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It Started with HELLO (is it me you’re looking for?)

3 Oct


When I was contacted about a campaign for a new chocolate from Lindt, I was thrilled. I am a lifelong Lindt fan, picking up a truffle (or two) when I need a little special treat.  This campaign was for their new line, Lindt HELLO chocolate, which includes Lindt HELLO chocolate bars (the variation I found) as well as sticks and mini sticks.   The campaign is “Lindt It Started with HELLO.”

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There is a fun web series on the HELLO YouTube page with videos co-produced by Ashley Tisdale. I couldn’t help but giggle at some of the funny scenarios and I love the “choose your own ending” variations.

They are also running a great #ItStartedWithHELLO Sweet Connections sweepstakes.  You just need to visit the landing page and enter your email address.  You can enter every day until 10/14 and there were 5 weeks of prizes and 2 weeks are left:

Week 4: Sweet Staycation (10/1 – 10/7)
• Lindt HELLO treats you to a pampered night in – movies, books + chocolate!

Week 5: Besties Reunion (10/8 – 10/14)
• Reconnect with your bestie at the spa for a day + Lindt HELLO chocolate to sweeten the deal.

*No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & D.C., 18 years or older (19 in AL or NE and 21 in MS). Void where prohibited. See Rules at for weekly sweepstakes entry periods, prize descriptions, odds and other details. Ends Noon on 10/14/14. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: Lindt & Sprüngli (USA) Inc., One Fine Chocolate Place, Stratham, NH 03885.

 

So how about the chocolate?

To answer the title question… YES! It is you, HELLO, I have been looking for.

I was on a business trip with my new colleague in LA and we were running from meeting to meeting, getting to know each other and trying to avoid too much sun exposure in the 100 degree plus October weather (LA… I expect better from you!)  We realized we were running late for a meeting and didn’t have a chance to grab a bite.  Her coveted stash of trail mix had melted in the hot car, however, I had just found two of the HELLO bars flavors as I picked up some necessities at a pharmacy and, thankfully, they had not melted.  I explained to her that I was actually blogging about the product and she was excited to try it with me.  I had picked up the Crunchy Nougat and the Strawberry Cheesecake and my colleague opted for the nougat.

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One bite and we were both hooked.  It was all the delicious, rich chocolate taste of Lindt but with a caramelly, buttery, slightly crunchy center.  When I get a box of chocolates, I stick my finger nail in the bottom of them looking for the ones that have this filling. My colleague and I kept remarking about how good it was and then she said “well this made my entire day!”  She said that she was going to go get a few bars of this immediately to bring back to share tonight with her friends.  I can’t blame her.  I will be pursuing this little gem of a treat for a long, long time.  And what a great treat to sustain us through our whirlwind of meetings.

A few hours later and I am now on a plane back home, with a blissfully empty seat next to me.  I decided it was time to try the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor.  HELLO to making air travel better!

This time I took more care opening the bar (as opposed to ripping it open in the car) and the packaging is quite cute.

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They are doing a great job with keeping it cheeky and fun.

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And they gave chocolate a real personality.

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The inside of the Strawberry Cheesecake also has great texture.  There is the definite flavor of the graham cracker crunch, creamy cheesecake, and then the strawberry flavor.  The strawberry flavor reminded me of the one that is in ice cream sundaes.  Really nice flavors and textures.

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Though I definitely loved the Crunchy Nougat even more.

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I am looking forward to sharing these with my husband, a fellow chocolate lover, when I get home.  I need to keep searching around to find the Cookies and Cream flavor (since that is right up his alley) and the Caramel Brownie (which is right up my alley) as well as the sticks and mini-sticks bag.  YES PLEASE! More HELLO!

Can’t wait to try them all!

Don’t forget to enter the sweeps and check out the video series with new celebrities and YouTube stars coming out each week!

Full disclosure:  Today’s post is sponsored by Lindt HELLO, but my new love for HELLO and #ItStartedWithHELLO is all my own.

Restaurant.com GIVEAWAY!

10 May

I love being able to feature giveaways for my readers, but I love it even more when it’s for a product that I already use and love.  Restaurant.com emailed me to ask if I would feature a giveaway for their gift certificates.

If you don’t know Restaurant.com, you are missing out on fantastic deals.  They sell gift certificates to specific restaurants that enable you to get deals like $25 worth of food for $10 or $100 value for $40!  (They also run sales regularly where you can get it for a lot less…  They just Tweeted an 80% savings for using the code word “MOM” this weekend!).  I think it’s a great way to be able to try out a restaurant you might not have ordinarily stumbled upon.  (The gift certificates also make excellent gifts to any friends you have that love food.  One of my all-time favorite gifts, personally!).

They have over 15,000 restaurants listed in the following cities:

  • Atlanta
  • Baltimore
  • Boston
  • Chicago
  • Cincinnati
  • Cleveland
  • Denver
  • Detroit
  • Houston
  • Los Angeles
  • Miami
  • Minneapolis
  • New York
  • Philadelphia
  • Phoenix
  • Pittsburgh
  • Portland
  • Riverside – San Bernardino
  • San Diego
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • St. Louis
  • Tampa
  • Washington DC
They also have guides for each of their cities (you can see the NYC guide here).
GIVEAWAY!
As for the giveaway, Restaurant.com has kindly offered a $25 gift certificate to Restaurant.com for FOUR lucky winners!
To enter, simply leave a comment on this post about the best restaurant dining experience you have ever had.  Did you have an amazing birthday dinner at one of the finest restaurants in NYC?  Did you find a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served great food for next to nothing?  Is the diner on the corner your favorite place to eat?  Tell me all about it!
You can also get additional entries for each time you tweet, Facebook, link to this post, or tell a friend to stop by and check out NYCNomNom.com.  Please be sure to let me know you did so in a comment, or you can email it to me at sara@nycnomnom.com.
I will be accepting entries until 5pm EST, Monday, May 16th.
Good luck and Happy Nomming!

Svelte Giveaway: WINNERS!

3 May

Thank you to everyone who posted and linked for the Svelte Product Giveaway.

Thanks to the wonderful powers of Random.org, we have three lucky winners, each of whom will receive a flavor sampler pack:

Winner 1: Michelle Treasure “3 pm is the worst time of the day for me, right when my energy starts to fade. Unfortunately, it is also right in the middle of important work meetings. These shakes would be perfect!”

Winner 2: Amy Rouse who Tweeted about the sweeps and commented: “need my energy boost at 5 p.m. to gear me up for my weight training workout!!!!”

Winner 3: Amanda T. who shared the sweeps on Facebook and Twitter and commented: “I definitely need an energy boost every morning I wake up.”

Winners, please email me your name and address so Svelte can send the products to you: sara@nycnomnom.com

Happy (healthy) Nomming!