NEAROF

Goodie! It’s that time of year again when a few hundred square feet of every grocery store becomes a temporary enclave of Christmas snacks, full of icy squares, Turtles and Toblerone bars the size of fence posts. I can’t say I’ve ever tried to find peanut brittle outside of the holiday season, so I’m not [...]

These little chocolate-coated candied cherries have been a staple on Canadian chocolate-bar racks for decades. While other candies and chocolate bars have spent oodles of dough rebranding themselves for the new, more x-treem (shudder) generation, there’s something soothing about seeing a sweet treat that hasn’t bothered with 3-D type, gimmicky claims or fancy foil-plastic packaging. [...]

Halloween is right around the corner, and you haven’t stocked up on Halloween candy yet. It happens. We won’t judge. But you might want a few candy selection tips before heading out to your local grocery store, and we’re here for you. Have we ever not been here for you? First off, NEAROF! has a [...]

The Pitch: “Greetings to you from Willy Wonka himself!” says the wrapper, which describes the Wonka Exceptionals Scrumdiddlyumptious chocolate bar as “milk chocolate with scrumptious toffee, crispy cookie & crunchy peanuts.” Also, there’s an encouragement to read a book (Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, naturally), which is the first time I’ve seen a [...]

Continuing an oft-revisited theme here at NEAROF!, I fell victim to the inescapable draw of a grocery store end-unit display. This time, it was a shelf full of MaraNatha Dark Chocolate Peanut Spread at Planet Organic that did me in. My wife balked at the price (“$6.29?” she asked, incredulous), but I bought it anyhow, [...]

Another treat from south of the border, Pearson’s Nut Goodie bar has been around since 1912, and is apparently not available in Canada. Too bad, that. The Look: The Nut Goodie packaging is beautifully old-school, with a “Made in the USA” decal and typography that looks like it came from five decades ago. Don’t believe [...]

Breaded chicken stuffed with cheese and ham? Classy. Pretzels stuffed with peanut butter? Admittedly less classy, but still fine at cocktail parties, provided they are placed in a silver dish with tiny sugar-cube serving tongs. These curious President’s Choice peanut butter filled pretzels showed up at my place of employ as part of a media [...]

I work strange hours at an office in the middle of downtown Edmonton, where the streets empty and restaurants close en masse outside of the Monday to Friday workday hustle. As a result, the closest thing to a quick supper I can find at 9:30 on Sunday night is often a Snickers bar from the [...]