Let ME Eat Cake!

World Market has a pretty good rewards program (you all know what a sucker I am for those!). You get a $10 credit for your birthday and $10 for every $100 you make in food purchases. I had $20 in credit burning a hole in my pocket, so I tried some stuff I've been eyeing. I like to try the seemingly improbable.   Cake on a shelf for some indeterminate amount of time seems improbable. 

The picture on the top is the outer package, inside are six individually wrapped cakes:

Now this doesn't look a dang thing like the cake in the picture:

I didn't see any chocolate filling.  Maybe the cake absorbed it - they were pretty moist, I have to admit.  But not that chocolately.  These (cherry) were actually better!

Again, nothing like the picture, but moist and tastey!  These would be great for a lunch box - YUM!  Made in Italy - I should have known they would be pretty good.  The Italians know their food.

I was certain this would be terrible.  I mean - these cakes are just sitting on the shelf!  How can they be any good at all?  This is decorated sponge cake with strawberry jam and custard filling:

Looks kind of scary, right?

I can't believe it, but it was pretty good!  The jam and custard made it.  This one is made in Portugal.  Wow - cakes from around the world!  How cosmopolitan is my birthday celebration?  Looks crummy, but tatses light and sweet - pretty good!

I got this one from A Southern Season - a peanut butter torte - holy smokes!!!!  But it's in a box, so I had my doubts:

But look at this - it looks great, right?

But when you cut it - holy God!  Is that radioactive?  The orange really is that shocking!

WOW!  It might look weird, but it's pretty damn good!!  And pretty damn dangerous - OMG!!!  I can't stop eating this thing!  Thank God my birthday only comesd once a year!  Made by Sweet Treasures, distributed by Green County Foods out of Monroe, WI.  Screw Portugal.

And you can't have a party without cookies!  These are new by Oreo:

I was surprised when I opened the box and there were so few inside - Oreos are usually packed!

These are Oreos without their tops, covered in fudge and they are damn good.  No kidding!  Pretty rich with all that fudge, but this is a mighty fine cookie.  It doesn't look like much, but it brings it, I promise!

These are a new limited edition flavor - Oreo Blizzard:

Zzzzzzzzzzz.  You gotta be kidding.  These did nothing for me.  Taste like regular Oreos.  Not even DoubleStuff.  Don't waste your money.

Sprinkles seems so festive and springy to me!!  Whee!!  So let's look at some nonpareils with colored sprinkles. These are by Choclatique:

And these are by a German company - Horst Schluckwerder:

And while I like the cute flower shape of the German chocolates, those by Choclatique are WAY better.  They have more chocolate and thus fewer sprinkles.  Way, way better.  But nonpareils are not my fav - those round balls always taste a little stale to me.  Great for decoration, not so great for flavor.  But that's just my opinion - my best friend, Missy LOVES these things.

Yay!!  Cake, cookies and chocolate!  And a lot of it was free!  Happy Birthday to me!!!  The only thing that could have been better was to have you all here to share it with!

Snow, Ice and Chocolate!

We've got ice and snow in North Carolina and the capital city is shut down! Whoohoo! Of course, it's Saturday, so it's no big deal. Come Monday, we might have some issues.

In honor of the snow, we'll talk Snowflake Pretzels. My Sorbet Sistah Tracy said these were awesome, so when I saw them on sale at Crate and Barrel, that was a good enough excuse to buy them. And I love the cute tin they are in:

Here they are :

The tin says these are "wintry snowflake pretzels dipped in white confection and white nonpareils."

Now let's analyze that statement. I think all snowflakes are wintery (both spellings of wintry are okay BTW) so that's just hyperbole. (Not that I'm opposed to hyperbole in the least, mind you.) Where we run into trouble is white CONFECTION - i.e. - these don't involve anything remotely close to chocolate. Well at least they're honest. And nonpareils are just tiny sugar balls. Closely related to sprinkles.

Bottom line - these things are delicious!! Once you start eating them it's almost impossible to stop. Those lame pretzel M & Ms have nothing - I mean NOTHING on these. I hope I get invited to a Super Bowl Party so I can take these and save myself from them. A+++

Since we have more sleet right now than snow, let's talk ice. Or at least the candy equivalent of ice - mint.

Andes has a Valentine's Day offering:

It's the same old Andes mint, but I like the inner wrappers (although the outer package looks awful - I say go red or go pink, but not - what - mauve? Ugh.):

The best part is they did some different designs, not just slapping the same old mints in new wrappers:

I still am not a fan. I think these taste kinda like toothpaste.

These aren't chocolate, but they are my favorite peppermint:

Nice and chewy! LOVE these! And look at those adorable hearts:

All I have to do today to "get the sensation" is stick my head out a window, but just in case you'd prefer a more pleasant method:

Love the cute hearts on the wrappers:

And you know I'm thrilled with the heart shaped patties as well as the slightly pink mint filling. Go York! Same solid taste, but a nice holiday touch! YAY!!

Ah - love is in the air! Well, at least today, snow is in the air here in North Carolina. We don't get it much so it's something really nice to see. It's so quiet outside and it gives the landscape a gorgeous clean and pure look. We often take for granted the things we see all the time, but the unusual is easier to appreciate. I'm watching the birds hopping on the white background where I can really see their coloring. Just saw a cardinal - gorgeous!

If you're in the snow - take some time to enjoy it - and be thankful that you're warm. And try not to take the usual for granted. I mean, those white confection pretzels are unusual, but they will never replace Reese's. Ever. Not even if Raleigh and Hell DO freeze over.