You may recall last year at this time I moaned and complained that there were simply not enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted to do (echoed recently in my Thanksgiving post). It is with a heavy heart that I must confess I've again swamped myself with projects and a completely illogical to do list. However, so that you all don't think I've abandoned you, I will offer an abbreviated listing of what's on my mind to tide you over until I can post in a more proper manner, with photos!
1. I made a multitude of Gingerbread Houses for CheesePuff's Brownie Troop and there were very happy girls.
2. Mr.G, the pickiest of all eaters, was fed Cornish Hen and liked it!
3. I still have gross candy reviews to share.
4. Elaborately painting a young girls' bedroom in a rush is a bad idea.
5. Paula Deen is trying to take over the world with bacon fat.
6. The producers of Sandra Lee's show need to stop her from making a complete fool of herself and tell her that chestnuts are not the same as water chestnuts.
7. My Thanksgiving trip was loads of fun, tasty, and we saw Santa on a Harley.
8. I'm really tired of cleaning my kitchen and throwing away food because of a pantry moth infestation... hopefully that's all cleared up now, but just to be safe, buy stock in Rubbermaid because I'm buying them up like crazy!
9. I had virtually no Thanksgiving cakes to decorate but my portfolio of Christmas/Winter/Hanukkah cakes are growing exponentially.
10. CheesePuff is learning to cook and has made Lasagna and an Apple Pastry braid.
11. It's barely the second week of December?!? I'm already due for a long winters' nap.
Technorati tags gingerbread+Sandra Lee+horror+gross candy+food+bacon fat
Monday, December 11, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Giving Thanks
Way back a year and a half ago I began reading blogs. Just one at first, the blog of a friend I knew from another venue. It was pretty cool. He talked about food and how to prepare food and his trials at culinary school and he had such pretty pictures! Then on his blog I found links to other blogs, most all of them about food. These people talking about food with their pretty photos all making me drooly and tickling my urge to cook. And cook I did.
Then it hit me. "Hey!" I said to myself, "I cook. I like to talk about food. I can figure out this digital camera-upload thing." So I began to blog. Sometimes talking about food or joining in food-related gatherings like IMBB, other times talking about goings-on in the garden or strange dreams I wanted to share. Eventually coming to this gross candy thing I'm doing now.
The more I think about my previous blog posts the more disjointed it all seems. Sort of the ADHD of blogging. Or maybe it's because I'm just so darn interested that it's hard to write about everything in a cohesive way. Interested. That's right, I said interested. Not interesting because that sounds braggish and I try not to be quite so self-absorbed. But how unself-absorbed can one be while blogging?
I read on another blog that to be really successful, one should blog daily. Is that right? I see a lot of blogs out there that are updated once a week or less. Do I really need to pressure myself to blog? Blogging should be one of those fun hobbies I employ, not a chore to be muddled through because I may have readers who have expectations. Do you have expectations? If I simply stopped blogging would anyone miss me? Of course there are some who would miss me and that's why I continue to blog in my disjointed, incohesive way.
Now that I have my what's my place in the blog universe questions of humanity out of the way, let's get to the thankful part. I'm beginning my Thanks Giving early because one of the things I'll be giving thanks for is a vacation to Florida which will hopefully keep me away from the PC or at least the rigors of blogging for a few days.
A short list for that which I'm Thankful:
Vacations where I don't have to spend a lot of money. You think I'm joking but I'm quite serious.
My family for all their weirdness, quirkyness, food adoration, spontaneity, light-heartedness and their ability to put up with all of these traits in me.
Stacy for being my friend all those years, hopefully she'll come around again one day and "Young Frankenstein".
Food Network for feeding my desire to learn to cook in those early days.
Other Bloggers for feeding my desire to read about food adventures beyond just looking at recipes.
Spam for never apologizing for what it is and never trying to be something else.
Marshmallow Peeps for being so darn cute and fun.
Dr. Seuss, Chuck Jones, and Boris Karloff for making "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" what it is.
Cows for giving milk, cheese, yogurt, and a comfortable, homey feeling when they are outstanding in their fields.
Breakfast cereal and Saturday Morning cartoons for helping me become the demented adult that I am.
Halloween for giving me an outlet for this adult dementia.
Alex Anderson for giving me the courage to charge ahead and make quilts even when I don't know what I'm doing.
Chico's for making clothes in sizes women want to wear. (zero to four!)
Festal Foods for publishing the best Pumpkin Pie recipe, ever.
And finally, again I'm thankful for my Family. They are my everything. If I had no job, no hobbies, no books they would be it. My joy, my laughter, my annoyance, my hope, my grief. All of them.
Now that we have all the mushy-gushy stuff out of the way, let's get back to the gross-out because I am, of course, thankful for that too.
Witches Brew Foaming Gum
Oriental Trading described it as Magical Mouth Foaming bubble gum. It has three distinct layers, the first layer is flavoring. The Green ball is Green Apple flavor with a nice green apple scent. The dark Purple ball is Grape. Below the flavored coating is the gum layer which has no remarkable flavor aside from that of typical bubble gum. Inside the gum layer is the foaming powder center. It has quite a bang of tangy citrus flavor (my mouth is watering now just thinking of it) with the promised foaming action, which lasted quite a long time and was very enjoyable.
I'm not normally a gum-chewer and I don't allow CheesePuff to have gum (though I know her step-sister sometimes sneaks it to her) so I didn't get her input but I really liked this gum. It also provides a decent bubble.
Count Blacula Bubble Gum
Another Oriental Trading find. I really like the white vampire face on the dark black gum ball. Unfortunately, that is about all I like about it. Neither the coating or the gum itself has a particulary good flavor. It is too sweet with chemical overtones from the coloring (which did give me a nice black tongue). The ball started out very hard to chew and as it softened, it simply got sticky then broke down and was never good for bubble-blowing. Quite a disappointment after the Witches Brew gum.
Skull Pops
Oriental Trading has a hit with this. A skull shaped lollipop with delicious vanilla flavor and a large amount of grape flavor Pop Rocks-style candy inside the pouch to dip the sucker into. I think the photo only shows a small amount of the popping candy compared to the amount I actually had in my pack.
Monster Hand Pops, Monster Head Pops and Mummy Pops
Three more from Oriental Trading. These are all basically the same pop in different shapes. A nice variety of fruit flavors. (I didn't taste one of each once I realized they were similar.) They are not a typical hard lollipop. The texture reminded me of the coating on Skittles. Quite tasty and very fun shapes.
A final word of Thanks to you, dear readers. Without you, none of this candy-tasting, cupcake-making, and yammering-on incessantly about it would be any fun at all.
Happy Thanksgiving. Save me some stuffing.
Technorati tags candy+Halloween+horror+gross candy+food+Thanksgiving
Then it hit me. "Hey!" I said to myself, "I cook. I like to talk about food. I can figure out this digital camera-upload thing." So I began to blog. Sometimes talking about food or joining in food-related gatherings like IMBB, other times talking about goings-on in the garden or strange dreams I wanted to share. Eventually coming to this gross candy thing I'm doing now.
The more I think about my previous blog posts the more disjointed it all seems. Sort of the ADHD of blogging. Or maybe it's because I'm just so darn interested that it's hard to write about everything in a cohesive way. Interested. That's right, I said interested. Not interesting because that sounds braggish and I try not to be quite so self-absorbed. But how unself-absorbed can one be while blogging?
I read on another blog that to be really successful, one should blog daily. Is that right? I see a lot of blogs out there that are updated once a week or less. Do I really need to pressure myself to blog? Blogging should be one of those fun hobbies I employ, not a chore to be muddled through because I may have readers who have expectations. Do you have expectations? If I simply stopped blogging would anyone miss me? Of course there are some who would miss me and that's why I continue to blog in my disjointed, incohesive way.
Now that I have my what's my place in the blog universe questions of humanity out of the way, let's get to the thankful part. I'm beginning my Thanks Giving early because one of the things I'll be giving thanks for is a vacation to Florida which will hopefully keep me away from the PC or at least the rigors of blogging for a few days.
A short list for that which I'm Thankful:
Vacations where I don't have to spend a lot of money. You think I'm joking but I'm quite serious.
My family for all their weirdness, quirkyness, food adoration, spontaneity, light-heartedness and their ability to put up with all of these traits in me.
Stacy for being my friend all those years, hopefully she'll come around again one day and "Young Frankenstein".
Food Network for feeding my desire to learn to cook in those early days.
Other Bloggers for feeding my desire to read about food adventures beyond just looking at recipes.
Spam for never apologizing for what it is and never trying to be something else.
Marshmallow Peeps for being so darn cute and fun.
Dr. Seuss, Chuck Jones, and Boris Karloff for making "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" what it is.
Cows for giving milk, cheese, yogurt, and a comfortable, homey feeling when they are outstanding in their fields.
Breakfast cereal and Saturday Morning cartoons for helping me become the demented adult that I am.
Halloween for giving me an outlet for this adult dementia.
Alex Anderson for giving me the courage to charge ahead and make quilts even when I don't know what I'm doing.
Chico's for making clothes in sizes women want to wear. (zero to four!)
Festal Foods for publishing the best Pumpkin Pie recipe, ever.
And finally, again I'm thankful for my Family. They are my everything. If I had no job, no hobbies, no books they would be it. My joy, my laughter, my annoyance, my hope, my grief. All of them.
Now that we have all the mushy-gushy stuff out of the way, let's get back to the gross-out because I am, of course, thankful for that too.
Witches Brew Foaming Gum
Oriental Trading described it as Magical Mouth Foaming bubble gum. It has three distinct layers, the first layer is flavoring. The Green ball is Green Apple flavor with a nice green apple scent. The dark Purple ball is Grape. Below the flavored coating is the gum layer which has no remarkable flavor aside from that of typical bubble gum. Inside the gum layer is the foaming powder center. It has quite a bang of tangy citrus flavor (my mouth is watering now just thinking of it) with the promised foaming action, which lasted quite a long time and was very enjoyable.
I'm not normally a gum-chewer and I don't allow CheesePuff to have gum (though I know her step-sister sometimes sneaks it to her) so I didn't get her input but I really liked this gum. It also provides a decent bubble.
Count Blacula Bubble Gum
Another Oriental Trading find. I really like the white vampire face on the dark black gum ball. Unfortunately, that is about all I like about it. Neither the coating or the gum itself has a particulary good flavor. It is too sweet with chemical overtones from the coloring (which did give me a nice black tongue). The ball started out very hard to chew and as it softened, it simply got sticky then broke down and was never good for bubble-blowing. Quite a disappointment after the Witches Brew gum.
Skull Pops
Oriental Trading has a hit with this. A skull shaped lollipop with delicious vanilla flavor and a large amount of grape flavor Pop Rocks-style candy inside the pouch to dip the sucker into. I think the photo only shows a small amount of the popping candy compared to the amount I actually had in my pack.
Monster Hand Pops, Monster Head Pops and Mummy Pops
Three more from Oriental Trading. These are all basically the same pop in different shapes. A nice variety of fruit flavors. (I didn't taste one of each once I realized they were similar.) They are not a typical hard lollipop. The texture reminded me of the coating on Skittles. Quite tasty and very fun shapes.
A final word of Thanks to you, dear readers. Without you, none of this candy-tasting, cupcake-making, and yammering-on incessantly about it would be any fun at all.
Happy Thanksgiving. Save me some stuffing.
Technorati tags candy+Halloween+horror+gross candy+food+Thanksgiving
Monday, November 13, 2006
Graveyard Ghoulees
Graveyard Ghoulees Fruit Gummees by Juicee Gummee
That's a lot of 'ees.
These are nice soft gummies with a good chew and great flavors. Each spooky shape has its own flavor which I like a lot.
Bat - Strawberry
Skull - White Grape with Vanilla
Pumpkin - Orange
Spider - Purple Grape
Worm - Orange and Berry (or Watermelon?)
The large outer bag is much more fun than the individual bags, which was sort of a let-down. I visited the website and found a lot of fun gummy products (I'll be looking for the jelly-filled gummy cupcakes!) as well as a number of unusual food items. None of them had descriptions but I can guess that the items are marketed toward Hispanic folks.
This is a really good candy and I would definitely buy the smaller packs I found on the website but the giant Trick-orTreat pack wasn't as fun as I wanted it to be.
Technorati tags candy+Halloween+horror+gross candy+food
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Jones Soda -- Halloween Style
Jones Soda, the company that brings us Thanksgiving in a bottle with flavors like Turkey & Gravy, Wild Herb Stuffing, and Brussels Sprout with Prosciutto has branched out to now include a few Halloween flavors. I haven't been brave enough to try the Thanksgiving flavors yet but the Halloween Flavors I found were not especially frightening.
My local Target carried 12-ounce bottles with various Halloween Theme photos on the label.
Monster Mojito was very sweet with a hint of mint.
Creepy Cranberry was really delicious. Slightly tangy cranberry flavor was very refreshing. CheesePuff thought it was sour but I didn't think so.
Lemon Drop Dead was much better over ice than straight out of the bottle. Out of the bottle I got a very odd lemon-rind flavor but this was reduced when I enjoyed it over ice. Slightly sour lemon flavor soda.
I received a few 8-ounce cans from Kadavar in Washington State. I don't think my Target carried these or they would have been in my stash.
Berried Alive was a sweet berry flavor that Puff & I both enjoyed (but neither of us enjoyed it enough to finish the can after tasting it).
Spider Cider tasted much like apple cider.
Candy Corn was the perfect Kid treat. Super sweet candy corn flavor that Puff loved. The soda was bright yellow in color and consequently, so were Puff's teeth afterward. A great addition to a frightful costume, if one desired.
I found out through the website that Jones makes a variety of other non-soda treats as well: Popsicles, Lip Balm and Carbonated Candy. The Carbonated Candy is a small disk, similar to a breath mint with freckles. It has a mild fizzy quality on the tongue that the label calls Tongue-Tingling Flavor Boosters and is slightly reminiscent of soda. The website says they can be dropped into Jones Soda so I tried a Fufu Berry candy in a small amount of my Lemon Drop Dead soda. It was an interesting change, but not enough to make me go out of my way to use up my candies this way and not enough to endure the length of time for the candy to dissolve in the soda.
We should expect to see the Thanksgiving Packs of Jones Soda out within the next week or so. Pick them up as soon as you see them. They are Limited Editions and only available for a short time during Thanksgiving.
Technorati tags candy+Halloween+horror+gross candy+food+Jones soda
My local Target carried 12-ounce bottles with various Halloween Theme photos on the label.
Monster Mojito was very sweet with a hint of mint.
Creepy Cranberry was really delicious. Slightly tangy cranberry flavor was very refreshing. CheesePuff thought it was sour but I didn't think so.
Lemon Drop Dead was much better over ice than straight out of the bottle. Out of the bottle I got a very odd lemon-rind flavor but this was reduced when I enjoyed it over ice. Slightly sour lemon flavor soda.
I received a few 8-ounce cans from Kadavar in Washington State. I don't think my Target carried these or they would have been in my stash.
Berried Alive was a sweet berry flavor that Puff & I both enjoyed (but neither of us enjoyed it enough to finish the can after tasting it).
Spider Cider tasted much like apple cider.
Candy Corn was the perfect Kid treat. Super sweet candy corn flavor that Puff loved. The soda was bright yellow in color and consequently, so were Puff's teeth afterward. A great addition to a frightful costume, if one desired.
I found out through the website that Jones makes a variety of other non-soda treats as well: Popsicles, Lip Balm and Carbonated Candy. The Carbonated Candy is a small disk, similar to a breath mint with freckles. It has a mild fizzy quality on the tongue that the label calls Tongue-Tingling Flavor Boosters and is slightly reminiscent of soda. The website says they can be dropped into Jones Soda so I tried a Fufu Berry candy in a small amount of my Lemon Drop Dead soda. It was an interesting change, but not enough to make me go out of my way to use up my candies this way and not enough to endure the length of time for the candy to dissolve in the soda.
We should expect to see the Thanksgiving Packs of Jones Soda out within the next week or so. Pick them up as soon as you see them. They are Limited Editions and only available for a short time during Thanksgiving.
Technorati tags candy+Halloween+horror+gross candy+food+Jones soda
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Happy Halloween!!!
This is it... my big day. I have plenty of Candy surprises in store for the next few months but today I thought I'd offer some Tricks and Treats for your enjoyment.
10 Things That Sound Dirty on Halloween, but Aren't ...
1. So, What'd you get in the sack?
2. Once you get under the sheet, start moaning and groaning!!
3. Just hop on that broomstick and ride it!
4. Those small suckers are gone in a few licks!
5. I got the best piece from that house.
6. Quit screwing around on the porch!!
7. Stick your hand in and guess what you're feeling ...
8. It was so filled and heavy, I had to use TWO hands!!!
9. They'll suck you dry if they get their teeth in you.
10. I bobbed and bobbed, but couldn't get my mouth around it!!!
Why don't skeletons like parties? They have no BODY to dance with.
Why can't mummies go on vacation? They're afraid they'll relax and unwind!
Why did the ghost cross the road? To get to "THE OTHER SIDE"
What happens to a fast witch on a slow broom? She flies off the handle!
What do you call a ghost with a broken leg? Hoblin Goblin.
What happens when a ghost gets lost in a fog? He's mist!
Why couldn't the witch get pregnant? Her husband had a hollow weenie!
Why is Halloween a hillbilly's favorite holiday? Pump kin.
Top Ten Reasons Why Trick-or-Treating is Better Than Sex
10. You are guaranteed to get at least a little something in the sack.
9. If you get tired, wait ten minutes and go back at it again.
8. The stranger you look, the easier it is to get some.
7. You don't have to compliment the person who gave it to you.
6. The person you are with doesn't fantasize you're someone else, you already are.
5. If you get a stomach ache, it won't last nine months.
4. If you wear leather and chains, no one thinks you're kinky.
3. Doesn't matter if kids hear you moaning and groaning.
2. Less guilt the next morning from over-indulging.
1. If you don't get what you want at one place, you can always go next door to get more!!
Boo!
Technorati tags candy+Halloween+horror+cake+food
10 Things That Sound Dirty on Halloween, but Aren't ...
1. So, What'd you get in the sack?
2. Once you get under the sheet, start moaning and groaning!!
3. Just hop on that broomstick and ride it!
4. Those small suckers are gone in a few licks!
5. I got the best piece from that house.
6. Quit screwing around on the porch!!
7. Stick your hand in and guess what you're feeling ...
8. It was so filled and heavy, I had to use TWO hands!!!
9. They'll suck you dry if they get their teeth in you.
10. I bobbed and bobbed, but couldn't get my mouth around it!!!
Why don't skeletons like parties? They have no BODY to dance with.
Why can't mummies go on vacation? They're afraid they'll relax and unwind!
Why did the ghost cross the road? To get to "THE OTHER SIDE"
What happens to a fast witch on a slow broom? She flies off the handle!
What do you call a ghost with a broken leg? Hoblin Goblin.
What happens when a ghost gets lost in a fog? He's mist!
Why couldn't the witch get pregnant? Her husband had a hollow weenie!
Why is Halloween a hillbilly's favorite holiday? Pump kin.
Top Ten Reasons Why Trick-or-Treating is Better Than Sex
10. You are guaranteed to get at least a little something in the sack.
9. If you get tired, wait ten minutes and go back at it again.
8. The stranger you look, the easier it is to get some.
7. You don't have to compliment the person who gave it to you.
6. The person you are with doesn't fantasize you're someone else, you already are.
5. If you get a stomach ache, it won't last nine months.
4. If you wear leather and chains, no one thinks you're kinky.
3. Doesn't matter if kids hear you moaning and groaning.
2. Less guilt the next morning from over-indulging.
1. If you don't get what you want at one place, you can always go next door to get more!!
Boo!
Technorati tags candy+Halloween+horror+cake+food
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Chef Ghoulicious Pantry of Candy
One pantry item I forgot to get a photo of is Chef Ghoulicious Can of Worms: Squirmallicious Gummy Earthworms. These are similar to other gummy worms that I'm sure you have seen around. Ghoulicious worms have a tangy crystal sugar coating similar to that of Sour Patch Kids, but not as sour. The taste and texture of Ghoulicious Worms have a sort of foamy quality that remind me more of Marshmallow Peeps than other gummy worms. Eat Me Orange worms are orange flavor; Water Wiggler light pink worms, watermelon (tasted like strawberry to me); Very Scary Cherry dark pink worms, cherry flavor and chewier than other varieties. Overall, quite tasty.
Box of Boogers Tangy gummy Boogies that look & feel real!
Similar texture to the Gummy Earthworms. These are quite large and if they "look real" I'm afraid of their owner! Snottermelon dark green boogies are watermelon flavor; Sour Green Boogy light green boogies, green apple; Lemon Loogy yellow boogies, lemon-lime (these were the most tangy of the flavors and I liked them best). mmmm... Boogies!
AbbieNormal Bag of Brains Abnormally Large Gummy Brain! 'Candy That Tastes Smart' Similar again to Marshmallow Peeps without the sugar coating this time. These are about the size of a fist. Frontal Lobe Berry is blue raspberry; Water on the Brain is watermelon. The scents of these are very appealing and they have very strong fruit flavors.
These are made again by FLIX candy, the makers of Lip Pops and Projector Pops.
I would like to thank Kadavar of our Brainnn Candy Contest for sending me some of these items as well as other items I'll be reviewing soon.
Technorati tags candy+Halloween+horror+gross candy+food
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Fear Factor Candy
Let's begin this disgusting romp through the candy world of Reality TV with the Sour Cherry Chuck Bucket. The package describes these as, "Gummy Coagulated Balls in Candy Blood Ooze" and warns, Proceed at Your Own Risk.
The little bucket contains two small packets; one contains the Coagulated Balls, the other bag contains the cherry Ooze. The package doesn't explain how these are to be combined but maybe the balls are to be placed in the bucket then the blood ooze is to be poured over them then given to your unsuspecting little sibling or nerdy neighbor to play your own version of Fear Factor at home.
The cherry Ooze was somewhat boring, barely any cherry flavor and was sort of oily in taste and texture. The Balls are very cherry-ish scented gummies. CheesePuff thought these were really good. I thought they had a stronger cherry flavor than the Ooze but still not all that great.
Test Tube Acid Bath is a gummy shape suspended in sour liquid candy. Sour Cherry flavor has a large gummy worm and Sour Blue Raspberry has a gummy shark. The gummies were not particularly gummy, I suppose they were beginning to dissolve a bit in the liquid. The liquid itself is tasty, sort of a refreshing sourness in the flavors described.
Here you can see a better photo of the Gross-out Gummy Platters. I've been eating candy for a long long time and I have eaten candies that I thought were not as tasty as I'd hoped they would be but those were no comparison to these platters.
The flavors available are:
Gummy Spaghetti: slimy candy worms with candy coagulated blood balls (flavors are lemon, lime and tropical fruit)
Gummy Breakfast: candy liquified liver, protein shake, duck egg and silk worm cereal (flavors are sour grape, strawberry, butter and chocolate)
Gummy Pig-out Platter: mmmm... pig parts (flavors are bacon and other amazing flavors)
I tasted the Gummy Pizza: crunchy candy fish eyes, worms and stinky cheese (flavors are cheddar cheese, lime, tomato and spicy pepperoni). I thought they were kidding about the stinky cheese but my taste buds told me otherwise. The candy chemists did their job well and I could not finish this candy. Cheesepuff took one sniff of it and ran away! I can't imagine what the other flavor combinations are like. The only all-fruit flavor looks like the Gummy Spaghetti and after tasting the Gummy Pizza, even the fruits have me a little leery of tasting any more of this candy.
Technorati tags candy+Halloween+horror+gross candy+food
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