Loacker Quadratini Fresh & Fruity

Three new varieties were added to the Loacker brand of Quadratini creme-filled wafers.

These varieties fall under a special subset dubbed, "Fresh & Fruity", especially designed for consumers which the company says, "...are eager to discover the fascination of a convincing fresh and natural fruity taste and style."

Varieties include, Orange, Apple, and Blackcurrant, and are said to be made with real fruit.

Note: I actually saw these at a Cost Plus World Market last May, and considered trying them out, but didn't.

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Larry the Cable Guy - Valentine Chocolates

Last January, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that Larry the Cable Guy has his own brand of assorted boxed chocolates for Valentine's Day.

Larry has a new line of valentine boxed chocolates, one of which has a cover that looks like the back of a shed, along with Larry's very romantic catchphrase "Git R Done" on duct tape.

We managed to find a photo, on the right.

They were made by a company called, "SRI", out in Heath, TX. Never heard of them.

Too bad we missed this one!

I don't know where you can buy these; they're not on Larry's website.

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Madelaine Chocolate Novelties - New Varieties

Madelaine Chocolate Novelties of Rockaway Beach, NY has some new chocolate confections available.

Among them are these "A Star Is Born" chocolate stars. They come wrapped in either blue or pink foil, and are meant to celebrate the arrival of a new baby. They're sold clear plastic boxes with a corresponding colored ribbon that says, "It's a boy" (or girl). The suggested retail price is $2.99 per box.

To purchase, visit Madelaine's store locator.

Other new varieties include a set of milk chocolate candies for Halloween. The set includes "Oval Ghosts", "Mini Ghosts", and "Crunchy Eyeballs".

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Murray Sugar Free Cookies Goes Splenda

Murray Sugar Free line of cookies is being reformulated with Splenda.

The company, owned by Kellogg's, had previously relied on sorbitol, often known as "sugar alcohol". If not eaten in moderation, it often results in frequent toilet seatings.

The new reformulation apparently still includes sorbitol, but now also includes Splenda (sucralose).

First up on the list of reformulated cookies is the company's Chocolate Chip variety. They boasted the results of a recent independent taste test noting that respondents liked the new cookie just as much as Chips Ahoy brand of chocolate chip cookies.

The company plans to reformulate their entire line of cookies by next year.

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Woodlake Farms Organic Ice Cream

Woodlake Farms is a relatively new brand of organic ice cream novelties.

Included in the line are the Ice Cream Bars, described as smooth organic vanilla ice cream enrobed in rich organic milk chocolate coating, and Ice Cream Sandwiches, described as smooth organic vanilla ice cream sandwiched between round sweet organic chocolate wafers.

The brand uses pure Madagascar vanilla with farm fresh organic cream, no preservatives, and no trans fat.

While they're distributed in the USA by Edy's Grand Ice Cream, they're made by Mr. Cookie Face, a line of no-sugar ice cream sandwiches.

Ecomeal appears to be selling them online.

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Jonny Rapp's Baked Fries

KLN Companies, better known for its line of Barrel O' Fun potato chips, recently released "Jonny Rapp's Baked Fries" as part of the same line.

The new french-fry look-alikes comes in Cheddar & Bacon and Hot 'n Spicy varieties.

A 3.5oz bag retails for $1.00 each.

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Sugar Free Chick-O-Sticks

The Atkinson Candy Company of Lufkin, TX, famous for its "Chick-O-Sticks" is now offering a sugar-free variety.

Chick-O-Sticks are made from fresh-roasted "Texas Grade A Jumbo" peanuts, which are ground into chunks, mixed with salt and sugar, rolled into sticks, and then dusted with toasted coconut.

But instead of sugar, the sugar-free variety is sweetened with Splenda.

The company is also offering sugar-free versions of their Atkinson Mint Twists and Peanut Butter Bars.

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Mini Potato Drumstick Snack

Buffalo Hot Wings is a new brand of snacks offering something dubbed, "The Original Mini Potato Drumstick Snack".

(note, the URL provided didn't work as of this writing)

Made by the Mediterranean Snack Food Company of Mountain Lakes, NJ, they're crackers based on potato and corn flour and then seasoned.

Varieties include "Spicy Classic with a Hint of Blue Cheese", "Blazin' Hot", "Sweet N' Sassy Honey BBQ", and "Tangy N' Savory Teriyaki".

The company says they have 30 percent less fat per serving than regular potato chips, and are "100 percent natural". Yup, they actually do grow on trees.

A 6oz box has a suggested retail price of $2.49 each.

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Bubble Toons Bubble Gum

Bubble Toons Bubble Gum is a new product from Niles, IL-based Imaginings 3, Inc., the makers of the Flix Candy line.

Each piece of Bubble Tons Bubble Gum has a cartoon picture printed on it. Actually, the picture is printed on a piece of rice paper which dissolves in your mouth. I suppose it's a progression from Botan Rice Candy, which has the same rice paper, but with a separate tattoo.

The company also says this gum will turn your teeth and tongue a certain color, temporarily, depending on the flavor.

Varieties include, Scooby Doo (apple & watermelon), Trollz (strawberry), Care Bears (blue raspberry), and Hot Wheels (blue raspberry).

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Dave's Smokin' Nuts

Dave's Gourmet, Inc., famous for its "Insanity Hot Sauce", announced the launch of new "Dave's Smokin' Nuts".

They're described as delicious chipotle barbecue peanuts with a smokey flavor and just a little bit of heat.

Priced at $6.99 per 10oz can.

Buy it online from Dave's Gourmet.

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Anna Shea Chocolates

Anna Shea Chocolates is a small chocolate shop in Tarrytown, NY, that opened up for business in 2004. They just recently launched their e-commerce website so that chocolate lovers across the country can purchase Anna's fantastic creations.

Among her personal favorites is the Le Coeur de la Mer, her dark chocolate ganache with a sprinkle of Greek sea salt. Looking really sophisticated is the Puleo, dark chocolate ganache with port wine, and the Midsummer Nights Dream, described as white peach with honey, sounds yummy.

After studying the art of chocolate-making in Paris, Anna opened up her shop with her husband Tim. Check out their entire line of confections.

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Najlas Gone Nuts!

Najla's Catering Inc., of Louisville, KY, announced the release of their newest offering, "Gone Nuts!".

It's described as an outrageous mix of macadamias, pecans, walnuts, and almonds, tossed together in a zesty blend of spices. In addition to everyday snacking, the company says they're great in salads, or coarsely chopped and layered between softened gorgonzola cheese.

Visit the company's store locator.

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Wendy's New Vanilla Frosty

Wendy's International announced today that it will begin offering nationwide availability of its new Vanilla Frosty in its Wendy's fast food restaurants.

Up until now, the world's third largest hamburger chain offered its popular Frosty in only one flavor, chocolate.

Wendy's has been testing the Vanilla Frosty at locations in Pittsburgh, Erie, San Antonio, Portland, and Youngstown, where customer response and sales have been positive.

The company's founder, Dave Thomas, came up with the idea for the Frosty dairy dessert. He loved thick milkshakes growing up and wanted a dessert on the menu that was so thick you had to eat it with a spoon. The Frosty is a cross between a milkshake and soft-serve ice cream.

Nationwide availability starts this August.

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Dunkin' Donuts Offers New Smoothies

Dunkin' Donuts announced last April that it added a line of fruit smoothies to its menu of drinks and snacks.

Made from yogurt and real fruit, the smoothies were rolled out into New England and Florida, and as of today, are now available in Michigan. Nationwide rollout should be completed this Summer.

Varieties include Wildberry, Mango Passion Fruit, and Strawberry Banana.

The donut company is touting their smoothies as a way to keep time-strapped people, who don't have time for a meal, energized to take on their day while providing them with Vitamin C and Calcium. Each smoothie contains 2.5 grams of fat, and 360 calories.

The new smoothies coincides with the company's new advertising campaign, centered around the concept of how Dunkin' Donuts' serves fuel for hard working Americans.

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Blog Template Changes

I did some major revisions of the blog template on JFB.

Previously, the entire template was in an HTML table. I've now removed the table, and used CSS to layout the columns.

I had to do this because it was loading very slowly in Internet Explorer. When you visited the blog, you'd get the wallpaper right away, and then about 20 seconds later the page would finally display. This happened because the way IE renders tables. It has to load everything in first, before it can display a table. It so happened that the ads and eBay listings often took several seconds to load in.

The reason why I used an HTML table in the first place is to ensure greater consistency from one browser to another. You can't go wrong using simple HTML. But with CSS, each browser renders things slightly differently. You'll notice that in this new template some things are missing, like the wallpaper, the Google Link Units on the Item Pages, and the JFB header image is no longer hyperlinked back to the home page. This is because of CSS inconsistencies between IE and Firefox. Actually, IE seemed to render most things well, with Firefox screwing up a lot of stuff. In order to fix the Firefox issues, it would have screwed up IE.

I can get the missing items back in, it'll just take more time. I'm not a proficient programmer.

But hopefully now, you can get your junk food fix more quickly.

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