So I’m still doing the chocolate bar of the week thing at work and it’s working out well. Last week’s bar was an old friend - the Dagoba New Moon bar - and I'm not going to revisit my review other than to say that I still absolutely love the thing. It’s a great bar for getting a little dark chocolate fix. But just because I'm not talking about the Dagoba doesn't mean I've got nothing to talk about. No, last week I got into the candy.

I went to the grocery store at lunch last week to get some cilantro for the rabbit and to look for some Razzberry M&M's for myself and while I didn't find the Razzberry I did find loads of Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's and was more than happy to grab a bag for testing. When they first came out as part of the Star Wars "Join the Dark Side" promotion I fell completely in love with them. I wouldn't quite go so far as to call it an addiction, but I could sit and eat them for hours. So I have fond memories of them from their first time around and was pretty eager to try them again. And when I did, well, somehow they didn't stand up to my memory of what they were. I doubt they changed anything between then and now so it really must be that my tastes have changed. They just didn't strike me as having a good dark chocolate kick. There didn't seem to be enough separating them from normal Peanut M&M's. I don't know. Don't get me wrong - they are good - they just didn't knock my socks off (probably a good thing - I don't want to be addicted to any one type of chocolate). So, in the end, I can only really offer a 6.5 out of 10 to them. I like them, but they didn't change my life quite so much as they did during the Star Wars promo.

While I was at the store I spotted something else that came as a bit of a surprise to me. They had a huge box of Chocolate Pop Rocks! I wouldn't have expected them at the grocery as I'd never seen even normal Pop Rocks there before, but they had really quite a lot of them. As I'm eternally curious and easily won over by gimmicks I figured I would give them a try. What they are is normal (in theory) unflavored Pop Rocks with a coating of milk chocolate (the real stuff, complete with cocoa butter instead of some lesser vegetable fat). Because of the coating they don't start popping as quickly as the normal pop rocks do, but once the chocolate starts to melt they start to fire up pretty vigorously. The chocolate itself is not bad stuff, but nothing exceptional either. And you could taste the candy underneath the chocolate as well, which was a little strange. The general opinion among those I shared them with at the office was that they weren't bad, but not as good as normal Pop Rocks. One person said they reminded him of Vernors and Milk. Not a combination I have any experience with, but after hearing that comparison I was convinced I could spot a little Vernors in the aroma. They really weren't my cup of tea and nobody I talked to would be willing to pay money for them but at the same time they weren't bad and have a nice gimmick going for them. I'll call it a 5 out of 10.

Coming up I have the 3 Musketeers Mint bar. Is it as good as the normal one? Here’s a hint: NO!