Toliver

"Samsung buys luxury appliance brand Dacor" Smart high-end kitchen appliances seem to be the future of that industry. Does anyone on this board own a smart appliance? And is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Found out this morning that JIB's Garlic Fries are only going to be around for a limited time. And, as with most OMG items, how OMG something is depends on the maker of said item. First time I had the garlic fries, they were OMG good. The maker used a ton of the butter garlic sauce, enough to paint the to-go bag with a huge grease stain. The 2nd time I bought them...they were still good but not as great as the first time i had them. The maker from the 2nd time had a "restrained" hand when it came to the butter garlic sauce, so not so much OMG the 2nd time. Buyer beware...

My local Subway Sandwich shops are carrying four new flavors of Lays potato chips, some that have been recently mentioned in this discussion. The four flavors are Tikka Masala, Greek Tzatziki Sauce, Brazilian Picanha (Steak and Chimichurri Sauce), and Chinese Szechuan Chicken. I tried the Picanha chips and the Szechuan chips. The Picanha chips didn't taste of steak at all. I used to buy Hanover's Steak and Onion potato chips and those chips tasted like steak & onion. These new Lay chips had no meat flavor that I could discern. I did taste some sort of greenery/onion flavor but I considered it a fail as a flavor. The Szechuan chips were spicy and tasted very much of soy/umami. I didn't taste any chicken flavor at all (How difficult can this be? Hasn't anyone at Lay's tried "Chicken in a Biskit" crackers? Those crackers have a definite chicken-y flavor...why can't potato chips makers just copy the recipe?). Still, I really liked these potato chips for their spiciness and for their soy/umami flavor. I just wish the bag came in a larger size.

It's ba-a-a-ck. "Crystal Pepsi Is Back on (U.S.) Shelves Today" Caffeine-free and I'm guessing caramel color-free (which has had its detractors as of late), as well. Hopefully they will make a diet version. Those lucky Canadians have been enjoying the beverage since it debuted there last month. Any Crystal Pepsi fans out there?

Yep. Picture looks the same. I wonder if the BK beef will have a better flavor (because it's flame broiled) than a typical Taco Bell beef burrito? I'm assuming it will be flame broiled for Burger King. Wendy's Chili has old Wendy burgers in it. Maybe they'll use old BK burgers crumbled for the Whopperito.

Behold, the Whopperito! Is anyone looking forward to trying the new (available for only a limited time) Whopperito? And has anyone tried BK's Mac 'n' Cheetos? edited for spelking

Christopher Kimball is nothing but a memory. Got a recent email from ATK titled "In the kitchen with Jack: The latest news from America's Test Kitchen". Jack Bishop (the taste test guy) is being promoted as the new leader in the ATK. The email was the usual "Here's all the stuff we're up doing and the stuff we're trying to sell". (their product store must be someone's idea of a joke...super expensive everything). From the email:

Do you happen to live near Homer Simpson's Springfield nuclear power plant?

Thanks for the info. There aren't many cheese options/varieties in my local grocery stores. I nearly fainted when I saw that my local Albertson's began carrying myzithra cheese. My monthly trip to Trader Joe's is a Disneyland of cheese choices in comparison. I'm always on the lookout for something new or interesting. Thanks again.

I am curious about the beer wash of the rind. Did it impart any sort of beer flavor to the cheese?

I tried the Brewhouse Bacon Burger from Jack in the Box again this past weekend and once again, it was nothing to write home about, let alone post about on eGullet. Meh. The bacon was nice...and then that was it. Couldn't discern either of the two sauces it was supposed to come with. On the other hand...run...do not walk...to Jack in the Box and order their new Garlic Herb Fries (click)! They beat McDonald's to it. I wanted to rip open the box they came in and lick the garlic greasiness off the cardboard. The take out bag I was given had a huge grease stain on it from the fries which alarmed me, at first. The fries come in a closed box, just like their Panko Onion Rings And I'm thinking to myself, "What?...A closed box? Won't that make the french fries soggy?" Crispness is not the point with these fries. The greasy (in my mind I thought "buttery" so I could eat them without guilt ) garlic herby magical stuff they put on the fries is most excellent. I was so happy I was eating them at home so I could use my fingers to get at every little garlicky crumb inside the box. I just wish they came in a larger size (are you listening, Jack?). By the way, Wendy's must be asleep at the wheel. Jack in the Box's new burgers are all square patties and Wendy's hasn't yelled "Copycat!" yet. edited to clarify

rotus...my experience with the CkButtermilk sandwich (when they had them here) was similar. Under-condimented, hence dry. Not very good. Quickly faded from local McD menus.

i will have to take a look in my local grocery stores. That they would put it someplace else other than the salad dressing aisle Is odd. Maybe they consider it a condiment instead of a dressing?

I'm sure it's probably been mentioned but you can make lasagna using thinly sliced (lengthwise) zukes for the noodles/pasta.

Sorry for the double post but I just saw this from Twitter (click): A father sent a message to his daughter - "Just been to Tesco and swapped 50 raisins for 100 sultanas. Can't believe the currant exchange rate."

Every time my mom made toast, the smoke detector would sound off. So she'd stand under the detector waving a towel at it to try and get it to stop. She has since stopped making toast.

Just looked at Aldi's grocery ad that I got in the mail yesterday...Crimson Roots Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 9.99.

A possible stupid question about rémoulade salad dressing: Why don't they bottle it and sell it in stores? It looks and, sort of, tastes a lot like Thousand Island salad dressing but without the diced pickles. So why don't I see it in my salad dressing aisle at the supermarket?

The General Mills flour recall has expanded: "General Mills recalls more flour used in well-known brands" There is a link at the bottom of the article to find out more info regarding the products listed in the recall.

The Brewhouse Bacon Burger was available at my local JIB, so I bought one. Meh. I guess I should try another one. I was disappointed that the "Porter Ale Cheese Sauce" tasted nothing of beer.

Today I was snacking on Clancy's Cheese Curls from my local Aldi store. They're faux fried Cheetos (as opposed to the fluffy ones). They' taste almost like real Cheetos but there's an eventual cumulative greasiness (I say that as if it's a bad thing ). So close but no cigar.

Yep, but it may be a while before it gets eaten since it's so ding dang hot here right now. The oven/stove isn't going to be turned on until cooler weather prevails.

The opening picture of the exterior was looking at the side of the store. If I had stood in front of the other side (to the left of what you see in the picture) it would have shown the width.

I visited my local Aldi after I got off work last night. I was floored, dumbfounded and just plain flummoxed to find out that this new Aldi was in the same shopping center as a SUPER WALMART. Really? I wonder who the marketing genius was at Aldi who thought opening a new location in that shopping center was such a brilliant idea? Instead of calling this store "Aldi" they should rename it "Edsel" for all the good it will do. Here are the pics I took during my visit (sorry that they are not nice cleanly-focused images...they were taken with my iPod ): Below, the new and shiny building with oodles of parking...because everyone else is parked over at the Super Walmart. Here are the quarter-for-a-cart carts. I was expecting more of a rail thing like you see at airports, but it's quick to use. Nuts on the left, crackers, and then chocolate on the right. Wine on the left a little further down. The produce didn't look anemic or old and had mostly reasonable prices. An poorly focused picture of juices, deli meats, cheese, hummus with packages of chicken in its own mini case at the far end. The Porterhouse which was on sale...technically, they were called "T-Bones" since the filet portion wasn't very large. The meat was cryovac'd and I thought the thickness was good. It had a "Sell by" date of Aug. 3rd which I thought was good. Below, this is the opposite corner of the store from the entrance. Frozen meats, foods, veggies, etc, on the right along with milk, eggs, etc. That's an employee walking away with a clipboard who was checking inventory. The employees were all supremely nice and helpful. Below, the checkout registers. Only Register 1 was open and I thought the cashier was rather diminutive but saw, when I went to check out, she was sitting in a chair! Really? As mentioned by others, the check-out is odd. You can provide your own grocery bags, or buy from them paper bags for 10 cents or plastic bags for 15 cents. The checked items get put into a cart next to the cashier and your now-empty cart swaps with that cart and becomes the cashier's new cart. You move "your" filled cart over to a large shelf against the windows where you bag your own groceries. Then when you leave the store you take your bags out of the cart and push the cart back into the line of carts, connect the orange thingy on the handle to the previous cart and a quarter pops out which is now yours. Ta-da! It was a nice, new clean store with no discernible odor. The employees were practically begging people to come back for more shopping. It's no wonder since all of their potential customers are busy shopping at the SUPER WALMART IN THE SAME SHOPPING CENTER. Doy! and Doh! I thought prices were good to great on some items. They certainly beat Walmart on many grocery items. They did carry some common name brands of goods but most of what they sold was their own "knock-off" brand of popular items. I bought a bag of their faux Cheetos and will post in the snacking thread how they taste. I did see the 19.99 dehydrator on sale but passed on it since I'd owned a dehydrator before that has the same plastic trays (hard brittle plastic) and didn't like them then and wouldn't like them now. And of course, it was an Aldi house brand so I have no idea about it in regards to quality or how it works. I'd go back to shop there but it won't be very regularly. It's on the complete opposite side of town from where I live and I don't get to that side of town very often. edited to add that there were four aisles in the store (which I didn't show in my pics). The entire store was similar in size to my local Trader Joe's store.

I saw mention in a local grocery store ad that "Hatch Roasting" would be available at their store in a few weeks. It's that time of the year, I guess!