those bastards at hershey...

it's bad enough that they had to go and buy up scharffen berger, joseph schmidt and dagoba to eliminate the competition, now they are closing the local factories. the story is here.

Soups on!!!

Are you looking for an alternative to the cookie exchange?

Betty Crocker's got it! How about trying a SOUP SWAP PARTY?

Soup swaps are a warm way to get through cold and blustery days. You make one kind of soup, gather with friends, trade, and come home with a variety for your freezer. While you're at it, ask everyone to bring enough soup to heat and share for an enjoyable and delicious time. National Soup Swap Day is January 24, 2009. Follow our fun ideas and be a part of it.

Make It Special!

Drinks, Nibbles & Sweets

As host, you'll want to offer drinks, crackers and cheese to nibble and serve with the sample soups. And no party goes without a sweet ending. Take our recommendation for some easy to fix breads to partner with the soup and quick-and-easy bars to finish out your gathering.
Soup Swap 101
If you're a veteran to cookie exchanges, think of this in the same way only you're swapping frozen homemade soups.

Choose recipes among your friends. Each makes enough so everyone brings home a variety of frozen soups. So for example, if there are six of you or six couples, each person or couple makes and freezes a batch for everyone plus an extra sample to savor during the swap.

Share recipes via the net - leave it up to everyone to print their own.

Have everyone freeze their soup in microwavable plastic storage bowls or freezer bags.

Label the soups with FREE downloadable labels to keep track of what's what. And the labels are really cool!

Amano Chocolate - Review

I was lucky enough to get one of the bars of Amano Chocolate's Jembrana to taste and review in response to a Blake makes giveaway.

This 70% dark chocolate is sourced from Bali. I am not typically a big fan of dark chocolate as I usually find it bitter, but the Jembrana Chocolate is so smooth and creamy as it melts that I completely forgot that it was dark chocolate.

I give this chocolate two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

Oh yeah, I accidentally (?) received two shipments of this bar so I am sharing the second bar with Mrs. L over at Pages, Pucks, and Pantry who has offered to give a review also.

Product Review - Batter Blaster

Do you love pancakes and waffles but hate the hassle of making batter? This product is for you!

The Original Batter Blaster is a great alternative to making batter from a box of from scratch. At a recent brunch party I had, a friend brought a batter blaster. While I had already made the batter for the waffles for that day, she left the blaster at my house. I tried it a few days later. All I can say is "where have you been all my life?" This product is so convenient and the end result is a tasty quick pancake or waffle. In three days, I have used the whole can, but this is something I will be buying again and keeping on hand.