Ritz's Attempt at a Dessert Cracker

One of my co-workers (the lovely and talented Dana) is a major strange food supplier in my network of foodies. Dana brought the Ritz Fudge crackers in, with wonderous tales of trying them many years ago when they were limited edition covered in dark chocolate. They even have a facebook presence designed to generate buzz to bring back the fudge covered crackers.

I was pretty dubious at the start, figuring the butter would conflict with the chocolate, as others thought it would be a complement (sweet/salty). There was talk about "fudge" not being real chocolate. The tasting began.

The first taste that came through was of course the milk chocolate, a good taste. The 2nd sensation was the buttery flavor which (ironically) competed with the cracker texture. I wanted the cracker texture I guess to be more like a cookie (slightly vanilla/bland or shortbread) rather than a bright-orange-mega-Dorito-esque-level maximum butter punch. I could overlook all of those things if it weren't for the final chapter - the coating of waxy fat stuff on my teeth. You know what I'm talking about, that wax sheen that covers your teeth so that water beads off of them. Maybe it's a cavity preventative measure, maybe it's just cheap chocolate.

I'll pretty much eat anything covered in chocolate laying about, but one of these is enough for me. If anyone else has eaten them and has an opinion, please share, I WANT to like them.

Cake Pops, Oh Boy!

One of our clients sent us a box of Valentine treats today from Candy's Cake Pops. Great packaging, colorful, and laden with these mysterious delights. There's a little card that explains that the color on the bottom of the stick refers to the cake flavor inside. I swiftly tried the cherry chip Cake Pop (new!), and boy, was that good. It was enrobed in dark chocolate, and the delicate balance between chocolate, cake, and portion size was fantastic. Beats cupcakes hands down in mess factor. Give these guys a call and order a box today, you will NOT be disappointed!

Snow = eat bread and drink milk NOW

During a storm, I wonder what percentage of people actually run out to the store to buy milk and bread specifically, and what remaining number laugh hysterically and wonder why those two items are the law for people to fend off snowbound hunger. I would guess it's a solid 62 to 38 in favor of the panic attack purchase.

My mother told me on Monday that she went out and got milk and bread before the Tuesday through Wednesday storm. My mother lives alone, and actually manages to drink a gallon of milk every few days. This makes sense.

I know in my house, it takes my husband and I seven to ten days to drink one half gallon of 1% organic milk, and my toddler a half gallon of whole milk about 5 days. Have we ever been snowbound for more than 5 days? OK, the blizzard of '78 aside, no such luck.

As an adult on the occasions where I find myself wandering the food store the eve of A BIG STORM, I tend to go for more of the comfort foods or ingredients to make them with. I shop like it's the weather superbowl - special occasion snacks like tortilla chips and salsa plus the basic food group standards. Sure, there might be the occasional box of HoHo's that slip into the cart (since those last about 19 years, just in case), but there are such a finite amount of combinations I can make with bread. I have to eat sandwiches for lunch all the time, and sure, when your electric is out [your milk spoils] but PB&J is king. However, if I have a working kitchen it's omelettes or french toast or macaroni and cheese, hell, even brussell sprouts. Cooking in a snowstorm is our modern day survival instinct. Since tomorrow will be a downright mess, I will be baking muffins from scratch.

How about you? Are you a Milk and Bread Soldier tried and true (if so, defend yourself), or are you staring at the empty milk display at the store saying, "uh DUH"?

Our 100th Post - The Scary Side of Food

I thought for Fun Food Fight's 100th blog post in the pre-Halloween spirit, I'd re-share a frightening food story that youse all (as they say in my hometown) might find fascinating.

A New York photographer started The Happy Meal Project to prove a friend wrong on the claim that someone had a McDonalds burger for 12 years and it was relatively unscathed by time. In this experiment, it's been 6 months so far, and not a fleck of mold has grown on it.

I'm the hugest junk food fried food cholesterol laden bakery goods buff, but after watching Super Size Me, I cut down my fast food consumption to one or two times a year only when quickly pulling over for a rest stop dinner on road trips.

Food is fun, and with most fun things we must enjoy it in moderation. My doctor tells me the same thing, so I guess it's fair to put equal time in for the opposing team in the 1 to 100 ratio... it is, afterall, a Fun Food Fight.

Lunchtime FAIL

In an effort to give the kids a fun meal (and reuse some leftover breakfast) I served up the:

Peanut Butter and Jelly on Chocolate Chip Pancakes:

Peanut Butter Nuttella and Fluff on Waffles:

While, in concept this could've worked, it really didn't. I'm thinking it's mostly due to the dryness of the 'buns'. Next time I'll slice the pancakes and waffles ahead of time.

He Said :: Donuts

Dear Dawn,

Thanks for the lovely posting on Donuts. I just wanted to share a few local, independent donut joints (i.e. not Dunkins) that have particularly tasty offerings:

Best Jelly Donut - Betty Ann Food Shop
The next time you need to go to the airport, leave an extra hour (if your flight happens to fall during their hours of operation) to stop by this hole-in-the wall. When Johnny, my local barber told me about this place, I had to admit I was skeptical -- but it's the real deal. The other donuts I tried were pretty average, but the Jelly Donuts here are amazing. They're chewy balls, covered in sugar, and filled with a generous serving of jelly.

Best Glazed Donut - Mike's Donuts
While their donuts, as a whole, are on par with Dunkin Donuts, they excel in one particular category -- their glazed donuts. I, like Dawn, appreciate the way in which a Krispy Kreme donut melts in your mouth. Mike's does a great job delivering a comparable experience with their glazed donuts. Luckily, these guys are in striking distance from my house.

Best Everything Else Donuts - Kane's Donuts
If you haven't yet made the trek out to Saugus for Kane's donuts you're missing out. The donuts are fantastic and the place has a great vibe -- a true old school donut shop. They've definitely gotten a bunch of hype, but it's well deserved. Oh, and their coffee rolls are disturbingly humongous.

It's National Cream-Filled Donut Day!

I already posted today, but how could 21 hours of the day go by and me not knowing that it's my favorite donut's own holiday? Who knew that there are American Food Holidays? Only in America can we celebrate the eating of food every day of the year, and have only 3 listed "health holidays".

Back to the topic of honor, cream-filled donuts. God's own creation, I'm sure of it, the perfect ratio of cream to donut to powdered sugar or glaze. My favorite chain donut is the Krispy Kreme glazed Kreme filled one. As I hail from the East Coast, my first exposure was by happenstance... I was setting up for an educational conference in Anaheim and one of the teamsters walked by with a box of donuts and offered me one. After the first bite, it was a true 'When Harry Met Sally' diner scene moment in my life.

As far as bakeries go, lots of folks can do a cream-filled donut justice. My tops is from Eet Gud Bakery in Hamilton, NJ. The cream donuts are long like a jelly stick. I have no photos of these donuts handy because they don't last long enough for me to get my camera out.

Of course, there is a Dunkin Donuts at the end of my street. After a customer feedback form online complaining they didn't offer the vanilla cream donut, they were diligent and began to offer it, I'm sure out of fear of retribution had they not added it to the rack. DD does a good job at the donut, and I enjoy taking a long walk around the block so that I can eat one afterwards.

Enjoy your favorite food on its own special holiday, or if you're like me, any day!