Friday Favorites

I’ll be honest– one of my guilty pleasures is shopping online. Not necessarily buying anything, but I’m a huge fan of “window” shopping. When I stumbled upon John & Kira’s chocolates on Gilt, I had to get them! Unfortunately, we were about to leave the country for vacation and I wouldn’t be home to get them, so I waited until now. These little chocolate bees are just so darn cute! Best of all, the company is local in Philadelphia and they use honey from a supplier in Millerton, PA. I’m all for local flavors…for some reason they taste so much better :)

Their packaging is beautiful:

And it comes with a description of the goodness inside:

Aren’t they adorable?! Each bee is hand painted and there’s a fact underneath every one. Chris and I discovered this when we decided to do a taste test (and subsequently had to refrain from devouring the whole box in 37 seconds– because I  yelled “NO! I have to take pictures for the blog!”).

The honey-flavored caramel inside is more liquid than chewy, and the dark chocolate is a perfect complement to the sweetness of the center. Yum!

Since I’m such an impatient person when it comes to cute, yummy, or otherwise awesome stuff, I really appreciate that John & Kira’s chocolates arrive within one to two business days (that could be dangerous though, haha). Perfect for a quick gift for someone (or the most important person in your life, YOU)! They definitely make an impression, both to the eyes and to the tastebuds.

Happy Friday!

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I’m cheating a little bit with the title of this post because, to be honest, I’m stuck in that time warp of international travel. You know, the kind where you’re not quite sure what day it is. It’s Friday somewhere, or at least pretty close to it!

To celebrate the new year, and since we’re in Japan, we thought we’d give away our favorite candy: Kit Kats!

Apparently Kit Kats are the most popular candy bars here, because “Kit Kat” sounds like the Japanese phrase “Kitto Katsu,” which translates to something like “to certainly win” (possibly a variation on ftw? hehe). Kids take them into exams for good luck. We’re taking them into our next year of business for good luck, and we’d like to extend the good luck to you.

To make Kit Kats even more fun on this side of the world, there is a HUGE assortment of flavors, many of which are seasonal. The four we are giving away are green tea (sakura maccha latte), strawberry tarte, a “regular” version, and my personal current winter favorite, otona, which is a blend of dark cookies and white chocolate. Cookies and cream Kit Kat! They. Are. Delicious!

Btw, as far as I know, you cannot get green tea Kit Kats in the States. I did find an online retailer once, but they were selling it for 3x the normal price, plus an obscene amount for shipping.

So, how to enter! Leave a comment below telling us your favorite place to travel (or where you would like to go) and why.

You have until 11:59pm Eastern time on Sunday, January 1, to enter/comment. A winner will be chosen using random.org (comments will be sorted by time/date) on Monday, January 2. Please also note the following rules:

• Only entry per person is allowed, but feel free to comment as much as you’d like!
• You must have a valid US mailing address. We didn’t want to exclude our international readers, but we also wanted to avoid customs and shipment delays, so if you live overseas but have relatives in the US, feel free to enter!
• We are not responsible for lost, stolen, or late shipments. Or candy bars damaged during transit. Or postal service employees eating candy bars.
• Winner will be announced on the blog and will have 48 hours to email us with their valid mailing address (or we’ll choose another winner and you’ll be sad).
• Should any conflicts arise, we reserve the right to make the final decision.

Good luck, and here’s to a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012!

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Yesterday was our first birthday! I totally thought we passed it, but when I checked our records, yup, it was December 15. It’s crazy how time flies and we’re very happy at where we are. 2012, bring it!

To celebrate, here are some beignets from Cafe du Monde in New Orleans! They were SOOOO addicting! We were joking about how certain we were that it wasn’t powdered sugar on these things… ;)

Happy Friday!

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