General

nonamesleft wrote:

Yeah I often find snack size bags at gas stations etc.

Butterfingers.

@HEHEHATE

Oooh, haven't had one of those in ages. Crispety crunchety, peanut buttery, right?

I been getting these Granola bars from trader Joe's, currently have these Almond coconut ones that are pretty good. I've found the food there is slightly more expensive than a normal big box grocery store but tastes better a lot of the time

Staraang wrote:

Never had an American Kit-Kat but there is a place in Edmonton that has a bunch of stuff that you typically can't get here, maybe I will try one. I actually really like Kit-Kats here.

I love Kit Kats damn it.

Aero bars are good. We don’t get those here except in the international foods section at the supermarket.

Finn wrote:

No, I think its true. It's missing that distinct.......offness....that the original crunch bar had. Lol is it the lack of aluminum foil?

@Staraang Aero Bars? What are those?

nonamesleft wrote:

They’re a chocolate bar available in Canada:

http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59831...

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I can’t be the only one that drains the water off instant ramen and puts a slice of cheese into it

Cheese ramen is delicious.

I have had friends tell me to crack an egg into a cup of ramen, but have not tried it yet.

Apples (when they are in season)
Part of a Lenny & Larry Complete Cookie. Makes a nice treat with a bit more protein than a typical cookie. Once I finish my current stash of cookies, I want to try their protein packed Boss Cookie.
Part of an Enjoy Life soft/chewy bar
Part of an Aloha bar
Part of any treat that's lying around (my mom occassionally bakes treats)
Milton's multi-grain crackers
HoneyMaid graham crackers

Apples
Part of a Tony’s Chocolonely bar
Fruit leathers
Kasugai fruit gummies
Peanut butter toast
Peanut butter sandwich with orange marmalade or strawberry jam (Fresh Market organic strawberry jam is very tasty)

@EclipseLion That looks delicious! I started salivating :)

@Alaisiagae @sailorneorune

You both mentioned apple. Any particular apples you enjoy? There are so many varieties.

nonamesleft wrote:
For me, it really depends on the orchard and the growing conditions for the year. The ones I usually like: Fiji, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Empire, Ginger Gold, Crispin/Mutsu, and Gala/Royal Gala. These are basic eating apples, without the tartness of a Macintosh. If it's a good year, the apples are very sweet and flavorful, with a good mouthfeel (crisp and juicy, not mealy). But some years, an apple variety just tastes watery and grassy. There was one year I went all in on Northern Spy, despite its tartness.

For grocery store apples, I'd stick with Golden Delicious, Braeburn, and Gala - these have a good chance of tasting decent, though it all depends how fresh they are. I'm spoiled by local PYO fresh apples in autumn and generally eschew apples at the grocery store.

Alaisiagae wrote:
A bunch of those I haven't heard of. Jonagold, Ginger Gold, Mutsu, Northern Spy. Maybe it varies state by state. I don't think I've seen any of those in local stores.

Are they vastly different than granny Smith, golden del, red del, Cortland, Honeycrisp? Those are the ones I think I generally see around here.

nonamesleft wrote:

Those are the varieties I like in the orchard (PYO = pick your own). They're unlikely to be at most grocery stores. Most orchards seem to have a retail portion where they sell bags of their apples during and after the picking season. One of the nearby orchards tries to sell year round (I think they have specialty freezer for the apples).

Yes, they do taste different but I'd be hard pressed to find the words to describe them. Ginger gold has a bit of warmth on the end note (hence "ginger" in the name). I find Fuji (I misspelled earlier, it is not Fiji like the island) and some Gala to have floral notes amidst the sweetness. I didn't have any Empires this year, so I can't recall any specific flavor other than that it is a sweet apple. Northern Spy is generally described as a baking apple. From what I recall, the ones I had were enormous in size and had a mix between sweetness and a sharp tart bite. They are a late growing variety (early to mid October, iirc). This year I also had what I think are Cameo apples, but I'm not sure because the row wasn't marked that day and I always forget where the varieties are each year (even though it's not like the trees move each season). Baking apples include red Roma, Pink Lady and Paula Red, irrc. Very hard and dense texture and mouthfeel to those baking apples. You mentioned Cortland - Macoun is also popular, though I dont find it or Cortland to have as strong flavor as other types.

I noticed that the Empires at one orchard look and taste different than the Empires at another, so I don't think there's a strict genetic standard the orchards have to follow - they could be two different phenotypes and still be the Empire varietal, for instance. the exception to that is Honeycrisp, I think those are (or were) patented/controlled (which is why they are more expensive), so I imagine there'd be more consistency among the orchards. The growing season, individual tree, and terroire exert influence on the final fruit's flavor profile, too.

nonamesleft wrote:

I like Fuji, Gala, Braeburn, Koru, and Honeycrisp.

There is an apple orchard about an hour away from us. I need to talk the benstylus into going next season.

sailorneorune wrote:
I feel spoiled, there are three apple orchards near my house, each about a 5 minute drive away. At least two of them all do peaches, raspberries, and blueberries - and one of them also does cherries (which I only learned about this year). There's nothing quite like fresh, ripe red raspberries - all sweet and floral, no sourness that you get in the unripe ones at the grocery store. Gotta eat them fast, they are fragile and don't last more than a day in the fridge. Scrumptious!

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@Alaisiagae Thanks for details. I read through that, and will be paying attention for those varieties. I'm curious to try some of those.

sailorneorune wrote:
Koru? What's that like? Haven't heard of it.

nonamesleft wrote:

https://koruapple.nz/

They’re a pretty mild tasting apple, a cross between Fuji and Braeburn.

I'm all about the Honey Crisp apples, but when the price is too high for them (which is more often the case), I settle for Pink Lady apples.

Fuji apples have been our longtime favorite.

I had an apple variety I didn't have called Jazz. It was both sweet and a bit tart.

I visit the following site about once a week to scope out new snacks: https://www.theimpulsivebuy.com/wordpress/

EclipseLion wrote:
:) That's pretty neat. I might just save that page.

Toasted everything bagel with pepperjack cheese half melted inside of it. I'll do it for breakfast, I'll do it for an evening snack, but evening snacks I've gotta follow it up with crunches, pushups and squats. If I do it in the morning sometimes I'll nuke an egg to put in it as well.

DarkFact wrote:
Oh yeah, pepperjack is really good.

I didn't have a taste for it at all, until the last month I was in my last apartment when it's all I had in the fridge. Turns out it's pretty good! Now I'm buying it for myself :p

@Feeb I found these at a local store. They're pretty good. A little bit of heat. Pretty flavorful. They taste very similar to something else I've had, but I can't place what it was.

image

Yeah those are pretty good. Kind of tangy / sour with a little heat.

I got the fire hot ones, all they had at the gas station and they were miserable. Doritos that don't taste like anything but hot. That might be better.

DarkFact wrote:

The ghost pepper ones are awful. Black and white bag. Skip those.

I got a microwave recently. I heard you can poach eggs in the microwave very easily, I should try that.

I haven't really done poaching per se, I just pop the yolk with my finger, drop some salt and pepper on top, sprinkle with some water drops from fingers and some garlic powder for smell, cook for 50 seconds with paper towel over the bowl and let it sit for another 30 seconds. Bam, done

Oh, maybe I'll try that method too! But I think I'll put a plate or lid on top instead of a paper towel, because I think I'd be nervous about the paper catching on fire. Hopefully the recipe still works either way.

Paper towel's perfectly safe in the microwave (PRETTY SURE), so no need to worry about that. I've used it as a base for stuff like hot pockets and vents for bowls and stuff for decades, never had an issue. That said, I won't stop you from practicing safety!

I think Stephen King says he cooks fish in the microwave with paper towel or something. Now that, I say just pop it in the oven for however long with some lemon juice and herb sprinkled on top

egg wrote:
I use either a paper plate or parchment paper. I don't typically use paper towel in the microwave, though I think I might've a couple times, but @DarkFact says it's probably perfectly safe... so I guess it's okay

But kidding aside, the only thing I was told to ABSOLUTELY NOT put in the microwave is aluminum foil, though I'm not sure why. I haven't ever tried it, and I don't intend to.