Tootsie Pops and Glue

I am so sorry I haven't been blogging! The past few weeks have been nuts! After Candy Expo in Chicago I went to Birmingham, Alabama. Then I was in DC for the American Society of Training and Development Conference. The next weekend was a conference in Asheville. When I got back from that, I had to go to Atlanta. I flew in that day, spoke and tried to fly out. I say tried because the flight was over two hours late. By the time I got home, I was able to get a whopping three hours of sleep and had to drive out to the western part of NC to give a training program. Then to Charlotte for an event with the boyfriend (still seems to be going well).

It's great to be busy in this economy, so I am not complaining. Well, maybe about the flight, but overall I'm damn lucky. There is some white space on my calendar coming up, so you all may be sick of me soon!

I do, however, have a serious blogging backlog. So much to share with you all!!

First I have to share with you my favorite recent completely random chocolate quote. It was said by CBS golf analyst David Feherty in reference to John Daly's golf clothing (which was God awful and WAY colorful):

"...looks like he put glue on his body and ran through Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory."

They PAY this man for this??? I'm a little scared he was thinking about John Daly putting glue on his body and running through anything, but we all have our fantasies.

Here's another new product from Candy Expo:

These are good. Are they extraordinary? Nah. I like regular Raisinets better. The raisins just taste better with chocolate than the cranberries. And these bother me. Why are they called Raisinets? They are not raisins, they are cranberries. I mean the whole point of RAISINets is that they are RAISINS. Right? At least they could have done Craisinets.

A trendy tip of the hat to the cranberry. I predict these will not stand the test of time.

When I went by the Tootsie Roll booth and asked what was new, they gave me these:

Now, these really aren't new. I found some in Cracker Barrel well before Candy Expo and I remember having them as a kid. Maybe the blue raspberry is a new flavor, but these are just a re-release. I'd rather have regular ol' Tootsie Rolls. There isn't enough Tootsie Roll here - too much boring hard candy. ZZZZZZZ...........

Now this was really new for me - a new flavor of Tootsie Pop - banana:

GLAACK! I thought this was awful. The banana flavor was no good. A waste of a Tootsie Roll center. But, hey, finding a dog every once in a while makes things exciting! Bow Wow!

And here's a tip - all that cool chocolate stuff Cracker Barrel had is on sale for half price!! It's great stuff, so you might want to run in. Just don't cover your body with glue first.

I am Still Alive!!!

Oh my friends - thanks so much for hanging in here!! I was in DC last week, Asheville all weekend for a conference, and I leave for Atlanta in the morning. (Giving my Leadership Lessons of the Kings of Chocolate for a group of students in a leadership program - should be fun!) I've been too busy to do anything much less blog! My house is a mess and I am a bit overwhelmed. But things slow down a lot after this so I should be back full speed next week - don't give up on me!!

Also - get this - remember I told you the man I'm dating went to the CPA Awards Banquet with me? Well, a picture of us there ran in the CPA Magazine distributed to all the CPAs across the state! Toby Page - loyal friend and blog reader - sent me an e-mail immediately when she opened her copy. So the cat is out of the bag. I'm heaving a BIG sigh over this because I'm so afraid things will go bad.

But - all I can do is my best, right? And don't worry - I'll post the picture here soon. When I get braver.

Back to regular posting next week, I promise!!! And more chocolate!

Technology is Not Chocolate

Hi Readers! I know - SLACK!! But I have what I consider a good excuse. I am currently in DC attending a American Society of Training and Development conference with 8000 other people (good God!). And before I came up here, I decided I should finally cave in and get a PDA. Yeah, yeah, I'm behind the times, whatever.

So I spent several hours Saturday securing one and struggling to set it up. Not that it's that hard - it's just different. The buttons seem really small to me. The track ball is a pain in the butt. I know I'll get used to it, but.....ugh.

I already see how people get addicted to these things and it is a little scary. When there's a second of downtime, instead of making small talk with the living humans sitting next to me, I whip out my new Blackberry. (Why no IPhone? I tried one in the store and it was way too hard to hit the right "keys". I have giant hands and that thing was a trip straight to hell.)

So I'm losing interaction with the people around me for the sake of checking my e-mail. Is this a good trade-off? I have to say I don't think so - it's not like every e-mail I get is someone wanting to hire me for a speaking engagement. Most of them are not important. Hell, most of them aren't trying to buy from me, they are trying to sell me something. But it's the way of the world, isn't it? I got the darn Blackberry so I would stay connected - to Tweet more (like the world really needs more Tweets) and to be more responsive to clients.

BUT I also got it so I could receive pictures from my hot new boyfriend! I could send him pics on my old phone, but I couldn't receive his. Well, guess what? I still can't get his pictures and now he can't get mine. GRRR! So that will be yet another time waster trying to figure that out. Ah - I long for the day when all this technology stuff will be seamless. I'll probably be dead by then, but I'll be smiling from beyond the grave.

No big chocolate news, although in the giant Expo here (nothing like Candy Expo, by the way - this is all training stuff - zzzzzzz) most of the vendors are using chocolate to lure attendees in. They aren't even bothering with other types of candy - well, a few are, but by and large the others have seen the light! Chocolate is irresistible. People will even endure the attentions of a sales person for free chocolate.

I also saw a session by Mars about how they are changing their corporate culture. It was lead by one of their high corporate HR people and an outside consultant and I felt like I was trapped in a Dilbert cartoon. No real world examples, but loads of jargon. I have an MBA and it totally hurt my brain. There was no free chocolate. I asked.

I'm off to sessions, but don't worry - I'll be back home and back to chocolate soon!! Keep the faith!

CPAs and Chocolate

Now you probably don't immediately think of chocolate when you think of CPAs. But you might want to change that.

Remember I told you I was thrilled to be the NC CPA Association's Speaker of the Year? Well, look at what they served at the awards banquet:

This Chocolate Pyramid is filled with an awesome creamy chocolate mousse:

My pictures don't do it justice, but it was AWESOME!! I really wanted to lick the plate, but I was a guest of honor, after all. I think licking the plate would really be a compliment to the chef and should be more socially acceptable. This was the best chocolate dessert I have ever had - no kidding! Lots of chocolate desserts are too rich, but this was perfect! I wish I had one right now.

And remember last week after Chicago, I went to Birmingham to speak at a women's conference for the Alabama CPA Association?

Well - look at what they gave me after I spoke:

Taking the chocolate top off, you get this:

And look at how cool these are:

Even the "paper" cups are chocolate!

I ate one of the turtles tonight and it was delicious. Turtles are really growing on me. (Although I'm still partial to Mama Laura's, these were damn good. They were covered in dark chocolate (rather than milk) with white drizzle. YUM!!!

Do I have the greatest job EVER or what?

And are CPAs WAY cooler than you thought?

Things are still good on the dating front - but it is hurting my blogging! Sorry readers! There are only so many hours in the day! This week he and I went to one of those Get Motivated seminars where the big names speak. (His idea - pretty impressive, huh?) I was thrilled to see Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, and Zig Ziglar.

Rudy and Colin were masters - not taking themselves too seriously and making excellent points on leadership (and who better?). But I was sad to see Zig Ziglar. He suffered a fall not too long ago and now his daughter takes the stage and interviews him. Having seen him speak about 10 years ago, this was heart breaking.

It was great to see some of the world's best speakers - who better to learn from?

I learned from Zig yet again - this time it was that no one is at their best forever. There really is a time to walk away. I was reminded by Rudy of what 9/11 was like although I thought I would never forget. And Colin Powell reminds me of our best military leaders - those who put their lives on the line for us and expect nothing in return. Colin has given his life in service of the American people - how lucky are we?

So - CPAs have cool taste in chocolate and I've managed to keep dating the same guy for two months. The world is a wonderful and mysterious place.

Candy Expo and Snickers

I love Snickers - it really is one of my favorite candy bars. And at Candy Expo the newest Snickers was unveiled - Snickers Fudge. But while I'm going there, I also thought I'd throw in some other Snickers variations: almond, Transformers Snickers with yellow nougat, and Snickers Dark.













And of course, the autopsy:

Okay - the random weird yellow nougat one is new also. It tastes like a regular Snickers but the nougat is yellow as you can see. I guess if kids are really into Transformers this may seem cool and sell Snickers. I was intrigued but am unimpressed. Snickers Almond is good, can't complain here, but I like the regular Snickers better. Dark was my least favorite. I know dark chocolate is hot right now, but I prefer the milk chocolate on the Snickers Bar. After all, back in the day a special blend of flavors was created for the Snickers chocolate coating. I like it. I think it works best. Now, I realize I may be biased because I grew up with that flavor and am used to it BUT, here's the big news......

Snickers Fudge is fabulous!!!

(Isn't that beautiful?) Now this is a lot different than the regular Snickers. No caramel - instead fudge. And the nougat is peanut butter flavored. You've got to try this - it's really different and really good. It's also a limited edition so I don't know how long it will be around.

So what can we learn from Snickers?

Just because something is new or different doesn't mean it's better. But sometimes new and different IS better! So you have to keep an open mind and try new things AND AT THE SAME TIME, don't throw out something that has worked in the past just because it's been around for a while.

I think most of us tend to one of the two extremes. We think the newest is always the best or we only hang on to the tried and true. The challenge is to recognize your tendency and adjust for it. Again we're reminded how important it is to keep an open mind (and how hard it is to do!).

Did you ever think you'd learn a life lesson from Snickers?

Embrace change - try the Snickers Fudge!

Candy Expo Continued (Pieces v M & Ms)

Hi Gang! Sorry for the delay - when I left Chicago I had to head to Birmingham to give my Leadership Lessons from the Kings of Chocolate seminar and then get back to Raleigh and deal with the pile up. I'm still digging out. No rest for the gluttonous.

This is SOME of the candy I came home with covering my dining room table. Amazing, huh? When will I have time to review all this? How much weight can I avoid gaining? But...how lucky am I????

You should have seen me lugging all this through the airport - I already had one bag checked (at $15 each way that was a cool $45 for nothing). This bag of candy had to weigh over 50 lbs - it's a damn good thing I work out! As it was I lost the feeling in my fingers three times. Oh - I also had a bag with my laptop. I am clearly demented. (And stubborn as hell).

Okay - I just randomly took pictures on Wednesday - I figured they could come and get me if they wanted to, so here are some to give you a tiny idea of how cool these booths were:

How cool is all that???? I wish I had that Lindt bunny for my front yard. And not just for Easter.

The booths were all gorgeous, colorful and huge - with samples! Candy Expo is as close to Willie Wonka and the Oompa Loompas you can get.

Let's do some quick reviews:

I'd never tried these before, but now I have. And these are my thoughts - did Nestle Crunch really need to be any crispier? I don't think this adds anything to the original. (The original isn't one of my favs to start with, but this makes it less flavorful.) Same goes for Butterfinger - I mean it's already great and crispy as hell - it doesn't need any wafers. I prefer the originals of both of these bars.

But THIS is another matter entirely:

I like the Baby Ruth, but I LOVE the Baby Ruth Crisp. I think the Baby Ruth needed a little lighter touch. These are well worth trying. I actually went back to the booth to get more samples. WAY good.

Look at this great idea:

They already had Reese's Pieces, now Hershey's has added York Peppermint Patty Pieces, Almond Joy Pieces, and Special Dark Pieces. The York Pieces are fabulous (and I'm not even a huge mint fan), the Almond Joy Pieces are way better than the Coconut M & M's below, but I would rather just have an Almond Joy. And the Hershey's Special Dark Pieces are good. I don't have any Dark M & M's to compare them with, but they are a solid entry. Great ideas from Hershey.

Grab the York Pieces when they come out - I think you'll like them.

Mars isn't taking this innovation lying down! (Well, maybe lounging on a beach...)

Okay - these don't taste much like coconut at all. The Almond Joy Pieces were much better - they had some coconut texture - although they were too small to autopsy. And they tasted kind of like coconut. These taste like M & Ms. Maybe someone walked through the factory wearing a Hawaiian shirt. No coconut is listed in the ingredient list - the Almond Joy Pieces list both coconut and almonds.
Hmmmmm..........

Maybe Mars thinks if they SAY the M & M's taste like coconut, we'll BELIEVE they taste like coconut.....

I was so excited about these - strawberry and peanut butter M & Ms - YAY!!! What a great idea! How exciting! But they disappointed me. I found the strawberry gave them a weird aftertaste. Peanut Butter M & Ms are better (and I think Reese's Pieces are better than those!).

Candy Expo really was a blast!! As I review more of the candy I'll tell you more about some of the people. The candy was cool, but it was the people that really made it a great experience.

I'd also like to express my admiration and appreciation to anyone who has served in the military. My friends Katie and Wally come to mind - I am so proud of them and don't tell them nearly enough. Memorial Day is a great day to think of all those who serve, who have served, and who gave their lives for our country. Thank you!!!

Live from Chicago - It's Candy Expo!!

Oh my God.

I am overwhelmed. I have never seen so much candy in one place in my life. My head is spinning and I have ingested enough chocolate for 10 people.

To give you an idea of how big Candy Expo is, the NCA (National Confectioners Association) press release says the Expo "encompasses nearly 10 football fields." Ten. Think how big ONE football field is. This is ten. Holy God.

Believe me, that is a lot of booths. I realized early on I was going to have to focus only on chocolate to have any chance of making it through. (Jonny and Matty I have failed you - but I do have all the scoop for next year. And Haribo had a tasting bar - like a Haribo buffet. I wept that you weren't there. We'll have to talk.)



I don't have pictures for you - they are weird about that, but I might try to take some tomorrow. Some of the booths are pretty amazing. All are colorful and gorgeous. And look how much candy I have:

Do you see that? It's amazing and disturbing all at the same time. How will I ever blog about it all? How will I make good on all the promises I made to get the samples? What if some of the nicest people have the worst candy? I do think I might have sold my soul to get candy today. Well at least part of my soul. Or maybe I just prostituted myself.

It's not that there weren't plenty of samples everywhere. It was that sometimes I really wanted the good stuff. And it's not like I'm a buyer. These people are there to make money, not deal with random motivational speakers who blog. What the hell is that about anyway? So sometimes I had to make promises. Basically I was charming people into giving me the good stuff. (Yep - I'm a chocolate 'ho.)

But let me tell you - overall - this was one great group. Master Chef Michael Antonorsi fixed me a cup of fabulous hot cocoa and sat down and talked with me about his philosophy of chocolate making! He was gracious and wonderful and brilliant and kind. The Mars representative for Seeds of Change - I will have to get her name tomorrow - gave me one of all of their full sized bars! That would be seven different flavors! We discussed distribution and positioning - it was cool! Erik Hemp and Kathleen Wells of Nestle hooked me up with their new product - Baby Ruth Crisp - which totally rocks!! You'll have to get your hands on one of these when they come out. I might have to go by and get more tomorrow. I am a sick, sick woman.

I also attended a blogger luncheon (thanks Carl and Susan) and an official Mars press conference. YAHOO!! At the press conference, they talked about their new chocolate relief act - where they are giving away free chocolate and are making all their products with real chocolate (not fake chocolate which is what's in so many candy bars today). Check out http://www.realchocolate.com/ to read more and find out about your free chocolate. It's really sad that we THINK we're getting chocolate, but some candy makers are substituting cheaper ingredients for the cocoa butter. Bastards!

All the M & M's were at the press conference (no Naked Cowboy in sight) and we all got cool give away bags with more candy. And get this!! M & M's are coming out with two new flavors - coconut and strawberry & peanut butter. They are in the bag and I'll be reviewing soon!

Snickers has a fudge bar - I also have and will be reviewing soon.

Nestle has cranberry Raisinets (although can they be Raisinets if they are cranberry?) Who cares - I'll be reviewing them also.

Dove Promises are now available in peanut butter! YUM!

Reese's Dark is coming out. Also York Peppermint Patty Pieces and Almond Joy Pieces and Hershey Special Dark Pieces. Also Hershey's Bliss will be out in white chocolate.

Tootsie Pops are out in banana - limited edition.

How cool is all of this? I also came across many companies I had never heard of. And I skipped over all the gum and snack and sour and all the other crazy candies. I snubbed Russell Stover and Palmer because you know how I feel about them. But I may go by tomorrow for the hell of it. If it wasn't chocolate, I didn't bother. It's just all too big!

I need to go through all the literature and business cards I picked up and try and put everything in some kind of order. I'll be at the Expo all day tomorrow, then I have to fly out to Alabama for a speech on Thursday. Thursday night I'll be flying back to Raleigh. So it may be a few days before I post again, but trust me, it will be worth the wait!

YAHOO!!!!