September Journal 2021 + Kaffre talks Candy # 62

I'd like to start this journal by apologizing for being so late with my September journal and, of course, for missing August's in its entirety. The simple truth is that I wasn't in a very good place psychologically for a very long time and it really came to a head in August. I'll spare you the details of what happened, but I think I've passed the nadir and hopefully my mental health will be better from here. I've come to realize that my tendency toward postponing or neglecting my needs is badly exacerbated by my lack of awareness of those same needs and will be endeavouring to take better care of myself physically and mentally in the coming weeks and months.

Continuing from last month's journal, I have, of course, finished 'The Promised Neverland' S2 and while I agree that the ending was supremely disappointing, I still enjoyed the series as a whole and to this end have decided to order the manga, but it is, unfortunately on back-order at the moment. I have not yet caught up on 'Owl House' or 'The Simpsons', but have been Watching 'The Great Jahy will not be Discouraged' as the episodes come out. I think I'll probably put 'Owl House' on the back-burner for now as it will be quicker to catch up on 1/2 season of the Simpsons than 'Owl House' (I forget where I left off and will need to rewatch the whole thing).

As it happens, brother didn't have his son on his Birthday so our plans for that had to be cancelled, we'll give him his present when we next see him - probably sometime in October - which of course also features my Birthday and 'Gemstorm'. 'PoutineFest' was apparently cancelled this year (there has been no update the organizer's website), but we are considering compensating for that with a trip to either 'Smokes' or 'New York Fries' this year when we go in for GemStorm.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Apologies once again for the delay in posting. October, of course, usually includes a bonus journal for my Birthday, so maybe that will help make up the balance. Anyway, thanks for reading and now - without further ado, I proudly present: Kaffre talks Candy!

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Kaffre talks Candy #62

Name: Chips Ahoy Chewy, Caramilk
Manufacturer: Christie.
Size: 453 gram package
Where Purchased: Shopper's Drug Mart
Description: Consists of a four compartments of ten cookies each housed with a plastic tray. The cookies themselves are small soft-baked chocolate chip cookies except that some of the chocolate chips seem to have been replaced with bits of caramilk bar.
Opinion: A product I recently decided to sample. As expected, they're pretty much identical to regular Chips Ahoy Chewie apart from the caramel flavour which long-time readers will know I'm not crazy about. Overall the cookies are indeed chewy and pretty tasty (though they do have an unusual, but not unpleasant aftertaste). I'm not sure I'd choose these over the regular variety, but might be worthwhile for caramel fans.

Name: Crispers, Ketchup
Manufacturer: Christie Brown & Co.
Size: 145 gram bag.
Where Purchased: No Frills
Description: Cheddar Crispers consist of thin, flat, crackers with a wavy, but rectangular shape that have been flavoured to taste like ketchup.
Opinion: A 'New' variety of Crispers (a brand of Canadian cracker/chips) I decided to sample. I don't care for ketchup as a condiment, but the chips are OK and fortunately this product takes more after the latter offering a sweet, but acidic tang that's quite different from the other available flavours. Overall, I did like this product and will probably buy it again, but I still think Salt & Vinegar or Dill Pickle are my favourite.

Name: Giant Parma Violet
Manufacturer: Swizzles Matlow Limited
Size: 40 gram roll
Where Purchased: British Isles Shoppe
Description: Consists of white tablets with the approximate diameter of a dime, but perhaps three-times as thick.
Opinion: A larger iteration of a treat included in #57. The flavour was pretty much identical, but due to the larger size and greater proportional surface area, each tablet delivers a very pleasing amount of violet flavour with less chewing and the taste persists longer thus alleviating most of my issues with the other variety. Overall, I liked this product and would definitely consider purchasing it again!

Name: Hershey's Cookies n' Mint Bar
Manufacturer: Hershey's
Size: 39 gram bar.
Where Purchased: Dollar Tree
Description: Consists of a slender bar of green 'white' chocolate with cookie-like 'bits'.. The bar is vaguely divided up into five vaguely ice-cream cone shaped sections.
Opinion: A product I'd occasionally seen targeted ads for and decided to sample. First things first, this bar is very sweet (though not sickeningly so), but manages to retain a pleasantly minty flavour. The cookie bits were smaller than I would have liked, but do provide some measure of texture. Overall, I though this bar was decent enough, but have a hard time not compare it to Cadbury's Mint Crisp, but even so this bar is cheaper and more readily available (at least in North America) so I do recommend it.

Name: Wagon Wheels
Manufacturer: Dare Foods Limited
Size: 315 gram box (9 cakes)
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Consists of a quantity of marshmallow fluff sandwiched between two Marie biscuits and enrobed in chocolate.
Opinion: A common snack throughout the Commonwealth and one that I remember from my childhood. Normally, I'm not a big fan of marshmallow, but the dry crumbly nature of the biscuits helps mitigate the sticky sweetness as well as lending an unusual, but not unpleasant flavour. Overall, I thought these were pretty good and will probably buy them again some day.