Lomcevak

Today was the day. We spent some time going through the fridge, freezer, pantries and so on, pulling everything out, squinting at expiration and sell-by dates.

It’s amazing how much food you accumulate that slowly makes its way to the back, never to be seen again! Some stuff was pretty darned old. A packet of cherry Kool-Aid, for example, had a package so discolored and crumpled, almost leaking, that even I wouldn’t consider drinking it.

Well, it’s all gone now. There’s lots of new space. I guess it’s time to go grocery shopping!

Some time back I wrote about Chocolate Skittles. Well, the other day we stopped at a supermarket on the way home from the gym and Pam spotted this on the shelf.

It’s not very often that a product is discontinued even before the package changes to lose the ‘new’ moniker (the yellow blob to the left of the product name), but there it is. I can’t say I blame Mars one tiny bit for shutting this product down! It simply could not have sold very well at all. Incidentally, I don’t think a 33% discount is near enough.

As to the quality of the image, well, all I had available was the camera in the phone. It might have helped if I had remembered to wipe the lens off a little before shooting.

My Mutant M&Ms

Did you ever notice that M&Ms usually have incredibly good quality control? You don’t see many that aren’t very regular, perfect in size and shape. This past Halloween I had a bunch of those little mini-packs, though, and it seemed to me that way too many of them were poorly built. Or the sorry mis-shapen speciments hadn’t been culled by the quality control process as usual. So I did what any normal techie would do: I began to collect them!

None of these are altered in any way, they are just as they fell out of the package. No, silly, not all the same package – but it sure would have been cool to get one pack containing nothing but mutants. Now that would have been something to write about!

The incidence of mutants has fallen way off lately (but every now and again someone will point one out to me). I hypothesize that Mars ramped up production while simultaneously reducing costs as the economy went into a tailspin, and quality predictably fell off. What do you think?

Some days ago we stopped at the supermarket for a couple of things. Standing in the checkout line we saw something new – Chocolate Skittles.

Chocolate Skittles

Now, I actually like Skittles. Especially the sour ones that are encrusted with that crystalline stuff that stimulate your taste buds not unlike a full stack of Marshalls cranked up to 11 does to your ears. My kid, like 99% of all kids, loves that stuff, too. (An equal proportion of adults hate that taste stimulation, incidentally, which I believe is by design.)

But these chocolate things? Ugh! Gave ‘em to my kid. He gave ‘em back. My wife refused to try ‘em after watching our reaction. ”Tastes like ass.” To say that the flavors in the package – S’mores, Vanilla (huh? vanilla in a ‘chocolate mix’?), Chocolate Caramel, Chocolate Pudding, Brownie Batter – seriously miss the mark is a gross understatement.

Products don’t just spring into being without consideration. Somewhere in Mars there was a meeting, the result being a decision taken to bring these abominations to market. Probably a bowl or two of ‘em right there on the conference table, alongside the coffee cups and water bottles. I wonder if any of the suits actually tasted ‘em. Somehow I doubt it.

Some years back I knew a girl that worked for Mars. She said that samples from their (rather extensive) product line were freely available in all their offices. I’ll bet the bowls of these never, ever need to be refilled.

I’d been riding by this place for long time and always meant to stop in, and I finally did. You see, Route 18 in East Brunswick is one of those roads that you use because you have to, not because you want to. A divided highway, malls of every size on each side, traffic lights at close intervals, choked with slow-moving stop-and-go most all the time… well, you get the idea.

But if you’re stopped at the Arthur Street intersection most any weekend you can’t help but notice the American Harvest Gourmet Market. Their staff is out there making BBQ beef and pork for the shop, as well as selling sandwiches and sides (and bulk, too). I finally took the time to stop in and sample.

I was not disappointed! My test was the beef brisket while my Pam had a pulled pork sandwich. Both delicious! The sauce was their own, too – a little less hot ‘n spicy than I prefer, which means that most will find it just right. We chose to sit outside to eat (but there are tables inside, too). The ambience out there wasn’t the best in the world: the Route 18 traffic, the stack of cars on the jughandle waiting for the light, the parking lot, and the building’s air conditioner were each annoying. But the BBQ was simply outstanding.

If you’re in the neighborhood – or just stuck in traffic and need a break – stop and check this place out. You won’t regret it.

American Harvest Gourmet Market
629 State Route 18 
East Brunswick, NJ 08816
Google Maps

[2 November 2009: edited the Google Maps link, which seemed to have gone a little sour]

I haven’t eaten “fast food” in so many years now that I’ve simply forgotten exactly how long it’s been. Okay, technically that’s not quite true. I’ll eat the fries from time to time. McDonald’s fries are the best. What can I say? Those yellow strings of potato, soaked in beef juice, fried and salted are pretty darned tasty. They’re different from the others. It must be that beef juice.

My avoidance began rather abruptly with a McDonald’s chicken sandwich. Maybe it was the mayo, maybe something else that had gone a bit bad. Whatever it was, it ravaged my digestive system for about four days. The most unfortunate thing was that those particular four days corresponded with a four-day weekend. When you mess with my four-day weekend there will be consequences. I swore the stuff off.

But yesterday I broke my resolve.
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I had lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Woodbridge, NJ today with my wife and son. This is the second time we’ve eaten there and each time both the food and service were impressive.

We had the same appetizers each visit. We remembered them from last time and ordered again: fries because my son likes ‘em and the shrimp because we do. We’ve really got to try some of the other selections!
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