Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Colombian/American Hot Sauce

      I realized recently that I've been neglecting a very common edible in these posts--the condiment.  I've done a few posts about jams, marmalades, spreads, and such, but very few about savory sauces.  A post on June 8th, 2019 is a rare exception.  I'll try to rectify this, starting today with a hot sauce.  Or, more specifically, the sriracha chili pepper with garlic hot sauce from the Badia brand.

     The origins of the Badia brand, and company, date back to the 1960's.  Jose Badia, a Cuban hardware store owner, fled the country for political reasons.  Resettling in the "Little Havana" part of Miami, Florida, he switched his profession, and began selling spices, assisted by his wife, Azucena Badia.  The Badia company officially began in 1967.  By 1970, Jose had his son, Joseph, take over the day-to-day operations of the company.  The Mariel Boatlift in the early 1980's reportedly helped the company, as thousands of Cuban refugees settled in the Miami area, and bought a taste of home in the Badia products.  Also, distribution deals with the grocery behemoths Publix and Winn-Dixie helped the brand even further.  Baden Spice, Inc., sells spices, obviously, both raw and blended.  They also sell herbs, dried chili peppers, specialty salts, sauces and marinades, olive oils, and teas.  The Badia company was family owned for most of its history, with Joseph "Pepe" Badia taking over for his father.  However, in late 2024 it was sold to a group of investors, including the owners of Bia Foods and some banks.  There is one legal case involving Badia, as in November of 2018 the Gel Spice Company was required to pay Badia $564,000 for trademark infringement.

Badia chili with garlic, sriracha, picante hot sauce:  Had a spicy odor, and a reddish-brown color.  Plain it tasted spicy at first, and it built up a little with time.  A decent heat--not ridiculously overpowering, but a reasonable medium amount.  I also tried some on some Vienna sausages, and in some beans and tomato sauce, and for both it aided the experience, but adding some nice spicy "ummpth" to the dish.  Overall then, I would recommend this hot sauce, to folks like me, who don't want crazy, momentous spice hotness, but instead a manageable, spice "bite" to the proceedings.

     While covering this blog post topic, I was once again intrigued by the question of what is the official hottest pepper in the world.  I went into this category in some depth previously, along with some discussion about the methodology used to determine the winners, in my post on June 6th, 2015.  Anyway, the current champ, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is "Pepper X," created by Ed Currie of the U.S.  Currie is no stranger to the hot pepper game, since he also grew the previous champion, the Carolina Reaper.  Pepper X has a Scoville rating of 2,693,000.  So, case closed, right?  Not quite.  Some peppers growers maintain that Currie's creation is probably not the real champion, or at least its hotness is highly exaggerated.  Because reportedly Currie has not allowed his alleged champion pepper to be tested independently.  Critics point out that Pepper X is a mustard yellow pepper, and all of the other extremely hot candidates are reddish, or orange.  So, we're in a conundrum.  I'm certainly no authority about pepper hotness, but I do find it suspicious that Currie doesn't allow independent testing of his Pepper X.  If it's the real champion, what does he have to lose?  But maybe we'll get a thorough test, and a final assessment at some point.  (Part of me enjoys the drama over a food, but it also would be cool to get a final, scientific judgement on which is the hottest pepper, and what its strength is.)

 

Extremely Difficult Trivia About "Tremors" (1990)

      I think "Tremors" is, in its own way, a perfect movie.  Not the best movie ever (although it's excellent), but perfectly done.  It has characters you care about, a frightening setup, very good special effects, and a refreshing amount of humor.  It's definitely one of those rewatchable films--I've probably seen it at least 15 times, and plan to watch it many more times before I die.  Otherwise, this will be the usual format--questions followed by the answers, many SPOILERS ahead.

Questions:

1)    What's written on Valentine and Earl's truck?

2)    What are Valentine and Earl's last names?

3)    What did Valentine make for breakfast most recently, and what did Earl make?

4)    According to Earl, in the opening scenes, how much money do they currently have?

5)    What day of the week is it during the opening scenes?

6)    What five attributes does Val want the new lady grad student to possess?

7)    What two fields of study do Earl and Val think Rhonda is studying, and what is it, really?

8)    What was the name of Valentine's last girlfriend, and what does Earl think it was?

9)    According to its sign, when was the town of Perfection established?

10)   And what is Perfection's listed population?

11)   What university is Rhonda a student of?

12)   What is the name of the nearest town to Perfection?

13)   How far away is this "nearby" town, according to Burt?

14)   What state is Perfection located in?

15)   What are the names of the two state roadway workers that Val and Earl briefly speak to?

16)   Who is the first victim of the giant underground worms (graboids)?

17)   What is the name of the next victim, the sheep rancher?

18)   Burt wears a hat for a pro sports team.  Name it.

19)   What is Miguel's occupation?

20)   How much does Walter pay Val and Earl for the snake monster attached to their truck?  (It's later revealed to be just a body part of the entire creature.)

21)   According to Burt, what makes Perfection geographically isolated?

22)   When Earl and Val leave on the horses to get help, what food does Walter give them?

23)   How many snakelike tongues does a graboid have?

24)   According to Rhonda, what is the soil type of Perfection Valley?

25)   Where do the citizens of Perfection head to near the end?

26)   We briefly see a street sign when Val flees onto his truck outside of Nancy's house.  (After he rescues Mindy.)  What is the name of this street or road?

27)   What is the vanity license plate on Burt and Heather Gummer's vehicle?

28)   What bumper sticker do we also see on the Gummer's vehicle?

29)   What radio frequency does Burt ask Val and Earl to use to communicate?

30)   According to Earl, the Cat vehicle weighs over how many tons?

31)   How many miles is it to reach the safety of the mountains?

32)   Burt lists six survival attributes of the Gummer residence.  Name them.

33)   How many survivors are there at the end of the movie?

34)   How many people do the graboids kill?  (Directly and indirectly.)

35)   How do each of the four graboids die?

36)   Val and Earl play a hand game to decide who does a specific, usually unpleasant task.  Name each time, and who is the winner.

37)   We see Val and Earl doing three hired hand/handyman jobs, and they discuss two others.  Name them.

38)   According to Rhonda, how many years has the college had seismographs in Perfection Valley?

39)   When we first meet the Gummers, Burt is talking about a specific type of ammunition with Walter.  Name it.

40)   When Earl asks Mindy, how many jumps is she up to on her pogo stick?

41)   What is the name of the doctor's wife?  (It's never spoken, but is listed in the credits.)

42)   The Gummers use a wide variety of guns.  What is the so called Elephant Gun that Burt uses?

43)   Earl and Val speculate on what caused the worms to be, and come up with three.  Name them.

44)   True of False?  The bad "f"  curse word is never spoken in the movie.

45)   Where are Melvin's parents, or parent?  (Somewhat conjectural.)

46)   So who are the actual residents of Perfection?  The numbers don't add up.  (Somewhat conjectural.)

Answers:

1)    V and E   Odd Jobs

2)    Valentine McKee, and Earl Basset.  We hear Val mention Earl's surname once, and it's written on the sign outside their trailer.  But it's misspelled as "Bass" in the credits.

3)    Val says he just made bologna and beans, and Earl claims he made eggs, over easy.

4)    $3, as the $50 Nestor will pay them for the garbage removal will give them $47 more than they currently have.

5)    Monday.  Earl thinks.

6)    Long blonde hair, big green eyes, world class breasts, an ass that won't quit, and legs that go all the way up.

7)    Earl says geography, Val says geology, but Rhonda corrects them by saying seismology.

8)    Her name was Tammy Lynn Baxter, although Earl thought it was Bobby Lynn Dexter.

9)    1902.  A later prequel shows their was a town in the same area named "Rejection" in the late 1800's, though.

10)   14.

11)   Mesa State University.  The college's initials are written on some of her seismology equipment, and it's written on the side of her truck.  This is a fictitious university.  Although during the time of filming there was a Mesa State College in Colorado, which since has renamed itself Colorado Mesa University.

12)   Bixby.  Also a fictitious, made up name for the state Perfection is in (see Question #14).  Although there are many real states with a Bixby, such as Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and a creek in California.

13)   38 miles.

14)   Nevada.  Several license plates are seen, and Walter's store is a listed post office with the state included.

15)   Carmine and Howard.

16)   Edgar Deems.

17)   Fred, often referred to as Old Fred.

18)   The NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

19)   He's a cattle rancher.  He mentions this at one point.

20)   $15.  He then charges $3 per photo with the snake monster.

21)   It has cliffs to its north, and mountains to the east and west.  And it's far from any other town.

22)   Swiss cheese.

23)   3.

24)   Pleistocene alluvial.

25)   The mountains to the west.

26)   Talcum Lane.

27)   UZI 4U.

28)   Free Afghanistan.

29)   22.

30)   30.

31)   9 miles.

32)   Food for five years, 1000 gallons of gas, air filtration, water filtration, Geiger counter, and bomb shelter.

33)   9.  Val, Earl, Rhonda, Burt, Heather, Nancy, Mindy, Miguel, and Melvin.

34)   10.  Edgar, Fred, Dr. Jim, the doc's wife (see Question #41), Carmine, Howard, the 2 unidentified additional road workers, Nestor, and Walter.  Edgar is killed indirectly, as he dies from dehydration up on the electric tower, and Howard the road worker appears to be killed by the rockslide that occurs when Carmine is dragged up slope.

35)   The first one dies after burrowing into the concrete culvert at full speed chasing Earl and Val.  The second one is shot dozens (hundreds?) of times by Burt and Heather Gummer.  The third one is blown up by the Gummer's pipe bomb when Earl "fishes" with it.  The fourth one is panicked by the final pipe bomb thrown by Val, and accidently goes off the cliff before splatting on the rocks below.

36)   They first do this to decide whose turn it is to make breakfast at the start of the film.  Earl wins.  The second time is to see who has to climb the tower to check on Edgar.  Val again loses.  The third time is to see who gets Edgar's rifle when they ride away on the horses.  Val "wins" but then Earl wins by getting Heather's superior gun on loan.  Finally, to decide who runs for the Cat, Val again loses, but cheats and elbows Earl away and runs off himself.  Incidentally, I always thought the game they were playing was "odds and evens," but most viewers think it's "rock-paper-scissors."

37)   They're seen putting up the fence for Miguel, hauling away trash for Nestor, and emptying the Plug's (Melvin's family) septic tank.  They discuss laying linoleum for the Gummers, and consider building a pottery kiln for Nancy.

38)   3 years.

39)   Hydra-shok hollow point bullets.  I looked it up, and these are real, and were even released in 1989.  Their full name is Federal Hydra-shok.

40)   640.

41)   The credits list her name as being Megan.

42)   Gun enthusiasts on the internet say it's the Belgian-made William Moore & Co. 8 gauge shotgun, which Burt fires solid slugs from.

43)   Val thinks they might be mutated from radiation, or made by the government.  Earl thinks they're aliens ("no way these are these local boys.").  And Rhonda notes that they predate the fossil record.

44)   False.  Val yells it at the first killed worm's corpse.

45)   Early versions of the script, and a deleted scene, indicate that Melvin's parents are degenerate gamblers, who often leave their son alone when they go to Las Vegas for days at a time.  But the version released to theaters doesn't provide an explanation.

46)  They don't really.  We can be sure that Nancy, Mindy, Walter, Burt, Heather, Nestor, Miguel, Melvin, Earl, and Val are definitely included in the count of 14 on the town sign.  That's 10 people.  But, we also have Edgar, Fred, Dr. Jim, and Megan.  Plus Melvin has to have at least 1, if not 2 parents, which would be 15 or 16.  Rhonda doesn't count, presumably, since she's only there temporarily, for the semester.  So, either Fred and/or Edgar live too far out of the town proper to count, or Dr. Jim and Megan just moved in (they're building their house, after all) and so aren't counted yet.

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Vietnamese/American Fruit Drink

     After I bought this one, and drank it, I had some misgivings.  Had I posted about soursop before?  The picture of the fruit on the label looked vaguely familiar, and one of its alternative names, guanabana, seemed familiar as well.  I went through my blog's history in its entirety, scrolling through all 830 of my previous posts.  I clicked on many, all the ones that mentioned something Mexican or Central American, or anything fruit-related.  Long story short, I couldn't find a previous post on it.  So I'm writing this one.  If any reader lets me know of a post that I somehow missed, well, I'll just have to acknowledge that it was a reprint of sorts.  Finally, the drink that I got was the soursop juice from the IOS Natural company, based out of New Jersey in the U.S.  But the fruit itself was cultivated in Vietnam.

     Here are some of soursop's aliases:  guanabana, guybana, graviola, paw-paw, and sirsak.  Its point of origin was Mexico and other parts around Central America.  However, it was transported to many other places in the world with suitably tropical environments.  In some areas too well, as now it's considered an invasive species, like in portions of India.  The soursop plant grows into a small, evergreen tree, which can top out at a height of about 10 meters (or 33 feet).  The fruit can get quite large, sometimes reaching a length of 35 cm. (about 14 inches), and a weight of up to 4 kilos (8.8 pounds).  It's dark green at first, but it changes to a yellowish-green as it ripens.  Its exterior is quite leathery, with spiky protrusions.  The inner pulp is a white color, with black, inedible seeds.  The taste of the fruit is often said to be a combination of several other fruits.  Many consumers believe its texture is reminiscent of a banana, while its flavor is thought to be akin to a strawberry mixed with an apple, with perhaps a hint of a sour citrusy taste.  Most folks consume it as a drink, or as a candy, or as a flavoring for sorbets or ice cream.

     I already covered the IOS Natural company's background before, in my post on November 30th, 2024, about watermelon juice that was grown in Turkey.  So if you're interested, head on over to that article.  I won't repeat its information here.

IOS Natural 100% soursop juice:  The color of this juice was mostly clear--just a hint of yellow.  It had a slightly sweet odor.  The texture was thickish, with some pulp in it.  The taste was okay.  It was sweet and tangy.  Not a really bold flavor, but alright.  I would recommend this one slightly.  Maybe people who've never had soursop might be intrigued by its newness, as well.

     Soursop is a favorite of the alternative medicine crowd.  It's said by them to be able to lower high blood sugar, lower high blood pressure, and to act as an antibiotic.  But, most dramatically, soursop is posited to be an effective cancer treatment.  Alas, as is pretty much always the case with these alternative medical claims, these haven't been proven scientifically to date.  So don't substitute a fruit for your doctor-proscribed actual medicines just yet.

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Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Cooked Cheese Snack

      When I happened to see this on the shelf in the snack section at my local grocery store, I assumed it was just a cheese-flavored cracker.  But a closer inspection revealed that it wasn't--instead it was a snack composed solely of grated and baked pieces of cheese.  Literally.  The ingredient lists for these snacks are just the cheeses themselves, with nothing else, not even preservatives.  Anyway, I got two types of the Whisps snacks--the asiago & pepper jack kind, and the parmesan one.

     As has become the norm lately, I couldn't find out who created the Whisps brand, and when, from their official company website.  Fortunately though, I was able to learn some details from other online sources, which I think are accurate.  According to these, Whisps was founded by Ilana Fischer, an executive of Schuman Cheese, based out of New Jersey.  Schuman specializes in selling imported cheeses from various places around the world, including South America, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Israel, Greece, Belgium, France, and especially Italy.  Fischer started the Whisps line in 2015.  In either 2018 or 2019 (sources differ), Whisps left Schuman and became independent.  In particular, Whisps was hoping to capitalize on the keto and low carb diet trends, by putting out a snack that qualified for both of these.  John Ghingo, formerly of Applegate Farms, took over as the CEO in 2023.  And in August of 2024 Whisps was acquired by The Farmer Company, led by founder/CEO Adam Farmer.  The Whisps brand is quite small, consisting of only three products.  Aside from the two that I sampled, there is a cheddar cheese variant.  In addition to being appropriate for keto and low carb dieters, Whisps also proudly touts that its wares lack gluten and rBST.  (If you're like me and didn't know what rBST is, it stands for recombinant bovine somatotropin.  It's a synthetic hormone that's given to cows to increase milk production.  It's banned in places like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the European Union because it can have adverse health effects on the cows.  There's no evidence that its use causes health problems for humans consuming the dairy products, though.)  They're also free of nuts, although they are made in a facility that processes nuts.  The location where the Whisps are made is a bit spread out.  The cheese is made in Wisconsin, and my product labels mention that they were distributed from an address in Burlington, Vermont.  However, the Whisps headquarters are reportedly in New York City.

Whisps parmesan cheese crisps:  These were disc-shaped, about 1.25 inches (about 3 cm.) in diameter, with a yellowish white color and a rough, uneven exterior.  No real odor to speak of.  The texture was dry, and crunchy, which makes sense, since they're dried pieces of cheese, and are called "crisps."  They tasted like parmesan, which again makes sense, as that's what they were.  The flavor was very good to excellent.  I enjoyed these immensely, and would readily recommend them.

Whisps asiago & pepper jack cheese crisps:  These were the same size and shape, and outer appearance  as the parmesan ones, but their hue was a light orange instead of being yellow-white.  Again, not much of a smell at all.  And they were similarly dry and crunchy.  The flavor was very impressive.  There was a decent amount of spice bite--not overpowering, but enough to make it a bit zesty and interesting.  The parmesan ones were top notch, as I said, but these were maybe slightly better.  Or excellent.  I highly recommend these too.  If you like these kinds of cheese in general, I think you'll really like them in dried baked form as well.  I'll try to locate the cheddar kind, too, and report back here if I do.

     The official company website invited satisfied customers to "become a Whisperer."  I guess I am now, since I very much enjoyed these snacks.  But, contrary to the more common definition of whispering, I WILL EXTOLL MY LOVE AND ADMIRATION OF THESE DRIED CHEESE SNACKS THIS WAY, THE WRITING EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING.

Great Writing News!

      A while ago I teased a bit about an upcoming acceptance of mine, and now I'm able to be more detailed about it.  An essay of mine, "Blood Lines," will be a part of the eleventh issue of Morbid Curiosity.  Morbid Curiosity is published and edited by Loren Rhoads.  Whose name should be familiar to my readers, since she was also the publisher and editor of 2022's "Death's Garden Revisited," the book that explores all aspects of cemeteries.  (And I had an essay in that one, too.)  Additionally, I did an interview with Loren on this blog back on April 9th, 2022.  The tentative publication date for Morbid Curiosity #11 is October of this year, and a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign is planned for the near future.  Obviously I'll include more information about this upcoming  magazine issue in the coming weeks and months, including the cover art, synopses, and the list of contributors.

     Now I'd like to explore Morbid Curiosity in more depth.  Because I have quite a history with this publication.  I was fortunate enough to have stories included in Issues 7, 8 and 9.  These were some of my earlier publishing credits, so they're special memories.  But, first off, what was, and now is, Morbid Curiosity about?  It lived up to its title, as it featured confessional, first person, non-fiction essays which explored, "The unsavory, unwise, unorthodox, and unusual:  All the dark elements that make life truly worth living."  Through most of its run, Morbid Curiosity mainly focused on survivor narratives.  These described folks' experiences with "sexuality, birth, modern healthcare, illicit substances, natural disasters, UFO encounters, humanity's inclination toward violence, as well as homicide, serial killers, and ghosts."  Morbid Curiosity was an annual magazine, and was published between 1997-2006.  All told 310 survivor narratives were featured.  Some of the more famous contributors were, in alphabetical order:  

Michael Amzen, Maurice Broaddus, M. Christian, Alan M. Clark, Aaron Comethus John Everson, Ray Garton, Rain Graves, T.M. Gray, Michael Hemmingson, Brian Hodge, Charlee Jacob, Brian Keene, Nancy Kilpatrick, Jasmine Sailing, Julia Solis, Jill Tracy, V. Vale, Don Webb, and David Niall Wilson.

     Morbid Curiosity attracted a fair bit of attention, too.  Two museums featured it as part of a display.  A copy of an issue can be seen on Mulder's desk in an episode of "The X-Files."  It's been cited in at least four books-- "Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can't Look Away" by Eric G. Wilson, "Death: An Oral History" by Casey Jarman, "Encyclopedia Gothica" by Lisa Ladouceur, and "The Goth Bible" by Nancy Kilpatrick.  Finally, when it closed in 2006, Peter Carlson of The Washington Post wrote a long, passionate obituary for it.  (Which can still be found online.)

     Loren Rhoads ceased Morbid Curiosity to focus on her writing career.  Which has been prolific--she's penned short stories, nonfiction books, and novels.  Included in this output is the "As Above, So Below" set ("Lost Angels" and "Angelus Rose"), the "In the Wake of the Templars" trilogy ("The Dangerous Type," "Kill By Numbers," and "No More Heroes"), and the nonfiction "199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die," and its later companion, "222 Cemeteries to See Before You Die."  Also both the book I mentioned previously, "Death's Garden Revisited," and its predecessor, "Death's Garden."  She later condensed the highlights of Morbid Curiosity into the book, "Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues."

     However, it's back from the dead.  Presumably the zombie form of Morbid Curiosity will be even more disturbing, fascinating, alarming, and interesting than it was before, if that's possible.  I hope this post has whetted your appetite for Issue #11.  It can't come soon enough!  Much more to follow.      

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Two Canadian Soft Drinks

      This was a case when I didn't really need to check the "Product of (whatever country it was made in)" section on the label.  The overall name of the product, in clear, large letters told me that it was an import--"Clearly Canadian."  I did check, later, just to make sure it wasn't a geographical ruse, but it wasn't:  Clearly Canadian is indeed made in Canada.  I tried a couple of their sparkling water beverages--their mountain blackberry kind, and the wild cherry one.

Clearly Canadian is neither an ancient company, nor a very recent one.  It started in 1987, founded by Gordon Sim, Doug Mason, and a few other, unidentified folks.  The original water source for their drinks was the Tillicum reservoir, located on Silver Star Road, in the Monashee Mountains, overlooking the British Columbian community of Vernon.  Sim, Mason, and their cohorts decided to add some flavoring to their spring water, and they were off.  Clearly Canadian beverages were a hit after only a short time, as the 1990's was a prolific decade for the company.  Their wares were even featured (not in ads, but in the hands of the characters) on several famous television programs of the era, such as "Sex and the City," "Friends," and "Seinfeld."  Alas, in the aughts the business began to falter due to mismanagement.  This got so severe that Clearly Canadian shut down for a while, starting in 2010-11.  The leader of an investment firm, Robert R. Khan, of 4N Capital Partners, acquired Clearly Canadian in 2012.  Around the same time, a crowdfunding campaign was done, which attracted over 14,000 fans/investors, who pre-bought over 40,000 cases of the beverages.  This money was used to get the business up and running again, and Clearly Canadian was active and successful once again.

     Clearly Canadian just makes beverages, all based on Canadian spring water, although the sources have expanded from only the Tillicum spring.  They make four basic sorts of beverage--the originals, zero sugars, the sparkling essences, and the Clearly sparkling line.  These drinks are flavored with four natural ingredients.  (Which they didn't reveal--I suppose they're company secrets.)  All are fruit-flavored, but no actual fruit juice is used.  Not shockingly, since their products are mostly made from water, all are vegetarian-appropriate, and free of GMOs and gluten.  Some of their drinks do contain cane sugar as the sweetener, and not the common high fructose corn syrup.  (Their zero sugar drinks don't use sugar, obviously, substituting stevia instead.)

Clearly Canadian sparkling water beverage, wild cherry flavor:  Had a cherry-ish odor, and, as the name suggests, was a clear color.  It was carbonated, i.e., sparkling.  The taste was also noticeably cherry-ish.  Or like a typical cherry soda/soft drink.  It was good--fizzy and fruity.  I would rate it good to very good, and would recommend it.

Clearly Canadian sparkling water beverage, mountain berry flavor:  This one was also clear in color, and once again had the advertised fruit odor.  Carbonated too, of course.  It had a pleasant black berry-like flavor.  Not a super strong taste, but pretty good.  Maybe a tad less tasty than the wild cherry kind, but still respectable.  I would also recommend this one.  And I will try other Clearly Canadian beverages if/when I encounter them.

    

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Mexican/American Fruit Gummy

      This week's topic was a complete happy accident.  I had a coupon for CVS that was about to expire, so I was browsing their small selection of food, searching for something that would be free, or almost so.  I happened to spy a new-to-me kind of fruit gummy--the mango and passion fruit flavor from the Solely line.  So it all worked out.

     The official Solely company website has next to no information about the founder, and company history.  Fortunately, an online interview with Forbes was much more detailed.  Back in 2000 a 17 year old Mexican boy named Simon Sacal abandoned his engineering training to try to create a fat free potato chip at an unnamed company.  However, the Atkins Diet fad of 2009-10 essentially ended the point of fat-free foods, so Sacal switched to a spin-off company that was initially called IHS, and eventually Fruitex.  Now his goal was to help Mexican school children get more, and healthier fruit products.  At first this was in the form of an apple fruit bar.  However, growing seasons meant their apple sources weren't available year round.  Fruitex developed a special drying machine for the fruit, which solved the availability problem.  Sacal's brother Gabriel, working with the company's research & development section, then designed a way to make pasta from pineapple, with no additives.  In 2014 the fruit industry became intrigued, and focused on "clean" fruit, meaning fruit products made from organic fruit, with no preservatives or additives.  So Sacal split off from Fruitex to create the Solely company and brand.  In 2018 Solely relocated over the border, into Southern California.  Solely products, as the name suggests, are made from fruit alone.  The line has three different categories--fruit jerky, fruit gummies, and dried fruit.  There are several different variants and combinations, but many have mango in them, and some have chocolate drizzling, or even spices like chili.  Solely also makes pasta, although I couldn't find this on the official website.  I'm not sure of the exact distinction between the product types, since all of them appear to be kinds of dried fruit.  Also, not shockingly, Solely wares are made exclusively from organic fruit, and are all free of GMOs.  They're all vegan-appropriate, and certified Kosher as well.  Although some contain gluten, and all are made at facilities that also process soy, peanuts, and tree nuts, so those with allergies to any of these should take note.

Solely organic fruit gummies, mango & passion fruit flavor:  These were small, twisted squares, about 1 cm. by 1 cm (about .5 inch by .5 inch).  The texture was chewy.  I couldn't really detect the separate mango and passion fruit flavors.  They were sweetish, but a little bland.  I would have preferred a stronger, sweeter fruit taste.  Also, I don't know if these qualify as "gummies," since they're just dried fruit, without the usual (mostly artificial) gummy ingredients.  Most of the gummies I've had are candy, so full of sugar and/or corn syrup, meaning they're probably terrible for you, but they taste good.  These are undeniably healthier for you, but the taste suffers.  So I don't really know how to rate these.  I would recommend them as a healthy snack, since they are, but I wouldn't recommend them purely on taste.  Finally, from a shallow, aesthetic viewpoint they uncomfortably remind me of rabbit turds, which didn't help the experience, even if it was just a coincidence.

 

 

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Couple of Italian Potato Snacks

      Today I'll represent my home area a bit, and do a post about an Italian food.  As I've surely mentioned before, there is a fairly large Italian-American population in South Jersey, so the local supermarkets often have products from this country.  It'll be two potato snacks from the D'amo Matera brand--their pomodoro piccante kind, and their mix legumi one.

     D'amo, which, confusingly, is also sometimes rendered as Damo (no apostrophe) or as Da.Mo in their full business name, Da.Mo. Industria Alimentare SRL, was started by two men--Danilo D'Amario and Paolo Moliterni.  Both of these guys had been heads of food companies before, and wanted to begin a new company.  Their goal was to make a healthy, non-fried potato chip.  They included the city where the product would be made, Matera, in their brand name.  Also, the symbol of this town, an ox with some wheat in its mouth, was used as a cartoon logo for their wares.  The entire D'amo/Damo line is sparse, consisting of only five products, all potato-based chips.  The flavors are legume, spicy tomato, lemon, oil and salt, and protein.  (The ones I had were the legume and the spicy tomato.)  And that's about all I can say about the company--there's next to nothing online about its history and background.  It was one of those companies that seem to want to remain mysterious and mostly anonymous, save from what they're selling.  (With one weird exception to this, which I'll mention at the end.)  I couldn't even find out what year the business started.  The company does talk about the city of Matera a lot, on both the official website and on the product labels, so after I review the chips I'll do a paragraph or two about that.

D'amo Matera snack alle patate, mix legumi (legume) flavor:  These were light yellow/whitish discs, with some visible green splotches, that had a diameter of about 4.5 cm. (about 1.75 inches).  They were light, crunchy, and airy.  And kind of bland tasting.

D'amo Matera snack alle patate, pomodoro piccante (spicy tomato) flavor:  These were also yellowish white discs, although these had red dusting on them.  Their size was the same as the previous ones.  And these were once again light, crunchy, and airy.  They had a recognizable tomato flavor, which was a little stronger than the legume kind.  Which meant they tasted better.  Still not great, but alright.  The pieces were oddly inconsistent--some had more of the red dusting on them, and thus more flavor.  Overall this type was kind of good.  So I'd recommend the spicy tomato ones a little, but not the legume ones, since they were rather boring.

     The city of Matera is located in Southern Italy, in Basilicata.  Just how long people have been living there is disputed.  Some posit 3000 years, others say that it's 10,000.  Whichever date is accurate, it's been a long while.  Matera is known for its unusual set up, being located in three deep valleys, with correspondingly high rocky mountains in between.  The citizens early on started carving buildings into the rock, often resulting in cave-like dwellings and rooms.  This picturesque, but odd quality has led to the city being declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1993, and it was named the European Capital of Culture in 2019.  Its unique rocky streets and buildings have made it a popular setting for movies.  Some that have filmed there include "The Demon" (1963),"King David" (1985), "The Passion of the Christ" (2004), "Mary" (2005), "The Omen" (2006 remake), "Wonder Woman" (2017), and "No Time to Die" (2021).  This community, with a current population of just over 60,000, has produced a few famous folks.  Matera-born actor Cosimo Fusco is arguably best known (at least to Americans) for playing Paolo on the "Friends" television program in 1994-95.  He also appeared in the 2008 television movie "Coco Chanel," and in movies such as "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000), "The Card Player" (2004), "Angels & Demons" (2009) and the HBO Europe series "30 Coins" (2020-21).  Another famous Matera-born man was St. John of Matera (1070-1139), the Benedictine monk who was canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1177.  Finally, Matera produced a very successful paralympion, Enzo Masiello.  Made a paraplegic at age 18 in a traffic accident, Enzo competed in both the Summer and Winter Paralympian Games.  For the 1992 Summer Games he won bronze in the 5000 meters.  In the 2010 Winter contest he won a silver in the 10 km. classic style sitting event (skiing), as well as a bronze medal in the 15 km. sitting (skiing) event.

     I'll end on something I found weird on the official Damo/D'amo website.  As I said, it was very terse on the company's history and background, but, at the same time it provided phone numbers for the two founders.  Presumably they're secondary, and business-only numbers, handled by receptionists, but what if they're not?  What if they just answer questions and comments from any random person?  Maybe I should call and ask them when the company was founded, and such.  Of course, their English might not be great, and my Italian is non-existent save for a few random words, mostly food names, so that conversation might be futile.

  

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Two Protein Bars

      Today I'll be returning to the subject of protein bars.  The ones I'll be talking about are candy bar-ish, while purporting to be healthy snacks.  These are both from Chef Robert Irvine's Fit Crunch line--their chocolate chip cookie dough kind, and their mint chocolate chip variant.

     I had to look up who Robert Irvine is, which just goes to show that I don't watch the Food Network channel.*  Anyway, Robert Irvine was born in England.  In his late teens he joined the country's Royal Navy, becoming a chef for a military ship.  After his service time was over, he became a celebrity chef.  While he's appeared as a guest on several cooking shows, such as "Iron Chef," he's best known for hosting several different programs, mostly on the Food Network.  Probably the best remembered ones are "Restaurant Impossible" (2011-16), and for his two seasons of "Worst Cooks in America."  He also had a stint as the host of a regular (i.e., not cooking based) talk show on the CW channel in 2016, but this one seems to have been short lived.  He's also owned at least two restaurants.  One, which was within the Las Vegas Tropicana hotel and casino, lasted from 2017-24, and the other, Fresh Kitchen, still exists, operating within the U.S. government's Pentagon building.  Irvine also has an ownership stake in a Pennsylvania-based distillery, named Boardroom Spirits.  It sells Irvine's vodka, and Irvine's dry gin, among others.  And he's written, to date, six books--"Mission: Cook!" (2007), "Impossible to Easy" (2010), "Fit Fuel" (2015), "Blend Anything Machine Recipes" (2015), "Family Table By Robert Irvine" (2018), and "Overcoming Impossible" (2023).  Staying on the written word, since 2016 Irvine has his own digital magazine, the creatively named "Robert Irvine Magazine," which is still active.  He's made some other notable biographical claims as well, such as that he earned a degree in food and nutrition from the U.K.'s University of Leeds, that he's a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, he helped make the wedding cake for the Royal union of Charles and Diana, and that he was employed as a chef at the American White House.  Some folks questioned these accomplishments, but Irvine maintains that they're true.  More relevant to this blog post, Robert Irvine started Fit Crunch in 2012 in a partnership with Bakery Barn.  The company was owned by Irvine's Pervine Foods, LLC originally, but it was acquired by 1440 Foods in 2024.

     Fit Crunch makes various kinds of protein bars.  Some, like the two I sampled, are part of their baked bar line.  Other bar types include wafer bars, and Delight bars.  Customers can also buy several kinds of protein powder.  Somewhat surprisingly, the company's wares contain some of the common "controversial" ingredients.  As in, some of their products have soy, and some contain gluten.  All of them contain dairy, and several also contain nuts.  And, although Fit Crunch's official website notes that their bars aren't technically made with any declared GMOs, they admit that some of them are produced with genetic engineering, whatever that specifically means.

Chef Robert Irvine's Fit Crunch high protein baked bar, chocolate chip cookie dough flavor:  The bar measured about 3.5 inches by 1.5 inches (or about 9 cm. by 4 cm.).  It had a very rough-looking appearance, with many bulges and nuts barely covered by the outer coating.  The color was a dark brown.  The flavor was very chocolate-y, and the texture was crunchy.  It was really tasty--it was like a good candy chocolate bar.  I don't recall detecting much of a cookie dough taste, but it was so good otherwise that I didn't care.  So it didn't taste like a typical disappointing healthy snack, it tasted like a fun, decadent candy.  I'd recommend this highly.  My only very minor complaint was that it was a little messy to eat, as it was starting to melt in my hand quickly.

Chef Robert Irvine's Fit Crunch high protein baked bar, mint chocolate chip flavor:  This one was the same size and shape as the previous one, and also had a rough outer appearance and a very dark brown color.  The only real difference was this bar had white streaks going across it.  The texture was once again crunchy.  The taste was pleasantly bold--I could detect both the chocolate and mint flavors.  So I really enjoyed this kind a lot, too.  I would strongly recommend this one as well.  It was a bit melty, like its kin, to pick out and identify one tiny nit.

     In case you're wondering, I looked up Robert Irvine's books on Amazon, to check out the general consensus on them.  And with one exception, they're well regarded.  "Impossible to Easy" had a rating of 4.3 out of 5, both "Fit Fuel" and "Mission: Cook!" were at 4.4, "Family Table" was at 4.5, and "Overcoming Impossible" was a robust 4.7 out of 5.  The exception was one that wasn't as well publicized, and seemingly was a smaller release, called "Blend Anything Machine Recipes" (2015).  It only had a 3.0 out of 5.  Although, this was only based on one review, so that should be kept in mind.  (All the well rated ones had a good number of reviews, some over 100.)

*   Which makes sense, because why would I?  I hate cooking, and most competition/reality type programs, so there's nothing there for me.  It'd be like if I voluntarily watched a network devoted to knitting, or NASCAR, or Medieval romantic poetry.

 

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Norwegian/Polish Sardines

      This is another example of a product I've been eating for decades, but didn't think to post about it until now, when I realized I'd overlooked it.  King Oscar sardines are one of the most common canned sardine brands in the U.S., at least in the stores that I've visited.  For today's post, I'll be discussing King Oscar's wild caught sardines in water.

     The history of the company that makes King Oscar seafood is a bit convoluted.  But here goes.  In 1873 the Stavanger Preserving Company was founded by four (unnamed) men in the Norwegian town of Stavanger.  They, and some other canneries in this city/region were reportedly the first ones in the country to develop oil packed, canned, smoked brisling sardines.  In 1880, Norway, and especially these Stavanger canneries, began exporting their canned sardines.  In 1882 a man named Christian Bjelland started his own sardine cannery business.  Some Norwegian smoked sardines were enjoyed at the 1893 World's Fair, held in Chicago, Illinois that year, helping the industry get further attention.  By the turn of the century Norway had become the sardine industry leader.  Then, in 1902 the ruler of Norway and Sweden, King Oscar II, tried some sardines made by the Stavanger-based Christian Bjelland company.  The sovereign was so impressed that he allowed the business to use his name and image as a brand.  A year later the new King Oscar sardines were first exported to the U.S.  And in 1907 (or 1908 according to some sources) Christian Bjelland was knighted for his business innovations and success.  Two years later his company aired the first commercial in Norway, a 10 minute short film about their products.  Over the next few decades the brand, and the manufacturer, continued to flourish.  In 1981 11 Norwegian canneries joined together to form (the imaginatively named) Norway Foods.  This new conglomerate included the King Oscar brand.  In 2008 the facilities for canning the King Oscar fish (and presumably other canned fish brands) were moved to Poland.  Norway Foods was acquired and then sold off several times, the final time to date to the Thai Union firm.  Currently King Oscar products are exported to the U.S., Japan, Poland, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Canada, South Africa, and Australia.  Aside from sardines, King Oscar also markets salmon, mackerel, kipper snacks, anchovies, yellowfin tuna, cod, and fish pate.  Their wares are wild caught, and contain no GMOs or gluten.

King Oscar wild caught sardines in water:  There were at least eight fillets in the can, with silver scales and brownish-white meat.  There wasn't much of an odor, and the texture of the sardines was soft and chewy.  The taste was slightly oily, although that was from the fish themselves, since they were packed in water and not oil.  The taste was a bit bland--obviously because the sardines were in water, and not oil and with no spices.  But still, they were a decent example of the style.  They just needed a bit of a condiment to help them out.  I think they would also make for a decent sandwich, if that's your thing.  So I would recommend them, but the oil-packed or spicy King Oscar ones are surely better, and if you get the water-packed kind like me, grab your favorite sauce, too.

     I found it a little weird that a king or queen (even one that was a constitutional monarch by that point in history) would give their name and likeness to a product.  But evidently King Oscar had some company--The U.K.'s Queen Victoria allowed her image on many products, as did Queen Elizabeth II, who lent her name and coat of arms to products like Heinz ketchup and Cadbury chocolates.  Apparently it ran in the family, as Victoria's uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium reportedly allowed his name and image for some commercial photography products.  We should also keep in mind that these rulers almost certainly got some financial kickbacks for doing this, I would think.  Call me cynical, but I doubt it was just that they were so dazzled by these products, and allowed their names and images for free.  

  

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--An English Beer Cheese

      I've obviously done many posts about various beers, and various cheeses.  But I think this is the first one that's a combination of the two.  Thinking about it, I'm kind of surprised it's taken so long.  I mean, I've done weird alcoholic combos like "hard" iced teas, "hard" popsicles, and even "hard" candies, but not cheese.  Anyway, today's cheese is the Challenger IPA from the English Somerdale company.

     Given England's extensive history, I halfway expected the maker of this cheese to have been around for over a century, or possibly several centuries.  But no--Somerdale International has only been active since 1990.  It was founded by two men--Stephon Jones and Ernie Waldron.  Its current headquarters are in the town of Wellington, in Somerset.  They sell cheese that are from various farms, although all are either in the U.K. or Ireland.  They make or distribute quite a few kinds of cheddar, a blue cheese, white Stilton, and several sorts of Wensleydale cheeses.  They even make a 1776 aged cheddar, to celebrate the United States' 250th anniversary.  Which seems a tad odd, since America achieved their independence by fighting the English.  But, it has been a long while, and they're clearly over it.  And, one of Somerdale's best customer bases is the U.S., so maybe that's part of it.  The Challenger IPA cheese isn't even the only one that includes some booze in it, as there are two Claddagh Irish Cheddars with some--one with an Irish porter, and the other with Irish whiskey.  I was further surprised to see a section on the official company website titled "Modern Slavery Transparency Statement."  This statement is nicely progressive--Somerdale is against forced labor (or as they spell it, labour), and child labor/labour, and human trafficking in general.  All good stuff, obviously, but it made me cynically wonder, how many foods and drinks have I bought that do support (or at least turn a bling eye to) human slavery and trafficking?  It's more than a little unsettling.

Challenger IPA:  It had an off white/pale yellow color.  I had some plain at first.  It had a crumbly texture, and tasted a bit sour, maybe a tad bitter like an IPA.  But this last bit wasn't that strong, or completely evident.  If you'd given this to me and not mentioned it was an IPA-infused cheese, I don't know if I would have determined or detected that.  Still, it was tasty.  I also had some on crackers, and the taste was pretty much the same.  Or once again, very good.  So, overall I didn't really recognize the IPA beer in this, but it was nevertheless a more than respectable cheese.  Not shockingly, to any of my previous readers, I would highly recommend this, even if the beer taste isn't necessarily there.

     I don't believe I've discussed this before, but if I did, forgive the repetition.  Eating this cheese made me ponder--can foods with alcohol in them affect the consumer?  Or, more bluntly, can eating a cooked dish with booze in it affect someone, or even make them intoxicated?  I've heard that alcohol in food is cooked off, and evaporates, meaning it shouldn't really affect the consumer.  However, that's not entirely true.  Alcohol that is cooked does dissipate, and evaporate, but it's a bit slow, and certain cooking methods or the time spent cooking, can produce very different results.  For example, if booze is added to a boiling liquid  briefly it may maintain 85% of its potency.  Alcohol added to food and flambeed may be 75% retained.  If baked for about fifteen minutes, about 40% of the alcohol will remain.  Increased this baking time to 60 minutes and the amount of alcohol left drops to about 25%, and after 120 minutes or so it decreases to about 5-10%.  Now, this remaining amount probably won't mean much--even if you have some briefly baked dish, for example, 85% of an amount of alcohol equivalent to about a shot of liquor, or a glass of wine, or about 12 ounces of beer probably won't affect a normal person.  Especially if this dish was eaten by more than one person.  So, for most folks eating something made with alcohol probably won't be a big deal, but it you're a teetotaler, or are pregnant, or are a recovering alcoholic if might be significant, and a problem.  If you're a member of these groups you should be very strict--it might not just be harmless flavoring.

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Two Thai/American Banana Waters

      I want some credit.  Despite disliking bananas in general, I've given them quite a few tries over the years.  Witness my post on dried banana snacks on June 17th, 2023, my post on banana "milk" on April 25th, 2020, and one about unusual fresh bananas on June 2nd, 2018.  (Although I do like their close cousins, plantains, probably because they're usually cooked.)  This is yet another chance for them.  Specifically, two banana waters from the Woodstock brand--their blueberry kind, and their chocolate one.

     The Thai part of this title was because the bananas were grown there.  Other than that, though, Thailand doesn't really figure into the Woodstock brand.  Woodstock is a brand of the United Natural Foods, Inc. company, usually abbreviated as UNFI.  The roots of this firm date back to the 1970's.  In 1973 Norman Cloutier started a company called Cornucopia Natural Foods, in Providence, Rhode Island, which quickly became a wholesale distributer.  Across the country, in Auburn, California, another guy named Michael Funk opened up Mountain People's Warehouse three years later.  This business, which handled organic produce, rapidly became a hugely successful distributer in the West.  Twenty years later, in 1996, the two companies merged, becoming United Natural Foods.  And, since they were leaders in the organic/natural foods industries on the West coast, and the East coast, combining them resulted in a company with a national reach.  During the next few years, UNFI bought up some other businesses, mostly organic distributers like Albert's Organics, Source Organic, and Blooming Prairie.  And in 2018 they acquired the SUPERVALU company.  As of now, UNFI owns at least eight brands, including Equaline, Essential Everyday, Culinary Circle, Wild Harvest, Field Day, Stone Ridge Creamery, Shoppers Value, and, of course, Woodstock.  All told the company makes over 170 non-GMO products, and over 160 organic products.  (Left unsaid is if any of their wares use GMOs.  Presumably not?)  Their total product line includes breakfast foods, condiments, frozen fruit, frozen vegetables, pickled vegetables, frozen pastas, nut and seed butters, sugars and sweeteners, rice bites, tofu, and, for some reason, charcoal.  They also reportedly utilize farms located in over 25 countries around the world, including, obviously, Thailand.

Woodstock organic banana water, blueberry flavor:  It had a dark brown, cloudy color, and its odor was both banana-y and blueberry-ish.  The texture was a bit thick--kind of between a water and a milkshake.  The taste was....surprisingly good.  Apparently the blueberry juice is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this drink, because this mix worked.  And I could still detect the banana flavor, but the blueberry somehow enhanced and smoothed it out.  I would recommend this.

Woodstock organic banana water, chocolate flavor:  The color of this one was brown, and the smell was just banana-y, not really chocolate-y.  The texture was like the first one, thickish.  I could, though, taste both of these flavors.  This one was just okay.  The mix did improve the banana flavor, certainly, but I would have liked a stronger chocolate taste.  And masking the bananas more would also have helped.  So it wasn't as good as the previous one, but it was still decent.  I would recommend this one, too, but only slightly.

     So, these drinks were significantly better than I predicted going in.  I fully expected to dislike or even hate these, and I figured a drain pour might even be in the cards.  But sometimes when you gamble you win.  Every so often, I like banana-flavored products.

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--An Irish Cream Liqueur

      It's been a while since I covered a booze, so I did some shopping recently.  And I found a good candidate.  As I've explained before, my ideal sample of an alcoholic beverage is a small, 1.7 ounce/50 mL bottle, so it's cheap (about $2 to $3 or so), and if I hate it, I'm not stuck with a large bottle.  This wasn't the situation on this occasion, but it was a nice compromise.  It was exotic (from Ireland), and a safe flavor (cookies and cream liqueur), and it was relatively inexpensive, being about $17 or $18 for the 700 mL/23,67 ounce bottle.  More precisely, I got the cookies and cream flavor liqueur from the O'Daniell's brand.

     O'Daniell's is a brand of the Robert A. Merry & Co., Ltd. company.  Which has moderately old roots.  Back in 1868 the Merrys Tavern opened, in Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland.  At some unspecified time the family expanded into making wines and spirits, and not just serving them.  Jumping ahead to 1994, the Robert A. Merry & Co., Ltd. business was formed, headquartered in Clonmel, County Tipperary.  Further details are a bit lacking.  Linkedin provided the information that the company employs 51-200 people.  But I was unable to find out who the current owner(s) or CEO is, beyond, presumably, being a Merry descendant.  Supposedly Merry makes gin and whiskey, but the official company website only mentions the Irish cream liqueurs.  Of which there are several flavors--original, salted caramel, white chocolate, strawberry, toffee buttermint, and pumpkin spice.  The current Master Blender is a guy named Don Crowley.  Another business website listed the markets supplied as being (very generally) "Africa, Asia, Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, the Middle East, North America, Oceania, and South America."  Oddly, the O'Daniell's kind I tried was not listed on the official Merry website, even though it's another cream liqueur.  (Maybe it's new?)

O'Daniell's cookies and cream liqueur:  This drink had a brownish-white color, and a creamy odor.  I had this straight, after I chilled it.  The taste was fairly similar to advocaat, which I discussed in my post on July 30th, 2022.  Which is a compliment--it was creamy, with some chocolate overtones, and quite tasty..  The texture was also thicker than most alcohols.  It's been a while since I had the most popular Irish cream-based drink, Bailey's, but this seemed better.  So if you like Bailey's, or other cream liqueurs, or advocaat, I'd recommend this one, too.

     I was a little curious about the history of the cookies and cream flavor in general, and was gratified to see that it's contentious.  At least four people/organizations claim to have invented it.  In order, Malcolm Stogo, an "ice cream consultant" (apparently that's a thing) says he came up with the flavor in 1976, or possibly 1977 or 1978.  South Dakota State University lists their dairy plant as being the developers, in 1978.  Specifically plant manager Shirley Seas, aided by students Joe Leedom and Joe Van Treeck.  Then there's Blue Bell Creameries, out of Texas.  Initially they didn't claim to have invented the flavor, but stated that they were the first to mass produce it, in 1980.  Later though, they retconned this by saying that they were the inventors of it.  They even registered the trademark for cookie 'n cream in 1981.  Finally, John Harrison, the official taster for Dreyer's/Edy's Ice Cream, reported that he developed the flavor first, in 1982.  Apparently none of these folks have substantial evidence, or else the question wouldn't be under debate.  Whoever actually invented the flavor, it's clear that it was thought up in the late 1970's or early 1980's.  Though there are variants, the classic cookies and cream flavor is made by crumbling up chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, into a vanilla ice cream.  Furthermore, the flavor is rendered in many different ways--cookies and cream, cookies 'n cream, cookies & cream, and the same combinations with "cream" spelled as "creme." 

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Two Chinese Gummies

      This was another happy accident.  I was hurriedly looking for candy in my local Wawa (for those that don't live in the Mid Atlantic states in the U.S., Wawa is a favorite convenience store), and came upon something new.   Peelerz gummy candy, to be exact.  I happened to look at the label, and saw it was made in China.  So I picked up their peach kind, and their mango flavor one.

     It was a little difficult finding out the history behind this manufacturer, but eventually I learned a little.  Peelerz (and yes, I didn't misspell it--that's the way the brand is rendered, using the cool "z" at the end instead of a boring "s") are made by the Amos Food Group, based out of Shenzhen, China.  The company was started in 2004, by a man named Enduo Ma, and three unidentified co-founders.  Enduo Ma often goes by the name "Mr. Amos," and I've also seem him referred to as Amos Ma.  I don't know if he legally changed his name, or if it is just a "business stage name," if that's a thing.  Anyway, the Amos Food Group has two major brands--Amos and Biobor.  The former is their "creative candy brand," while the latter is "nutritional functional candy."  This "creative" description for Amos candies isn't an exaggeration.  They've sold gummies in block shapes, akin to Legos, which can evidently be stacked together.  Another innovation is a type of fruit gummy which is filled with juice--I think it's like a candy ravioli, with a pouch for the juice.  But the weirdest, and most exciting candy is a type of lollipop that plays music.  Which seems crazy to me, but apparently it's true.  A touch of a button plays up of 60 minutes of pre-recorded music, via a tiny motor and playback mechanism.  Then, using bone conductive technology, which is a phrase that I've never written before, the music is transmitted by sound vibrations through the consumers' teeth and jawbone directly into the inner ear.  Ear plugs, which are sometimes included in the package, aid the music's clarity.  So, after I've given some background about all of these odd and innovative candies, I'm going to talk about....just a couple of regular gummy candies.  No songs, so juices, no ability to be made into building blocks, just candy.  Sigh.  When/if I do encounter these more exciting and bizarre candies I'll clearly add to this blog post.  Which I hope I do--the music one in particular has caught my attention.  Although, thinking about it, given my lack of interest in popular music since the end of the 20th century, or even a bit before, there's a high probability that the songs in the lollipops will bore or annoy me after only a short time, after the novelty has worn off.  I guess we'll see.

Peelerz, peach flavor:  These gummies had a peachy odor, and were shaped like a tiny peach, about 2 cm. by 2 cm. (about .75 inch by .75 inch), with an orangish-red color.  The texture was softer than a typical gummy, and as such they kind of melted in my mouth.  The taste was certainly peachy.  Overall they were pretty good.  Not awesome, but better than an average gummy.  The package made it seem like you could peel them, but I couldn't do this.

Peelerz, mango flavor:  These smelled like mangoes, and were a yellow color.  The pieces were slightly bigger than the peach kind, being about 3.5 cm. by 2.5 inches (about 1.25 inches by .75 inches), and the shape was roughly oval.  The texture was once again softer than most gummies.  The flavor was appropriately mango-ish, and once again, pretty good but not great.  I would recommend both of these--both were tasty, but not spectacular.  Also once again, these didn't peel, so I don't know what the deal was with that.

     In addition to wanting to try the more elaborate Amos candies, I would be interested in sampling their alleged "nutritional functional" Biobor candies.  I suspect that this assertion is highly exaggerated at least, but then again, I would have laughed before if you'd told me there were lollipops that could play tunes, so maybe I'm not giving the Amos Candy Group their due.

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Norwegian Crispbread

      I discovered this one quite a while ago, like 6 months or even longer (?).  But, for a variety of reasons, I didn't post about it until now.  This was the gluten-free oat crispbread from the Sigdal Bakeri (yes, the Norwegians spell it with an "i" at the end instead of a "y'), out of the town of the same name in Norway.

     We're back to the apparently very shy company founders/owners situation, as I learned little about the company's history.  The "Our Story" section on the official website was brief and undetailed--it basically just said that the business's goal was to make extra flavorful crispbreads, and that the roots of the firm were in Sigdal, Norway in 1977.  Which seems to imply that the company's founding date was after 1977, but the Linkedin page for Sigdal Bakeri claimed that 1977 was indeed the starting year.  Linkedin also revealed that the company has 11-50 employees, and showed a brief photograph/ thumbnail and name of one of them, Jasmin Eriksen.  Who, from her photo doesn't appear old enough to have been one of the founders, since he or she or they would have to be about 70 at a minimum.  Aside from the gluten-free crispbread that I sampled, Sigdal also makes regular, gluten-containing crispbreads, crackers, and something called a "crisp," which is a Nordic sour dough with sea salt.  So basically, they make dry, crunchy baked goods.

Sigdal gluten-free oat crispbread:  The pieces were rectangular, about 4 inches by 3 inches (or about 10 cm. by 8 cm.), with a light brown color, and tons of visible seeds.  Plain the texture was dry and crunchy.  Blandish, but better than some plain crispbreads or even crackers.  The oats definitely help with the taste, as I'm a big fan of them.  I also tried some with a fruit spread on top.  This improved things significantly, as the sweetness paired nicely with the dry grains.  So I would recommend them, but as a canape base, not just as a plain snack.  I guess especially if you have celiac disease, or a gluten allergy, since grainy baked goods for these folks are harder to get, and sometimes disappointing from a taste standpoint.

     The community of Sigdal has produced its share of famous, or at least locally famous citizens.  Theodor Kittlesen (1857-1914) was born elsewhere in Norway, but evidently spent much of his life in Sigdal.  He was a painter who's best remembered for his depictions of nature scenes and trolls.  Erik Ramstad (1860-1951) was born in Sigdal, but immigrated to the U.S.  There he co-founded the North Dakota town of Minot, in 1886.  And then there's Dag Aabye, born in Sigdal in 1941, but who immigrated to Canada.  He was an expert skier--he was known as "The Father of Free Ride" and "The Last Ski Bum."  He also appeared in some movies as a stunt performer, even allegedly in 1963's "Goldfinger."  Later in life, he became interested in ultramarathons, which are performed by folks who think running 26.2 miles in one shot is too easy.  He competed in the Canadian Death Race, which is a 125 km. (78 miles) run up and down several mountains in the Canadian Rockies, requiring 17,000 foot (about 5182 meters) changes in elevation.

     Without going into specifics now, I'm pleased to announce that another one of my stories was recently accepted for publication.  I should be able to provide some details sometime in April.  So stay tuned!

Extremely Difficult Trivia About "The Princess Bride" (1987)

      Normally my movie trivia quizzes cover horror movies, or at least sci-fi/horror hybrids, or brutal action movies, or raunchy, adult comedies.  Today's quiz is an exception, as it will be about "The Princess Bride," the 1987 action/fantasy/romantic comedy directed by Rob Reiner.  It's a rare film that's appropriate for children, but is still enjoyable to adults.  Oddly, when it came out, it was only modestly successful at the box office.  But it quickly became a cult film, beloved by pretty much everyone who has seen it.  So let's get to it--the usual format, questions followed by the answers, many SPOILERS ahead.

Questions:

1)    The boy (played by Fred Savage) is playing a video game as the film opens.  What game?

2)    The boy is wearing a jersey for a sports team.  For which team, and which player's number?

3)    According to the boy's grandfather (played by Peter Falk), before he starts reading, what does the book "The Princess Bride" contain, specifically?

4)    According to the grandfather, who wrote "The Princess Bride"?

5)    What two activities did Buttercup most enjoy?

6)    After Westley leaves Buttercup, to make his fortune for their wedding and life together, and is reportedly killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts, how much time passes?

7)    What is the name of the community that houses the Royal Household in the nation of Florin?

8)    Florin has an anniversary coming up.  How many years has it existed?

9)    Just before Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo kidnap Buttercup, they tell her a lie about themselves.  What is it?

10)   According to Vizzini, he found Fezzik unemployed in what country?

11)   What aquatic species attacks Buttercup when she jumps off the boat into the sea?

12)   What was the first name of Inigo Montoya's beloved father?

13)   How old was Inigo when the 6 Fingered Man (later revealed to be Count Rugen) killed his father?

14)   And how many years ago was this event?

15)   What four fencing moves/strategies, named after people, do Inigo and Westley reference during their duel?

16)   Fezzik says he's losing the fight against Westley because he's used to fighting more than one person at a time.  How many people has he been fighting against lately?

17)   To brag about his intelligence, Vizzini says that three famous people were morons compared to him.  Name these famous people.

18)   What four qualities does Westley reveal that iocane powder has?

19)   According to Vizzini, where does iocane powder come from?

20)   Buttercup talks about Prince Humperdinck's skill at hunting and tracking.  What tracking feat does she say he can do?

21)   How does Buttercup describe Westley to the man she thinks is the Dread Pirate Roberts?

22)   What is the name of the Dread Pirate Roberts' ship?

23)   According to Buttercup, how many years has the Dread Pirate Roberts been marauding?

24)   We later learn that the Dread Pirate Roberts is a title used by 4 men in succession, including Westley.  Name the other three.

25)   And where is the first one living now, like a king?

26)   Prince Humperdinck promises not to hurt Westley. How does he swear this?

27)   During Buttercup's nightmare the old woman boos her and calls her the Queen of what (insulting) four things?

28)   How does Prince Humperdinck plan to murder Buttercup on their wedding night?

29)   What is Count Rugen's first name?  (Prince Humperdinck call him by it once.)

30)   Who is the Chief Enforcer of all of Florin?

31)   On the big wedding day, how many guards are posted at the Castle Gate initially, and then how many are there by the end?

32)   How many years of life do we see the Machine suck out of Westley?

33)   How much do Fezzik and Inigo pay Miracle Max for creating the magic pill to revive Westley?

34)   According to Max, what is the greatest thing in the world, aside from true love?

35)   After the bellows are inserted, Westley says, "true love" as his reason for wanting to live.  What does Max lie and say that Westley said?

36)   What is the name of Max's wife?

37)   How did Fezzik and Inigo acquire the holocaust cloak?

38)   Count Rugen gives Inigo five wounds, total.  Describe them.

39)   For a duel, what exactly does "to the pain" mean?

40)   Prince Humperdinck says no one has ever insulted him before.  What three insults does Westley say to him?

41)   What are the names for the characters of the boy and his grandfather?  

42)   The composer of the music for this movie is arguably better known for his successful rock band.  Name the guy, and the name of his famous band.

43)   The two main countries featured in this movie, Florin and Guilder, are fictitious.  What is the inspiration for these names?  (Conjectural)

44)   Where does the boy (played by Fred Savage) who's listening to the read story live?  (Conjectural)

45)   When are the events of the book within the movie set?  (Conjectural)

46)   How many real places are referenced in the story within the movie?

47)   If the Machine removed all those many years from Westley, will he then die soon after he was revived by Max's pill?  Because isn't he now the equivalent of being like 70-80 years old?  (Conjectural)

48)   How many people are seen to die in the film?

49)  Should Westley have had Inigo kill Prince Humperdinck?  (Conjectural)

Answers:

1)    He's playing "Hardball!" a game from the Accolade, Inc. company, which came out for the Commodore 64 computer in 1985.  Later versions were able to be played on other systems.

2)    He's wearing a Chicago Bears NFL jersey, number #34, the number worn by Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton.

3)    It has fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, and miracles.

4)    S. Morgenstern.  Who is not real.  The novel of this book, also by William Goldman, continues this false authorship much more thoroughly.

5)    Riding her horse, and tormenting the farm boy, who's named Westley.

6)    5 years.

7)    The imaginatively named Florin City.

8)    It will be the country's 500th anniversary.

9)    They claim to be poor lost circus performers.

10)   Greenland.

11)   Shrieking eels.  Which aren't real.

12)   Domingo.

13)   11 years old.

14)   20 years, so Inigo is 31.

15)   Bonetti, Capo Ferro, Thibault, and Agrippa.  Which, surprisingly, are real fencers and moves, from European fencers in the 16th and 17th centuries.

16)   6.

17)   Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates.

18)   It's odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquids, and is among the more deadly poisons known to man.  Iocane is made up, if you're curious.

19)   Australia.

20)   He can track a falcon on a cloudy day.

21)   He's "poor and perfect, with eyes like the sea after a storm."

22)   Revenge.

23)   20.

24)   The first one might have actually been named Roberts--or at least we don't hear another name for him.  The second one with the Dread Pirate Roberts title was really named Cumberbund, the third one was named Ryan, and then Westley took over as the fourth one.

25)   Patagonia, which is a region of the Southern tip of South America, with part of it in the modern country of Chile, and part within Argentina.

26)   "May I live a thousand years and never hunt again."  (If he breaks his promise, obviously.)

27)   She calls her the Queen of Refuse, the Queen of Slime, the Queen of Filth, and then the Queen of Putrescence.  She also concludes by just yelling "Rubbish!  Filth!  Slime!  Muck!"

28)   Strangulation.

29)   Tyrone.

30)   Yellin.

31)   At first it's 30 guards, and then it's increased to 60.

32)   51.  We see Count Rugen do 1 year, and then Prince Humperdinck, in a rage, turns it all the way up to 50, for a total of 51.  (Rugen could have sucked more years away, off screen, but we don't see it, or hear about it.)

33)   65, of an unspecified unit of currency.

34)   An MLT, or a mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, when the mutton is nice and lean, and the tomatoes are ripe.

35)   He claims Westley said "to blave," which Max says mean "to bluff," which Max then speculates means Westley was playing cards and cheating.

36)   Valerie.

37)   Miracle Max gave it to Fezzik because it fit him so well.

38)   In order, Rugen gives Inigo the slashes on both cheeks when Inigo was 11.  Then he throws the knife into Inigo's stomach.  When Inigo keeps fighting Rugen stabs him in the left shoulder, and then the right upper arm (a bit lower than the left shoulder wound), with his sword, although Inigo partially parries these stabs so they're not in his torso.  Inigo later wounds Rugen in all of these places, although his final stomach stab kills Rugen.

39)  First Westley will cut off the Prince's feet below the ankles, and then he'll cut off the Prince's hands at his wrists.  Then the Prince will lose his nose, then left eye, then right eye.  But the Prince will retain his ears, so he can hear the scared shrieking of children, crying babies, and other onlookers' horror at his appearance, leaving him wallowing in misery forever.   

40)   After implying the Prince is stupid by saying he'll explain in small words, he directly insults him by calling him a warthog-faced buffoon,  Then he calls him a pig, and finally, a miserable vomitous mass.

41)   It's never revealed.  They're listed as "grandson" and "grandfather" in the end credits, and they don't use any names while talking to each other.  And the kid's mom calls him "honey," which is clearly an affectionate nickname.

42)   The composer was Mark Knopfler, best known for being the lead guitarist, singer, and songwriter for the band Dire Straits from 1977-95.

43)   Short answer, they're named after coins.  Longer answer--there are several nations that had coins with these names throughout European history.  However, the best candidate is probably the Dutch coin used from 1434-2002, which was called a florin, and sometimes a guilder.  Perhaps author William Goldman was slyly implying that the nations of Florin and Guilder in his story were very similar, two sides of the same coin.

44)   It's never said, or shown, but all signs point to it being in Chicago, or the surrounding area.  Because in the boy's room we see he's wearing a Chicago Bears jersey, and has a poster of another Chicago Bears player, William "The Refrigerator" Perry on his wall.  He also has a Chicago Cubs pennant on the wall, and has a Chicago White Sox hat.  Furthermore, author William Goldman was born in Chicago and lived his childhood in a Chicago suburb.  Director Rob Reiner also reportedly claimed the boy's house is located in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois.

45)  It's intentionally unsaid, vague, and contradictory.  An Italian coin with the name of "Florin" dates back to 1252 A.D., and the Dutch one was used from 1434-2002.  The fencing moves and strategies mentioned were developed by people in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Australia started importing prisoners in 1788.  And some folks think Buttercup's description of Westley's eyes come from an 1800's painting.

46)   I think that it's 6.  As I already covered, Vizzini mentions Greenland (Question #10), and Australia (Question #19).  Westley mentions Patagonia (Question #25).  Vizzini reveals that's he is Sicilian, or from Sicily, and Inigo is from Spain.  Finally, Vizzini mentions never getting into a land war in Asia.

47)   It's interesting to speculate.  The Machine very nearly killed Westley, and only a miracle pill from a magic user brought him back.  After a bit of a recovery period, he seems fine.  He doesn't look like he's elderly, or move like it, etc.  Three theories suggest themselves.  One, the miracle pill magically restored him to his original age, before the Machine, so he'll potentially live a normal life span in his restored life.  Two, he wasn't restored, but the signs are indetectable, perhaps temporarily, perhaps not, and he'll die relatively soon, like in a few months or years.  Three, Rugen was incorrect, or being poetic--the Machine can severely harm, or even kill its victims, but it doesn't translate to exact years of life removed.

48)   All the sources I checked claim it's 6.  In rewatching the movie, clearly Westley poisons Vizzini to death, and Inigo kills Count Rugen with his sword.  The other 4 seem to be the guards that Rugen has attack Inigo when they encounter Inigo, Fezzik, and Westley in the castle hallway.  In viewing this again, only one guard appears to be actually killed during the melee, with a stab to the stomach of the 4th guard to attack.  The others are barely touched, even kind of brushed aside by Inigo.  But, they all fall to the floor, unmoving, and are still there several minutes later.  So I guess they were killed somehow, and because it's a kid friendly movie they made the death cuts quick and bloodless.

49)  Maybe, let's go over the cases for and against killing him.  Killing an unarmed, tied up man is arguably an evil act, and at least in this film our heroes only kill in self-defense, or defense of others.  Also, killing a prince of a nation will ensure that all of Florin will be out to capture Westley, Buttercup, Fezzik, and Inigo, wherever they go, and for the rest of their lives.  It's also unknown who is next in the line of succession for the very old King of Florin--maybe there is no one, and the country will be thrown into chaos with the power vacuum, with civil wars and loads of misery for the common people.  On the other hand, sparing Prince Humperdinck is dangerous.  He's the only person now living who recognizes all four of the fleeing heroes, for one.  (Okay, maybe Yellin does too.)  Also, he's shown that he's jealous, spoiled, and evil, so he will certainly chase after the fleeing 4 to the ends of the Earth, no matter how much time and money it takes.  And surely such a selfish and psychopathic person will make for a terrible King--his people will almost definitely suffer greatly under him when he ascends the throne.  True, as I just mentioned, the next heir in line might be as bad, or maybe even worse than Humperdinck, but I think that would be hard to do.  And even a possible civil war if different factions fight for the throne might still be better than Humperdinck in charge.  So, overall, I know it's a kid friendly movie and all, so they wouldn't show this, but within the reality of the story I think it would have been preferable to take the chance and kill Prince Humperdinck, for both the safety of the 4 heroes and the welfare of Florin (and Guilder too, since Humperdinck is itching for war with them).  Finally, when Westley was acting as the Dread Pirate Roberts, surely he would be forced to murder innocent people repeatedly, to maintain his fearsome reputation, so having an evil, but tied up man killed might be old hat to him!

    

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Tejocote, A Mexican/American Fruit

     Today's article is about a fruit that was completely new to me--tejocote, which I came upon a few months ago while fruit shopping.  The company that produced it was Frieda's out of California, in the U.S.  But the fruit itself was, as the title suggests, grown in Mexico.

     This fruit goes by many names.  Tejocote reportedly comes from the Nahuatl word for "stone fruit," texicotl.  Another common title, manzanita, means "little apple" in Spanish.  Other names for it include tejocotera, Mexican hawthorn, and the first part of its scientific name, Crataegus.  Tejocote is native to mountainous regions of Mexico, and parts of Guatemala.  It's consumed in many ways--raw, canned, cooked, or juiced.  One of the most popular ways is as the base for ponche, a hot fruit punch imbibed by Mexicans around Christmas and New Year's celebrations.  For another holiday, the Day of the Dead, candied tejocotes are enjoyed, and other parts of its plant are used as decorations.  The fruit's high pectin content provides another use, as this aspect is utilized by other industries, such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.  The hard wood of its plant is often made into tool handles, or burned as firewood.  The leaves and fruit also serve as fodder for livestock.  Finally, the fruit has several perceived medical benefits, to combat heart problems, coughing, and diarrhea.  (I use the word "perceived" because to my knowledge these attributes haven't been scientifically proven.)

     The fruit company Frieda's, not surprisingly, gets its moniker from its founder, Frieda Rapoport Caplan.  Frieda was born in Los Angeles, California in 1923.  In 1945 she graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor's in economics and political science.  After working at a law office and nylon factory she married Alfred Hale Caplan, a labor relations consultant.  In 1955 Frieda was looking for a job that would allow her to also breastfeed her newborn daughter.  Some of her in-laws owned a produce company, Giumarra Brothers, and they hired her as a bookkeeper.  While they went on vacation they left Frieda in charge of their stall at the Los Angeles Produce Market.  Frieda noticed something significant--the selection of fruits and vegetables at this market, and country wide in general, was very limited.  She saw a potential untapped market of acquiring and selling fruits and vegetables that were new and unusual to most people of the time.  One of these was the portobella mushroom.  Since she showed a flair at this, she decided to open her own company in 1962.  Showing how sexist the times were, she had to have her dad cosign on her business loan, as women in that era couldn't get credit on their own.

     Once she was fully in charge, Frieda continued her philosophy of importing and introducing new fruits and vegetables to the American public, with great success.  She was so instrumental in popularizing kiwi fruit (which saw an increase in sales once New Zealand growers switched its name from the old "Chinese gooseberry") that she earned the honorific "Queen of Kiwi."  She is also credited with coming up with the new common name for Jerusalem artichoke, going with "sunchoke."  Additionally, Frieda was determined to help out women in the once male dominated field of selling produce.  Thus, in the early 1970's she had an all-female sales team.  But she took things further.  Frieda's packaging and labeling was innovative--it was among the first, if not the first, to include information about the product inside, as well as storage tips and recipes.  Both her financial success, and her business ideas gave Frieda a lot of fame, and respect.  Cal Poly--San Luis Obispo awarded her with an honorary doctorate.  She was even a guest on the David Letterman Show in 1995.  There was even a documentary made about Frieda in 2015, with the title "Fear No Food."  (IMDB has it with a very respectable 7.3 out of 10.0 rating.)  Frieda is not still with us, as she died in 2020 at the age of 96.  Her daughters Karen and Jackie now run the company, and are continuing her legacy of selling unusual fruits and vegetables.  Two of the business's credos are "Embrace our inner weird," and "Normal is boring."

Frieda's tejocote:  Their color was yellow-orange, with some black specks on them, and they were a roundish shape, about 3-5 cm. in diameter (about 1.25 to 2 inches).  The rind was edible, like an apple.  The inner pulp was yellow.  The texture was a bit softer than an apple.  Overall they reminded me of crab apples.  Only with a weaker taste--crab apples have a nice tartness to them, and these were pretty bland.  So disappointing overall.  Maybe they taste better as a punch, but clearly I wasn't going to the trouble and time of doing all of that preparation.

     Despite my disdain for this particular offering, I do definitely like Frieda's general philosophy.  Partially in a selfish, mercenary way, as its practice of selling odd and unusual fruits and vegetables fits in perfectly with the theme of my culinary blog posts.  So I won't be buying tejocotes again, but I will seek out and try other Frieda's foods when I get a chance.  In fact, I already have gotten a second one--look for a post about it in the coming months.  In closing, I also found it funny that Frieda's success in selling one of its flagship brands backfired.  The company no longer markets kiwi fruit, as largely due to their efforts, it's no longer an exotic fruit for most Americans.  Also, it was kind of ironic to read that Frieda Caplan never learned to cook, even though she conscientiously included recipes on many of her foods.  "Do as I say, not as I do," I guess.