The rest of my yesterday was uhhh... interesting. I've put it in an extended entry for anybody who wants to read what happens when you go off a restrictive diet and eat loads of fried foods.
Today I managed to spend some time at Chicago's All-Candy Expo. It's not as huge as the ISM show in Cologne Germany I attended in January, but it's still a pretty spectacular event if you like candies as much as I do. The coolest thing about the show is seeing the new stuff companies are coming out with, and how candy technology keeps advancing.
Anyway... when you arrive at the show, you are greeted by M&M's!
I especially like the tail-end of the car...
Not to be outdone, Snickers also has a race car at the show. And so does JUICYFRUIT!...
The All-Candy Expo is so big that it can be hard to decide where to start. I took a panorama of the show floor and it ended up being so big I couldn't fit it in a computer graphic, so I took three chunks of it and put them here. It's all candy, baby...
Well, not ALL candy. There are other snack foods there too. I saw a lot of beef jerky. In fact... "you might be a redneck if you own your own beef jerky company"...
And then I saw that Steve Irwin was back from the dead to endorse Crocodile Hunter Chocolates (I've already said how I feel about the deceased endorsing products)...
Some of the stranger stuff I saw was CARROT GUM! Yes, seriously, carrot bubble gum...
And Jesus Candy Canes ("Blessed is he who licks unto Him")...
My most favorite new candy treat was GüdFüd's jelly or chocolate stuffed marshmallows. I can't eat them because I'm a vegetarian and they have gelatin in them, but they're probably the cutest candies ever...
And, of course, PEZ was there. Gotta love PEZ! This time I saw that they have FUZZY PEZ!!
There was also a kind of Pez imitator of some kind. I didn't quite understand how they worked, but I especially like the Human Torch dispenser because of his funky flame-hair...
And, lastly, I bring you the Hello Kitty's Beauty Kit... filled with candy jewelry, candy makeup, and candy perfume...
Hey, heaven only knows that I never look more beautiful than when I'm covered in candy!
And that's just a tiny slice of all the amazing stuff I saw while cruising the aisles of the All-Candy Expo this afternoon. What a delicious way to spend your day.
But back to yesterday evening...
I was nearly late to dinner because I noticed that there was a massive sale going on at one of my favorite stores...
But once I made it to the restaurant, I had a great evening with my friends. Except I ate entirely too much of entirely the wrong things.
Helpful hint: if you've been on a restrictive diet for two weeks, breaking that diet by eating massive quantities of (probably) hydrogenated fats for dinner is not advised. The stuff moves through you very, very, quickly when you are not accustomed to eating it! I'm guessing my intestines have a bad memory and went "what the bloody hell is this?" then just let it go. I barely made it back to my hotel room in time.
Probably because I stopped at The Apple Store on my way back to take a look at the new iPod nano. This thing is unbelievably cool... so much smaller in the hand than you can imagine from looking at a photo... and so freakin' THIN! The screen, despite being tiny, is just amazing. I want one quite badly, even though I would rarely use it now that I have iPhone. It's just too sweet not to own one!
Oh yeah, back to my after-dinner intestinal woes... you just know you're in trouble when a double-dose of Imodium doesn't work. This was pretty much the rest of my evening...
My digestive system finally returned to normal around midnight, which was a good thing because I had to get up at 4:30am to make an international call.
The End.
Because now I have to get some work done after goofing off at the candy show all day.
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is that an ATM machine on the Adult Book Store? how convenient if it is!
Those Jesus candy canes are kinda dirty, you know? “Would you like to lick a Jesus?” I’m pretty sure there’s a passage in the Bible that frowns on that kind of thing.
And I wants me some of those chocolate stuffed marshmallows. Are they Japanese? They have cool stuff in Japan.
What?!? How did I miss the candy expo???
Here I was at work, having a shit-tacular day, when I could have been nuzzling fuzzy pez and giggling over adorable jelly-filled marshmallows.
Dammit dammit dammit.
Hope your guts heal up soon–I certainly know the woes of a messed up digestive tract!
What, no candy cigarettes? Those were the days.
New Fuzzy PEZ!!! I love PEZ… both the dispensers and the candy. Do you purposely coincide your trips with these conventions? It makes me wonder…
Fuzzy Pez??? RAWK!!!
Sorry to hear about your bowels, man.
Any Lance candies? THOSE were the greatest, as they sold them at the school store… mmm, little candy cherries….
Man, I would’ve loved to have gone to something like that. I would’ve probably gained 10 pounds, but it would have been fun.
And I can’t believe you didn’t have the M&M caricature of yourself done.
Dave… Dave… it’s BEAUTIFUL outside here in Chicago. Go for a walk awready! Sheeesh!
Well, I’m here to work… but I do get outside whenever I can!
How is it that you always end up by the adult bookstores? 😉
I love the back of that M&M car and sadly would think the Hello Kitty thing is cute too….mmmm, dirty sexy candy!
But I wanna lick Jesus…..I WANNA LICK THE MASTER! Oh, and I’d like a side of carrot gum, please.
(How in the world do you stay away from all products even with gelatin in them…….I mean, even this dude doesn’t each much meat (no comment, please) but I can’t do without my gelatin-infused candy sometimes).
The same way I resisted eating the dead animals when I was having dinner at Fogo de Chao last night. When the endless parade of guys in gaucho pants bring their hot meat to the table, I simply say “no thanks!’
I think that the M&Ms characters is one of the most brilliant and successful examples of rebranding ever. They carry a sense of history with them that is entire fabricated. Don’t we all feel like they’ve always been on the scene?
The Johnny Storm faux-pez makes me want to see a Snow Miser and Heat Miser pez set.
Please get the nano even though you already have the iPhone… That way I’ll feel less guilty (consumerism, ARGH!) for doing the same.
I was relieved to see that the M&M characters did not have hair. The commercials that feature the M&M’s with hair totally creep me out. After those commercials, I can’t bring myself to eat M&M’s anymore.
Was the carrot gum marketed toward vegetarians at all?
Just curious.
(For the record – I’m a vegetarian, but you would have a hard time getting me to try that product!)
Hello. Kitty. Beauty. Kit. Made. From. Candy?
OMFG, I’d have broken my fool neck trying to get to it. And I LOVE the Japanese candies! San Francisco has all these wonderful junky shops that sells goofy candy like that…I totally need to revisit my city soon.
That’s usually when I get some great reading in.
Pez Fantastic Four are awsome and so are the M&M race car.
So what did you get at the adult book store?
Above the cash machine, in front of the adult “bookstore” (books, right…) was a sign that said Bridal Gifts. How quaint.
Hey, you could have skipped the candy show and just solved two yens with one trip to the adult book store … after all, they do have candy … candy panties! ha ha ha!
Oh, and I can’t think of a less vegetarian friendly place than Fogo de Chao. What in the heck DID you find to eat there?
Wow! that Expo looked like great fun. Anything with Peanut Butter is good with me. Here in the U.K. peanut butter does not exist in the world of candy, so have to stock up on trips to USA.
Ok, I must know how you got into that Candy Expo since it’s not open to the public. 🙁
Heck – I never knew that was such a thing as a Candy Expo!! I am going to have to find out when and where the next one is!! (and sneak in!)
The biggest ones are always in Chicago (USA) and Cologne (Germany)… unfortunately, you have to be a candy buyer or a candy manufacturer to attend.
Or do work for a company that in a buyer or manufacturer, like I do! 🙂