The LuLac Edition #5, 477, October 25th, 2025

 

FOOD-TASTIC

NEWS

CHOCOLATE

DUBAI STYLE

Amid the constant flow of new microtrends and TikTok-viral recipes, only a few food trends tend to stick around for a while — but one sweet, pistachio-topped treat aims to be an exception.

Dubai-style Ghirardelli truffles just landed on shelves, and this milk chocolate-covered nest of toasted kataifi and pistachio filling is the latest release proving the Dubai chocolate trend isn’t dead. In contrast to previous versions of the viral dessert, Ghirardelli’s truffle-like pieces offer a bite-sized taste of the indulgent treat that flooded foodies’ social feeds last year. It has all the fixings of a classic Dubai bar: Thick pistachio cream, crunchy toasted dough, and smooth milk chocolate.

About two years after Fix Dessert Chocolatier launched the inaugural version exclusively in Dubai — ironically dubbed “Can’t Get Knafeh of It” — consumers still aren’t satisfied. In this iteration, Ghirardelli says it’s tapping its 170 years of chocolate-making experience to create an “everyday indulgence.”

 

BEST AND WORST HALLOWEEN CANDIES

 

THE WORST

With Halloween on the way, here’s a recap of the best and worst candies you can use.

Necco Wafers — Has a gamey, medicine taste. Very chalk like. People in their 90s will dig them.

Dubble Bubble — Not a candy. If you have fillings, it’s a Dentist’s Delight.

Candy Buttons — Bad candy stuck on paper. Really?

Pixy Stix — This is not actual food.  Plain colored sugar.

Bit-O-Honey —Stickey, hard and tan. Who eats tan candy?

 

THE BEST

TWIX:  Wafer like, good taste. Very popular with the undecided candy lover.

 Skittles — There aren’t many elite fruit-based candies. This is one of them.

Snickers — Very popular, filled with nuts and veery good frozen.

Life Savers Gummies — Good taste, very flavorful  it pops in your mouth.

 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups — The perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter. The variations are incredible. Chocolate lava, Oreo, PB&J, big small, pumpkin size, football size, giant size, red velvet flavored, bunny and Santa size, every damn one of them are incredible. Then there’s the Take 5 with salty pretzel that stands alone with the other fillings. Then there are Reese’s with chips. Someday there will be a Reese’s with pickles and you an bet I’ll buy it.

Kit Kat: light, tasty and has a velvet smooth mouthfeel.

PayDay Loaded with nuts and caramel. Like fine wine, you savor it.

Hershey Dark: Very sophisticated and smooth in terms of taste. Has a bite, but not bitter.

Hershey Milk Chocolate: The standard heritage bar that you can never resist.

M&Ms: A lot of variation in options but my two favorites are the original, peanut butter and brownie. They melt in your mouth and you can jug ‘em if you like.

Chunky: My favorite as a kid. Takes me back to a time when life was simple and they had cashews in them instead of peanuts. But the chocolate while different than Hersey’s , still has a pleasant taste.

Nestle Crunch and Hershey Crackle: Interchangeable.

 

MY TOP 5

1.  The Hershey’s Dark and Milk.

2.  The Reese’s. All of them.

3.  Chunky.

4.  M&M’s. Like the WWII vets who fought and died for this country: it travels well.

5.  Pay Day.  When I have candy time to kill, I do it with a Pay Day.

And then there are the fancy ones:

Non Pareles and Chocolate covered pretzels.

 

SPECIAL MENTION

Peeps: Not fresh, a bit stale for maximum crunch.

Joya Orange Jell Rings. 

ON SALE AT GRERITTY'S