Check this out ... a couple of months ago I did an email interview with Craig Courtice of the National Post (Canada) for a possible column, then I told him about my upcoming adventures at the All Candy Expo in Chicago and he expanded the column article to a full one that’s the cover of the Avenue section (in Arts & Life in the physical paper) after we did a long phone interview while I was at the Expo.

Sweet Success
Cybele May, the creator of Candy Blog, lives by the philosophy ‘lower your expectations, broaden your horizons.’ In following this mantra, she’s created a new life for herself
by Craig Courtice, National Post

If you’re able to get a hold of the physical paper, let me know how it looks, they used a bunch of my photos and I haven’t seen it yet!

UPDATE: Here’s a preview of what the physical paper looks like! Shazaam!

Here’s some hot news to cool you off this summer…

Twix is running a promotional giveway right now. Sure, you can win Twix bars, but you can also win:
- 42” HD Flat Panel TV
- Surround sound audio system
- $1000 for hosting a party
- Baseball memorabilia
- A cooler
- A portable grill

The entry requires more than just your name and address though - there’s an essay portion where you testify to Twix’s awesomeness at helping you through difficult decisions (the theme is “Chew it over with Twix”).

Enter at their special promotional website ... you’ve got until July 9th, 2006! If you win, you have to invite me over for a candy themed movie night.

I’ve been compiling the Frequently Asked Questions, and one of them deserves a post of its own.

How Can I Get Cool Foreign Candy?

Besides the many webstores devoted to difficult to find or foreign candy, you can easily get your own assortment of tasty treats. If you’re willing to play by the golden rule, that is.

Candy Swaps!

The newest candy swap site is called Gimme Your Stuff:

What’s it all about?

Welcome to Gimme Your Stuff, the cultural exchange blog where you can swap items of significance to your area with items from others around the world. A conduit for many an international cuisine to change hands. A place where you can trade a newspaper from South Africa, or a CD from Finland. A place where we take no responsibility for anything anyone else does. A place where we are Changing the world with other people?s stuff.

Of course it’s not just about candy, but I’m a firm believer in the universal language of sugar.

Don’t have a blog? There’s also a Yahoo!Group called CandySwappers that has a devoted group of candy traders with over 250 members.

If anyone is involved in either groups, report back, I’m curious to know how it’s going!

While working on the Frequently Asked Questions, one subject has come up that I thought might demand its own post. How did I start writing about candy?

That question assumes that there was a time that I didn’t write about candy.

To illustrate this, I present a short story I wrote at the age of 10. As embarrassing as it is to reveal my earlier works, it is kinda funny that the only fiction I can find from my grade school days has candy as a main subject.

There’s not much text, so I retyped it as the caption for the page images. Click here to see the story.

Here’s a fun new added feature for CandyBlog.net! I’ve started mapping candy using Frappr.

If you’re not familiar with Frappr, it’s an interactive map creator that uses Google’s maps and the ability to create custom “pins” with photos and info.

I’ve added about a quarter of the posts made so far here at CandyBlog to the map - you can find places near, explore places you plan to visit or just see where your candy comes from. I’ll be adding lots more as the weeks go on, but I thought I’d give everyone a sneak peek!

You can roll over each little pushpin on the map for a photo and name of the company. I’ve categorized them into factories, stores and tours, so you can find places that you can actually visit. Each callout for the location includes a link back to a post here on CandyBlog for more information about the company, tour or candy.

You don’t have to be a member of frappr to use the map (I’m not asking you to divulge where you live ... this is just for you to browse.) At the moment it just covers the United States, but I’ll slowly expand to other countries as they’re supported by the system.

I’ve been working on a list of Frequently Asked Questions for CandyBlog, but I’m sure there are plenty of Frequently Unasked Questions as well.

What would you like to know about CandyBlog? Post something here in the comments section and I’ll add it to the FAQ to be posted late this week.

Regular candy reviews continue as usual below.

This weekend is the Sweets Expo in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It’s a consumer trade show and fantasy destination featuring sweets, candy and confections a-go-go.

Sadly, I’m not there, but happily one of CandyBlog’s regular readers, g, is there and covering it all on a special blog: Sugarholic.

Check it out ... she’s already had her first chocolate experience since arriving in Toronto and the show doesn’t start until tomorrow!

Jealous? Fear not, there will be another Sweets Expo this summer in Montreal and this fall in Vancouver. I’ve never been to Vancouver ... hmmmm.

The winner of the CandyBlog Blogroll Challenge Drawing is .... Shauna! A package will be mailed out later this week with far more candy than you ever thought I could cram into a little box.

Everyone’s support and linkage is greatly appreciated and I liked looking at everyone’s blogs and sites (and I’ve added a great many of them to my RSS reader). I hope everyone else got a change to click around and see what CandyBlog readers are up to!

I’ll be doing another drawing again soon. If anyone has any suggestions for a sort of challenge to include as part of it, let me know here.