Saturday, February 29, 2020

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Another KFC Sandwich That Shouldn't Be, Plus an Anthology Author List

     The other day I learned about a new product from the former Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food franchise, currently known as KFC.  This time it's a sandwich made with two donuts as the "bread," and a fried chicken patty as the meat interior.  Long time readers may recall that I tried the infamous Double Down sandwich from KFC years ago (see my May 8, 2014 post), which was (is?) chicken patties as the "bread," encasing bacon and cheese.  So clearly I had no option but to try this new culinary obscenity.  For another related affront to all that is good and decent in meals, see my post on January 28, 2017, about Taco Bell's Naked Chicken Chalupa.
     The KFC chicken and donut concoction comes as a meal, packaged separately, or as the sandwich.  I, of course, went with the sandwich.  The cashier asked, "First time?" when he took my order.  I had to admit that I was a virgin to this life-changing experience.  My first take on it was off-putting--it was a fried chicken patty topped and bottomed with brown, heavily glazed vanilla donuts.  Evidently because the donuts had been heated, too, the glaze was dripping and oozing liquid sugar.  Even with a plastic wrapper to grip the sandwich the act of consuming it was extremely messy.  Despite utilizing a napkin frequently, I was embarrassed later to see that I had dried glaze on the bottom of my nose and chin.  The taste of the sandwich was weird.  The sweetness of the donuts was very strong, overpowering the savory taste of the fried chicken patty for the most part.  It wasn't terrible--I could finish it without trouble, but it was bizarre.  The two flavors were fighting it out, and the end result was kind of okay, I suppose.  I must say though, that the sandwich didn't sit that well--my stomach felt full and almost queasy from the cloying, sugary sweetness afterwards.  I also felt a pang of guilt about what I'd eaten.  There are certainly more unhealthy things to eat, but obviously this sandwich can't be good for you.  I was glad the restaurant wasn't that full, so fewer people observed my shameful lunch.  All in all, the KFC Chicken and Donut Sandwich wasn't nearly as good as the Double Down, or the Naked Chicken Chalupa from Taco Bell.  I don't plan to have it again.  I guess I would recommend it to people who have a pronounced sweet tooth, and/or those who like trying new and odd foods and drinks.  Or, as a drunken dare, I think this would work nicely.  The price was slightly inflated, probably because of the novelty of it--$6.39 with tax at my local KFC.  (And as I mentioned, it is filling, although in a vaguely unsettling manner.)
     The creator of KFC, Colonel Sanders, was an interesting figure, to say the least.  I refer readers to the Cracked Magazine article by Mac Faber, "The Real Colonel Sanders Was a Relentless, Amazing Maniac," on March 16, 2019.  Among other things, Sanders got into a disagreement with a business rival in the 1920's that became so heated it involved deadly gun play.  Competitor Matt Stewart shot and killed one of Sanders' fellow managers, Robert Gibson.  Sanders then grabbed Gibson's gun and returned fire, wounding Stewart.  The police, understandably, arrested all involved.  Ultimately Sanders and another employee were let go, since they were judged to have acted in self defense.  Stewart was jailed for murder.  And the story gets worse.  Stewart died two years later, at the hands of a deputy sheriff.  Rumors of the time held that this sheriff was paid to murder Stewart by Gibson's family, for revenge.  Anyway, this is all a little more colorful and disturbing than the biographies of most restaurant moguls!


     I also got more information recently about the "Shadowy Natures:  Stories of Psychological Horror" (due out in September of 2020) anthology that will feature one of my stories.  Specifically, who my fellow authors are.  The list of their names, and their story titles, is below:

1)   "Mandibular Fixation," by Lee Rozelle
2)   "Drifter," by C.W. Blackwell
3)   "Taking Out the Garbage," by Thomas Vaughn
4)   "Seven Days of Dog Walking," by Scotty Milder
5)   "In Control," by Joseph Rubas
6)   "Maternal Bond," by KC Grifant
7)   "Ring Rock," by James Edward O'Brien
8)   "Uncle," by Elin Olausson
9)   "In a Mother's Eye," by Andrew Punzo
10) "Accessory," by K.N. Johnson
11) "The Wolf Gang," by Barrie Darke
12) "His Death Brings No Respite," by Thomas Kearnes
13) "My Father's Home," by Jeremy Billingsley
14) "Itch," by Louis Stephenson
15) "Heart Skull Heart," by Bryan Miller
16) "Cuckoo," by Liam Hogan
17) "Lemonade," by Paul Stansfield
18) "Roger," by Hollee Nelson
19) "Walking on Knives," by Matthew R. Davis
20) "Christmas Shopper," by Rudy Kremberg
21) "Like Abigail Winchell," by Christine Delia

     As always, more news about this anthology to come.  Stay tuned!






































Saturday, February 22, 2020

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Edible Containers/Cutlery

     I was in line at the check out at my local Canal's liquor store several weeks ago when I saw something odd--a candy shot glass.  That is, a shot glass made out of candy, not glassware designed to measure out portions of candy.  (I'd actually noticed this product a few months before, but I forgot about it, and evidently they'd run of out them for a while.)  After taking a look at it this time I was curious, so the store got a purely impulse buy out of it.  To be exact it was distributed by Bee International, Inc., out of San Diego, California, and made in China by an unlisted manufacturer.
     Anyway, after I bought the shot glass home, it got me to thinking about edible food/drink containers in general.  I recalled that I'd had one before, in the form of a "bread bowl" used during a chili contest at the office of my former employer.  But, going further, a little online research revealed that this type of thing is much more widespread than I imagined.  Currently, you can purchase plates made out of wheat bran, or sugarcane and bamboo, or bowls made from spinach and pepper, spoons made out of crackers, and drinking straws consisting of long hollow tubes of uncooked pasta.  Biotrem, out of Poland, seems to be the most prominent business that sells these wares.  However, calling these things edible seems to be a bit misleading.  It appears that the point of these products is mainly to be quickly biodegradable.  Something for ecological-minded, green folks to use, and then let rot in their backyard compost mounds.  From what I read online, these products are technically edible, but most people don't, since they don't taste that great.  The overall goal is to eliminate waste, especially of plastic.  Which, while admirable, and logical, isn't that much fun.  Alas, most of these products are only available in bulk, so they're really mostly appropriate for restaurants.  And the restaurants and businesses that use them seem to be mostly in California.  Therefore, if I see some on sale for a more reasonable amount/price, or if I happen to go to a restaurant that has them, I'll of course give them a try, and then update this post.  But for now I'll just go with the two I mentioned.
     The focus of the official Bee International, Inc., company website seems to be listing their products, and how to get them.  Which is reasonable, since their goal is to make money, but I would have liked a little bit of their history.  About all it reported was that Bee started in 1970, and they make/import/distribute novelty candies.  Their business seems to be largely seasonal, as they have sections of the website devoted to products for Easter, Valentine's Day, Halloween, and Christmas.  Some of their more unusual products include spinner pops (what is it, 2017?  (Sorry to be catty)), gingerbread house kits, color-you-mouth gumballs (which I didn't know was something people want), and glow-in-the-dark vampire fangs that leak an ersatz, watermelon-flavored blood.  The candy shot glass, as I realized later, was Christmas-themed, with a Santa hat and a Christmas bow on the box, and its overall structure being a glass-shaped candy cane.  If you're curious, another website claimed that the Bee CEO is Louis Charles Block, that they have a workforce of 20, and that their annual revenue is $18,743, 240.  (I find this incredibly exact figure to be absurd--how do they know this, unless they're the accountants for Bee International?)

Bread Bowl:  Made by an unknown bakery in the Albany, NY area, in about 2008.  This was a very large, thick and fluffy roll.  It was effective as a bowl to contain the thick chili that I put in it--I don't recall that chili seeped through it.  But I think it was only really appropriate for thicker, paste-like liquids like chili, and not for say, most soups.  Anyway, it was enjoyable.  It was kind of new and fun to eat food, and then eat the container afterward. The bread itself was fresh and tasty.   And some of the chili had soaked into the bread, which gave the bread itself a nice flavor kick.  So overall this was an enjoyable experience, and I would happily have it again when I can.

Bee International, Inc., candy shot glass:  "Lick it, Refill it, and Eat it!" as the label read.  It looked like a shot glass made out of candy cane, which is what it was, so a red and white swirl color, and big enough to hold a shot (about 1 ounce/29.5 ml.) of a drink.  I tried to be systematic about this, so I tried it with several different liquids.  I wanted to know how much the candy flavor of the glass would affect the taste of the liquid inside.  Moving on, I decided to drink some shots immediately, and others after letting them sit in the candy shot glass for at least a minute.  The drinks I tried were water (also used to rinse out the glass between each sample), grape flavored Powerade Zero, Becherovka (see my post on July 27, 2014), and Sambuca.(regular classic flavor).  Anyway, the water tasted a little sweeter in the shot glass, and more so when I let it sit.  However, it wasn't a significant difference.  The Powerade Zero was pretty much the same as the water--slightly sweeter, but not by a lot done both ways.  I didn't notice much a change with either of the liquors, even when they sat for a bit.  However, both of these liquors are heavy and syrupy, so maybe more sugar didn't affect them much.  As you might expect, being made of candy the glass got sticky between shots, so it was a little messy.  The glass came with a small removable plastic cup on the base, presumably to help with this.  The walls of the shot glass were fairly thick, and this, combined with the shape, made it difficult to eat after I was done drinking.  I had to awkwardly gnaw pieces off the side of it.  I should mention that candy canes aren't a candy I especially like.  I like mint flavor in general, and small, bite sized mints are fine.  But the shape of candy canes, and this shot glass, aren't a particularly good way to enjoy this type of candy.  That said, I can see folks enjoying these shot glasses, maybe as a one time, Christmas party event.  Especially if you're college-aged, I guess.  I don't regret trying this, but I don't plan on buying one again.





























































Saturday, February 15, 2020

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--More Unusual Kinds of Spread/Butter/Marmalade

     It's been a while since I covered alternative jams, spreads, butters, and such, so I thought I'd explore this topic today.  Previous posts about these types of things include the ones on January 20, 2018 (unusual seed and nut butters), November 23, 2016 (rose hip and plum butter), and May 22, 2015 (apple, pumpkin, mixed berry, and jalapeno jams/spreads).  This week's post will discuss the lime and orange flavors of Rose's marmalade, the Crofter's mango spread, and the Simon Fischer apricot butter and prune butter.
     Readers may be curious, as I was, about the distinctions between butters, spreads, jams, jellies, marmalades, etc.  It appears that there are some differences in the exact definitions, but basically, jam, jelly, marmalade, and preserves are closely related, since they all involve cooking up fruit with sugar to make a viscous, spreadable treat.  Jams are made from cut up pieces of fruit mixed with sugar.  Jellies, though, are made only with fruit juice and sugar.  Preserves are made with whole or pieces of fruit in a gelled syrup.  Marmalade is a subtype of preserves that's made with citrus fruit, and the rind is used, too.  Conserves are a subtype of a jam, mixed with other ingredients, such as coconut, nuts, or raisins.  Spreads and butter appear to be made from nuts or seeds, or are made from processed fruit that doesn't fit into the other categories.
     Rose's is the oldest of the companies whose wares I tried.  It was started way back in 1865, by Lauchlan Rose.  Rose's first big hit was their lime juice, which was one of the first concentrated fruit drinks.  It was also the first lime juice that was non-alcoholic, which made it more widely marketable.  Of course, fighting scurvy helped Rose's sales, since lime juice was both more easily preserved, and contained adequate amounts of Vitamin C.  Rose's started selling their lime marmalade in the 1930's.  (I'm a little puzzled why this date is vague, even on the official company website--no one recorded the exact date they rolled out this hugely popular product?!)  Unfortunately, the company's main London manufacturing facility was destroyed by bombing during World War II, forcing Rose's to relocate to St. Albans in Hertfordshire.  The ownership of Rose's is convoluted.  The lime juice line was bought out by Schweppes in 1957, and that eventually became Cadbury-Schweppes.  However, in 2008 Keurig Dr. Pepper bought them out.  Meanwhile, the marmalade part of Rose's is currently owned by the Hain Daniels Group.  Except that the copyrights and trademarks are owned by the Mondelez International Group.  And in other countries some other companies are licensed to produce Rose's products.  Anyway, alternate flavors of Rose's marmalade are lemon, lemon & lime, and grapefruit.
     Simon Fischer is a brand of the Solo company.  Which in itself is a common name for Sokol & Company.  Sokol was begun by John A. Sokol, who was originally from the city of Pilsen in Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic.  (Pilsen is also the home of the very popular Pilsner beer style.)  Sokol started his company in 1907, in Chicago, Illinois.  Originally the firm marketed coffee, tea, and spices.  Sokol had a background in coffee, but the Mexican Revolution had ended his plantations down there.  Since then Sokol/Solo has expanded, and now makes various products under the Solo, Baker, Borden, Chun's, and Simon Fischer brands.  These products include cakes, pastry fillings, marshmallow creme, nut paste, spreads, and butters.  Also, this company is not affiliated with the Solo cup company, which I've learned is considered to be synonymous with the U.S. due to party scenes featuring the signature cups in many American movies.
    Finally, Crofter's is the baby of the bunch, since it's only been around since 1989.  Gerhard and Gabi Latka, both Germans, moved to Ontario, Canada and started the business.  Like many of the companies I talk about, Crofter's is extremely concerned with being organic and earth-friendly.  Crofter's products are all spreads of one sort or another.  In fact, one of their lines, the Biodynamic Line, is proudly touted as being organic, non-GMO, fair trade, regenerative, and using good animal welfare parameters.  (The flavors of the spreads in this line are apricot, strawberry, and blueberry.)  The Just Fruit Line, which includes their Seville orange, raspberry, and blackberry flavor spreads, as the title suggests contains no sugar, with grape juice added for additional sweetness.  The final spread line is their Premium Spreads, which are their wild blueberry, strawberry, and the mango spreads.

1) Rose's lime marmalade:  Yellow color.  Had this both plain, and on a Thomas's English muffin, as I did with all of these selections.  Both ways were positive, as the marmalade was nice and tart.  Tasty.

2) Rose's orange marmalade:  Orange color, obviously.  As with the lime kind, tiny pieces of the fruit were visible throughout.  This one was good, but not quite as tasty as the lime one.  Perhaps a tad blander.  Which is a little surprising, since I generally prefer eating oranges to limes.

3) Simon Fischer apricot butter:  Reddish-orange hue.  Very apricot-y in flavor. Very good--probably my favorite of the bunch.  However, it was so sweet that maybe it would have become cloying if I ate a lot of it at one time.

4) Simon Fischer lekvar prune butter:  Dark brown color.  Lekvar is a Central/Eastern European style of jam, which is traditionally coarse and thick.  This one was sweet.  But only solid--not as good as the apricot kind, or the Rose's ones.  Mediocre, but not great.  (I should mention that other tasters disagreed with me, and liked this one the best.)

5) Crofter's mango spread:  Yellowish-orange color.  Alright, but weakest of the five kinds.  Rather bland.  Doesn't "pop" with a tart or sweet flavor.  Certainly not terrible, but nothing very special.


     In summation, then, all of these were at least okay, and some were very good.  So folks who are a little tired of their regular grape jelly might want to try these for a nice change of pace.  And perhaps create a PB & M sandwich, or PB & AB, PB & LPB, etc. 










































Saturday, February 8, 2020

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Bangladeshi Treats

     It's been a while since I talked about products from the great India Bazaar grocery store, so here we are.  Today's topic is several treats from India's next door neighbor, Bangladesh.  Specifically, the barbecue and hot flavors of chanachur from the Square Food & Beverage, Limited company, and the cake rusk from the food division of the Well Group.
     Chanachur is a type of Indian snack mix.  It goes by many names.  Some alternate examples are chiuda, bhuso, baramaza, chuda, Punjabi Mix, and Bombay Mix, depending on what country it's being served.  There are also regional variations with its ingredients, but some of the more common ones are peanuts, fried lentils, corn, chickpea, fried onion, curry leaves, and different spices.  Chanachur is the name of this food type in Bangladesh, as you might expect.
     Cake rusk is a basic yellow cake that's been baked twice.  In this way the title is a bit misleading.  I've talked about several kinds of European style rusk before, in my posts about zwieback (April 13, 2019), Brazilian toast (May 11, 2019), and Finnish flatbread (November 3, 2018).  But those are only similar to cake rusk in that they've been baked twice.  Classic European rusks are very dry, hard, and with a bread-y taste, while cake rusk is much less dry and hard in texture, and is a sweet dessert, like cakes usually are.
     Square Food & Beverage, Ltd., is the food division of the overall Square Group.  The food portion has only existed since 2000.  It consists of four brands.  Radhuni, their flagship brand, is ready mixes, spices, pulses, cereals, and edible oils.  Ruchi is the snack division, and is more marketed toward youths.  Chashi is fresh foods received directly from farmers.  And the Chopstick brand is the instant noodle line.  The Square Group was started in 1958 by Samson H. Chowdhury, along with his co-investors Dr. Kazi Harunur Rishid, Dr. PK Shaha, and Radha Binod Roy.  This company is huge, boasting of a workforce of 36,000 people, and having annual sales of $800,000,000 (converted to U.S. dollars).  The Square Group also produces pharmaceuticals, textiles, consumer goods, toiletries, herbal medicines, agrovet products/pesticides, information technology, hospitals, and even a television channel.  I was also surprised to learn from his personal website that Mr. Chowdhury participated in a naval mutiny against the British colonial rulers in 1946, for which he was arrested, briefly jailed, and then sent to a concentration camp for a while.
     The Well Group is slightly younger, existing since 1973.  Its founders were Abdus Salam and Professor Nurul Bari Chowdhury (I don't know if he's a relative of Square Group's Samson Chowdhury, or it's just a coincidence).  Well began as a textile company, but has since diversified into hotels, real estate, and food--mostly baked goods like cakes, cookies, breads, pastries, sweets, and snacks.  The company employs over 18,000 workers, and has an annual revenue of $100,000,000 (again, converted to U.S. dollars).   The Well Group is also active in social welfare charities, as they grant funds for irrigation, books for school children, free meals to the impoverished, and to plant trees.

Square Food & Beverages, Ruchi chanachur, Bar-B-Q flavor:  Reminded me of a version of trail mix, only more savory.  Consisted of yellow pea, rice flakes, peanuts, and various spices, with the rice being in the form of orange, hard noodles.  Rather messy to eat.  Pretty good in taste.  The barbecue flavor was evident, and built in spice intensity as I ate it.  So overall a solid snack, but not awesome.

Square Food & Beverages, Ruchi chanachur, hot flavor:  Looked similar to the previous kind, with peanuts, hard noodles, and  twisty puff chunks, with an orange color.  As with the barbecue kind, only more so, the spice heat built up slowly, and then got intense.  Decent, but not spectacular.  Because of the high spiciness I finished up the bag by mixing it with the barbecue kind, to cut the heat a bit.  Also, later on I experienced some stomach upset--evidently I ate too much at one time, and my system couldn't handle the spiciness that well. 

Well Food Group, cake rusk:  This looked like a loaf of bread, with pre-cut slices that were about 8 cm. by 4 cm. (about 3.75 inches by 1.75 inches), with an orange-yellowish color, and a brown crust.  The taste was like a pound cake, nicely sweet.  Very heavy and dense, but not crunchy and dry like European rusk.  I enjoyed this--a quality dessert.

     Moving on, I thought I'd highlight some famous people from Bangladesh, or at least those with some Bangladeshi heritage.  First off, Hiralal Sen, born in what is now Bangladesh, is considered one of the founders of Indian cinema.  Staying in film, Afshan Azad acted in five of the "Harry Potter" movies.  She was born in England, but is of Bangladeshi descent.  One of the members of the controversial comedy troupe "The Jerky Boys," known for their prank phone calls, is Bangladeshi-American--Kamal Ahmed.  In the world of music, Abdul "Duke" Fakir is American born, of Bangladeshi/Ethiopian descent.  He was one of the "Four Tops," who were a hugely successful singing group, and who are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Jawed Karim was born in Germany, to a Bangladeshi father, and later became an American.  He's one of the founders of YouTube, and was also a technical architect of PayPal.  And finally there's Muhammad Yunus, who was born in Bangladesh and has spent his life there.  He's an economist, banker, and civil society leader, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his "village back" system of microcredit.  He was also given the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Congressional Gold medal, among his other accolades from around the world.















 






















Saturday, February 1, 2020

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Moon Cheese

     I saw this one in the Shop Rite a while ago, and was intrigued.  Especially since it wasn't in a refrigerated area, as are nearly all cheeses.  So of course I bought a couple of varieties, and took them on home and had at them.  For the record, I tried the gouda and pepper jack kinds, which both came from the Nutradried Food Company, LLC, out of Washington state.
     Moon cheese is simply dehydrated cheese.  The company website is a little snippy about the name, saying it's obviously because of the shape.  Which wasn't obvious to me, since the pieces are only vaguely roundish, and not perfectly round, or perfectly sickle-shaped.  They do have holes resembling craters in them, though--I'll give them that.  The folks who made the product are big on touting its healthiness, especially as it compares to other snack foods.  They compare their moon cheese to beef jerky, mixed nuts, and green pea snack crisps, for example.  For all of these the moon cheese has more protein, less carbs, and less sugar (it has none), as well as less ingredients (only the cheese, which technically has multiple ingredients, but you get the idea).  Calorie-wise, however (and presumably fat content-wise), moon cheese has more than its competitors, sometimes dramatically so.  The company also boasts that their take on cheese is gluten-free, and vegetarian-appropriate (but not vegan-appropriate, clearly).  It's also okay for those on the keto diet (a high fat, low carb diet similar to Atkins), and doesn't come from milk from cows that were given the rBST growth hormone.  The website also has published compliments from periodicals such as Buzzfeed, People, and Shape, and a false hotline with prerecorded snippets.  All told there's five different kinds of the cheese, with the others being cheddar, cheddar bacon, and garlic parmesan.
    Nutradried is fairly recent, and moon cheese itself was launched in 2013.  Their CEO is Mike Pytlinski.  However, Nutradried is the child of a Canadian company called EnWave,  This company, started in 1996, is focused on the REV technology, or an enhancing Radiant Energy Vacuum.  REV is a proprietary invention, and is trademarked.  It's used to dehydrate the moon cheese.  Others things that the REV is used on include blueberries and nutraceuticals (which I just learned are "pharmaceutical alternatives which claim physiological benefits," such as dietary supplements).  A subtype of the REV functions as a uniform dryer, perfect for drying and decontaminating cannabis products.  Perhaps if/when cannabis becomes more fully legal in the U.S. EnWave will jump in on that market, too.

Nutradried Moon Cheese, Gouda flavor:  These were roundish blobs, with an average diameter of 1.5 cm. (about .75 inches), and a yellowish-white color.  They were dry and crunchy, obviously, since all water had been removed.  I still could discern the gouda flavor.  This cheese was very good, a more than decent snack-sized treat.

Nutradried Moon Cheese, pepper jack flavor:  Pieces of this kind were the same approximate size, shape, texture, and color as the previous sort.  The peppery spice heat sneaked up a bit, but not so much that is was unpleasant.  Once again, this snack was very good.  The unique texture almost reminded me of a potato chip/crisp.

     I should mention that Nutradried has re-launched their moon cheeses, adding two flavors recently, and changing the names of the originals.  Most of these were made into cutesy titles--gouda was changed to "Oh My Gouda," for example.  And one of the new ones is called "Cheddar Bacon Me Crazy."  All five flavors should now be available, as January 2020 was the official release date.  Whatever you call them, I definitely recommend Moon Cheese, unless you really hate cheese.  It's a cool innovation on an awesome food, made to be non-perishable.  I'll definitely look to buy these again, and to try the other flavors.