Cherry Valentines Day M&M's

If there's one brand of candy that you can count on during the holiday seasons, it's M&M's.  The funny part is I'm not even a big fan of M&M's candy, but can't resist the various flavors that hit the shelves every few months.  Even if it's a taste that I'm not necessarily fond of, I pick up a bag and waste my money anyway, just to say I tried them.  Seriously, 95% of the bag sits there in my kitchen or in a bowl and never gets touched.  Once they're photographed and tasted for The Holidaze, they've served their purpose and can rest in peace.

Unlike many of the limited-editions I buy, Cherry M&M's was one that actually interested me.  It's rare that cherry and chocolate don't work out well together, so I assumed this would be a hit.  The package design, like all varieties of M&M's, is superb.  There's are friend Red again, sporting a bow tie and jacket, bringing you a big box of chocolates and two giant cherries.  Not sure what they represent, but my dirty mind thinks something other than these M&M's.  I mean, just look at the grin on his face - he's got something up his sleeve as he prepares for the big night.

To nobody's surprise, the Cherry M&M's are red and dark red.  We'll call it maroon to avoid any confusion, but the two colors are more than appropriate for the season and flavor.  I would have accepted green to represent the cherry stem, but then you're entering Christmas territory and this separates itself from the rest and symbolizes Valentine's Day as it should.  Besides the color, the smell is overwhelming.  I've review a few of these holiday bags over the years and, without a doubt, this was the strongest scent to fly out from the bag since I started.  It's sweet, strong and seductive.  Okay, maybe not seductive, but I needed a third "S" word to make that sound better.  Smelly would have been a turn off.

The inside is traditionally chocolate with a hint of cherry.  Actually, scratch that, a hint is undermining the amount of impact that this cherry flavor brings.  It's a smack in the face and that will lead to differing opinions.  I've had a few people give this bag a taste test and, so far, the reviews are mixed.  Even my own opinion isn't official yet.  I've had at least 6 since I opened the bag and I can't figure out if I like them or not.  One second I love them, but the next I can't stand them.  If that doesn't sum up Valentine's Day, then what else does?  But seriously, when it's good, I get a taste of Cherry Tootsie Pops which is awesome.  But, when it's bad, it's more like Cherry Nyquil and that isn't so great.  So this one is a bit up in the air and I think the only way to get a true review is for you to make the decision yourself.  I do recommend the Cherry M&M's, at least to try during this season, but I can't promise that you'll like them.

Here's another heart made from Cherry M&M's.  Because I go from having no time to having too much time on my hands.

Check back later today for another batch of M&M's - Red Velvet!

Junior Mints - Heart Shaped

I was walking through the aisles of Target a few weeks ago and something stood out at me - Junior Mints.  Now, that's not something I usually pay attention to, but after eating countless Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints during the Christmas season, the candy has now been on my radar.  Thanks to the success of Peppermint Crunch, I had my eyes peeled and picked up a Valentine's Day edition of Junior Mints that I was very excited to see and try.

Had these been your regular, old, boring, everyday Junior Mints, I would have walked on by and waited until December before giving them any more of my money.  But two things stood out and attracted me - heart shaped candies and red filling.  Like I said in my last post, it doesn't take much to lure me in and if you've been reading The Holidaze for a while, you should know that by now.  Red filling?  That's an instant sale.  In fact, if it weren't for the change in color, I don't think I would have even bothered with the heart shaped Junior Mints.  That's cute, but not enough for this manly man to waste a dollar.

After opening the box and looking at the size and shape of these Junior Mints, I realized I would have made a mistake had I walked on by and ignored the heart shape alone.  They're much bigger than I expected and look very cool.  They're perfect for Valentine's Day, but it was still all about the red filling.  If I didn't have that to entice me, this post would have ended here and I'd have nothing else to talk about.  The fact that we still have red mint filling to review is what's keeping this post alive.  Right?  Hmm..

My plan was to bite two, get a picture of the white and red next to one another, and upload them to my laptop.  I didn't intend on eating an entire box, but I had to find that damn red Junior Mint and, believe me when I tell ya, I was getting pissed off.  Bite after bite and all I kept seeing was your traditional white filling.  I thought there was supposed to be a variety here?  I thought I was going to see some red in this box, but I kept striking out on every attempt.  The only reason I bought this candy at all was to see the red filling and pretend I was a vampire or zombie eating a red heart on Valentine's Day, but things weren't looking good.  I bit at least 13 Junior Mint hearts, had only 4 left, before.. finally.. one damn heart.

Just as I was starting to lose hope, there is is!  It's too bad that there weren't any more than one because it truly looks awesome!  Of course I acted as if I was a walker feasting on the flesh of mere mortals.  That's to be expected, right?  Whether it's a celebration of love or not, you don't eat a red filled heart without throwing in a little horror.  Maybe it's a guy thing, but that was pretty much the only reason I bought this box at all.  Fortunately, I was able to experience the thrill of finding a red filled Junior Mint because I honestly thought it was turning into a case of false advertisement.  I have no idea if "one-to-a-box" is what they're going for or if I just caught some bad luck while walking down the aisle, but this was aggravating.  I felt like a kid looking for the Great White Shark in a box of "Shark Bites" fruit snacks.  After a while, you start to whine and throw in the towel.  Luckily I found this one and was able to share it with you.  Otherwise, a boring post would have been even more boring.  The red heart saved us all.

Because I literally bit into every Junior Mint in the box before throwing the wasted half-hearts out, I had to do something special with them.  So I designed a heart using all of my broken ones to give all of my Holidaze readers.  But the kid in me is coming out again and all I see now is a gang of white-filled walkers surrounding the lonesome red-filled heart as they attempt to attack and make him a walker as well.  Yeah, as you can tell, The Walking Dead is back and I'm a little bit more into that than I am Valentine's Day.

Normally I recommend most products I review, but I'd advise you to stay away from this one because you may be disappointed.  I don't know if you'll find more than one or not, but unless you like eating Junior Mints on a regular basis, this one isn't worth the money.

Three Musketeers - Strawberry Dark Chocolate

It's been exactly one month since my last Holidaze post and, as is common with this time of year, I saw it coming.  I told myself I wouldn't let the off-season affect the way I treated the site, but between work and the lack of topics, it's just natural.  But, to some degree, I wanted to stay true to my word and keep up with the site as much as possible.  Although I haven't had a lot of down time to dedicate to The Holidaze, I couldn't let Valentine's Day, which is now only 2-days away, come and go without paying it due diligence.  I've never covered it before, but this year had to be different, so we're kicking off the 2-day V-Day marathon with the hottest of cupid's products.

3 Musketeers Strawberry Dark Chocolate Minis!!

I first saw this on Instagram and knew it would be February's biggest hit.  Look, you can take any old Snickers or Reese's and shape it into a heart, but that just isn't going to cut it anymore.  You need to go the extra mile because that's what's going to attract me and make me spend my money, especially for a less popular holiday like Valentine's Day.  Let's face it, it's a day for love, couples, and girls.  I'm not against either of those, but it's far from wrestling and basketball so it takes a lot to lure me in and get me to spend money on myself.  But this year? You win, 3 Musketeers!  You had me at Strawberry..

Now, these may or may not be new, but having never covered Valentine's Day before, they're completely new to me.  I think I remember seeing a cherry flavored edition in the past, but didn't take the time to investigate the product.  This year, I wasn't going to let this get away.  Look at the pink and silver contrast with the red and purple to create the perfect Valentine's Day rainbow.  You couldn't incorporate better colors to appeal to my eye.  For me, sometimes it's more than just whatever flavor they're offering, it's about product design and how far they'll go to make it complete.  Not every product can change their taste, and some don't have to, but that doesn't mean you can't change a few colors and logos to celebrate the season.  For me, 3 Musketeers was already a success before I even tried the minis.  Package design and art always go a long way.

I love milk chocolate, but tend to avoid dark chocolate.  I've never liked the flavor.  It's like dark beer - I'll drink it, but would rather not.  In this case, I was willing to make the exception because I figured there had to be a reason why the 3 Musketeers chose dark over milk.  It had to work better with the strawberry and I trusted my three homies.  They wouldn't steer me wrong, so it wasn't really an issue for me.  Dark or milk, I had complete faith that this would be well worth it.

Man, I couldn't get my iphone to take a picture that does the color justice, but the pink strawberry filling is beautiful.  It screams Valentine's Day and tastes great.  For as much as my iphone doesn't do the visual justice, I don't think my words can do so for the flavor, either.  This is awesome.  It's strong, it's sweet, and tag teams with the dark chocolate well enough to be champions.  Usually, whenever I buy one of those big, overpriced, heart-shaped boxes of variously assorted chocolates from Russel Stover, I tend to avoid the strawberry filled candies.  They never appeal to me so I go straight for the caramel and call it a day.  But this?  This is the best starberry/chocolate candy I've ever had.  This is what should be offered in those big boxes because it puts all others, and their price tags, to shame.

Whether you're single and want to revel in your freedom or you're with that special someone who wants to indulge in your sweetness, this is the way to go.  Either way, you can't go wrong because this takes your regular, every-year Valentine's Day to the next level.  We know V-Day is all about candy, teddy bears, and flowers, so you're 1/3 of the way there and it's a lot cheaper than ordering that big box on February 13th.  I'm looking at you, guys, I'm right there with ya.  But don't pay an arm and a leg to get whatever body part it is you're trying to get on Valentine's Day.  Let the 3 Musketeers be your wingmen (or wingwomen) and you're good to go ;)