My Funny Valentine

Valentine's Day might not be the number one candy day in the U.S., but it's in the top three so where is all the fun and delicious candy?
I think a lot of it has migrated to the Interweb, but you can't get a schmear online (although I hear Steve Jobs is working on an Oompa Loompa app).

You can always find something if you go a hunting down the stores, and I found this set of bars to contain an inoffensive, passable milk chocolate. It smells too sweet out of the wrapper, yet bites easily with a soft crunch.
Also from Tarjét, these are prettier than the Man Bars. They also taste better than you'd expect with a smooth and mildly interesting flavor. They only sell in gift packages of four.
This chocolate may not be afraid of commitment, but you might fear the 270 calories per bar, 150 of which are Fat Calories.

Note: I've been spending some time on Evelyn's Corner, the blog I started for my 85-year-old mother, so hop over there if you've had a sugar overload. I see some canned tomato recipes in the near future.

Man Candy

I thought the Valentine's candy season would be a good time to reacquaint The Dish with our friend, the cocoa bean. But there was no help at my favorite seasonal one stop sweets and sundry shop, Walgreens, so I went to Targét.
But even in its usually fecund rows, mediocrity and apathy had taken root.

What finally caught my eye were three unassuming selections classified as Man Bars, this being the most interesting and the other two a few steps away from a brown paper bag and some string.

Although this is not what I think of when I hear the words "Man Candy," Target's Dude milk chocolate pushes the boundaries of sweetness, yet is surprisingly smooth and palatable.
I was also impressed by a Sell By date of November 2011 (while being fairly certain this is not a good thing).
I had a few Micky D's fries left in the bottom of the bag (I'm not proud of this) and was surprised by how well the two went together. Yes, like a fine lager, The Dude hints at diverse pairings.
There were little bits of broken chocolate which make the bar look like it's got a case of white bloom, but this bar didn't have anything like degraded cocoa crystals or crystallized sugar, bloom traits. 
Note to Target Brands, Inc., would it have killed you to get the rights to Jeff Bridges image?