TheSnackHound

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Dove Ice Cream. All opinions are 100% mine.

My Favorite Guy and I sometimes joke about miniature ice cream bon bons. A requirement of eating said dessert is to eat them right out of the box while sitting in a scented bubble bath and watching soap operas or Oprah on a wall-mounted bathroom tv. We just aren’t the demographic for that. However, we both love Dove chocolate and Dove Ice Cream bars and by default just cannot say know to Dove Miniatures. They are more of a mini-bar than a bon bon.

We just have to eat them in a manly way, such as putting them on ice and throwing them in the back of the wood trailer and eating them on a break. Just make cutter oil from the chain saw doesn’t get near it. Gravel contamination is fine. Then, there is the woman on the go method. Since dark chocolate is good for you, eat one as a necessary dietary supplement along with your iron pill, and to those who it applies to, half a prenatal vitamin. Suddenly, when it is thus rationed it doesn’t seem so indulgent. I know. With the new Cafe collection, you can replace your morning coffee with Java Chip miniatures.  At 70 calories, you can just jog around your office a few times and it would be like you never had one.

Dove is running “My Mini Moment” contest, where ladies can submit a dossier of their mini moment of escape. A lucky winner will get a mini-getaway to Napa Valley, a mini room makeover or spa treatments for a year. Sounds decadent. I wonder of Dove would give me a year’s supply of Dove if I won, or should I say WHEN i win?

To win…I mean..to enter to win… visit DoveIceCream.com/myminimoment and submit your essay by June 7, 2010.  That is only 21 days from now, so hop to it.

This is a very serious chocolate matter.  Firstly, Kroger has Endangered Species Chocolate bars on sale two for one or half off.  The exception is the Blueberry flavor with the turtle on the front. You have to pay over $4.25 for one of those bars.  I thought they excluded the turtle flavored bars because they were new. Oh no. That theory was blown out of the water when I found myself at Whole Foods.  The aroma from the candy aisle was like a siren song.  My car went on autopilot and drove out of the Kroger’s parking lot a few miles down the road to Whole Foods.  A bomb had went off in the candy aisle and there were only a few scattered Endangered candy bars to be had.  Yes, they too had a 2 for one sale but there 2 for one sale was BETTER, because the candy bars turned out to be $2 each instead of 2.50 or something like that on sale each AND the blueberry turtle bars were included.  I snapped up the very last one.

Three days later, the candy aisle at Whole Foods still is pilfered.  The only bar to be had, if the chocolate scanner picked things up correctly, is the Milk Chocolate variety.  That is just plain boresville to a dark chocolate aficionado. My worse fear was momentarily toyed with: what if Endangered Species bars were being discontinued and this was there way of giving us our last fix?  I don’t think so, based on the empty slots remaining on the shelf. If they were truly gone, the whole area would have been remerchandised.   I don’t buy these bars every day or week as it would appear, but since I can’t have them, it makes me want them even more, especially the Goji Berry bar.  I can’t remember what it tasted like.

In the meantime, I guess I will have to be happy with the Kroger sale, but I don’t want to be. They have a limited variety of varieties and they are more expensive.  Sure, its time versus money but perhaps the thrill of the hunt is worth more to me. Perhaps the true answer is that I am just somewhat insane.  Ascribing this task as a worthy pursuit just makes me feel a bit better about my condition.

The moral of the story? If you see said dark chocolate varieties of candy bar, just clean off the shelf.  It may be more chocolate than you need right now but its cheaper than paying full price in the long run. Get thee to a Whole Foods or Kroger’s.  Just stay away from mine.

Happy Good Friday everyone. The above view is from the lofty rafters of Peep Cathedral, where goodwill is wished upon Peepkind. (Note the Darth Vader Pez dispenser head filling in as a gargoyle). You can almost hear the bunny choir as the Bunny Bishop proceeds up the aisle.  The scene is part of the Washington Post’s annual Peep Show: a competition for dioramas featuring JustBorn’s Marshamallow Peeps as the theme. Across the land of the greater District of Columbia area came EEP! (A tribute to the film, Up), The Mad Hatter’s Peep Party, Freedom is Not Free (Korean War Memorial), and Goodnight Peep, based on the children’s book Goodnight, Moon, a tribute to “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and many more.

To see more of the delectable dioramas, visit last year’s SnackHound coverage by CLICKING HERE,or hop to the Washington Post.

Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of sampling Dove Promises of Hope.  What is the difference between the Dove Promises that they have at the store on a regular basis and Promises of Hope?  I will refer to Promises of Hope from here on out as the trendy sounding “POH.”   POH is a limited edition in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.   The package is specially marked, featuring the recognizable pink motif, as well as the wrappers.

Because the package is pink (for breast cancer awareness) and brown (for chocolate, of course), I had a bit of trepidation on how the make part of the species would perceive it as far as desirability of packaging.   Of course, they say real men wear pink, but will they buy pink.  To find out, I asked My Favorite Guy.

“What do you think?  Does it look too girlie?”
“No, not at all.  I would buy this.”

Well, that settles that.

Upon opening the bag, we were floored by the aroma.  The most magical, thick and heady smell of dark chocolate bursted forth.  I wondered if it was just one of those situations where the contents were concentrated and it would just go away after a few minutes.   On the contrary, on repeated smellings this was not the case, if “repeated smellings” is even proper English.   While the initial surprise had dissipated, the aroma still lingered after shoving the bag in our faces an hour, and even a day later.  We were also, once again, intrigued by the wrap of the individual candies and the machine that must wrap them.  Does the wrapper bind so tightly that the embossing on the chocolate is translated to the wrapper, or does the wrapping machine indent the symbol on the chocolate?  We are still trying to figure that one out.

The wrap on the candies was a bright, brilliant pink.  Instead of the usual thoughts to ponder, all the quotes were from actual breast cancer survivors from all over the country. While some of the thoughts were specific to Breast Cancer (“There is life after Breast Cancer”), there were inspirational quotes that could be applied to broader circumstances and challenges.   As an added bonus 10% of the sales of Promises of Hope will be directed to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.   Not only does chocolate make you feel good in general, you can feel even better about making a difference.  On a side note, studies have shown that foods rich in antioxidants, such as dark chocolate, may help prevent cancer.  How appropriate.

I have sampled a lot of different chocolate, due to my status as a chocoholic.  There are cheap candy bars and some chocolates that will cost you $10 an ounce.   I would go as far as to say Dove dark chocolate, in general, is one of the best values in dark chocolate out there.  It isn’t waxy, the ingredient list is short and pronounceable, the consistency is creamy, it is not bitter, the price point is affordable, and it is readily available at grocery stores and pharmacies.

Recently, I had the pleasure and the honor of sampling the new Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Dove Promises.  It was sort of a “Happy International Peanut Day to Me.”  Promises are very dangerous, as their bite sized dimensions make it very easy to justify “just one more.”   My handsome assistant and I thoroughly analyzed the product and the packaging in depth.  On first bite, we decided the it was not an equal marriage between peanut butter and chocolate.  The peanut butter definitely wore the pants in that relationship.  Truth be told, I tried to get several slow bites out of something that was meant to just be tossed down there.   When I actually ate it as nature intended, putting it behind the teeth and down the gums, I will say that the ratio evened out.  The chocolate and the peanut butter were more equally balanced in the tasting sensation.

The packaging is equally as impressive.  My handsome and more mechanically inclined assistant was quite impressed by the embossing situation.  “Did they have ‘Dove’ written on the chocolate and then the packaging machine wrapped the foil around it so tight that the wrapper was embossed with what was on the chocolate, or did the machine that did the wrapper emboss both?”

I shook my head.  I really was not sure how to answer his question, but we both decided that we would like to see the machine so I can resolve our curiosity. Of course, that would be a really tall order and it probably would never happen.  I am sure we’ll be revolving it around in our minds for some time to come.

On the inside of every wrapper, there is a saying.  It’s like a fortune cookie, but no cryptic missives about looking for snakes in tall grass, or informing you that you like Chinese food.  You could potentially use them as conversation openers.  In fact, I was glad to see the “Share a Chocolate Moment with Someone You Love,” and “Be Playful With Your Love.”  It gave me the perfect opening to infer some important words to my handsome assistant that I was waiting for the right less painfully awkward moment to say.  So, thanks Dove Promises for making a potentially loaded moment pretty carefree and drama free.  I owe you one, big time Dove!

I thought that the Mars Chocolate Relief Act concluded at the end of the summer, or more or less the last day of August.  Imagine my surprise and glee when I logged on and found out that indeed, I would be able to try for another coupon this very Friday.  The site now reads that it will be offering Real Chocolate Relief through the end of September.

I wondered what the cause for the humanitarian effort was.  Of course it is a very nice thing to do to raise our spirits and expand our waistlines.   Is there a business bottom line to this?  Is this like a newspaper subscription where sometimes they give away subscriptions so advertisers would see higher distribution numbers so would be more motivated to buy advertising?  Did they find that when someone used the coupon they justified to themselves that they should get two, as one was free afterall, thus increasing sales?

What about the theory that many people will go to the store forgetting their coupon, and buy a candy bar anyways while they were there.  Then they go home for the coupon to use it again tomorrow, but then they found that the dog ate it.  And then they get another coupon and finally used it.  Sure, they gave away a free candy bar, but sold two or three just because someone thought of the candy, even though they didn’t have the coupon.  Hmm…could that be it.  Or do they just want to say that more candy bars left the shelves than did other manufacturers.

Why do I have to over think things?  Why can’t I look at it as just a gift.  Okay, I will.  Thanks for the chocolate.