Wednesday, October 14, 2009

What Were They Thinking? Awful Tabasco Ad!

We just had the chance to see this ad as of late.  I've always been a fan of Tabasco and all the different things it could be paired with, including pizza of course.  To add that little bit of tang, spice or kick to any snack.

This recent ad is currently running on  US networks and is unfortunate enough to feature a really disgusting treatment of one of our favorite snacks: pizza.  We stand up and say no thanks to shrill, singing Pepperoni  infused with  chubby human heads.  It's terrifying on Youtube, and even more disturbing on an HD TV.  Please Tabasco, never again.  It'll take days to unsee (and unhear) this awful, retina searing ad.  We had issues with the gross out tactics of some of the recent 'What would you do for a Klondike' ads, but this takes the cake.

Nonetheless, we have space in our hearts to forgive you guys.  Your hot sauce is still good,  but your ad just came close to ruining pepperoni pizza.



Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Gamer Grub: Pizza Flavor!


I first ran into these snacks at E3 and was quite intrigued by the concept, a yummy snack specifically formulated for Gamers.  What exactly are these supposed to offer that make these appealing to gamers?  The addition of vitamins, 'neurotransmitters' and easy to serve, non greasy nature.  The slogans on the packaging are "Boost your game, no keyboard crumbs!"  If you take the time to read the near infinite ingredient list you'll realize that a lot of work was put into making these a one stop snack for gamers.

The current ones we're reviewing is the pizza flavor(One out of 4 flavors offered).  The mix includes a zesty blend of Cheese Curls, Tomato Almonds, Sesame Sticks, Pita Chips, Fried Onions and Pizza Cashews.  The packaging is colorful and eye catching, featuring a foil style packaging.

From what I could tell you pour a handful of these in your hand and eat them all at once, combining all the elements of the mix in your mouth to form a pizza flavor.  You could also pour them directly into your mouth as the package recommends.  Taste wise it was very good and tangy, and the mix of different flavors and textures were pleasant.  They were a little messier due to the sheer amount of seasoning but had a decent pizza flavor.  The only thing I can say is kind of lost in translation is the individual seasoning of each snack element in the mix, all the different seasonings kind of mix together.  Overall a really tasty snack to try, whether you're a gamer or not.  Nice packaging, portable, and real easy to eat.

-Sirio



Snickers Fudge! (Limited Edition)



I can remember being a kid, and eating a classic Snickers bar.  I can even remember my mom breaking it up into tiny, bite sized pieces for me when I was really young.  Whenever food companies come out with a new variation of a a classic product, I initially meet it with the slightest bit of hesitation.  Will this be as good as the original?  One the other hand, why constantly stick with the same old thing?  Be adventurous!  So I decided to try the limited edition Snickers Fudge bar.

The long, familiarly shaped chocolate bar is wrapped in a tan, and brown plastic wrapper.  I opened the wrapper, and noticed that the chocolate bar looks just like the original.  The outer chocolate coating is the same smooth, decadent milk chocolate.  As I took a bite, I found out that the fudge is inside the bar.  The top layer is velvety smooth, rich fudge.  The next delicious layer have the crunchy Snickers peanuts.  And last, and definitely not least, is the creamy, light peanut butter nougat.  These three ingredients come together ever so exquisitely!

This new treat is just as good as the original.  Is it better?  I don't know if I'd go that far.  But it's a delicious departure from the everyday treat.  Highly recommended!  Remember this is a limited edition, so get it while it lasts!

~Rachael

Buy this snack :)

Monday, October 12, 2009

Dorito's Late Night: Tacos at Midnight!


So, we were browsing the grocery store the other day, and this caught our attention right away.  Dorito's Late Night: Tacos at Midnight.  What?  Late Night?  How does that work?  What does that mean?  Totally intrigued, we picked this up.  These special edition Dorito's come in a matte black bag, with neon signs as it's text, just to drive home the fact that these are "late night". 

The familiar corn tortilla chip is coated in a dark colored seasoning, which makes it look like it's going to be kind of spicy.  As I took a bite, I noticed that while not super spicy at all, it has a fairly small kick to it.  It tasted a bit like cumin, and also had a peppery, tangy quality to it.  It definitely had taco seasoning.  I found it to be quite yummy.  The texture was crunchy like the traditional Dorito's tortilla chips.  Though I can't seem to figure out the point of dubbing these "Tacos at Midnight".  Tacos: Yes.  Midnight: I guess?  Tacos are tacos, no matter the time of day.   Maybe it was more of a reference to night clubbers, as an attempt to appeal to a different demographic. Labeling these as "late night" is simply a clever marketing move.  Hey, it obviously worked on us!   


Another interesting marketing feature is on the back of the bag.  A white outlined square icon with a white triangle inside the square, and some instructions above the icon.  The instructions say to go to their website, activate our webcam, and place the icon in front of the webcam.  We had a bit of difficulty getting this to work.  Webcam and chip bag difficulties aside, I'd recommend this Special edition snack!  Can be enjoyed anytime. :)

Ferrero Nutella!


Nutella.  Whenever I hear any mention of that wonderful product, what does it bring to mind?  A happy childhood, sunny days and my sweet tooth sister. :)  This classic Italian confection mixes hazelnuts and high quality chocolate into an absolutely mind blowing chocolate spread.  Many imitators have tried, and failed to reproduce what Nutella achieves.  Perfection, that is.

What is Nutella good with?  Spread on a nice thick piece of toast, in a delicious crepe..It goes with just about anything.  Its decadent, with the delicious hazelnut accent it delivers with its rich chocolate flavor.   Its creamy, velvety and perfect for spreading.


There isn't much I have to say about Nutella, other than that if you haven't tried it, you are really missing out.  If you like chocolate this is the thing for you, true chocolate perfection in a jar.

365 Brand Rosemary Crostini!


I've always been a fan of simple flavors in snacks, which is a quality that makes it easy to pair with other foods, as well as stand alone by themselves. 365 brand is the Whole Foods Market 'Every day value' line which features grocery style items at a decent price.

These Crostini really stand out because they offer a really delicious olive oil and rosemary flavor in a rustic, Italian style cracker. The flavor of the olive oil and rosemary go perfectly well together, while not being overpowering on your palette. They're also not too salty thankfully so we didn't find ourselves reaching for a beverage every few minutes. Another brand I tried in the past, known as 'Bella Rustica' crostini were so heavily salted that they couldn't be paired with anything else, kind of defeating the purpose.



These are perfect by themselves, or paired with cheese, tapenades, dips, pates, salumi, Nutella, and more. They bring out the flavor of other items while not competing with them. Excellent and simple, with full bodied flavor for any rosemary lover out there.

Buy these at your local Whole Foods Market! :)

-Sirio