A Boost to the Blog!

Ha, if you've noticed, I've just realised I can add titles. Prepare for bad puns galore!

So, today I finally embark on the much-awaited second row of the candy display! (Please try and restrain yourselves.) As expected, the first bar is a Boost, which from what I can ascertain, has tried to market itself as some kind of energy bar. I suppose 30 grams of sugar can be classified as "energy". But for what it lacks in healthfulness, it does pretty well as a candy bar.

For the uninitiated (i.e., me), the Boost is a Cadbury's bar in a vaguely Yule-log shaped form. It's a chocolate fudge-y type center with crunchy biscuit (that's cookies for the North Americans) bits in it, surrounded by a layer of caramel, and then covered in chocolate. Kinda reminds me of a less-crunchy Twix bar. The chocolate in the middle is very sugary, but the crunchy bits are really satisfying, as is the thick layer of caramel on the outside.

This is pretty good! In fact, this is the best bar I've had since the well-reviewed Topic of a few weeks ago. (Though to be honest, don't think it's that hard to beat a Turkish Delight!) I think I'm a sucker for the biscuits and caramel combo. I'm sorry Morgan (who warned me off this one with dire proclamations), but I'm a Boost fan. Despite my rating being tempered somewhat by the intense sugar rush I got right after eating the whole bar that made me want to take a few laps around the 11th floor to quiet my jitters, I'm pronouncing this one a winner. Two and a half bars!

Bar-o-Meter

 



Jo fixes the blog!

.... with a new post template.


5 bars for me!

Bar-o-Meter



Anne breaks the blog

So I apologize - have been having some technical difficulties lately. I'm looking to iron these out, so hopefully the blog will be up and running again soon. Seriously, I must be the least internet-savvy person I know...

Turkish Despair

So it's the third week of the chocolate adventure and I arrived at the shop bright and early on Friday morning, excited to explore the second shelf. But just as I reached for the first bar there, something caught my eye. The first shelf had somehow gained an extra bar - one that definitely wasn't there the past two weeks. The bright pink wrapper beckoned, glinting in the light. All too late I realized I was reaching for a Turkish Delight.

Turkish Delight. I don't know who ever thought this would be a good idea, but apparently SOMEONE's eating this, as it's still available in stores. If you've ever had real Turkish Delight (which is disgusting, no matter what The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe tries to tell you), it's a gelatinous, over-sweet, vaguely perfume-like confection - in a word, gross. The Turkish Delight candy bar, on the other hand, is even more gross. It's a solid, Jello-like mass covered in milk chocolate. The jelly inside tastes, for lack of a better reference, like eating solid dish soap. The chocolate surrounding it barely contributes to making it edible (although I did, in an act of desperation, pick off all the exterior chocolate to get at least some pleasure out of this bar). I think I managed one bite before spitting it out in disgust.

NEGATIVE BARS

I didn't think it was possible, but I found something worse than the initial disappointing Mars Bar. The Turkish Delight was completely inedible and frankly, should not even be available in stores. If I don't get another good bar soon, this endeavor may die a quick death (Although Morgan assures me that I've gotten through two of the worst bars available, so there must be something to look forward to). Until next week.

Bar-o-Meter

-X



Hazelnut Saves the Day

So, it's the second week and I've already broken the rules. As I faced the candy display this afternoon, I noted with dismay that the next few candy bars were all some variation on a KitKat or a Twix. And while the dark chocolate KitKat did look appetizing, let's be honest - at the end of the day it will just taste like a KitKat covered in slightly nicer chocolate. No suprises there. And as the whole point of this experiment is to try things I haven't tried before (what, you thought it was a clever ploy to justify eating more chocolate?), I boldly moved on.

Aaaaand got a Kinder Bueno. I've had these before, and I'm being strictly nationalistic here - I want genuine, flag-waving, tea-drinking, flat-cap wearing ENGLISH candy bars. So I skipped again and got a Topic. Woo! (In the interest of full disclosure, I'm planning on skipping the vaguely continenal-looking Guylian bar at the end of the row and going straight to - dum dum duuuuuuummmm! - the second row.)

So, after last week's disatrous attempt, will the Topic save the entire project? Actually, I thought it was very nice. The bar is basically a tarted-up Milky Way bar (American version) - caramel and nougat covered in milk chocolate. But the nougat is less sickly sweet and has a nice hazelnut flavor to it (and some actual hazelnut pieces - if you squint you can see one in the photo). Still a little too sweet for my taste but pretty good! And, indicative of its edibility (and handy smaller size), I not only actually finished it this time, I actually craved a little more. (Of course, that could just be the hangover.)

Two bars!

Bar-o-Meter



A Great Way to Begin - Mired in Disappointment

So it appears I am unable to work the complicated web-based tool that is Blogger. After adding a title and reposting the first entry, I’ve found that I can’t get the text to be visible! Then I deleted the photos by accident and had to re-add the entire thing. This should not be so difficult. Text below.

____________________________________________________________________________________

So – it begins!

I walked in this morning fresh from a brisk walk from the District Line, brimming over with excitement for my first candy bar. Imagine my disappointment, then, when the first bar is...a Snickers. Disappointment. (I should probably mention the ground rules at this point – if the candy bar is one that is available in the US – like Twix or KitKat – it’s not going to be tried out in the blog. However, special versions of said bars (orange, mint, dark chocolate) are admissible, since I don’t think we get that creative in America. :P

However, the next is a Mars bar, which I figure is particularly English, so I go for that. Result!

Except then I remember that a Mars bar in England is exactly the same as a Milky Way in the US. And unless I’ve misremembered the delicious taste of the Milky Ways of my youth, the Mars bar is actually just like a Milky Way, but gross. The nougat and caramel looked so familiarly tempting, but when I bit into it, it was so sickly sweet that I gave up after a few bites. And it probably says something that none of my chocolate-loving workmates would take me up on the offer of the other half of the bar.

Ick, the aftertaste is still with me now – this tastes like bad mush covered in worse chocolate. This is like the fast food equivalent of candy bars. My only hope is to take this home and freeze it, hopefully making it partly edible.

NO BARS.

Bar-o-Meter

X

What an inauspicious beginning. Maybe I’ve grown out of a taste for candy bars. (Horrors!) Maybe this is like that time I THOUGHT I wanted a Wendy’s hamburger and immediately regretted that decision. Let’s hope the next outing is a little better.