Knockoff Girl Scout Samoas?!

There is always some sort of solicitation going on outside of grocery stores here in Seattle. Girl Scout Cookie season is the part of the year that I look forward to giving my money to someone else other than Safeway on a grocery store run. According to the Girl Scout Cookie website, I have to wait another 114 days until I start seeing tables piled with colorful boxes.

I always look forward to blowing away any cash I have in pockets on Samoas, those delectable lug nut-shaped vanilla cookies encrusted in coconut shavings and covered in chocolate and caramel. They're also known as Caramel deLites, depending on the area. Two bakeries supply the Girl Scouts with their cookies, Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers. Depending on the bakery, the cookie name may be different. Comparing images, deLites seem to have more chocolate stripes than Samoas. Samoas come from Little Brownie, while Caramel deLites are a product of ABC. Regardless of the name, these treasures only come in purple colored packages of 15, as opposed to 30 or 40, like Thin Mints or Trefoils.






















I was walking down the cookie aisle of Safeway during and I stumbled upon a purple package of Safeway branded Fudge Caramel Coconut cookies. Generic branded food usually is distinctly different tasting for the worse, but for a fraction of the price of name brands. At $2.50/ box during the offseason of Girl Scout cookies, I decided to give them a try.

Right out of the box, the most noticeable difference is that these cookies are completely covered in chocolate from top to bottom, no Fudge Stripe-like lines revealing the caramel and coconut. The configuration is slightly different, with coconut and caramel both on top AND under the cookie portion instead of being just on top. Upon taking a bite, there seems to be less caramel. Often strings of caramel will stretch out of a Samoa on first bite. I wonder if the chocolate covering has something to due with this: more chocolate, less caramel. Regardless of the lack of caramel, as well as coconut, the cookie taste remarkably similar. As I'm writing this I don't have a Samoa to directly compare the taste, but I cannot tell any glaring differences in taste.












Has Safeway found a way of making a profit off of a nonprofit favorite? Have they partnered up with one of the bakeries or have they figured out the formula. Comparing the ingredients on the box (nutrition facts: Samoas, Caramel deLites), the ingrediants for Safeway's FCC cookies are most similar to the Caramel deLites. While comparing nutrition facts, FCC share similarities with Samoas at 150 calories/serving (2 cookies) to deLites' 140 calories/serving but fits in the middle when it comes to sodium. Samoas are only 55 mg of sodium/serving, FCC w/ 80 mg, and deLites last with 85 mg/serving.

I can't seem to buy these cookies off of Safeway's website, so hopefully these weren't cookies that couldn't sell and are now, or soon to be, discontinued . I'd hate to have to clean out my local store of a hidden treasure.

Both Little Brownie and ABC share recipes featuring their famous cookies. I'm going to have to try the Fried Samoas Shrimp, but if someone wants to grant me a birthday wish it would have to be making me the Samoas Dream Cake.


What's your favorite Girl Scout cookie?


You guys want some cookies?


The Man Show Boy sells Girl Scout Cookies

Sam Wo, a San Francisco Treat

During my weekend getaway to San Francisco, passed the Sam Wo Restaurant in Chinatown. I've never actually eaten here, but it evoked a memory I had of Conan O'Brien's visit to San Francisco on the Late Show. He created an ad for the narrow, 3-story restaurant in which you enter through the kitchen. I'm checking out that Sam Wo Mystery Room next time.

Conan - Sam Wo Ad:

Beaucoup de Fromage est Très Bon!

This weekend was the Seattle Cheese Festival down at Pike Place Market. I hit downtown in the sun yesterday to check it out with Gary, Mike, and Diana. I don't know much about cheese, so it was definitely a primer for me - a tasty and free primer at that! We were exposed to cheeses of all consistencies, milks, and countries. After trying trying all sorts of varieties, I must say I'm still not into the goat and Europe imports some really savory cheeses.

I brought home some Terre des Volcans fourme d'ambert, a cow's milk blue cheese from Ambert in the French province of Auvergne. It's not too strong and is softer than most blue cheeses I've had. The cows were supposedly fed on a pasture over volcanic rock. The lady at the booth said that the cheese is aged in an old train tunnel - she had a picture to prove such a claim.

The milk is also thermalized, heated just below pasteurization longer to preserve enzymes and kill bacteria - so not pasteurized and not technically raw (although supposedly the FDA considers it raw).

If you see the 'Appellation d'Origine Protegee' under the name of the cheese, there is apparently a federal bureau in France that certifies certain geographic regions to their particular cheeses, wines, and butters. These are known as AOC (appellation d'origine controlee) products. Here's a list of AOC cheeses from Wikipedia.

Would This Convince You to Eat Bananas?

What a bizarre Dole commercial from Japan:

Mona Lisa Out of Burger Grease

This is an awesome viral campaign. Be sure to check out the link on the bottom of the screen.



Just like Homer's weight diet....

Origins of the Cashew Chicken

I found a post at The Fortune Cookie Chronicles Blog that the New York Times had an expose about the origins of 'Springfield'-style Cashew Chicken. It's a great piece, and still proves Jennifer 8 Lee's take on Chinese food as we know it is very American.

Read the piece here by the Times: Missouri Chinese: Two Cultures Claim This Chicken

And if you love Chinese food, don't mind a good read, and still haven't read The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, get a hold of it! Check out an old post I had about the book.

Don't want to read the book? Would you rather watch a lecture? Here's a clip of a talk Jennifer 8 Lee had on Chinese food history in America:


A tad repetitive, but a tad bit longer and more extensive, here's a talk Lee had at Google:

Thought Burger King's Ad Campaign was a Mistake?

So did SNL. You can watch the actual (didn't know it was a short film) documentary Whopper Virgins at www.whoppervirgins.com.

Back Home Again in Indiana

I'm back in Indy, it feels great to be back. Yesterday I went back to West Lafayette and indulged in some pleasures that unfortunately are not available to me in Seattle - White Castle and Chick-Fil-A. I had a great time with Mark, Dan, and Kristen eating White Castle burgers and all you can eat chicken nugget night at Chick-Fil-A. The picture above is an image of something I so strongly miss: Slyders, Fries, and Barq's Red Creme Soda.

Dan, I'm hoping you don't go through with this.....



If you don't know what White Castle is, maybe you have heard of Krystal - same little burgers. Here's the 2008 Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship:

To Philly....

Yesterday, the Philadelphia Phillies won The World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays in 5 games. The Phillies broke the City of Brotherly Love's championship drought, being the first major league team to win one since the '83 76ers. But great competition and rivalry has existed in Philly for a while, in the form of the Philly Cheesesteak. Sure you've had a form of the sandwhich in one way or another, but Philly's the place to get it. The original does not have provolone cheese or onions, just thinly sliced ribeye and Cheez Whiz - that's right, Cheez Whiz. Like the battle of the Ray's in New York City for pizza, the cheesesteak has locals and tourists going for the best in Philly. The two heavyweights are Geno's and Pat's. Pat's invented the sandwich, but Geno's claims to get the more celebrities as well as a better sandwich. Here's a clip about the shops, located across the street from each other:

Of Vegetables and Voice-Overs

I've already posted a tribute awhile back when voice-over master Don LaFontaine passed away. Another really great video compilation of his work was recently released, I feel like I had to post it. Also, I'm going to talk about vegetables, because of the rumors being thrown around that I've got a problem with them - this is simply not true. One vegetable product out there, which had its advertisement voice-over work done by the late Mr. LaFontaine is the Birds Eye Steamfresh frozen vegetables line - I particularly go for the Specially Seasoned Asian Medley.

Here's the ad of interest, making frozen vegetables cooler than ever:


Here's the Don LaFontaine tribute:

AK! My 'Northern Exposure': If They Mated

Before leaving Juneau, I picked up some Alaskan souvenirs: A couple of Alaskan Amber t-shirts, Alaskan-grown cedar grilling planks, and some Alaskan-made jerky. If you take a look at the pics, the jerky's made with reindeer, caribou, and venison meat.........some also with beef, pork, pig hearts and cow hearts - sounds delicious. The jerky's jerky, nothing in the way of any exotic tastes or textures, a bit tough though. The Alaska Jack's Red Pepper Hunter Stick combines the essence of the pig, cow, and reindeer for ultimate in protein sustenance.

Fine Military Dining

When I think about military rations, the first thing that comes to mind are floating, rotating, non-descript brown boxes that you collect in Metal Gear Solid for increasing health. While testing for the National Guard here at the Yakima Training Center, I've gotten the opportunity to try an MRE or Meal, Ready to Eat ration. I tried some of the Pork Rib MRE, which is Meal Number 2 of 24 for the 2008 Menu - sounds like a trading card. Here's what was in the MRE:

• 1 Pork Rib
• 1 Clam Chowder
• 2 Wheat Snack Bread
• 1 Oatmeal Cookie
• 1 CHO Electrolyte Beverage (Like Gatorade Mix)
• 1 Packet of Cheese Spread
• 1 Packet of Steak Sauce
• 1 Accessory Packet A (Coffee, Sugar, Creamer, Salt, Chewing Gum, Matches, Toilet Tissue, Towelette)
• 1 Spoon
• 1 Flameless Heater
• 1 Hot Beverage Bag

The flameless ration heater is great, you add a little water to the pouch and in seconds it begins to steam. Stick the heater next to the food pouches and you've got cooked food in minutes. The food tastes doesn't taste too bad, definitely better and more filling than a Lunchables. Check out www.mreinfo.com to look more into MRE's.



Must look for a HOOAH! Bar:

Competitive Eating Shifted to Overtime

This is old news, but if you didn't catch it on the 4th of July, Joey Chestnut defeats Kobayashi again at the 2008 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in a 5 hotdog eat off after they both tie during the regulation time. This year's competition was cut down 2 minutes from 12 to 10.

World War Food

So there's a really big viral video out for a few months called Food Fight. It's an awesome stop-motion animated movie feature food duking it out. Little did I realize that the creator is actually reenacting wars from World War II to the present with native foods of countries. Visit tourist pictures' website breakdown for all the countries. Here's the video:

All's 'Fair' on 'Fry - Day'

This last weekend marked the beginning of summer. What better way to kick it off with some fair-inspired food. Out yet another cookout this weekend, I decided to try doing deep fried candy bars, a staple at any American fair midway these days. I did some research, and found a couple of recipes. The difference is just the ingredients and consistencies of the batters. Apparently the deep fried candy bar has it's origins in Scotland, where the UK Mars Bar (sweeter version of the American Milky Way) is battered and fried. I found a recipe that turned out a consistency very similar to fried bars that I've had in fairs back in Indiana, and a recipe that is supposedly more like the Scottish version. The Fair is more doughy whereas the Scottish is a bit crispier. So here's the concoctions for both:








'Fair' Style
Wet ingredients:

• 1 cup of milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tblsp of vegetable oil

Dry ingredients:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt

Add dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then whisk in dry into wet ingredients and chill.










'Scottish' Style

• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup of corn starch
• 1 pinch of baking soda
• Milk or Beer (Beer gives a lighter taste)

Add flour, corn starch and baking soda together. Then add milk or beer until ingredients have a thin cream consistency - was at least a cup. Then chill until ready to use.


Other ingredients besides your batter is a chocolate bar and oil for frying. Mars brand chocolate bars are the best since they have a good structure to hold up in the frying process. A bit of Washingtonian history, Mars Incorporated was founded in 1911 in Tacoma, WA by Frank and Ethel Mars. Chill the candy bar in the fridge before frying(at least an hour to be safe) - no need to freeze as the bar may still be cold or solid after frying, you want the bar nice and gooey in the center. I also cut the bars in half, since a whole deep fried bar is quite substantial. Heat some oil (about 3 inches high) in a pan or pot to at least 350 degrees F. Coat bar in batter and place into oil. Remove from oil once batter has turned golden and place on a towel to remove excess grease. You don't have to wait too long to dig in. Garnish with a little confectioner's sugar and it goes great with some ice cream. I also tried battering an Oreo (straight out of the package) and it worked out great!








Eric brought dough for doughnuts, so I tried wrapping a chocolate bar or Oreo in the dough and then frying until dough turned golden - very tasty! Also coating with confectioner's sugar or cinnamon sugar adds some more flavor to the doughnut. I believe he used Food Network's Alton Brown doughnut recipe from Good Eats.

Masticaters Unite!

I was thumbing through the stations today and I found something that I thought I would never see again - The Glutton Bowl. The 2 hour professional eating competition aired on Fox in 2002 and was my (and probably many others) first exposure to the IFOCE, Kobayashi (not that fabrication in The Usual Suspects), and the world of competitive eating. It featured such foods as bowls of mayonnaise, beef testicles, sticks of butter, and cow brains. I remember no too long after this special aired, Kobayashi tried to competitively eat hot dogs against a Kodiak bear on TV (ironically also on Fox). Here's what happened:

Of Rats and Joysticks

So news came out recently that Leonardo DiCaprio will be a in a biopic about Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari. So for this blog entry, I knew I had to put something Chuck E. Cheese's related since Bushnell was also the founder of the animatronic pizza joint. Little did I know how much obscure information I would find about the place online. This also brings me back as I would frequent Showbiz Pizza - one of CEC's engulfed franchises- often as a kid. I must say, my parents must have really loved me to keep taking me there. I'm watching some of the videos online of memories I have of the place and I must say I don't know if I could stand going there more than once as an adult. Part of me also remembers that place being very loud when the animatronic shows happened, I wonder what a noise level survey would have shown. I found this website, ShowBiz Pizza.com, which is a museum of all things ShowBiz/Chuck E. - from the history of the tokens to a whole library of employee training videos. Here's a training video I found on youtube:

Deliciously Good Read

I've just finished this book called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. Wha?! That's right, I've not only read and finished a book in a week but it's about Chinese food. Author Jennifer 8. Lee (numerology infused into one's name), an American born Chinese writer for The New York Times, writes about the impact of Chinese food in America and how American the Chinese food we have in the States really is. Like the title of the book, a major portion of Lee's quest is to figure out the origins of the fortune cookie after a series of lucky numbers from a fortune garners a lot of Powerball Lottery winners. Other interesting topics in the book include the history of Chinese takeout in New York City, Asian manufacturers' fight to have any soy sauce that is not naturally soy brewed to not be classified as soy sauce, Fold-Pak food pails, Jewish people's connection to Chinese food, why General Tso has chicken named after him like Colonel Sanders, and the lofty task of finding the greatest Chinese restaurant outside of China. The most I got out of it, being a Chinese-American, was the history the restaurant industry and its impact on Chinese culture in America. Much of the Chinese food here in America is all-American because the food is a fusion of Chinese and what Americans like in food. I also realize now that the stuff my grandma's been making for years is probably the real Chinese food. Like they used to say on Reading Rainbow I'll tell you to go to your local library or bookstore and pick up a copy today because it's a great read, but don't take my word for it!

This book also reminded me about an article the Seattle Weekly did about the history of teriyaki restaurants in Seattle. Check it out here.

Visit Lee's blog at the fortunecookiechronicles.com, especially after you've read the book. There are a lot of pictures from her journeys that she wrote about in the book.

Here's an NPR interview with Lee and an excerpt from the book as well.

I don't watch The Colbert Report, but I found out about the book from this interview between Colbert and Lee awhile back while channel surfing:

Days 3 & 4 of Big Sky Country

Not much done the last couple of days in Montana. During my time in Butte, I saw the 2 attractions the city had to offer on my way out: A statue of a woman on a mountain and a giant toxic pit. I made my way up to Helena, the capital of Montana, before ending up in Great Falls. Before I left Montana, I had to eat at an Arby's. Although the fast food chain originated in Ohio, I've noticed the last couple of times that I've traveled through Montana that their Arby's are some of the best I've had. I'm sure decent fast food is due to good management and ownership but I think the state's dedication to good beef had something to do with it too. I ordered a large roast beef sandwich aka, for those of you who remember what the half pound sandwich used to be called, The Big Montana. It went down real well with a large side of mozzarella cheese sticks. One final memory from Montana, I was thumbing through the TV stations in my hotel in Butte and I saw one of the most infamous episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger. I think this clip sums it up:


Yeah, that's Haley Joel Osment.

Day 2 of Big Sky Country

Today, I headed over to the Museum of the Rockies (MOR), on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman. It is always a reinvigoration of my childhood when I get to go to a museum with a dinosaur exhibit. As a child dinosaurs were what I loved, I read books about them, drew pictures of them, and would try to get my hands on anything dinosaurs. Jurassic Park is still, to this day, one of my favorite all time movies - the film brought many creatures I had read about to life. I'd attribute the film to sparking a greater interest in watching movies too. The state of Montana is one of the epicenters of the paleontologic community as many dinosaur skeletons and fossils have been found there. One of the most notable paleontologists, Jack Horner, is a Montana native and is the Curator of Paleontology at MOR. Horner was an advisor for the Jurassic Park films and was an inspiration for the character Dr. Alan Grant. The museum was great. It's not a very large museum, but the halls that housed the dinos were quite impressive. Almost all of the castings and real skeletons of dinosaurs came from Montana. The museum boasts the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton in the world. The exhibits have many interesting theories about dinosaurs that I had not heard before. A couple that struck me included T-Rex being a scavenger and ceratopsians'(horned dinosaurs) horns were used for species recognition. One amazing discovery the museum houses is a bone of a T-Rex found in Montana that is the first fossil containing soft tissue - quite a find! Below are just a few pics of the museum.





After work at the airport and seeing lots of bones in the museum, I was hungry and sort of in the mood for some ribs. I stopped in at Bar 3 BBQ. I got a half a rack of St. Louis ribs and I have to admit, I've never had to work so hard to clean off a half rack. The ribs were huge and they don't trim off a lot of the meat like other places do. The sides I chose (garlic mash potatoes and baked beans) were a bit dry, but they did the trick. Definitely another filling meal in Montana.