Posts Tagged “chocolate”

What can turn a game of Russian Roulette into a pleasurable after-dinner snack?

The Candy Map can.

That’s right.  I’m talking about the key to the candy kingdom, the treasure of the sierra mocha, the map of the edible empire at at scale of near 1:1. The saving grace of the assorted miniatures, the candy map.

Not every box of candy has a map, and some put the map annoyingly on the bottom of the box, making it hard to navigate.  But wouldn’t it be wonderful if all kinds of foods had such a guide for the perplexed?

It recently came to my attention that I have become a spokesperson for Lake Champlain Chocolates. Specifically, they have taken a liberal quote from this very blog and featured it on their chocolaty web site. [Looks like Lake C have updated their site with a different quote. For the moment, you can see the cached version of my semi-quote here, further proof that nothing is ever truly erased on the internet.] Read the original post here.  I suppose I should be flattered, but instead I’m annoyed. Why?

1. They didn’t ask, or even tell. How hard would it be to send an email,”Hey, we love what you wrote, can we use it on our site?” or even an after the fact notification that they had done so. This stuff is copyrighted, you know.

2. They didn’t link. Seems to me that internetwise, the proper form of attribution is a live link, so readers can click through and view the full context of the quote. On the plus side, they did attribute the quote to “David K., Limeduck.com”

3. They edited the quote. This is the worst sin in my opinion. They clipped out a few words without using ellipsis. The changes didn’t alter things in any substantial way, (we all know my writing could use a nip and tuck now and again) but it’s still lousy journalism.

I don’t run the sort of blog where I talk up products and expect glory, samples or schwag for my efforts, but a quick note from a vendor, or even an appearance in the comments section, would go a long way toward my continued goodwill, and probably that of both of my regular readers.

So, my cocoa-dusted friends from Vermont, if you’re still scraping the interwebs for juicy words of praise for your products, I call foul on your policy of not so fair use and urge you to mend your ways. It’s not so hard. You can do it. And when you’re done, get back to the chocolate mines!

Who knew? Sadly, this critter doesn’t seem to be available for sale on its creator’s Etsy shop. Rosehip71, you’re such a tease. I suppose we’ll all have to content ourselves with virtual chocolate limeducks.

EtsyChocLimeDuck2, originally uploaded by rosehip71.

Your downfall is at hand.

It’s not really that baconny, but I do love the crunchy sea salt in the chocolate. See also
Where Seinfeld met Elvis and Salty Chocolate.

It’s like a weird dream that I didn’t even know I had come true. There’s a sandwich shop dedicated to peanut butter sandwiches. Peanut Butter & Co. Since 1998, the sign says - why was I not informed earlier?

They have 11 “classic” PB sandwiches (including sandwiches named for both Jerry and Presley alongside a PB BLT and something called the “Pregnant Lady”) and six “gourmet” offerings. For the party-poopers, there are six PB-free sandwiches and a salad available. Plus ten desserts and a variety of drinks. They will cut the crusts off your sandwich. No extra charge.

The operation is built around six peanut butter varieties, which are sold for $5 or $6 a jar or in a six-pack with carrying handle for $30 — smooth, creamy, cinnamon raisin, spicy, white chocolate and dark chocolate, pictured below in the Peanut Butter Sampler ($7.50) with (most of) their cute names visible.

I didn’t know where to start. Well, that’s not totally true, it seemed obvious to start with creamy, move to crunchy, then get adventurous and finish up with the chocolates,light to dark like a wine flight. I give high marks to both creamy and crunchy, and I usually don’t care for crunchy. Both were appropriately peanutty, not too sweet, not too salty. The middle was weak: I boycotted cinnamon raisin and found the spicy variety to be a bit too hot - think thai peanut sauce. But I was surprised by the finish. The dark chocolate was excellent but not all that peanutty, more like dark nutella with a bit of salt, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But the white chocolate was the come from behind star. Usually, I’m quite critical (that’s being kind) of white chocolate, but it mated beautifully with the PB, reminding me of the inside of a Five Star Peanut Bar, creamy, sweet but not obnoxiously so, bringing in the salty peanut thing without getting weighed down by complex cocoa flavors. Well done. As Alex said, “yummers” - and she bought a jar, too.

If you can’t get to the shop in Greenwich Village, you can get PB&Co. peanut butters in many stores, including Whole Foods, also my preferred purveyor (pusher?) of Lake Champlain Chocolates.

This post is making me hungry. If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to see if I can stuff a chocolate turkey with peanut butter.