if it were pecan pie nuggets. But peanut butter and jelly - whoa!!!! This was great!! If there were a little less breading, it would have beaten the Reese's, but as it is, I have to call a tie. But maybe I should try them again.....

Here's the take away - it was a crazy, fun adventure on a gorgeous day. We broke all the "rules" - we took off in the middle of the day, we ate "forbidden" food, and we had a blast!! This is the stuff memories are made of. Make sure you take some time to break some rules and enjoy the season. Spend time with your good buddies. Life is way, way too short not to.

And don't let it end without having tried a fried Reese's Cup!!