I just put up a review of chocolate truffles over on my review blog. While the effort was salvaged in the end and tastes lovely, I was thoroughly annoyed by the entire experience. Here's why:

• It was pitched as easy. It was not easy. And I'm not being terribly subjective -- something easy does not take six hours in the kitchen.
• In order to make the truffles, you had to temper chocolate. There were no instructions included for how to temper chocolate. Instead, a tempering unit not included with the review materials was referenced as how to temper the chocolate. Which made me want to blow things up.
• You needed a candy thermometer to temper the chocolate. I bet it's in that tempering unit I didn't have!

The woman I worked with was thoroughly pleasant and the end result tasted great. But this was an experience that could've been so much better had more forethought gone into the level of kitchen competence of the reviewer -- and really -- the target audience. Especially after I asked about the tempering kit and was told no-go.

I take full responsibility for not thinking through -- based on the picture, despite the fact it was labeled "easy" -- whether it would be something worth my time to do. I didn't get paid for this review, and no, nice chocolate is not worth an entire Sunday in the kitchen.

The little angel had fun, so I'm happy about that, but once again, I need to really think about the value of my tiny shred of free time and how I want to spend it. I haven't reviewed food in almost two years, and I'm just mad at myself right now for taking this on.

If you're just starting out doing product reviews, please learn from my mistake. If everything you need isn't going to be included, think about what that means for you. Ask how long it takes on average to complete the task necessary to review the product. I do book reviews all the time, and I know it takes hours and hours to read a book. It's all a matter of how you want to spend your time. I've reviewed 164 things over the years, so mine was a mistake I should not have made.

There was nothing inherently wrong with the product. The publicist was nice and will most likely be mortified when she reads my review and this post. But in all honesty, this was not pitched or executed correctly, and honest feedback is the most valuable thing a reviewer can provide, to both the audience and the publicist.

And for those of you that are all, tempering chocolate? I do that in my sleep! Please try this product, because you would love it.