Entries categorized as ‘Products’
Oh man, I forgot about these!
Until, that is, I saw them at my local supermarket and had to call on all my strength not to buy every available box.
While tearing through these like Violet Beauregarde in a Wrigley’s gum outlet, I discovered two things I never knew about these tasty treats:
- They’re New York City icons. The cookies were first sold in Hoboken, New Jersey (across the river from Manhattan), and a full 70% of all boxes sold are consumed within the immediate metropolitan area.
- They’re seasonal. Because the thin layer of dark chocolate melts easily in summer months, Nabisco only puts them out between September and April.
The first point accounts for why I haven’t seen these in a while (I’ve been in Boston and Philly in the last six years), while the second just makes me sad. I guess I’ll just have to stock up and save some boxes in my freezer.
Question: Aside from Cadbury Creme Eggs, what other regional or seasonal products do you stock up on?
Categories: NYC · Products
Tagged: chocolate, new york, cookies, mallomars, marshmallow, Nabisco, Cadbury Creme Eggs
I know you’ve all been eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the wine saga that started with this post.
Who am I kidding? No you’re not.
But in case you’re wondering how homemade Chardonnay turns out in the hands of two suburban retirees and their food-blogging son, that picture tells it all.
Although the darn thing wouldn’t clarify (even after many attempts at filtering) it went down fairly smoothly. I swear. It tasted like a decent white wine, despite its odd coloring.
And when you get down to it, wouldn’t you rather have a better tasting wine than a better looking wine? I thought so.
* By the way, that’s my wife’s hand, not mine.
Categories: Curiosities · Drinks · Problems · Products
Tagged: chardonnay, clarify, DIY, homemade wine
Despite an inspired notion now and then, I’m not what one would call “a good gift giver.”
I tend to buy mostly gifts in boxes and I tend to buy them late. Sometimes I forget to buy them altogether.
This situation can add up to some pretty wacky gifts. Case in point: the make-your-own Chardonnay kit I got for my mom one Christmas (or birthday or Mother’s Day). It’s not that it’s a bad gift in general; it’s just that my mom really doesn’t drink too much wine any more and I don’t think she was ever a big fan of drinking Chardonnay, let alone making a few bottles worth.
Not surprisingly, the wine kit has spent the better part of a year in my parents’ garage, during which time we probably could have started a private label wine company. While combing through the aforementioned garage for stuff to sell, I came across the box, dragged it out, and decided to kick start the process myself.
The first step was sterilization of equipment. Using the included solvent, I scrubbed down every plastic piece as if each was a life-saving surgical tool. One thing to be prepared for is that there are a lot of little powders included in wine-making, so be sure you separate the sterilization stuff from the rest. This will ensure that your wine doesn’t kill you… quickly.
Next, you combine the viscous concentrate, which is stored in this funky looking space-age bag, with some filtered water to make the… let’s call it “pre-wine.” For some reason, the concentrate is really dark, which I found strange for a supposedly white wine mix. But maybe losing pigment is part of the fermentation process.
Regardless, the next step is to get the pre-wine into the plastic wine cube, as they say in the business. This involves the complex process of siphoning: putting liquid on one level and a container on a lower level, and adding a tube.
My parents’ kitchen was slowly transforming into Mr. Wizard.
To finish off the first day’s worth of activities, you screw on this other plastic doohickey, fill it halfway with water, and let the whole contraption stand for many, many moons (I think about 12 days).
The folks just today checked in on the stuff and siphoned it back out of the wine cube and back into it again. My mom reports that the liquid is now a mysterious amber color.
Check back in late August for another update.
Categories: Drinks · Products · Tools of the trade
Tagged: chardonnay, fermentation, making wine
Mom started growing basil, so I took a picture.
And just in case you didn’t believe me, I took another.
At this point, you may be asking yourself: “Hey, why such a boring post?” The answer is August.
Categories: Products
Tagged: August, basil, gardening, plants
People often ask, “What’s the perfect food for doing taxes?”
My answer is the delicious and non-nutritious Cadbury Creme Egg. With its simple concept and sweetly unnatural ingredients, the egg provides a perfect escape from the all-too-real world of deductibles and itemizations.
I was eating just such a treat the other day when a thought struck me: Didn’t these things used to come out around Easter?
I ate my first one this year in January. JANUARY! How far back can they push this limited-opportunity opportunity? Christmas? How weird would that be to explain to kids?
“Here’s your Christmas Creme Egg, honey. Eat it all up and don’t ask me again how a holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ is associated with the eating of fake chocolate eggs starting just after his birthday.”
It seems that this not the first time this crazy candy has caused controversy recently. First, some dude got pretty famous (Internet-wise, at least) for doing what so many of us have dreamed of doing - substituting creme eggs for real eggs in a cake recipe. Needless to say, it didn’t turn out so well.
Then, it was revealed that the current size of the egg is indeed smaller than it used to be - a fact uncovered by that guy from The Office during an appearance on some NBC talk show. (How’s that for detailed reporting?)
All of which brings me to this interesting, but somewhat unrelated point: Chocolate is hard to make.
If you look at how labor-intensive and time-consuming a process it is to transform cacao seeds into the thing we call chocolate (as detailed here), I think we can allow for a few PR hiccups now and again.
No matter how it shrinks, how early in the year it debuts, or how poor a substitute it makes for the genuine foodstuff on which it’s actually based, I’ll keep eating the creme egg.
Unless they change the definition of chocolate. That I cannot abide.
Categories: Curiosities · Products
Tagged: cadbury creme egg, candy, chocolate, Christmas, definition, easter, treat
Winter is upon us and nobody is eating ice cream. What a sad state of affairs.
Well, I’m here to tell you that ice cream isn’t just for summer anymore. In fact, it never was. For citizens all over this glorious nation - especially kids and grandparents - ice cream isn’t a seasonal treat. It’s a year-round delicacy.
Though many a “fresh” ice cream stand are closed in this season of discontent, your nearest supermarket or convenience store is still open… right? The war for your hard-earned dairy dollar doesn’t break for cold weather and neither does its Geneva Conventions - me.
For your amusement, I am pitting the two major pint barons (Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s) against each other in the ultimate blog-etition. Spoons will cross, packaging will sweat, and the contents will soften. Let the ice cream war begin!
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Categories: Dessert · Products
Tagged: ben & jerry's, chunky, competition, haagen dazs, ice cream, low fat, meltability, pints, smooth, vs.
February 11, 2008 · 1 Comment
Is anyone else obsessed with those ads for Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls? They’re not laugh-out-loud hysterical, but I find them oddly soothing. (If you’re lost, check out all of the commercials and some webisodes here.)
Unfortunately for Jimmy Dean, I identify more with the cloud character, who only eats cereal (because it’s “cold and wet”), than the sun (above) who is an optimistic hawker of fine JD sausage products.
So, with apologies to Jimmy Dean’s marketing department and the true cereal obsessives (e.g. Seinfeld) whom I could never hope to emulate, here’s my Top 5 Favorite Cereals.
1. Cracklin’ Oat Bran
The operative word here is “Crack.” This stuff is so good, but so expensive, you might as well cut it up and sell it in baggies outside the supermarket. Bonus points for the apostrophe.
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Categories: Products · Shopping
Tagged: breakfast, cereal, cheerios, cloud, crackilin' oat bran, frosted mini-wheats, honey bunches of oats, jimmy dean, life cereal, rice krispies, sun
January 16, 2008 · 1 Comment
So here’s a mystery for you: why does the Pad Thai made by Chinese places taste better than Pad Thai made by Thai restaurants?
Maybe this is not a universal rule, but it sure holds true in Philly. I’ve been to at least three Thai joints here, and only two Chinese places (one of which is our regular: Square on Square), and I have to give it to world’s oldest civilization: they know how to culture-hop.
For anyone unfamiliar with the dish, Pad Thai is a stir-fry noodle dish that usually has some combination of a meat (usually shrimp), tofu, peanut crumbles and egg. It’s usually served with bean sprouts and a wedge of lemon or lime and can be considered, along with fried rice, the very definition of Asian comfort food.
This weird contradiction of tastes, in which I prefer the “fake” version over the authentically prepared food, got me thinking about other such anomalies. The only one that popped into my head was syrup.
Am I the only one that prefers to drown my waffles in Aunt Jemima rather than natural tree blood?
I think not.
Categories: Curiosities · Products · To Go
Tagged: asian comfort food, aunt jemima, authentic, chinese food, fake food, maple syrup, original, pad thai, square on square, thai food
Trader Joe’s is awesome. They have great food, great prices and a friendly, accommodating staff.
But even though Trader Joe’s has captured a majority of my food shopping dollars recently (mostly owing to the fact that the store is only three blocks from my apartment), they don’t fulfill my every food need.
Look, I love generic Joe’s products as much as the next guy. From chickpeas to chicken, they get the job done. But sometimes you want the comfort of the real thing. Even if the real thing is just clever marketing.
Here are five things I wish I could get at Joe’s:
1. Jif peanut butter
Granted, I haven’t tried Joe’s equivalent but, well… I just don’t want to. I love me some Jif.
2. Tomato sauce
All of Joe’s sauces have preservatives, unlike the snobby, high-end sauces (like this one) to which I’ve become accustomed.
3. Eggo waffles
Sorry, I can’t leggo my Eggos.
4. Ice cream pints
Joe’s has maybe two flavors from Ben & Jerry’s. None from Haagen Dazs. There’s a whole segment of the population that lives on this stuff: they’re called Americans.
5. Cereal
Life, Cheerios, Frosted Mini Wheats - me likey the pretty boxes.
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And just to be fair, here are five things I prefer from Joe’s.
1. Pizza dough
It’s good, it’s cheap and it never disappoints. Insert innuendo here.
2. Pita chips
A-frickin’-ddictive. Sea salt is my new favorite salt. A close second: salt.
3. Chocolate truffles
Just get them and I won’t need to explain.
4. Apples and pears
You can’t miss with Joe’s produce, but I’ve been particularly impressed with these fruits.
5. Cheeses
Nowhere as good as DiBruno’s selection or quality, but for the price, it’s a pretty good start.
Categories: Products · Shopping
Tagged: cereal, cheese, eggo waffles, ice cream pints, jif peanut butter, pita chips, pizza dough, trader joe's
November 9, 2007 · 1 Comment
My cousin is part of a Beer of the Month club and got this in last month’s allotment.
Ya gotta love the marketing. And who wouldn’t trust a company called Shmaltz?
Categories: Products
Tagged: beer, he'brew, messiah bold
