a kit kat ebay find...

This is just ridiculous. After doing my usual eBay surfing, I stumbled upon THIS listing... Now, if you read carefully, the items for bid are 12 coupons for $0.25 off a Kit Kat purchase. The shipping on the item is $0.70. So, basically upon buying this you are effective saving a whole nickel. Great.

mango crispy monogotari (Japan)

If you look closely at the cover of the box on the left, it appears as if there are huge wafers stuffed in the middle of a regular Kit Kat. This however, is not the case. Boy was I surprised when I ripped open one of those brightly colored orange packets and found... No chocolate? Did I get a defective one? What was the deal with this Kit Kat? Something was amiss here.

Actually, nothing was wrong with this Kit Kat. Through a little bit of Googling, I was able to find out that this particular kitter is also known as the "naked" Kit Kat. Ahh... Now it all made sense. But then, what was this kitter going to taste like? After all, without the chocolate, it was just a regular wafer cookie that you could buy from Target. In fact, I just bought a whole 30 pack of passionfruit ones from the Goya section for a whole ninety-nine cents.

So... I bit into the Crispy Monogatari. You know what? I wasn't very impressed. In defense of the Crispy Monogarari, the wafers were extremely light and the mango creme that was sandwiched between was quite tasty. However, when it came down to it, they were still just a glorified version of those Goya wafers. If you're a collector, go ahead and add this one. However, if you're just a casual kitter chomper (that's my new one), save your self a few bucks and head down to Target. It's a shame that something so simple as a creme wafer could have the Kit Kat named tacked on to it and more than sextuple its price. Although it was decent tasting, I'm giving this a mere 6 Goodness Points for lack of originality and deceptive packaging.

Mango Crispy Monogatari
Size: 10.5g Calories: 56 Fat: 0.85g Carbohydrates: 6.5g

nestle honeycomb kit kat chunky (Australia)

Ooohh... A yellow wrapper. For the uninformed, yellow is my favorite color. This layout sports a screen printed flood design on a foil wrapper with little pieces honeycomb spread around the logo. Simple, but impressive. I bought this one (and several others for that matter) from an eBay seller in Australia. I've been holding on to this one for the right time to try it out...

So I'm here holding this honeycomb kitter in my hands, pondering how this will affect my glucose levels when I run my 10 miler in about an hour. Ehh... Who really cares? I'm more interested in the kitter.

I break open the wrapper, half expecting it to taste like a mixture of breakfast cereal and chocolate. The outside of the bar looks like a standard Chunky, but there's something different about this. There's the sweet aroma of something other than honey leaking out from the chocolate. My first bite into the Kit Kat was one of surprise. The wafer inside is encased with chocolate speckled with tiny crystalline pieces of honey. Together they made a loud "crisp" noise when I bit into it! Chewing the kitter only added to the wonderful flavors that were swimming in my mouth. At this point, the honey flavor began to really emerge and linger. What a treat this was! I'm recommending this one to all of you out there, Kit Kat fans or not. It definitely needs to be tried.

Nestle Honeycomb Kit Kat Chunky (Australia)
Size: 60g Calories: 330 Fat: 16.4g Carbohydrates: 36.6g

Choxie Warm Spiced Caramels (USA)

Saturday, we were doing our weekly shopping at Target. As usual, I was scouring the candy aisles, looking for my weekly treat. I decided on a tin of Choxie Warm Spiced Caramels. I was quite intrigued by the the few words written on the lid. It read, "caramels infused with exotic signature spices, encased in milk chocolate". I couldn't help but buy it.

I didn't expect there to be many chocolates inside, after all the tin only held 1.5 oz of goodies. There seemed to be only about 30 pieces inside. And, true to Choxie's reputation, this was an expensive treat... $2.50 for 1.5 ounces? Ouch! Anyhow, I popped the first one into my mouth curiously excited. The chocolate was smooth, the caramel was soft and gooey (just the way I like it) and... Oh! What was this? Spices! It tasted like I was munching on a gingerbread cookie wrapped in caramel and chocolate... and I liked it! I went ahead and popped about five more in my mouth, one after another.

I had many compliments but only a few complaints. I wished the container and the chocolate itself was a bit bigger. Eating a piece left me yearning for more and feeling quite unsatisfied. I didn't quite like the fact that there were only 30 pieces in the tin and a normal person would need three pieces to feel even somewhat satisfied. Finally, the price. It always seems to be an issue when it comes to the price of Choxie. I can't ever argue the quality of the chocolate, but the price needs some serious re-evaluating. Until next time

Choxie Warm Spiced Caramels (USA)
Size: 43g Calories: 180 Fat: 9g Carbohydrates: 25g

le patissier takagi brandy & orange kit kat (Japan)

I bought this box from Jason over in Japan. It's a special edition Kit Kat made with flavors and ingredients hand selected by Le Patissier Takagi aka Iron Chef Takagi. This package of Kit Kats was unlike any I have ever seen before. As you can see from the picture at the above left, the box comes in a spectacular rice paper wrapper and is sealed with a Le Patissier Takagi emblem. The wrapper is patterned with Kit Kat logos and stripes made of the words "Le Patissier Takagi". However, the beautiful packaging doesn't stop there. Peeling off the outer wrapper reveals a glossy embossed boxed, sparkling with gold foil letters and a somewhat holographic heart-shaped sticker. For all the Kit Kats I have seen in my life, never before have I witnessed such beauty.
Taking my first bite into the this marvel was something out of a dream. What was I eating? This didn't taste like a standard Kit Kat! The chocolate was extremely creamy, like a Lindt truffle. And there was something else... The wafer was extremely delicate and light. The finger itself was about three quarters of the normal height of a regular kitter, but about one and a half times wider. Looking inside the chocolate covered finger, I could see the wafer and a thin layer of white, brandy and orange flavored cream directly above it. The brandy flavor never really came out, but it didn't hurt the overall taste at all. The orange was not overwhelming and complimented the smooth chocolate well.

I was very impressed with this chocolate and understand very well why this box of chocolates cost me almost $30.00. Perhaps if I liked the orange-chocolate combination better to begin with, I would have given this a perfect 10. My advice for those who like these flavors... Go buy a box!

Le Patissier Takagi Brandy & Orange Kit Kat (Japan)
Size: 18g Calories: 100 Fat: 6g Carbohydrates: 10.5g

new kit kats and aero bars from Japan!

I got home from the mall today and look what was waiting outside my door! Jason's package from Japan had arrived. As you can see above, there are two of the "Exotic" series - The Tokyo and the Kansai. These ultra-premium Kit Kat editions fetch for about $25.00 each. Also included in the shipment were two Mango flavored Kit Kat Monogataris, two Cantaloupe Flavored Aero packs, Patissier Takagi's Chocolatier Kit Kat featuring a mixture of strawberry, pistachio, almond, and thyme flavors, and finally, a few singles so I could taste the exotic flavors without opening up the larger boxes. Keep reading, I'll definitely be reviewing some of these in the next few days.

nestle coffee crisp (Canada)

I recently got my hands on a Nestle Coffee Crisp. I didn't think I had eaten one of these since the last time I was in Canada, several years ago. One strange thing I noticed about the packaging on this bar is that it was half in Spanish. Last time I checked, Canada had only two official languages. The outside of the wrapper described this bar as "wafers with coffee creme center" (galletitas con centro cremoso de cafe). It was an extremely chunky looking bar and relatively cheap for its size.

The bar itself looked like a lumpy Kit Kat Chunky. It had a very thin layer of chocolate surrounding the wafers. Each of the several wafers in turn had a very light coffee cream sandwiched in between. The actual taste of the bar was much lighter than one might expect. In fact as I ate it, I could picture Brits eating these with their tea. All in all, the bar was quite good, but not exactly as coffee flavored as I would have expected. I also would have like to have seen the chocolate be a bit thicker. Otherwise, this was a decent chocolate bar.

Nestle Coffee Crisp (Canada)
Size: 50g Calories: 250 Fat: 13g Carbohydrates: 32g

williams-sonoma chocolate cooking class...

Today, Val and I went for a chocolate cooking class at Williams-Sonoma. The head chef was a former Procter & Gamble chemist. She was very informative and reminded me a lot of a female Alton Brown. On today's menu was a Chocolate Sorbet, a Mocha Cake with Spiced Caramel Sauce, a Warm Molten Cake and finally a Chocolate-Banana Croissant Panini, the latter being my favorite. Everything was quite delicious except for the mocha cake which I found to be quite salty.

The head chef (Maral Apelian Banks) explained to us the differences in the type of chocolates that you use for cooking and baking. Let me pass on a tip that she gave us. Try not to use domestic chocolates in baking because they are usually coated in wax and oil for shipping and the flavor is not usually as pure as European and other imported chocolates. Above, you see me holding a 10 pound bar of Guittard Bittersweet Chocolate. Wow. And I thought that the 5 pound Hershey bar was big!

This morning I picked up a few new chocolates that I'll be reviewing in the upcoming days, including a new brownie flavored Hershey bar. It should be interesting. Until tomorrow...

kit kat websites around the world...

Last night I sat through Frank Miller's "300", an ultraviolent death fest - and I loved it. My brother Jono, my cousin Miah and I went to see a soldout screening last night. It's been a while since I've come out of a movie in complete awe.

So tell me... When you go to the Kit Kat Denmark website, does something look odd? Before you click the link and think you're on the wrong page, Nestle has set up several "Kit Kat Freestyle Web Games" sites around Europe. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with any Nordic languanges and can't really read anything on the pages, save for the few English words. http://www.kitkat.dk/ If you want to give the page a go yourself, click on the picture.

godiva chocolate mini-box (USA)

This one will be a short one. I got this box of Godiva chocolates at the Christening of my new beautiful Godson Luca. Following the baptism, we were all led like a herd cattle to a wonderful Italian restaurant. From there we commanded the entire second floor where we drank and dined like gods, if only for a few hours. Anyhow, set in front of every place setting was a miniature box of Godiva chocolates. It's impossible to miss the telltale gold box.

The chocolates contained inside were heart and moon shaped and let me tell you... They lived up to the Godiva chocolate name. I don't usually buy Godiva chocolates, even though they are usually quite tasty, but if they had a box of these exact pieces for sale... You know what? I think I'll just a few extra boxes from the party. Or maybe that's what I already did. =)

Godiva Chocolate Mini-Box
Size: n/a Calories: n/a Fat: n/a Carbohydrates: n/a

hershey reese's easter fudge egg (USA)

I know that I've fallen behind since I last posted, but fear not - I have several new items to post. Tonight I'm going to write about the Reese's Easter Fudge Eggs that Val and I ate while we were watching Zodiac on Tuesday night. Yes, I'm one of those people that brings food into the movie. But just to make it a little better, I had a small popcorn and medium drink as well. Okay, so Tuesday nights are Free Popcorn Night. But still... The medium drink was $7.00. Heh...

Let's see. the Easter Fudge Eggs are basically Fudge cups in the shape of Easter eggs, only they aren't really eggs. Rather, they look like oblong domed cups sans ridges. So much for specialty packaging. Anyways, we bit into these chocolate treats and were quite surprised about their taste. While obviously lacking the yumminess of the peanut butter, the fudge was a nice substitute.

I guess you can say that the fudge and chocolate combination, while very tasty, was a little too much on the taste buds. I really liked the combination but I don't think it was properly executed. Nice try Hershey, maybe next time.

Hershey's Reese's Easter Fudge Eggs
Size: 1.2oz Calories: 180 Fat: 10g Carbohydrates: 18g

nestle kit kat thimble

Call me a freak, but look what I found on eBay. It's a Kit Kat thimble and oh yes, it will be mine. I also found a whole bunch of promotional and advertising material that's not entirely too overpriced. I'm still looking out for that Nestle Kit Kat toy truck that I had seen from England, though I don't want to pay a fortune for it. I'll keep you posted.

glico almond crush pocky (Japan)

For those of you who have never had Pocky, let me explain them to you. Pocky is an extremely popular Japanese treat that has spawned (A) as many flavors as Kit Kat and (B) many many copycats. Summed up, Pocky are biscuit sticks covered in some form of chocolate coating. In this case it's chocolate with "almond crush". I am usually a big fan of the many flavors of Pocky, but this one was just a bit too much for me. I think Glico added just a few too many almonds in this flavor. And while I should have expected it with a name like "Almond Crush", I just couldn't get into it.

MuD: Too nutty for me, but the biscuit and chocolate were gold. I give it a high "7". Perhaps if there were more chocolate to drown out the amount of almonds, it would have received a higher rating.

Val: It was creamy chocolate with a bunch of almonds in it. It has a very nutty taste. I think the almond taste outweighs the chocolate flavor but it's not like the chocolate taste is lacking. It's a candy for nut lovers. I give it an "8".

Look for more Pocky flavors in the future. We'll definitely review them.

Glico Almond Crush Pocky
Size: 20.5g Calories: 110 Fat: 6g Carbohydrates: 11g

cookie dough kit kat (Australia)

Our latest Kit Kat review involves an Australian treat I happened upon on eBay. True to Nestle form, the packaging of the Cookie Dough Kit Kat was extremely clean and well layed out with pictures of chocolate chip cookies surrounding the all too familiar logo.

My brother has been egging me on to try this flavor for a while. Unfortunately for him, Val and her sisters ate this one with me. I have to say that this Kit Kat surprised me. I guess it wasn't be cause it didn't taste good. Actually, the Kit Kat was very good. It just wasn't cookie dough. I was surprised to find the inside filled with gooey caramel (ala Milky Way) and a general lack of cookie dough "paste". Instead, after swallowing the chocolate and its contents, we all agreed that a slight amount of cookie "grain" was left in our mouths, thus creating a cookie aftertaste. All-in-all it wasn't a bad experience, just not what I expected. Had it tasted more like cookie dough, this Kit Kat would have gotten higher marks.

Cookie Dough Kit Kat (Australia)
Size: 65g Calories: 338 Fat: 18.3g Carbohydrates: 39.5g

blueberry fromage kit kat (Japan)

This one ought to be interesting. I was supposed to review this yesterday but didn't get a chance. My two sisters are going to give their input as they try the kitter along with me. On another note, I was just informed by Jason over in Japan that Nestle is releasing a new limited edition (read: expensive) Kit Kat fashioned from Green Tea and Rice. I'm looking forward to emptying my pockets for that one. In the mean time I should have a few more Exotics coming in a week or two.

I was unable to get a boxed version of this flavor. Instead I have just a two finger mini-bar from a bulk pack. The wrapper was dull blue with the Nestle Kit Kat logo on it and a few Japanese characters. Upon opening the package, a cloud of "cheese" came rushing out, followed soon after by the smell of blueberries. Below, find the reviews of my siblings.

MuD: It's hard to describe. It tastes like ultra-creamy cheesecake with a hint of vanilla. The blueberry flavor never really came out though.

Jen: It tastes like what you would expect blueberry shortcake to taste like...hard to describe, but still yummy!

Sheila: Semi-yum. Tastes a bit like the Special K blueberry breakfast bars mixed with white chocolate. Wouldn't buy it, but would share another bar with MuD.

Blueberry Fromage Kit Kat (Japan)

Size: 13.5g Calories: 75 Fat: 4.5g Carbohydrates: 8g