Hershey's New Chocolate Kisses

I was watching Law and Order: Criminal Intent (a fantastic show, by the way. I usually don't watch much TV, but now I've watched two episodes in a row) when my program was interrupted by a commercial for a new kind of chocolate by Hershey's: Air Delight Kisses. As you might already know, a Hershey's Kiss is a little pyramid-shaped "drop" of chocolate. The "Air Delight" comes into play because Hershey's added little air bubbles into the center of the Kiss, a process technically known as "aerating" (and thus creating "aerated chocolate").

I cannot think of any reasonably decent reasons as to why Hershey's made such a pointless product.

The first thing that came to mind is how revolting the texture of the chocolate would be. Granted, I have not tried an Air Delight Kiss yet, but it seems that chocolate with holes in it might not exactly be the most ingenious idea. If you just look at the picture of the chocolate (below this paragraph), I think you would agree that the chocolate just looks defective. To me, it looks like worms have been burrowing inside this chocolate and the tunnels are the result of their movements. It looks gross and squishy and like it would just collapse in your mouth. I don't understand what textural/flavor appeal this chocolate would have over the regular Hershey's chocolate.

Furthermore, the economic side of me immediately raised a red flag. If I put air into my chocolate, I would use less chocolate to make each Kiss. Therefore, I would be selling less chocolate at the same price. I looked this up online, and the following numbers are from candyblog.net:

The same “classic bag” of solid Kisses is 12 ounces. The Kisses Air Delight is 9.4 ounces. A standard portion size (200 calories) is 9 pieces (40 grams). For Air Delight it’s 11 pieces (41 grams). So each Air Delight Kiss is approximately 3.64 grams, while a classic Hershey’s Kiss is 4.44 grams, or approximately 18% lighter.

There you have it, almost as clear as day. Hershey's is shortchanging you 2.6 ounces of chocolate candy per aerated candy bag, which comes out to be roughly 21.67% less chocolate by weight. In other words, you're probably going to pay the same amount of money for these weird aerated chocolates than you would pay for the standard chocolate Kisses, even though you're going to get significantly less chocolate.

So why bother buying them?

Apparently, as I have found out researching for this blog post, aerated chocolates are supposed to be a big deal in those other countries: Japan and the UK, for example, already have aerated chocolates in major brands. The total market for aerated chocolates is roughly half a billion dollars, and the demand for these chocolates is predicted to increase.

I don't quite think Hershey's made the smartest play here. These aerated chocolates look disgusting and cost more than regular Kisses. I love chocolate and I love air, but I certainly don't see the need to put them together.

Quick Updates

Some really quick updates:

1. I lost my phone. And wherever it is, that poor soul will be woken up tomorrow morning at 6:50 and will have trouble turning off the alarm.

2. Blogger has changed its format so I don't really know how to make new posts and stuff, but I'll learn.

3. I've been exhausted lately. I just try to squeeze too much into one day.

4. I've also been having a rather blank slate of ideas...I can't think of anything to write/blog about.

5. I got a Betta fish in August or so. He's blue and he's really pretty :) His name is Alpha (or, more accurately, the little Greek symbol for alpha -- the lower case one).

That would make him....

[Wait for the bad joke...]

An alpha Betta.

6. I wish I had more time to talk to my best friend more....

Anyway, that's about all I can think of right now.

I'll see if I can post a picture of my new fishy on the blog....but the pictures of him are on my phone, and my phone is.........


Have a good night.

The Rest of August

So.

Let me attempt to summarize August between my last post and now.

1) I climbed Mt. Whitney! :) [It wasn't that hard.]
1b) I saw an air evacuation take place (small yellow helicopter).
1c) The backpack trip was roughly 49 miles (with a roughly 45lb backpack...which got lighter as food was eaten).
1d) I also have a couple of good scars from that trip.

2) There's something wrong with me. My abdominal area is hurting like crazy and I have rather mild gas. It feels like my intestines are stretched out with bloaty-ness.

3) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is horrible. Amy Foster (by the same man) is much, much better.

Anyway....I think that's all I have for about now.

Geez, my stomach isn't doing well.

PS: I hope all the Hurricane Irene people are doing alright. Praying for you :)

May 24: Blood Drive Day

On Tuesday, May 24, I had the opportunity to donate some blood to the blood drive at the local high school.

Overall, the entire procedure took about an hour and a half (11:05-about 12:40). However, I'd say a good 30 minutes was just waiting around doing nothing waiting for the nurses to attend to me, as well as 15 minute waiting period at the end.

So, first, they did a quick ID check, then they took my hemoglobin level by (rather painfully) pricking my middle finger.

After passing that test [and I'm thankful I did-- a number of people had low hemoglobin levels, so they weren't allowed to donate blood in fear that they would pass out] I was given a roughly 50 question survey which asked rather disturbing questions that I don't think are appropriate to post here.

Having answered my survey, I sat in a chair and did absolutely nothing for about 15 minutes, just waiting in line for an interviewer to become available. After the interviewer reviewed my survey questions and took my blood pressure, the interviewer gave me a basket full of vials and whatnot I was directed to a chair-- the blood-giving line.

Gee, was I excited, haha. There were a lot of students texting on their phones and looking extraordinarily bored. I was mostly nervous. Would it hurt?

Finally, a very busy Asian nurse came and directed me to a makeshift bed. She took my BP again and cleaned my arm with this very nifty sponge and water/alcohol dispenser. Finally, timidly, I asked her if it would hurt. She replied with a nonchalant "Well, we have to break the skin." (Gee, really?) She tied a cuff around my arm and slid a needle in a vein on my left arm. It didn't hurt that much, really, but I didn't look at it go in.

And then she had me squeeze a ball of tape every 5 seconds or so. Really, the needle just itched a whole bunch. But it was a bit cool and scary to see my blood filling a pouch. It really is, quite simply, a rather boring process. Squeezing the wad of tape got a bit boring after the first twenty minutes.

After around 10 minutes, I was done. The nurse quickly slid the needle out of my arm (I looked away again). Geez, having the needle taken out of your arm hurts a lot! I looked at the pouch of blood and I wanted to take a picture of it but the nurse took the blood away before I could whip my phone out of my pocket. She bandaged up my arm and told me I had to keep it on for 4 hours after that.

An entire pint. I felt rather accomplished. She quickly asked if I felt thirsty or tired or faint (no to all), then directed me to the waiting area at which I had to wait 15 minutes. Most lightheaded-ness and fainting occurs within 15 minutes of donating blood, I believe. The rest area had cookies and juice and crackers. I ate a lot (shhhh, don't tell). It was lunch time, after all.

All in all, I think that giving blood was a rather painless experience and it is definitely something I would do again. I'm glad that I was able to donate my blood to someone else. Someone probably needs it much more than I do.

Anyway, I called the hospital a couple weeks later via a card with my donor ID on it and I was informed that I'm blood type B positive (B+).

Finally, I just want to post a picture of my bandaged arm.

Red badge of courage, indeed.




If you ever get a chance to donate, I strongly suggest you do.

Have a good day.