soon....
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Still working on these Maltesers right now.
Damn, shits are good.
This is where it's at for me as far as breakfast is concerned nowadays.
The days of separating the oat pieces out of bowls of Lucky Charms are behind me and I need to eat a breakfast that can feel like it's somewhat nutritious. There is something about these that make me eat bowl after bowl after bowl.
Baked up some Pumpkin bread. I had two of these boxes of Pillsbury quick bread mixes left over from Thanksgiving of last year. Finally got around to baking one up on Sunday night. Totally forgot that I got these in my snack package from Cody and Anna:
Extra Puur. Because standard Puur isn't good enough. Yeah, I was thinking of putting these chocolate sprinkles on Pumpkin bread. Not the most standard or logical of decisions, but who cares. I'm sure it'll taste good.
The Snackmaster fun fact: These easy-to-prepare boxes of baked breads/cakes/brownies were once MUCH easier to make. Back in the 60's they got the powder mixture perfected so that all you had to do was add water, stir, pour and then bake. However, focus groups determined that people wanted to feel like they were more engaged in the preparation process, so they redesigned the prep routine for you to add eggs and oil. I guess people felt too depersonalized by such an easy process and wanted to still feel like they were adding their own touch to it. I'm lazy. I'd rather just add water. Meh.
Also grubbing:
These I HAVE found in the States quite often. They're really easy to find at those "higher end" bodegas in NYC. The European or Asian bodegas will often carry them, although not in this precise form. These are smaller bars consisting of 5 bite size partitioned pieces. This pack of 16, however, carries more weight and lasts longer than a single store bought bar.
Next time on The Snackmaster: "Donuts. Are you doing it right?"
Damn, shits are good.
This is where it's at for me as far as breakfast is concerned nowadays.
The days of separating the oat pieces out of bowls of Lucky Charms are behind me and I need to eat a breakfast that can feel like it's somewhat nutritious. There is something about these that make me eat bowl after bowl after bowl.
Baked up some Pumpkin bread. I had two of these boxes of Pillsbury quick bread mixes left over from Thanksgiving of last year. Finally got around to baking one up on Sunday night. Totally forgot that I got these in my snack package from Cody and Anna:
Extra Puur. Because standard Puur isn't good enough. Yeah, I was thinking of putting these chocolate sprinkles on Pumpkin bread. Not the most standard or logical of decisions, but who cares. I'm sure it'll taste good.
The Snackmaster fun fact: These easy-to-prepare boxes of baked breads/cakes/brownies were once MUCH easier to make. Back in the 60's they got the powder mixture perfected so that all you had to do was add water, stir, pour and then bake. However, focus groups determined that people wanted to feel like they were more engaged in the preparation process, so they redesigned the prep routine for you to add eggs and oil. I guess people felt too depersonalized by such an easy process and wanted to still feel like they were adding their own touch to it. I'm lazy. I'd rather just add water. Meh.
Also grubbing:
These I HAVE found in the States quite often. They're really easy to find at those "higher end" bodegas in NYC. The European or Asian bodegas will often carry them, although not in this precise form. These are smaller bars consisting of 5 bite size partitioned pieces. This pack of 16, however, carries more weight and lasts longer than a single store bought bar.
Next time on The Snackmaster: "Donuts. Are you doing it right?"
Saturday, April 9, 2011
THE RESURRECTION!!!!!
First of all, many thanks to nitecruzr, davidchin38 and Brett from Blogger for their assistance in getting The Snackmaster blog back and fully functional. As you may or may not know, the blog had been "deleted" or frozen for almost a year. I don't know why, doesn't matter, I'm back in business.
You should know that I didn't start this blog as a joke. As such, it should come as no surprise to hear that, although the blog was inactive, my snacking was not.
Bong bong.
I'm not going to go on an exhaustive year long recap, so I'll just throw out some quick notes on my recent favorites.
First of all, there is a Little Caesar's Pizza place down the street from me. This one has an insane deal where you can buy a large cheese or pepperoni pizza and an order of the "Crazy Combo" breadsticks (takeout only) for $7. (Sidenote: the "Crazy Combo" earned it's name because of the wacky and unpredictable combination of garlic bread and marinara sauce. Anyway...) This, as you probably know from experience, is a ridiculous price for a large pizza, not to mention the garlic bread. So I've been doing that every other week or so.
Cheddar Cheese and Cracker Combos.
Lord on high.
Not sure if I've covered these in the past. Either way, they deserve more attention.
They've been a favorite non-sweet snacking favorite of mine for a few years now. There is a mysterious exceptional quality to these, in both idea and form. Combos claim to use real cheese in the making of their snacks, but something that tastes this good simply cannot be made from non-artificial ingredients.
Another fun fact about Cheddar Cheese and Cracker Combos is that they are not only a favorite of mine, but also my cat's. My cat has been known to try to break into bags of my snacks in the middle of the night, causing an irritating and rude awakening from my sleep. When and why she does this is almost always completely random. I can leave the same bag of random snacks out two nights in a row and sometimes she will try to attack them and sometimes she won't. Cheddar Cheese and Cracker Combos is always the exception. Every time I leave them unattended she will make a move on them. She would even lust after them so badly that often she will try to sneak up on the bag AS I'M EATING THEM.
Clearly this annoys the hell out of me, but it also touches me. It is kind of special to know that we share such a passion for something so singular and unique. So much so that I had a grand plan for her 10th birthday. As a special treat, I was going to empty out the cheese from the center of an entire small bag of Combos and put it on a dish for her to eat. (The middle part is clearly what she was going for. On a few of her first successful ventures, I woke up the next morning to find several half-hollowed Combos scattered on the floor next to a torn bag.)
That WAS the plan. A month after I formulated this idea I found out that she is diabetic. While I'm still not sure technically how her diet interferes with her insulin shots, this clearly does not seem like a good idea. Sigh.
Europe.
Their chocolate.
My good friends Cody and Anna are such wonderful people who always think of me when they spend time in Europe. Today I received a package from The Netherlands packed full of a variety of Europe's finest. I have been eating the bag of Maltesers while writing this post. They're pretty damn good. I was fearful at first that they would taste like Whoppers. Structurally, they are almost identical to Whoppers except the center is a bit more airy and crisp. I have never been a fan of Whoppers. I always thought the "malt" flavoring was much too strong. Maltesers' malt flavoring is much more subdued and even. Of course the chocolate casing is a finer chocolate as well.
The Haribo Kindermix is pretty good. These are easily classified in the gummy bear genre of snacks, yet they probably are the biggest gummy bear snacks I have ever eaten. The consistency is slightly different as well, as are the fruit flavorings. All in all a solid gummy snack.
(****EDIT**** They also have a licorice flavored one in the mix, and frankly I'm not too sure how I feel about that ****EDIT****)
I honestly can't tell you what the official name brand of these are. Whatever it is involves some combination of the words Eti Puf Renkli. These are clearly the grandfather to the Hostess Sno Ball. They are about the size of a marshmallow and are consistent with the design of the Hostess Sno Ball: sprinkle covering, marshmallow inside with a sweet cracker flooring. I feel like the choice to include these in the package was probably the most exciting selection for Anna and Cody to make. While being a relative of the Sno Ball, they are truly an extravagance and I can safely say I have never seen anything like this in the states.
So that's it for today. Welcome back to The Snackmaster! Please feel free to comment or suggest anything that comes to mind!
You should know that I didn't start this blog as a joke. As such, it should come as no surprise to hear that, although the blog was inactive, my snacking was not.
Bong bong.
I'm not going to go on an exhaustive year long recap, so I'll just throw out some quick notes on my recent favorites.
First of all, there is a Little Caesar's Pizza place down the street from me. This one has an insane deal where you can buy a large cheese or pepperoni pizza and an order of the "Crazy Combo" breadsticks (takeout only) for $7. (Sidenote: the "Crazy Combo" earned it's name because of the wacky and unpredictable combination of garlic bread and marinara sauce. Anyway...) This, as you probably know from experience, is a ridiculous price for a large pizza, not to mention the garlic bread. So I've been doing that every other week or so.
Cheddar Cheese and Cracker Combos.
Lord on high.
Not sure if I've covered these in the past. Either way, they deserve more attention.
They've been a favorite non-sweet snacking favorite of mine for a few years now. There is a mysterious exceptional quality to these, in both idea and form. Combos claim to use real cheese in the making of their snacks, but something that tastes this good simply cannot be made from non-artificial ingredients.
Another fun fact about Cheddar Cheese and Cracker Combos is that they are not only a favorite of mine, but also my cat's. My cat has been known to try to break into bags of my snacks in the middle of the night, causing an irritating and rude awakening from my sleep. When and why she does this is almost always completely random. I can leave the same bag of random snacks out two nights in a row and sometimes she will try to attack them and sometimes she won't. Cheddar Cheese and Cracker Combos is always the exception. Every time I leave them unattended she will make a move on them. She would even lust after them so badly that often she will try to sneak up on the bag AS I'M EATING THEM.
Clearly this annoys the hell out of me, but it also touches me. It is kind of special to know that we share such a passion for something so singular and unique. So much so that I had a grand plan for her 10th birthday. As a special treat, I was going to empty out the cheese from the center of an entire small bag of Combos and put it on a dish for her to eat. (The middle part is clearly what she was going for. On a few of her first successful ventures, I woke up the next morning to find several half-hollowed Combos scattered on the floor next to a torn bag.)
That WAS the plan. A month after I formulated this idea I found out that she is diabetic. While I'm still not sure technically how her diet interferes with her insulin shots, this clearly does not seem like a good idea. Sigh.
Europe.
Their chocolate.
My good friends Cody and Anna are such wonderful people who always think of me when they spend time in Europe. Today I received a package from The Netherlands packed full of a variety of Europe's finest. I have been eating the bag of Maltesers while writing this post. They're pretty damn good. I was fearful at first that they would taste like Whoppers. Structurally, they are almost identical to Whoppers except the center is a bit more airy and crisp. I have never been a fan of Whoppers. I always thought the "malt" flavoring was much too strong. Maltesers' malt flavoring is much more subdued and even. Of course the chocolate casing is a finer chocolate as well.
The Haribo Kindermix is pretty good. These are easily classified in the gummy bear genre of snacks, yet they probably are the biggest gummy bear snacks I have ever eaten. The consistency is slightly different as well, as are the fruit flavorings. All in all a solid gummy snack.
(****EDIT**** They also have a licorice flavored one in the mix, and frankly I'm not too sure how I feel about that ****EDIT****)
I honestly can't tell you what the official name brand of these are. Whatever it is involves some combination of the words Eti Puf Renkli. These are clearly the grandfather to the Hostess Sno Ball. They are about the size of a marshmallow and are consistent with the design of the Hostess Sno Ball: sprinkle covering, marshmallow inside with a sweet cracker flooring. I feel like the choice to include these in the package was probably the most exciting selection for Anna and Cody to make. While being a relative of the Sno Ball, they are truly an extravagance and I can safely say I have never seen anything like this in the states.
So that's it for today. Welcome back to The Snackmaster! Please feel free to comment or suggest anything that comes to mind!
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