NEAROF

You thought they were dead? Pfft. You can’t kill the Twinkie! Millions – well, maybe thousands – of Canadians were relieved when they learned the impending demise of American food giant Hostess wouldn’t affect their Twinkie fix. Turns out the brand is owned by Saputo in Canada, so we can keep cramming snack cakes into [...]

These three chocolate bars were all gifted to NEAROF! by my dad, who bought them during a trip to Seattle. All look to be delicious, flavourful treats, yet all are hard to find in this corner of Canada. Trying exotic foodstuffs with limited availability can be fraught with mental anguish. If you don’t like the [...]

I found these Sconza Lemoncello Almonds at a London Drugs in Calgary around Christmas time, but it’s taken me a while to get around to reviewing them. Now that I’ve tried these little yellow bundles of sweet, creamy, lemony joy, I wish I’d sampled them sooner. The Pitch: “Roasted almonds covered in white chocolate and [...]

Unless you have a reasonably tuned palate, a very large number of Starbucks coffees taste pretty much the same. It’s not the fault of the beans, no sir. It’s all about the Starbucks roasting process, which, in the traditional Starbucks method, required every bean to be roasted to a dark, oily char – hence the [...]

In honour of the American election happening tomorrow, I thought I’d do my neighbourly best by marking the occasion with that most relevant of British treats, Romney’s Kendal Mint Cake. The Pitch: There’s a back story on the wrapper that puts all other “X-TREEM!” snack treat marketing to shame. “Romney’s Kendal Mint Cake was carried [...]

While I don’t mind a glass of sweet iced tea from time to time, occasionally spiked with a wee bit of vodka for weekend sipping, it’s not typically a drink I reach for on a regular basis. But an intriguing offer is hard to resist. When American Vintage Hard Iced Tea offered NEAROF! a three-can [...]

I first spotted these new Dutch Gourmet potato chips at Safeway a few months ago, but managed to summon the willpower to keep myself from buying them. After all, did I really need another potato chip to be hooked on? I eventually caved, mostly because I love Old Dutch chips (it’s a childhood thing), but [...]

They’re an Easter season staple in Canada and in many other parts of the world, yet they’re banned in America. While the Kinder Surprise menace is apparently clear and present, I’d venture there are at least a handful of greater threats to U.S. national security than chocolate eggs with toys inside them. And so, as [...]