Angie's Kettle Corn

my bag was the new yellow design

Popcorn.

It's an evil treat. It tastes so good, you gobble it up, and it's gone before you know it.

I grew up on regular popcorn - either popped by my parents or stock sold at the movies. We had a popcorn maker that we occasionally brought out, but then my favorite was always the Jiffy Pop - the little foiled pie tin with a handle that you would cook over the open flame of the stove.

I love watching that thing pop into a giant ball and then when you ripped it open, all the steam would come out. So hot, fresh and tasty.

(There's a joke in there somewhere.)

Then of course there were the variations of popcorn: Fiddle Faddle, Crunch & Munch, and (of course) Cracker Jack. Sweet and salty... and sometimes you got a prize!

In elementary school on game days, I'd occasionally buy a rectangular block of pink popcorn. On some holidays, I'd receive a nice popcorn ball as a treat.

And then the evolution of popcorn delivered unto me one of my best friends and vilest of addictions: kettle corn.

I believe I first experienced kettle corn during my fair days. My mind immediately conjures up a dude in an apron behind a giant black cauldron-looking thing (I could totally be wrong on this). And all he'd do all day at faire was make kettle corn.

I think I shared some with a friend and after they let me snack on some, I was immediately hooked and wanted my own bag.

The fresher, the better.

So since renaissance faires aren't all day, every day, the only time I could buy tasty goodness from the vendor was weekends when faire was going on, and I was able to make it.

Then kettle corn became a thing and everyone was making and selling. At the time, all I came across were microwaveable kettle corn, and let's just say... no.

Keeping an open mind, I tried various kinds /brands of kettle corn, but nothing measured up to the sweet treats of renaissance faires. Nothing tasted as good.

Until now.

Can we say "snazzy logo"?

Recently I attended a Halloween party, and toward the end of the evening when a handful of us were left, I began cleaning up a bit. Like last year, there were lots of snacks that the hosts were trying to send home with people. I think I got cookies, chips and Wheat Thins.

This year? I got a bag of kettle corn.

I was starting to PMS. I thought it'd be something to nosh on during my "gimme salty" food cravings and while watching shows on Hulu.

I didn't notice until later (I think I had finally made it home) that it was kettle corn. It was also a brand I had never tried before (Angie's), so I thought, "Why not? I can try it and write about it."

Now in taking time away from devouring the bag to actually look at the bag, I see that the ingredients include: popcorn, sunflower oil, evaporated cane juice, and sea salt.

The serving size is two cups which gives seven servings per 7oz bag... and seeing as I was given the rest of the open bag (which was maybe 2/3 full)... I ate a lot of servings (each serving being 140 calories).

The bag of the bag states this is "goodness you'll love" since it's...

• all natural
• no artificial anything
• cholesterol free
• who grain
• no high-fructose corn syrup
• vegan
• no trans fat
• kosher
• certified gluten-free
• non-gmo project verified

Now... aside from that last one, that all sounds healthy, right? (But wait, there's more.)

May contain the following: Delight = 25,000mhz, snack satisfaction = 39 ROI, flavor density = 1700 G/CM, happiness = 1.21 gigawatts.

That last one was a Back to the Future reference, dammit, and one of my favorites, so how can you NOT love this snack already?

Furthermore, it's just... AWESOME! It reads healthy, and it doesn't taste like society assumes healthy food tastes like (which is crap). 

When you get a moment, you should read their story which is posted on their website. 

Would I ever try this again?: Does a bear shit in the woods? LOL! But seriously, yes, I would. In fact, I want to know where the person who brought this stuff bought it. Most likely Whole Foods or some such.

(And while writing this post, I finished the last of the kettle corn. And there was much weeping and sadness.)

Angie's Artisan Treats, LLC
1918 Lookout Drive

N. Mankato, MN 56003
1-888-982-4984

http://angiespopcorn.com/

Blue Diamond Almonds: Toasted Coconut

Nuts! A good source of protein.

After work yesterday, I ran a few errands hitting Wal-Mart and then Target.

While at Target (which was just a window shopping "I wonder if they have this thing I'm looking for since Wal-Mart didn't have it" kind of thing), I perused the snack aisle thinking even though I was tired, I'd come home, watch some Hulu and nosh on something while finally seeing the Arrow pilot.

Not bad. I was quite pleased.

Also being behind on my updates, I thought I might find something to write about here. As luck would have it, something caught my eye.

Behold! Toasted coconut almonds!

Now, I love me some nuts just as much as the next girl - (go ahead... make the joke... I set it up that way on purpose...) - but coconut?

I love coconut. While looking at the can, I debated on picking it up and not another flavor that I know I would love (like the wasabi/soy sauce... AWWW YEAH!), but I figured Hey... why not? 

I just couldn't wrap my head around how they could incorporate coconut flavor with almonds. The sweet with the salty has already been established as a success, but this was just something I couldn't imagine correctly.

Maybe it also had to do with the fact that I was really tired leaving my creative, imaginative quotient to almost nil.

So here I go today cracking open the little canister of nuts hoping for the best.

Their flavor is odd. You can definitely taste the coconut though it's not overpowering which is a good thing. It's subtle though obviously there and quite tasty.

Scanning over the nutritional facts, I see a lot of words that I would never use in regular conversation (whether talking to someone else or just myself), so I won't even bother telling you if this is good for you or not. You can judge for yourself. (Just remember - snack in moderation.)

But the thing that I think is funny (or at least made me mentally chuckle a bit), is at the end of the ingredients, it specifically says in CAPS and italics (so you know they mean it)...

PEANUT FREE. MAY CONTAIN OTHER TREE NUTS.

Okay, so when I grab a container of almonds, I don't even think "I hope there are some peanuts in here" and then after reading the fine print getting all kinds of bummed, then flip a table on a baby seal in the middle of the street and yell, "I want my peanutty almonds. I want my money back."

You know what I mean.

And what's this "other tree nuts" crap? When I think of tree nuts, I think of a movie where I saw a whole mess of monkeys in a tree... and you know how sharing they are of their privates.

But really. Is this a problem? Can nut companies not keep their nuts separate? I mean, I've eaten fast food before and found a stray French fry at the bottom of my onion rings, but that's a little different. Unless Blue Diamond is branching out or dealing with other nuts, why would their be other nuts with my almonds?

And right here on the side. It says "From the Almond People". Why would you call yourselves "the Almond People" if you're going to possibly have other nuts in your product?

WAY too many nut jokes.

Would I ever try this again?  While tasty in that weird kind of way, I have to admit that this flavor is not my favorite. If at a party, and they were in a dish of a table of snacks, I might eat a few, but I don't think I'll be getting them again on my own any time soon.

Blue Diamond Growers
Sacramento, CA 95812
USA

http://bluediamond.com/

Hotlix Crick-ettes (Bacon & Cheese)

Needed more bacon and cheese, less cricket

I had no idea what I was going to write about this month. I hadn't really tried anything new, and in all honesty searching for something to write about was the last thing on my mind, but when I had updated all my other story blogs for August, I was left with this one.

While hanging out with Kathy W at her house tonight, we were talking about writing and stories, and I made the comment that I was almost caught up with my updates for the month and had one left (this one). After thinking for a bit, she popped up off the couch, disappeared, and returned tossing a small box at me over the coffee table.

The box? Bacon and cheese crickets.

Now in all honesty, my first reaction was HELL NO! - but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the box, staring at the little critters wrapped in cellophane. I kept turning the box this way and that watching them slide around. Some had wings. Some were missing limbs. All of them looked like crickets.

There was a voice in my head that just said, "Okay, let's do this," but I couldn't bring the rest of me to completely trust that voice and follow along. Still, I stared at the package.

Kathy explained that she had (as did all of her family members) received this as a present in her Christmas stocking last year (which would only make it almost nine months old). Do bug snacks like this have a shelf-life? There was no expiration date on the box or the cellophane. What does that say about the treats inside?

Probably: Try at your own risk.

On the "I'll try anything scale" of life, Kathy has way more experience and way more daring than me, and I kind of hate that. I mean, I love trying new stuff, going new places, but eating bugs? I thought my hesitation odd since several years ago while at an Asian candy shop buying dried salty plums, I saw as one of the impulse items by the register a small plastic container of dried baby crabs, and I just grabbed one, shoving it forward with the rest of my purchase. The bodies of the tiny crabs were the size of a dime and were slightly seasoned.

The crickets were smaller though prepared seemingly in the same way, and claimed to taste like bacon and cheese (two of my favorite things).

At first I just kept looking at the box. Then as Kathy prodded me to try one, I said I would try one on two conditions: if I could have one with no wings or appendages, AND if Geoff T did one with us. I followed her into Geoff's room where she explained the situation and after staring at the box for a few minutes, he said no. Then after much giggling, we left his room and headed back into the living room... where I continued to stare at the box.

The voice in my head grew louder and more convincing, taking more and more control over the rest of me, and I finally conceded. Kathy ripped the limbs and wings off of one and handed it to me. With my boozey beverage at the ready to wash out any possible ick left behind from this experiment, we toasted our respective bugs and ate.

Praytell, what did I think of them?

BACON AND CHEESE, MY ASS!!!

So the cricket was crunchy. You can even hear it on the audioboo I posted, and I wasn't even that close to my iPhone. But aside from the impressive crunch, that was it. The flavoring promised on the package did not deliver in any of the crickets I ate (which after the initial one, I was fine eating them. Kathy and I pretty much split our shares down the middle, me getting a little more in the end.) I tasted maybe a tiny breath of bacon, but not enough to make a difference. Also they were just big puffs of crunchy air.

When I ate the dried baby crabs, the only crunch came from the shell since the insides during the whole process of drying them out turned their insides pretty much to dust (much like the crickets) - but they tasted better. I didn't need handfuls to get a good taste or to be satisfied. They were just tasty, salty goodness.

I have a feeling the other two flavors are just as (un)impressive.

The crickets tasted like flimsy sunflower seed shells and quickly lost any flavor they had (which pretty much was none).

The packaging was entertaining though so I'll tell you about that.

The snack had a Net Wt of 1.4g. Skipping the ingredients entirely, the nutritional facts make me chuckle stating a serving size is 1.4g (a whole box), and that the serving per container was... you guessed it... 1. Nine calories per serving/box. (So Kathy and I had about 3.5 calories each.)

Toward the bottom of the nutritional facts in small print, it says "Not a significant source of cholesterol, dietary fiber, sugars, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, and iron." (Really, Sherlock?)

My favorite part about the box was the cricket illustration below... which I will just let speak for itself.

Good for a chuckle, eh?

Would I ever try this again?  Meh, I dunno. I mean, maybe sitting around for almost nine months contributed to the lack of flavor. Maybe not. All I know is that it sure didn't leave a lasting first impression on me as well as any desire to seek out either of the other two flavors. (I am curious about their non-insect candy selection though.) Still... I think it's the most interesting thing I've tried and written about on this blog. That should count for something, right? (Yeah. Thought not.)

Hotlix
PO Box 447
Grover Beach, CA 93483
1-800-EAT-WORM (328-9676)
info@hotlix.com


http://www.hotlix.com/insect_candy/crickettes.html
http://www.hotlix.com/index.html
http://www.hotlix.com/non-insect_candy/non-insect_candy.html

Hello Kitty Spumante

"Kitty Juice" made in Italy

When I found out my friend Alithea S was coming to town for a visit (her birthday is August 10th y'all, just so ya know!), I was happy.  Then Kathy W told me that she was going to snag her from SFO, and we'd get her for Dusty's World.  Another happy thought.  I met Kathy at her place and from there we headed to the airport to grab Alithea. 

We parked and waited for her at the gate as people were arriving.  Eventually she walks up with her purse and what could be construed as a souvenir bag.  Hugs are exchanged, and she then explains she had to make a pit stop, and we find out the bag is filled with Hello Kitty wine.

Oh yes.  Hello Kitty wine. 

I've seen Hello Kitty airsoft guns (of which I want one) and Hello Kitty sex toys (of which I want one purely for novelty sake cuz come on... doesn't every Asian chic need a Hello Kitty sex toy? LOL!), but now there's wine -  an awesome thing I can totally get behind and want to partake in.

So we made it back to Kathy's, and I thought she was saving the wine for some other occasion, but she told me to bring it in, and the spumante was chilled.  We snacked, chatted, drank, listened to the show, and helped take care of Geoff T (who had laser eye surgery that day and was not supposed to open his eyes for something like 12 hours... in fact, per his doctor's encouragement, we were plying him with booze and anything else we had in our arsenal to get him to rest/sleep to promote not opening his eyes... I think we succeeded).

This is pic I took of the bottle.

I think it was sometime after the show was over that we poured out the "kitty juice" and doled it out to almost everyone (save maybe Geoff who might have been laying down in his room at this point).

Let me state right off the bat that I am mainly a red wine and dessert wine drinker, but I will go to tastings and try any wine you place before me. 

With that said, this wine was dry and crisp, and according to Kathy the "dry" warning was on the back of the bottle instead of the front where she's used to it being.

Ohhh, and there are DRINK RECIPES per the website I found!!!


Would I ever try this again? It was tasty but not a favorite.  Still if I was out with the girls and all we had was spumante, I'd toast and imbibe with the rest of them.  Also curious about the other wines.  And come on... it's frakkin HELLO KITTY!!!

http://winefromtheboot.com/hello_kitty_wines_spumante.php
http://winefromtheboot.com/hello_kitty_wines.php

Jalapeno Microwave Popcorn

Ahhh, there's a happy fellow, huh?

So when you go to your Girlfriend's house, and she asks you if you want to experiment, what's the worst that could happen?

One Thursday last month I went to my friend Kathy W's house for our weekly dose of Dusty's World, and as we got our beers for the toast at the beginning of the show, my "Girlfriend" (aka Kathy W) asked me if I wanted to experiment.  After the millions of jokes recited themselves in my mind, I told her I was game, and she disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a package.

A popcorn package.

Jalapeno Microwave Popcorn.  Batch #37.

She had received it as a stocking stuffer or something and hadn't tried it yet.  (She loves to share experiments.)

So let me break down my inspection of the package before she unwrapped it and nuked it.

On the cover of the bag was an image of a man who looked like he was screaming his head off.  On the side of the bag by his face it says "Pain is good."  On the other side of his face is a "pain gauge" which marks the popcorn we were about to munch on as medium (between mild and hot).  This delicious treat also has a net weight of 3.25 oz (91 g) and is made in the good ol' U S of A.

And for those virgin popcorn poppers out there, take heed the print that states:

Caution: when opening; hot steam.

From the package...

"Not just another pretty face and not just another jalapeno popcorn.  You're going to scream with delight, bite after bite.  Make sure you have your favorite cold drink in hand just in case the Pain is too good!"

That part I found entertaining since I'm the hot wuss when it comes to my friends, and I loved this stuff.  When Kathy poured it into the bowl, it looked to me like salt and pepper popcorn.  Yes, there were occasionally those kernels that had a little more seasoning than others, but overall, it was rather tasty, and I was sad when the bowl was empty.  So PAIN?  The only pain I experienced was when there was no more.

Okay, technical crap... like ingredients: popcorn, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, artificial and natural flavors, color, jalapeno pepper and spices.  (Sounds almost 100% healthy for ya, right?)

Serving size is 3.5 cups (or 32 g for those that count things like that) making servings per container (um, don't you mean bag?... though I guess a bag is a container since it contained the kernels... anyway, I'm babbling... wait, where was I?... oh yeah) 3.  To serving sizes all over, I laugh in your general direction as I give you the finger.  But seriously... when you make a big bowl of popcorn, you're just sharing the joy?

And by joy, I really mean the 160 calories.  

Would I ever try this again?  Sure.  It's a tasty treat that I wouldn't turn down.  (Also on the website, there's a treat called "Cheesecake in a Jar" that comes in traditional and chocolate flavors that I want to try.  No it's not spicy, but damn... sounds so yummy. 

Manufactured for and Distributed by:
Original Juan Specialty Foods
647 Southwest Blvd
Kansas City, KS 66103
1-866-568-8468
http://www.originaljuan.com/

Nathan's Famous Honey Mustard Crunchy Crinkle Fries

Look at me!  Don't I look tasty?

Sitting in my room watching/listening to my shows and can't sleep.  Also PMS'ing like a bitch, and when I'm in that mode (thank you special time of the month), I get snacky for salty goodness.

Last week I hit the store for some random snack/breakfasty items, and one thing popped out and caught my attention.

Now I will admit that I originally thought they were pretzel bites (like Hanover's), and I thought it said "honey mustard and onion" (which is my favorite flavor of Hanover's), but I hadn't really touched the bag until just now since I was craving something salty.

I whipped out the bag and saw that they were fries (not pretzels), and they were just honey mustard (no onion).

No matter.  The salty goodness is still there.  AND?  They don't taste half bad.

The "crunchy crinkle fries" look like puffed cereal the size of Lego pieces with ridges.  When I popped the first one in my mouth, I could immediately taste the flavor.  It tasted just like the dressing (which is one of my favorites).  I personally don't think it tastes too overpowering, but then again, that's only my opinion.

Now of course this isn't the healthiest of snacks (140 calories per serving - which is an ounce and the bag gives you roughly four servings), but it's good in moderation... unless you're a writer currently PMS'ing in which case you eat the whole frakkin bag.

(Oink!  Oink!  I is a PMS piglet!)

The ingredients are comprised of words I either can pronounce and know what they are or words I've seen before but will never be able to use in Scrabble.

The only warning of any kind is that it "Contains: Dairy".  Other than that, it's your normal junk food kind of snack. 

Would I ever try this again?  Sure.  Granted it didn't leave a lasting impression, but it didn't suck.  Plus there are other flavors that I'm curious to try.  I've only found it in one place, so I think that helps my snack habit.  The puffed snack part is all right, but I'd rather have a chip.


Distributed by:
Inventure Foods, Inc.
Goodyear, Arizona 85338
http://www.inventurefoods.com/

Questions or comments:
ATTN: Inventure Customer Service
643 N. 98th St. #133, Omaha, NE 68114
1-866-890-1004
info@inventurefoods.com

For information about Nathan's Famous
visit www.nathansfamous.com
Made in The USA

Rockstar Relax (Relaxation Drink)

The color scheme makes me think of
Jamaica. How about you?

Today (technically yesterday/Friday by the time this post is being written, but I don't consider it the next day until the sun comes up so...) I was going to a book event out of town with a couple friends, and I knew that I'd most likely be groggy due to the whole "insomnia being a frakkin bitch" thing so I figured I'd get me an energy drink of some kind.

I had some errands to run before I met up at my friends' place to carpool to the event (The Bloggess is awesomesauce!).  I first headed to the AM/PM down the street from my house to get gas and opted to get a bottle of water for the trip, a 7Up for my upset tummy, and some energy thing of some kind that I could drink to help me wake up a little for the event.

As an aside, I've come to the conclusion if energy anything has any kind of effect on me, it's delayed by a few hours.  Still, the only proof that energy drinks have any effect on me is if I either have a 15-16 fl oz can on an empty stomach (oh yeah, that's a fun treat for everyone) OR if I have one too many which left me once with incredibly shaking hands after a three-hour drive to visit family.  My mother's husband was home, but she was still at work, so I retired to "my room" to watch The Lost Room on my media player.  I laid down on the bed and held my media player above my head with both hands to find my hands shaking a la Gene Wilder in the Blazing Saddles.

And let me tell you right now that if you're not familiar with that movie, I don't think we can be friends.

Moving on...

So while at the coolers in the mini-mart, I saw that they started Rockstar Coconut Water so I got one of those, but then I saw this weird colorful can that I hadn't seen before on the shelf below the one I had just grabbed.  It was red, black, yellow and green, and I wondered What the frak is this?

And of course I whipped it out.

It was called Rockstar Relax (relaxation drink).  Intrigued I read on to see it claimed to be caffeine free, non-carbonated, tropical guava flavor, sugar free and a calming herbal blend.

Since the place is always having a sale on drinks like this, I got it and the coconut water both for $4.00-ish since one would be more than half that.  (Yeah, I'm all kinds of thrifty.)  After I was done pumping gas, I went about my day's errands and didn't chug the coconut water until I was on my way to meet my friends.

I saved the "relaxation drink" for the evening when I got home.  (The insomniac in me is willing to try pretty much anything to help me get to sleep at a reasonable time without waking up every hour or so eventually crawling out of bed restless and unhappy.)

At first taste, it reminds me of the juice Rockstars that I've had before (of which I still prefer the grape although both flavors are good) in its consistency.  The taste is much like a tea (at least to me).  I'm used to drinking sweeter teas like ones dispensed from soda fountains at gas station snack bars or fast food restaurants.  This tea taste is a little sweet though not much.  Kind of like an Arizona tea.

Looking over the can again, I see that I'm back to drinking for two (since the can says half is one serving).   

Thanks Rockstar for making me waste one bazillasecond of my life thinking of how fat I am for consuming two serving portions.  The humanitarian award goes to...?

Ingredients...

• triple filtered purified water (that's some serious water)
• citric acid
• phosporic acid, 
• sodium hexametaphosphate (that last word makes me think I sound smart when I say it out loud... also the hexa part makes me think of hexapumas from David Weber's Honor Harrington books)
• natural flavors (from where?  from what?)
• rooibos tea extract (this would explain the tea flavor I tasted)
• benzoic acid
• sorbid acid (what the frak is up with all the acid in this drink?)
• passionflower extract
• rose hips extract (more tea stuff)
• acesulfame potassium (first word... something else to make you sound smart when said aloud)
• sucralose (sugary stuff)
• L-Theanine (no idea)
• chamomile flower extract (tea stuff)

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN.  This product may cause drowsiness.  Do not operate a vehicle or heavy machinery following consumption of this product.

Now I'm assuming the statement above is two in one and not meant to be read together since (if they did go together), I'd imagine sleepy kids trying to operate their big wheel or game consoles while falling asleep or passing out from tossing back a couple cans of this "relaxation drink".

You smell that?  That was SARCASM... by Calvin Klein.

The ULTIMATE? I don't think

CHILL OUT AND RELAX IN STYLE.  Ultra premium ingredients deliver an incredible level of relaxation.  Enhanced  with chamomile & passionflower, ROCKSTAR RELAX is designed for those who need to unwind and take a breather from their active and exhausting lifestyles.  Enjoy this incredibly refreshing, tropical guava flavored relaxation drink chilled.

Who writes this stuff?  It sounds like a glorified resume.

The only way I see this relaxing me if it was loaded with either booze or pot, and since this has neither... I just drank a can of stuff that tastes like tea and now I have to pee.   (Well done, Rockstar.  Well done, indeed.)


Would I ever try this again?  Sure.  Why not?  Granted it won't be something that I'd actively seek out again, but it really didn't do anything for me.  I do, however, commend Rockstar and making a drink that does (or claims to) the polar opposite of what their other drinks do.  It seems fairly common sense to me for a company that supplies you with uppers also provide downers as well.  *cheeky grin*

http://www.rockstar69.com/product.php?pdt=22

http://www.rockstar69.com/

ROCKSTAR, INC.

Las Vegas, NV 89109 USA

Chewy Extinguisher Sour Citrus Candy

They all look like they're in various stages of anal distress

I'm always on the lookout for sour candies that'll make me happy.  Ever since the candy shop in the mall that I would go to and get my sour gummy goodness before catching a flick at the theatre closed, I have been a regular visitor to Sadsville.

Now, that's not to say I can't get my sour gummies elsewhere... but this place had such a wide variety of flavors, it was awesome.

And no... Sour Patch Kids DO NOT do it for me.  (They just don't taste right.)

So unable to depend solely on my sour gummies anymore, I have been on the lookout for other sour yummy candies.

What I'm looking for is not something that'll make my mouth pucker more than a cat's anus.  I'm merely looking for something that is sour in an "oh yeah... that's sour" kind of way while still being able to look at people without appearing as if a parade of Smurfs has just exited my keester.

You're welcome for the visual.

While at the new candy store near my house, the dude working there saw me walking around and asked if he could help me with anything.  So... I asked him what he had in the way of sour candies.

One of which he drew me to were the "extinguisher" candies.

I have seen these candies before, but something about them kept turning me away.  They didn't seem like they'd make me happy, but after years of saying no... upon the employees suggestion, I decided to give them a go.

Never again.

This tiny little box has a tray of colored candies inside that correspond with the lovely cover.  If the cover is to be believed, orange (tangerine) is the mildest at 'tangy' followed by yellow (lemon) as 'sour' with green (lime) being 'super sour'.  Now the premise of this candy is that you can eat whichever sour bad boy you choose, but if you need a breather, you can get 'sweet relief' by popping one of the (berry) blue ones.

I don't know if it was the sour powder or what, but they all had this aftertaste (maybe the blue ones not so much) just like how most energy drinks have a caffeine aftertaste.

Only this was worse.

I could taste what they were trying to pass off as 'sour', but it was more like off-candy flavor... and that lasted shorter than a finger snap.  While doing whatever would be classified as the opposite of enjoying this candy, I read the box which made me laugh.

Aside from the faces of the candy on the front of the box that, I suppose, is supposed to convey how sour they're flavor is, it asks the question, "How sour can you take it?"  My answer to that would be, "More than you can give apparently."

Then on the back there's a diagram starting with tangy tangerine with an arrow pointing to sour lemon with another arrow pointing to super sour lime then a final arrow to the final candy with the caption above it saying "Can you munch through all 3 sour levels without reaching for the Sweet Mixed Berry EXTINGUISHER?"

Yes, you crappy candy.  I can.

I'm not going to bother with serving sizes because it's a ridiculously tiny box, and I think y'all can safely assume this stuff isn't made with the healthiest of ingredients... but I will say (if for some reason you want to try this) the allergy warning are "contains wheat and soy".

Would I ever try this again?  No.  This was yet another candy claiming to be sour but just left me disappointed and grumbly.

American Licorice Company
Consumer Affairs Group
2796 NW Clearwater Drive
Bend, OR 97701
USA

www.extinguishercandy.com*
*the website is listed on the box though it doesn't seem to exist on the interwebs as of this post

Lychee Pocky

let's have some fun
this snack is sick
I wanna take a bite
of your Pocky stick

Okay, so make all the Asian jokes you want, but I love me some Pocky.  And I also love me some lychee.

And for those that have told me that they don't like lychee since it feels like they're eating eyeballs... you're weird.  Eyeballs are delicious!

Seriously though, here we go...

The candy store where I bought the bacon soda (which was a bad idea... DO NOT DRINK THAT!... unless you find a way to make a delicious alcoholic beverage, then please... let me know) was selling various types of Pocky.

What is Pocky?

Well, essentially it's a tiny breadstick covered in stuff rather it be chocolate or a yogurty fruit topping or nuts.

It's sweet and a little salty and makes me with they were the size of breadsticks from Olive Garden since they're just so damn yummy.

I bought them just before going out of town and visiting my family, and my brother and his wife are selective in what they let their daughter (my love four-year-old niece) eat.

The rule is basically: if you can't pronounce it or know what the frak it is, don't eat it.

So here are the ingredients:  wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, milk powder, lychee flakes, margarine, skim milk powder, cocoa powder, lychee flavoring.

And then there's the allergy advice of: contains wheat and milk.

So I asked my brother if I could share some with my niece (being respective of a kid's parents and all), and he said sure, but he wasn't sure she'd like it.  So while playing with puzzles, I offered her one, and she loved them.  She was so cute... asking me for mas Pocky.  (I loves her to pieces!)

The box was a whole whopping 37g and guess what?  That is also the serving size.  Woo hoo!!!  I can actually see an entire box of yogurt-covered pretzel sticks being a serving as opposed to a small bag of M&M's having 3 pieces be a serving.

In any case, Pocky is yumscious, and I've never been disappointed by any of their flavors.  I mean, it's a simple premise... like the chocolate-dipped soft serve cone. 

Now if they start going the way of Harry Potter Bernie Bott's Beans... *shrug*


Would I ever try this again?  Yup!  I liked it a lot.  It's a nice snack while watching a movie or reading or while writing.  (But aside from saying how tasty it is, I have to say when I looked them up online, their website made me giggle.  So check it out.  The music and outfits.  *grin*)

Imported by:
CTC FOOD INTERNATIONAL INC.
131 West Harris Ave. So.
San Francisco, CA 94080
USA

http://pocky.jp/

Nem Heo (from Lee's Sandwiches)

Yum yum food place!

Tonight I was at a a loss for dinner ideas so like I occasionally do, I texted several friends for suggestions.

One friend suggested Taco Bell which I'd only been to once since they added their breakfast menu.  Another friend suggested KFC.  Then as my tastebuds leaned toward a taco salad of some sort, a friend suggested a Vietnamese sandwich.  When I texted her back with a "Where am I supposed to get one of those?", she reminded me of a food place called Lee's Sandwiches.  I hadn't been there in a while so I started to think... Yeah... a sandwich would be good.

Thanks to my handy-dandy iPhone, I found the closest location and headed on over.  I got the BBQ sandwich on baguette (a #6, I think) which was yummy tasty as well as a pork meatball skewer from the hot case.  While waiting for my order (which included an iced coffee), I went over to the cold case to check some stuff out and found some pre-packaged items next to the cans and bottles of drinks.

The item up for discussion?: Nem Heo

Little pork rolls of joy!!!

They had ones that looked like the picture to the left or like little squares.  I chose the rolls since they were more aesthetically pleasing to me.

According to the tag/label, it said the ingredients were: pork skin, nam seasoning (sugar salt), garlic, pepper.

There were no "cooking instructions" so I've been eating them as is.

OMFG!!!  They are good!!!  But let me warn you right off the bat, they're a little spicy.  I'm assuming the big white bits in the picture I took are the garlic (yay garlic!) and of course the meat stuff is the pork (yay pork!), but when they say pepper, they mean peppercorns which make the rolls just a tad bit spicy... at least for me.  I prefer my peppercorns ground.

I popped the first roll in my mouth and was happy but then tasted the spice and lived (thanks for caring... now you can go along with your day).  The next roll, I took a bite and looked inside and saw some little seeds which leads me to think they're jalapeno seeds...or bell pepper seeds.  In either case, they might have just accidentally gotten into the batch of eight I bought so no harm, no foul.

Though whole peppercorns???  Whole?  Really?

But damn, the rolls are good.

When looking up "nem heo" on the internet, I came up with "nem" meaning "eggroll" and "heo" meaning "pork"?  At least that's the best I came up with.  One post online I found with something that looked similar to what I ate referred to it as "pickled pork" which I can taste so that sounds like an adequate description.

In all the stuff I found online, there wasn't a listing for just "nem heo" though there were listings for things with those two words in the name for the food which resembled what I ate so I'm assuming it's more of a general term like adobo in Filipino food that I've had.  (A friend of mine had sworn that if he was on Death Row, he wanted his final meal to be my mom's adobo, and I had to ask him - since I'm nice - which adobo he meant since there's chicken, beef, pork, squid...)

my friend: (making a face hearing my other adobo options) What's the kind your mom makes?
me: Chicken.
my friend: (hurriedly) Yeah.  Chicken.  That's the one I want.  Chicken.

It pays to be specific.  *grin*

And to comment on the rest of my meal, the BBQ pork sandwich was great and hit the spot as did the pork meatballs and the iced coffee was yummers!!!

Would I try it again? Yuppers!  They were quite tasty.  Now I'm wondering what else they have.  Also wondering where else I can find nem heo aside from Lee's.  

http://leesandwiches.com/2008/