Aisle Walking - July

Every day while walking down the candy aisle, or the toy aisle, or the ice cream aisle I see fun and weird things. Some of these I want to mention but lots of them are just so brief that I can't be bothered making a stand alone blog post, so to alleviate that I thought I'd try a new blog monthly series called Aisle Walking. Essentially this will be a mish mash of things seen in the aisles. I'd love it to hear about it you have fun things you've seen. New stuff is always showing up and I'm always interested in strange variants on existing products. Now I'm still planning on posting some things on their own, but for the lots of little items this will be the round up.

So lets have a look and see what we can see for this past month or so :)

I found this out at a Staples of all places (that's an office supply store). I don't know why I am surprised to see this, I mean of course Planters should be competing with Reese I'm just surprised that I've never seen this before.

We all know that Red Velvet is the hippest of all cakes, and in cupcake form it cannot be beat. I'm impressed that this package comes with some frosting packets included.

This is just a small note that all of the formerly named "Dessert Delight" products seem to now be called simply Desserts. I noticed this a while ago with the Lemon Square flavor, but am surprised to see the entire line change it up. Could this be an only in Canada thing???

I've seen these Kit Kat flavors (only available in the 8 packs) out at the local Wal Mart for a while now, but they seem to be expanding their reach. I had assumed that they were just going to be limited editions around for a little while, but maybe they'll actually be staying.

So this exists. It shouldn't really be a surprise since Nestle also owns the Carnation brand, but for some reason seeing chocolate bars in other places always strikes me as interesting.

Lets talk cookies for a sec. Seriously these Chunks Ahoy look great! I am sold :D

Birthday Cake flavor Oreos are back. Seriously does it count as a Limited Edition if its been on shelves for like 4 years?!

Now this is new, and it looks amazing! Chocolate and Mint together in a triple stuff? yes please!

I've seen Rolo ice cream before, but did you know there was Rolo Peanut Butter ice cream? Sounds great.

So that's all I've got for you this month. I'll try to make this a regular feature. Its fun to just touch on all of the quick stuff that's going on in the candy aisle and beyond.

Jelly Belly Ice Shaver and more!

It was just about a year ago that I posted about seeing the Jelly Belly Electric and Manual Ice Shavers in my local Target. Well, now that Summer 2013 is ramping up it looks like the ice shavers are back, and now with accessories! I spotted this at the local Wal-Mart this past weekend.

Interesting that last year they only had the single ice shaver, and now they've got a double, but I think it probably makes more sense if they're trying to sell this as a party novelty. I mean who wouldn't want a Jelly Belly Snow Cone?

Looking at the back we get a few bullet points on the device. Although I see it has two syrup dispensers I don't think you can make two different kinds of snow cones at once.

It wasn't until I went to Target the next day that I actually saw the original single nozzle electric shaver and the old manual shaver... so archaic.

I also saw these at Wal-Mart.

Of course you can buy extra cups sold separately.... sigh. I guess the hard plastic ones with the curly straws are the way to go for long term use; but how on earth are you going to stack those in your cupboard?

Now this is the most interesting thing to me. This is not part of the snow cone experience. This is in fact a way to make Jelly Belly freezies. Or popcicles, or icees, or Mr Freeze, or whatever you call them in your neck of the woods. (I guess here we should call them Lickety Sips (tm)). There were instructions on the inside of the wrapper but since I didn't buy it it I can't be sure of the process. I'd have to guess though that they suggest using the same syrup you make the Snow Cones out of and mix it with water then freeze. I'm interested in this though since I've always been partial to popcicles.

Finally we've got the flavors.

For some reason Wal-Mart didn't have the Berry Blue. I thought perhaps it had been discontinued but the I saw it at Target the next day.

I'd love to see more in this realm. How about some more uniquely Jelly Belly varieties? Where's my Tutti Frutti, wheres my Marshmallow, and yes I'm even saying where is my Buttered Popcorn?

If you start making those then you may just have a sale on your hands. Until then I think I'll keep walking down the aisle.

The Many Faces of Oreo

If you'll recall my recent post on some of my favorite cookies you'll remember that I am indeed a fan of Oreo. I mean how can you not like them?! They're nearly perfect in every way. With chocolaty, crunchy cookie on the outside and creamy frosting inside. Where else can a kid get that much frosting? I mean its not like mom is going to let you eat cake everyday!

But Oreos are SO much more than just the old black and whites nowadays. This is a massive brand for Nabisco and it shows through the plethora of products you can find on shelves with the Oreo logo. Aside from the classic that you can see above,for your indulgence I've gathered here a few others that I've come across.

Almost as classic as the original, Double Stuff came around at a time before the world even knew about Super Sizing everything. AMAZING.

Of course these days here's what you're more likely to find...

For the non-chocolate fans out there.

Yes they come in Double Stuff too!

A bit on the newer side, these Cakesters seem to be a hit nowadays.

A few other nice options on these Cakesters. I'd like to try the chocolate ones.

I know it says Limited Edition, but I've been seeing these Birthday Cake Oreos around for a long time now. They are great if you haven't had the chance yet, definitely pick some up.

A new addition for the more health conscious.

Here's a favorite from vending machines everywhere.

Another great idea from Oreo.

For the more ambitious out there, these cake baking items will require a little (very little) work, but are totally worth the effort.

Oh so good! There's always room for Oreo Jell-O.

But you say you want ice cream. Oreo's got you covered there too!

So much Oreo goodness here its hard to know where to start... But I suppose I know where to end. For Christmas Oreo has a few special editions that you should definitely check out while you can.

I know there are more Oreo products out there, if you see some please let me know in the comments.  Until we meet again, why not have an Oreo?

True Decadance

The Decadent chocolate chip cookies are a Canadian institution.They are in a word Amazing. Unfortunately many foodstuffs (especially ones made like this) don't travel as well as you'd think so aside from a few exceptions the brand is only available in Canada. IF you are not from Canada reading this and ever have a chance to check out a President's Choice (PC) brand product The Decadent chocolate chip cookie should be the one.

There's a bit of info on this cookie on wikipedia, but here's the basics. The PC brand is owned by Canada's largest national grocery chain Lablows, they own stores (under various names) across Canada, and in the 90s, like many larger grocery chains, they launched their in-house brand called Presidents Choice. The Decadent cookie became the cornerstone of the brand, which billed itself as better, and more natural than the wide commercial competitors. The Decadent chocolate chip cookie is made with real butter, not hydrogenated vegetable oil, and it is made with real chocolate chips. It also boasts more than double the chips than the leading national brand. The cookie tastes homemade, with big creamy chunks of chocolate and a crumble you only wish your homemade cookies could have.

According to wiki, within 3 years of launch they became Canada's best selling cookie despite being in only 20% of Canada's food stores. They are that good. And I'll say I remember when these came out. I was in high school, and the entire PC brand blew up. This was a big deal. Anecdotaly I've heard that they apparently based a lot of their innovative approach to creation and marketing from the awesome California based Trader Joes chain.

In my house growing up, like many Canadian families, we literally just ate it up. PC products we're and are beloved by Canadians, and have expanded beyond any other in-house food brand that I've ever heard of... my wife actually has a PC credit card... like from the PC bank...

Now The Decadent itself has expanded beyond just the original chocolate chip cookies. Check out some of these awesome extensions of the brand. Some of these I've had, and others are new to me. Since I've been living out of the country for 10+ years, getting my hands on this stuff again is pretty exciting.

And its not just other variations of cookies. There are also supplies for those more creative chocolate lovers out there.

And of course its also found in the ice cream aisle :)

That's pretty serious stuff, and a great product line-up for a cookie. I'm definitely looking forward to trying all of these decadent treats now that I'm back in Canada. Yum!