We have a coffee-bar in the front lobby of my workplace; coffee, of course, but also soft drinks, sandwiches, pastries, and such. The ladies that run the shop are great, usually remembering which staff members enjoy what items, pointing customers in the right direction, and offering up occasional commentary and jokes. Oh, and there’s also soup. And with soup, there has to be crackers, right? So every once in a while, I swing by and grab a pack or two of the crackers - just something to nibble on. Paula, one of the managers, kept teasing me about stealing…and lo and behold, look at what I found the other day when I went to get some crackers…

Looking for something to snack on last night while strolling through my favorite grocery store, I stumbled across something new: Caribou Coffee Granola Bars. I was intrigued: cute drawing of a caribou, coffee, chocolate…hmmm. Never heard of the Caribou brand, and I don’t like “mocha” or chocolate-flavored coffee, but as a snack bar, it seemed promising. Purchased a box, took it home, unwrapped a bar, and immediately noticed that the bar had the delightful aroma that you experience when you walk into a Starbucks. Took a bite, and was transported to Flavor Country; it was like some sort of delicious dessert at a nice restaurant, packaged into one small bar. Good, good stuff.

Recently, we got sorta hooked on addicted to Moose Tracks ice-cream…it’s delicious! But while at the grocery store this evening, I spotted “Bunny Tracks” by the Blue Bunny brand, and check out this action: “This creamy vanilla ice cream comes loaded with your favorite goodies - chocolate-covered peanuts, peanut butter-filled chocolate bunnies, a thick chocolate fudge ribbon and a peanut butter caramel ribbon!” Emphasis MINE: it has little bunnies in it! Pardon my enthusiasm, but this is exactly the kind of thing that convinces me to plunk down my cash…peanut butter-filled chocolate bunnies! Folks, it doesn’t get any more whimsical than that!

Took the kids through Taco Bell drive-thru the other night, and noticed this sign in the window. It reminds you about the “Fourth Meal” — the meal between dinner and breakfast. (more…)

Whenever the local schools are having the kids hawk the “World’s Finest Chocolate,” I am the easiest mark they’ll ever meet. About two weeks ago, there was a young lady selling some as part of a fund-raiser for her class to visit Los Angeles. Not knowing when my next opportunity to get my hands on this delicious chocolate might come along, I promptly purchased 30 of them. Only the almond ones, natch.

Anybody else remember the Arch Deluxe? You know, that “adult” burger that McDonald’s tried to sell back in the mid-90s? Do you remember what went into one of them? Well, it wasn’t “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame-seed bun.” No, what the Arch Deluxe had was:

The Arch Deluxe was a quarter pound of beef, on a toasted split-top bun topped with a circular piece of bacon, lettuce and tomato, and a “secret” mustard sauce.

I ate a few, without the lettuce, tomato, or sauce, natch. The bun was actually pretty good, and the beef was, well, beef-like. I didn’t regard the Arch Deluxe as a failure, but some regard it as New Coke-bad.

Made by some of the ladies at work: four trays of Chocolate Mice! Chocolate-covered cherries, Hershey kisses for heads, almond (?) slivers for ears, and candy-dot eyes and nose! How cute!

Blatant Appeal To All Bloggers: the Food Network is conducting a “star search,” and one of Montana’s very own is in the Final Five! Mariela Petroski of Helena (our capital city) needs YOUR vote! You can watch a clip of each of the contestants, and Mariela does a great job with her entry (which includes - mmmmmm - steak!)! She’s got great screen presence, and you can see that she would be a great TV hostess. You can vote once every day, but the voting ends soon, so PLEASE take the time to cast a vote for Mariela (contestant #4), and let’s put Montana on the culinary map!

“Super Size Me” by Morgan Spurlock: watched about 45 minutes of it on Friday night, and it was as disgusting, twisted, and warped as I’d imagined. If you haven’t seen it, imagine a Michael Moore for the foody set. Thankfully, there is a clear-minded alternative to Spurlock’s malicious drivel. And what this guy said echoes my sentiment:

Take my word for it. Fast food is not bad. Many of you already know this, but are afraid to say it because of all these morons that take movies like Supersize Me seriously. Right now as I type this, I’m eating a barbequed chicken pizza. I’ll enjoy this while the rest of you are off sucking on wheatgrass…shut the f**k up about Supersize Me and let me eat in peace.

Hey, if Spurlock thinks that McDonald’s is evil, that’s fine…but why does he feel compelled to try and convince the world of his opinion by using gimmicks and deceit? Sheesh. You know what’s really nauseating and full of poison? Not a Big Mac — it’s Spurlocks’ sneering attitude and shameless methods.

Please, can anyone tell me why every cereal maker seems to think that everyone wants their breakfast to be CRUNCHY and/or HONEY-flavored? So many of those cereal commercials seem to make such a huge deal about how crunchy their cereal is, and that it will stay crunchy for hours and hours and hours. I don’t get it. Crunchy is OK, for a little while, but I don’t want to chip any teeth while enjoying a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. I want my cereal to find that delicate balance between crunchy and soggy! And why do they think that honey is the Secret To All Breakfast Cereal? I don’t particularly care for honey, and I can’t recall a single person ever saying, “You know, I could really go for something with a honey taste.” You know what would be better? Instead of “Honey Nut Cheerios,” how about “Steak-Flavored Cheerios?”

SANDWICH: “two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between”

Ham-on-rye. Peanut butter-n-jelly. BLT. Cheeseburger. Reuben. Hot dog. Pastrami-n-swiss. Wait a minute…cheeseburger? Hot dog? Those aren’t sandwiches! Uh…but wait. Why aren’t they “sandwiches?” They meet the criteria, don’t they? A filling (meat) in between two slices of bread (or a split roll). So why does everyone that I’ve asked so far deny that a cheeseburger is, in fact, a sandwich?

Let’s learn about niacin today, shall we? Niacin is a member of the vitamin B family, sometimes called B3, and it assists in your body’s ability to convert food into energy. It’s also good for your digestive system and skin. Niacin is found in the “protein” foods: eggs, meat, poultry, dairy products, etc. If you don’t get enough niacin in your diet, you might suffer from pellagra, which, according to the NIH, can cause “…scaly skin sores, diarrhea, inflamed mucous membranes, and mental confusion and delusions.” Yikes. On the other hand, you can get too much niacin, which can cause liver damage, peptic ulcers, and skin rashes. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of niacin for most adults is between 14-16 mg. Quite a lot of sites reference the niacin flush, which “…dilates blood vessels and creates a sensation of warmth…often accompanied with a blushing of the skin.” On the non-medical side, Niacin is also the name of a rock band.