Review - Sanders Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels

I love dark chocolate, I like caramels, and I like sea salt, but when I saw the three of them together in this Sanders Candy, I couldn't imagine it! Sanders is a Michigan candy company, they have been around over 100 years when there were Sanders lunch counters. The lunch counters are gone, but the candy and various confections remain.

I'm not a big candy eater. I'd rather eat cake than eat a piece of candy, but DivaMom received a box of the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels in a gift basket, and I was intrigued. DivaMom doesn't like dark chocolate, so I claimed them right away. I was a bit leery, I mean, I like eating savory and sweet things in rapid succession, but salt on candy? Seemed weird. I opened the box and it smelled like normal chocolate. I picked up the first piece and bit into it. I could taste the salt, the chocolate and the caramel, but my mouth was having a hard time distinguishing the flavors. They were just kind of a jumble. One moment the bitter chocolate was the strongest flavor, the next the sweet caramel, and then the next the salt. Major mouth confusion. I didn't know if I liked it or not. I had to try another...same result. Mouth confusion. I decided to give them a try again the next day.

The next day I knocked off some of the salt granules and tried again. Much better. The saltiness was still there, but the chocolate and caramel were able to shine through. This time the salt brought out the amazing sweet creaminess of the candy, rather than the three flavors duking it out for dominance.

I still don't know if I like the candy. I think I do, but only if I remove some of the salt first. At least I have the rest of the box to experiment with :)

Snowed In! - Pan Fried Hamburgers

I live in Michigan and we got hit with a winter storm over the weekend. I was stuck inside and had to feed myself. Luckily I had a few provisions on hand.

Ground Beef:

To which I added Worcester Sauce, seasoned bread crumbs, and minced onions. Then I formed patties:

And covered the patties in sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. Placed it in the pan with some sliced onions:

while that cooked I toasted a bun in the toaster oven. Once the meat was finished I placed a piece of Swiss cheese on top and everything on the bun:

Surprisingly this turned out much better than I anticipated (ok, so I burned the first pan, but the burger was tasty).

I rarely make burgers at home, mainly because they never taste as good as a restaurant burger, but I have to admit, this one came pretty darned close!