Criminal Cereals of the Past 4 & Floundering Finesse!

Well I feel we successfully survived the dreaded threquel with productive and acceptably entertaining results and that's the point of this blog, to entertain. It's meant to entertain me of course but most of all it's meant to entertain you, my reader. The fact that I'm still getting visitor hits says that at least someone out there is entertained by this blog and is returning for more day-to-day as I update so I'll continue to do it (although I do wish people would comment!) - Moving from the threquel I suppose this is the fourquel? How many things survive to a fourth sequel? Not many.. Usually the third kills everything.. I guess I kind of have the 80s to 90s cereal industry to thank for this articles success, I'm not exactly running out of criminal cereals to post about and my memory is fairly expansive so I've got a lot that I can remember and still put out there.. But the fun is in posting about the cereal, isn't it? The crappy and criminally bad for you cereal that more often than not tastes delicious but will send you into instant Wilford Brimleyness.

Enjoy the nightmares, kids. Let's get to the good stuff, shall we?


#1
General Mills Ice Cream Cones Cereal:

HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHO WOULD'A THUNK!? General fuckin' Mills! Seriously you BASTARDS. You sugar-pimping limey BASTARDS, what is wrong with you? General Mills seems to have this odd obsession with their cereal products, ice-cream, and candy bars. The obsession being that they seem convinced that they're absolutely going to force the flavours of ice cream and candy onto the breakfast world and there's nothing logic or reason can do to stop them. This stuff came out in 1987, you can kind of tell by the box art and the appearance of the stuff.. It definitely has a slightly retro feel and vibe about it, you can tell it was going for the "Olde Ice Cream Shoppe" vibe with the neon cone, the soda jerk uniform kid and the colours. It's a nice motif though and it really works for the box but the box no matter how pretty is not what we're discussing, is it? What we're discussing is what was inside the box. Little 'cones' and 'puffs' that tasted like ice-cream cones. That's what they gave you.. Aaand that was the jist of it. I'm not sure what the fuck the cones and puffs were, I think the puffs were highly sweetened corn and the cones? I think they might have been actual waffle cones. They didn't fuck around or lie at any rate, these tasted more or less like ice-cream cones.. Well sort of.. I guess they did if ice cream cones were vaguely flavoured like Cookie Crisp. There were the flavours of vanilla, chocolate and chocolate chip to round variety, why chocolate and chocolate chip? Because General Mills doesn't need a goddamn reason to add even more sugar to a cereal. Not one from the 80s or 90s anyway. Shit was still hunky-dory then and no one gave a fuck how much cocaine, caffeine or sugar was loaded into a single bite-sized chunk of anything.. Point of fact I think most people expected to go into diabetic shock from eating most breakfast cereals, they might of been kind of disappointed if they didn't.. Truth be told with my 'cereal is treated as candy' mind-set I kind of miss it since I wouldn't eat and still won't eat cereal the 'right way' today and eat only a few pieces at a time (individual singular pieces. Literally.) one thing in particular I still vividly remember about this cereal is that the 'puff' pieces meant to be the scoops of ice-cream were incredibly sweet to the point that calling them 'cereal' should get you slapped in the face, they were candy, I don't care what they were marketed as and that the 'cones' as mentioned generally and genuinely tasted like ice-cream cones. This cereal was criminal for being addictive and so good, the sweetness factor was enough to rot your teeth before the shit even contacted your mouth. That translated to this shit also being criminally and insanely bad for you.

In 2003 this cereal was briefly resurrected. Of course it's original recipe had been changed from the earlier days but it still tasted somewhat like it's earlier predecessor.. They also got rid of their soda-jerk candy-guy Ice Cream Jones which made me kind of sad. Sadly they're no longer available. 

#2
Post Croonchy Stars:

EPIC SHIT RIGHT FROM THE GET-GO BECAUSE BORKBORKBORKBORK *queue random explosion as spoon is tossed over shoulder* - You know it's true, you know you love him and you know he was probably one of if not the most epic Muppet there was. The only motherfucker that made doughnuts and salads with pistols, the one and only SWEDISH CHEF! We've got a winner right from the start off that and maybe I'm biased for saying that but I loved the goddamn Swedish Chef and I still do, he cracks me up and always has but you know what helps prove I'm not biased? Coming from 1988 during the time when cereals were so obviously not being regulated by the FDA and no one gave a shit how much sugar was poured into a single individual piece and in fact the single individual piece seemed to receive the habitual pound of concentrated processed sugar and if it didn't.. I think it might have been a crime in and of itself in the 80s and 90s.. Croonchy Stars was "a cinnamonnamony new cereal with 10 essential vitamins and minerals, no artificial coloring, and no doorknobs.", ah no doorknobs.. And 10 essential vitamins and minerals along with enough cinnamon sugar to kill a bull moose on spot! Good thing kids had a higher threshold for that shit!

One great thing about Croonchy Stars was actually it's commercial campaign and in true Jim Henson fashion, the Muppets did not disappoint in their commercials.. Or well, the Swedish Chef did not.. And the commercials frequently featured him in his.. Well, I can just let the commercials speak for themselves;

The commercials were great and truly entertaining which was really something back then. As mentioned they were released in 1988 but discontinued shortly thereafter and finally re-released in 1992 only to be sadly discontinued again. Many people didn't like them and their common citing was that with milk the cereal was somewhat like Cinnamon Toast Crunch but became 'chewy' and rather unpalatable.. This was never a problem for me since I had my Croonchy Stars as I had all my cereal, eaten as a snack-food. A single piece at a time every now and then or a small bowl that had no milk in it. From my memory and experience, Croonchy Stars were delicious and with the Swedish Chef's face on the box.. God I was an easily influenced little shit but I was a happy easily influenced little shit. I wish I could have Croonchy Stars again. Sadface... Mr. Swedish Chef.. Prepare for us your epic cereal once more.. Pleeaaaaase?

Dinner CAME OUT PERFECT AGAAAAIN! YES! THE SWEDISH GODDAMN CHEF WOULD HAVE BEEN PROUD OF ME EVEN!!!! BORK BORK BORK MEOW! It seriously freaks me out that I'm managing to unintentionally cook such pretty dishes but I am really happy with this one again, I'll let it speak for itself;

Sakana to jagaimo no suraisu (Fish and Potato Slices) it is essentially a Japanese-style fish and chips plate with full fried jagaimo (potatoes) and beautifully pan fried Sakana (fish) centered by a Japanese Tartar (my special ginger secret mix), a lemon Anpan (Sweet bun) and Ume no raisu purin (Plum Rice Pudding)

Just. Blammo. Right out the fucking park with this ones appearance and James gobbled it down like it was going out of style. Watch me as I do the cabbage patch, bitches. Oh yeaaa oh yeaaa uh-huh who bad? That's me! I'm a cat, you better fuckin' believe.

Second photograph brought to you by A cabbage patching Big Cat©

An Early Halloween FINALE; Drinking

So we actually did something. I was amazed, my Halloween wasn't absolutely shite and it was actually pretty fun. I didn't get a photograph of our waitress/bartender because I didn't want to disrespect her by just snapping one (I personally hate when people take pictures of me without asking) and I didn't want to ask her because frankly.. Well.. I couldn't.. She was fucking busy and working hard as the only tender at a full bar but she was pretty awesome and incredibly friendly (as a bartender should be, rightfully so!)

We went a little dressed up (and had an epic conversation about eating meat on the way there with our neighbor Mike which devolved into discussing how we'd totally eat human if it was cooked for us and how humans of a certain type i.e. fat, lean, muscular and athletic would taste compared to other meats we'd had, Mike being of the opinion that someone fat would taste better than someone athletic and that they'd taste more akin to Kobe Beef.. I love it. So Halloween and so normal.), I was wearing a pair of Black Cat Ears and a Tail (I'm a Big Cat, a Tiger. I'm just a black tiger, you can't see my stripes ;).) and James who I took no pictures of sadly was wearing a witches hat and a cloak which is amusing because James himself is a Wiccan and therefore a witch by definition and in the literal sense. So our 'costumes' both fit us, fuck anyone who thought we were weird for having come to Logan's dressed up. We strutted in there like we owned the place and fucking moved straight to the bar because we had a plan; shit faced. We wanted to be shitfaced.

The bar was pretty crazy and somewhat over priced. It's bathed in an eerie fucking glow which is there every night because of the shitty neon lights that keep you from taking photographs that even look a quarter normal.. On a positive note, though.. I'm fucking pink.. What the hell? Can I get some Pink Panther theme music now? - Anyway, first drink on the list for me was a Peach Roadhouse Tea (Long Island Iced Tea) and I gotta say, it was pretty good. It was the first drink suggested by the tender whom I told my goal to, to be bent over a toilet by the end of the night and off my fucking rocker.

The rest of the night went on rather predictably, I drank and wowed the bartender because she'd obviously never seen anyone fucking down them the way I did, I didn't leave the drink but for a few moments and when she turned back to me she stared wide-eyed and in disbelief that the drink was entirely gone and seemed to question me a bit when I ordered another but brought it anyway. The second was a Sour Apple Roadhouse Tea and let me say, I didn't care for it. It tasted pretty shite and the alcohol and whatever the fuck in it was meant to taste like Sour Apple did not gel well together. Totally not worth it, but whatever. That's drinking for you. Some drinks are going to taste like shite and some are going to be awesome, trial and error.

I know, it looks the same as the first drink. Trust me, it's just the shitty horrible light which drenched the bar in this strange glow. I seriously think it's meant to fuck with their more inebriated customers and to further lull them into their drunken stupor, in fact if I had to guess I'd guess that's exactly what the intention was. By this point, I still wasn't feeling much (or anything) and James was pretty trippy. He was clearly feeling the drinks a bit more than me which isn't a bad thing because honestly, I'm a fucking heavy drinker bordering on alcoholic. It's not surprising that I would handle drinks better simply because of the speed and amount I drink when I do drink. I'd probably make Jesse James look like the only thing he ever drank was fucking milk. Also James had just proclaimed to be able to 'drink me under the table' and then proceeded to knock his margarita over with a quick-handed gesture. Suuure, right under that table, huh? ;) CatTease~

Interestingly at least one picture washed in the eerie glow came out decently. I'm not quite sure how to describe how I look in this picture, I certainly wasn't drunk.. I was actually a bit surprised that I wasn't feeling anything from the drinks I had imbibed. Whatever, it was still a fun night and I was on my final drink.

Which I kind of regret and by the way if you ever see 'BACARDI® LIMÓN' don't fucking order it. It's goddamn disgusting. I love lemon in everything else and this shit was utterly repulsive. I mean it's not my fault, it's not the tenders fault it's fucking Bacardi's fault for taking lemon and making it into such a shite form. I had one of these with Diet Coke and that ended the night for me. By god this stuff was AWFUL. That's the danger of drinking and experimenting, though. Some shit is just.. Uhg.. Shite..

And so we ended the night. I even cracked a few smiles (god really? Maybe I was feeling the drinks a bit more than I thought.) No, I'm kidding, I enjoyed myself quite a bit. Got home, thoroughly hurled all in the tub until my throat was fucking raw and then treated myself to R&R, a warm glass of water and tried to nurse myself back to feeling like I wasn't about to fall in half. All in all, pretty great night. Still wish something would happen on actual Halloween but if I have to end this Halloween on this note, at least it was a pretty damn good note to end it on. All in all? Not as horrible a Halloween as I had envisioned. It would be pretty damn good if someone would give me/buy me candy but I know that's not going to happen and I'm too old to trick or treat without being shot at/solicited for tricks (sex) so unfortunately it seems like my Halloween is over.. Alas, sweet season.. I knew thee well..

Criminal Cereals of the Past 3 & a Fautless Feast

We've had the first, the sequel, and now the test of time! The dreaded threquel!! .....I'd be wiggling some sort of aluminum and flicking the lights on and off rapidly but I doubt it'd convey the same sense while I was typing a blog-post.. Also I'm fairly certain James would have me institutionalized because as soon as I pull some random sheet of aluminum out of no where, start making loud noises with it, and flicking the lights for no apparent reason that would be the point he'd be convinced that I'd finally gone completely off the deep end. Not that it wouldn't be a nice effect.. I just can't stream the action onto the blog sadly.. I should really be able to. Enough rambling about inane things, though! Shall we ramble on about the subject of the threquel? The CEREEEAAAAL!? Yes! Yes we shall!

#1
General Mills S'Mores Crunch:

Gee, what a surprise to see another General Mills cereals on one of these lists. No great surprise then being that it is General Mills and the subject is Criminal Cereals of the Past that this cereal should have been released in 1982, yes. 1982 was the year that General Mills decided that they've basically driven about a million kids into early onset stages of diabetus (blame Wilford Brimley for the misspelling. It's intentional.) with monstrosities such as Rocky Road Ice Cream Cereal and Powdered Doughnut cereal, why not throw another wild-card into the mix? What's the worst that could happen? I say this, a child somewhere slipped into a diabetic coma after consuming a bowl of this stuff in 1982. Hey though, if you gotta go I could think of worse ways. The mascot for this cereal was also cute, from a time when mascots for cereals were not an exception but the rule. The S'morecerer, a little fairy-like fella that was involved in several cases of child endangerment such as letting children run a muck unsupervised on a ship that was then struck by lightning and then following his negligence, kidnapping them via magical spell and transporting them to his cereal which he used to bribe them. Tricky chocolate bastard. It's interesting that this is one of the few cereals I remember to have had a particularly enticing premium in the form of a small pack of Starburst Candies. Because it's not bad enough that you're letting me eat what is essentially junk-food of the campfire variety regularly (who eats smores regularly, seriously?) but you're going to make damn sure that diabetic coma takes me quickly by pumping me full of more sugar. Bastards. Criminal charge? The cereal tasted fine, wasn't great.. It was just meh.. It's criminal in how bad it was for you and the fact that it betrayed the rule of thumb and really wasn't that tasty. Also, seriously.. Candy in a box of what is essentially candy given for free? The fuck? You just want the kids to die of sugar O.D.? Please Sir, Sugar.. May I have s'more? OHGODDON'THITME!

NOTE: Disturbingly in modern times the cereal company Kellogg apparently decided to rip off S'mores Crunch Cereal and in 2003 released this monstrosity onto the world;

Not the exact same obviously but it's nice to see we're still trying to shove kids into hyper diabetic states. Also because of the new modern formula I've got to count it points less worse than this new comer;

Brownie Crunch.. Yeah, okay.. I'm a girl and it sounds delicious because as a girl I'm inexplicably drawn to brownies, I'll admit.. But fuck.. Just.. Wow..

#2
General Mills Nickelodeon Green Slime Cereal:

I love Nickelodeon. Search this blog and you'll easily find things from Nickelodeon I adored, tons of things not limited and including the epic Legends of the Hidden Temple (which I still watch re-runs of. I wish they were new but alas, all I have are re-runs) and the reason I love Nickelodeon can partly be expressed through this cereal. Released in 2003, it's not an ancient contender by any lengths but it is from the past and can't be found anymore so it's worthy to be featured. Again it's made by General Mills who seems to be taking over the world in a covert opera.. Oh shit, I just uncovered a secret covert conspiracy by General Mills to usurp power and control of the world from the governments and powers that be through feeding them years and years worth of diabetus coma inducing sugar-laden corn, haven't I!? I should finish this article quickly before they come to try and take me away (In their clean white coats. Ha-Ha!) I had a few boxes of this, I count myself lucky for having had this. It's one of the few cereals I actually ate with milk like 'cereal' is meant to be eaten.. I treated most of it like candy but there's a reason why I couldn't eat it all like candy and had to have at least one bowl full traditionally and as intended.. That is because..

The shit turned your milk green. Duh. What'd you think it did?  It turned it a wonderful, nuclear and toxic, beautifully mutated green and that's just awesome, I don't care who you are.. That is awesome and anything that turns your milk such a putrid shade of green is by rule an epic product. Unless it's not intended to.. Then.. Then you might want to straddle that line cautiously and watch your back.. You might die.

AND DINNER TONIGHT - OH. MY. GOD.

There are rare meals that I make once in a while that come out so unbelievably perfectly, so flawless and so without any bit of disappointment or regret. It just magically comes together and when it's finally all on the plate and dished it is just perfect. This was one of those rare meals. The amount of pride I feel when I show this picture to the world through my blog is.. Well, indescribable.. I only hope that someone out there appreciates it as much as I did and is as impressed as I was with my work;

The dish is called "Choshoku no yorokobi" (Breakfast Delight) and what a delight it was. Everything on this dish came out so perfect that you'd think it was all placed intentionally with hours of pain-staking work laboured into it but that's the weird thing, it wasn't. This was a meal that was put together in a few moments, dished together and simply interlocked like the beauty of Lego's being built into something wonderful and unbelievable except it came out so perfectly by accident. I wasn't actually trying to make it look this nice. There is nothing quite like this happening, this is a truly unique experience for me and I really loved this meal for it's short life-span as it was thoroughly devoured by James. I really believe he enjoyed this one and I couldn't be happier with it myself.

Second photograph brought to you by TrueCat Perfection©

Criminal Cereals of the Past 2 & a Savoury Soaked Sandwich

I enjoyed the last article I did about Criminal Cereals of the Past and so I've decided to do another.. Half because I know I'll enjoy it and half because I'm just a pathetic person whose best memories in life have to do with junk food, man.. How did I ever end up as fit and active as I am today with a past filled with sooo much sugary crap? The world may never know.. Some how though I became the health conscious person I am today and so today I reflect upon the terrible cereals I once knew and some I once loved and bring you along with me; shall we dance?


#1
General Mills Powdered Donutz Cereal:

GODDOMMOT GONOROLMOLLS!! This is the second post starting with you, why are you such a frequent repeat perpetrator of cereal criminality? Just take the full on plunge, General Mills. You've been making shit like this since 1928, why not just go on and create the inevitable cereal known as "Type 2 Chocolate Frosted Powdered Crashers with special insulin premium inside FREE!" because that's basically what most of these cereals anyone ate from the 1980s to 90s were.. Hell even some of them today kind of skim the border. I'm not saying they're bad... No, wait.. Yes, I'm saying they're bad for you but not that they taste bad. This is a cereal made after fried rings of dough covered in enough powdered sugar to plow your ass through a wall from the incredible sugar rush you gain eating just one and it's supposed to be for breakfast. What. The. Fuck? These actually tasted really fucking good as should be expected, the rule still remains after all; you can't make something this bad for you and have it taste like shite. It's too illogical. I was only graced to have a single box or two of these back in the past before they were evidently completely discontinued to be lost to the deep recesses of time but I will confirm; they tasted good, they were absolute garbage for you, and yes.. They tasted like powdered doughnuts surprisingly enough.. They are criminal for being inconceivably bad for you.

#2
General Mills Sprinkle Sprangles:

Along side Hidden Treasures was released Springle Sprangles in the 1990s, like Hidden Treasures Springle Sprangles holds the rare honour of being a criminal cereal whose criminal charge is being too damn good for something so goddamned bad and having vanished on us for no apparent reason by 1995. It's not fucking fair. Also the goddamn Genie was voiced by Dom DeLuis (Same guy that voiced Itchy Itchaford, Charlie's best friend, sidekick and later partner in business from All Dogs Go To Heaven) - What the hell was it about this cereal that was so damned good? I think there was crack cocaine in those sprinkles, in fact I'm 99% certain thinking back on their catch phrase that they "Spangled every angle with sprinkles.", yeah.. I bet you did guys, I bet you did. Thanks for the scares I had with diabeeetusssss, that's great emotional development for a kid. Springle Sprangles, god.. What to say about them? They were delicious and they were great because once you'd finished with the cereal the bottom of the box always had this wonderful epic diabetus dust (yes, I know I'm spelling it wrong. Blame Wilford Brimley.) which consisted of the tiniest most sand-like remnants of the cereal, the sprinkles and random sugar. God... It was delicious and still to this day that remains my favourite  part of any cereal is when the box is finally empty enough to relinquish the delicious diabetus dust at the bottom.. Oh yeah.. I'm weird but a good kinda weird.. You know you love it too.

Dinner tonight.. Eh.. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I was pretty proud of it at first but I'm kind of confused. I thought it'd blow his socks off but James said it was "really really good" which I guess is something but not quite the enthusiasm I had hoped for. Admittedly it was something I've never cooked before so I'm not sure if it came out quite as good as it could have.. Perhaps the meal requires some refining.. Nevertheless I was pleased enough with it at least to want to post about it and so I shall.

The meal is Nippon rosuto gyuniku (Japanese Roast-Beef) and is basically a Japanese/Asian roast beef sandwich. I baked the bun myself (my own dough of course made by my own hands) and it came out quite nicely looking rather perfect (flawless in fact), the juices of the gyuniku (beef) were all marinated over a course of twenty four hours into a super savoury broth and then the meat itself which had marinated raw was cooked in the mixture enhancing the flavour, a special Japanese Ginger Mayonnaise made and added to both sides of the bun and then the meat added and juices gently washed over the bun to drench it and allow the sandwich itself to rest in the juices, soaking them up. For sides there were three, the usual Anpan which was a mix of Strawberries and Mixed Berries, Ume no raisu purin (Plum Rice Pudding) and as a special side Jagaimosuraisu (Potato Slices) which are basically french fries - Apparently James really liked the juices from the gyuniku because I did notice that he used the Jagaimosuraisu to mop up with and ate the juices on them. Rather good idea, I thought.

All in all not bad.. Leaves me something to shoot for, of course I knew one of these nights I'd end up not getting the enthusiasm I was shooting for but you know what they say. If at first you do not succeed, try, try again and try again I shall. Sooner or later that coveted response of enthusiasm at the first bite, that look where the eyes light up and that description that has eluded me will be uttered. Then oh how sweet will my pleasure be.. Oh indeed..

Second photograph brought to you by A Cat Made a Sammich!©

And as a stinger, might I point out;

Really? Last Months page views in October? Too good.

BLOG UPDATE: BREAKING BEETLE BULLETIN!

As you all know, I'm a fan of Beetlejuice from my earlier post; Beetlejuice Post!

I have some breaking news for you all, and I quote;

Last month it was announced that writer/producer pair David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith were working on a sequel to Tim Burton's 1988 comedy, Beetlejuice. Today, EW spoke with pair who say that they've already got Burton's blessing and that they wouldn't want to move forward if they didn't think that Michael Keaton would be returning to the title role.

"When Warner Bros. came to us about it, we said the only way we'd do it if we got Tim [Burton's] blessing and involvement, and we got that," says Grahame-Smith, "and the star of the movie has to be Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice, and it's a true continuation 26 years later. Not just throwing him in as a cameo going, 'Hey, it's me. I endorse this movie.' We're not there yet, because we don't have a film to present to him."

While the original film spawned a lesser-known animated series, a sequel was planned in the early '90s with the title Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. Burton had planned to return as director, but the project failed to develop beyond an initial screenplay. It is currently unknown whether or not Katzenberg and Grahame-Smith's upcoming script will have any crossover with that original concept.

Colour me intrigued and excited! God I hope Keaton agrees and returns to the role, PLEASE MR. KEATON! WE NEED YOUR AWESOME!

Criminal Cereals of the Past & "Divine" Dinner

It occurred to me today. You know.. Strangely, I've not really seen that many novelty cereals in the past few years, I mean they're still there of course with some particularly delicious idea's (the churros cereal for instance) but nothing that really seemed.. I don't know.. To carry the grandeur and extravagance that the cereals of the 80s and 90s did probably due largely to the fact that now that the worlds grown a collective brain and figured out 'hey maybe forty vats of butter and two hundred LBS of sugar is bad for me' and the FDA tightened their leash on cereal companies.. A good and a bad thing, it has it's merits and it has it's short comings.. Merits being that at least someone gives a shit what people ingest out there other than me and short comings being that we don't really have to wonder where the recent obesity epidemic is stemming from. Gee I wonder.. - Oh right and there are the pros and cons of the fact that pro-health conscience we get to assume to have healthier foods and such.. Cons being? ...Kind of that we get to assume to have healthier foods and such as well.. Because cereal has never and was never about eating a bowl for breakfast for me, cereal is, always has been and always will be something to be pecked at and snacked at and so I don't really mind too horribly much if my cereal is more candy than breakfast because frankly, that's how I'm treating it regardless of it's health-merit.. But I guess I'm a minority.. Nevertheless, shall we take an excellent adventure into the since bygone eras of the 80s and 90s and look fondly upon cereals of the past? Join me won't you, neighbor?


#1
General Mills Rocky Road Cereal:

Criminal in the sense that it's unbelievably bad for you (but tastes great). I find it incredibly disturbing in spite of my personal outlook on cereal that anyone would design anything as abominable as cereal based on an ice-cream though they took it a bit farther and based it not just on an ice-cream but probably one of the worst for you ice-creams there are. I mean this is an ice-cream we're talking about that is not only the basic ingredients of ice-cream being largely milk, cream and sugar but also the secondary flavour ingredients of chocolate (often with chocolate chunks), nuts, and marshmallows. The fact that they may be making a cereal off ice-cream is appalling to begin with from a purely nutritional stand point but add Rocky Road to the mix and all bets are off. Forget about that nice pair of jeans you loved that hugged your ass so nicely, your ass will devastate them after this. In spite of my recognizing the fact that this shit was to nutrition what straight lining lard into your heart is to your life-span this stuff was actually damned good. It's no surprise, it's so goddamn bad for you it has to taste good. There is no conceivable way anyone could make something this horrible for you and not make it taste good, that would negate the purpose of it being this bad for you entirely and that's just.. Not acceptable logic.. It's not logical at all, no not at all.

#2
General Mills Hidden Treasures:

Oh yeaaaaaaaah, another from General Mills and this one is named aptly. This was a Hidden Treasure, like the greatest and most decadent gold-dusted chocolate, these things were fucking delicious. Coming from the year.. And.. Oh god that shiver just crept up my spine again.. 1993.. These were an offering from General Mills that were essentially sweetened corn squares some of which were simply sweetened corn squares but.. And this next part is important because here's the treasure and gimmick part of this cereal that made it SO damn good some of them had packed within them the Hidden Treasures that should have been protected by Dreaded Mayan Temple Guards in the form of delicious pockets of fruity filling consisting of one of three flavours; cherry, orange or grape. And oh my god were these ever good. They used to be one of my favourite cereals and I'd eat these motherfuckers like they were the greatest goddamn candy on the face of the Earth. Sadly in 1995 they fell from my roster of favourites because around that time they dried up entirely from stores and could no longer be found for purchase. I have no clue what the motivation behind pulling them was but I do wish they hadn't.. These things were so great. Criminal in the sense that.. Well to be honest it's probably incredibly bad for you too but that's not the criminal charge here. The criminal charge is it was so good and now it's gone.

YES AND WE COME TO DINNER! AM I EVER HARDCORE PSYCHED! Tonight was the first night I've ever seen this from James, not only did I gain enthusiasm but I gained enthusiasm with a triple thumbs up! Not only did I get a triple thumbs up but I got a triple thumbs up AND he described my dinner as being 'divine', a special type of 'very good'. GOD DAMN IT YES!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! TO THE STARS YES! - I'm so fucking happy! Tonight's dinner was some simple Japanese street-food, common-place shit but it was so well done I'm so proud of it!

Jugatsu Menchikatsu (October Mince-Cutlet) a type of fried Japanese ground-beef patty that was topped by a sweetened sauce and sat upon a bed of seasonal Amai toumorokoshi (Sweet Corn) mixed in with gohan (steamed rice) - Anpan was Kabocha Anpan (Pumpkin Sweet Bun) filled with Kabocha Anko (Pumpkin Sweet Red Bean Paste) and the bowl? That is Satsumaimomasshu (Sweet Potato Mash)topped by gloriously melted and gooey pumpkin spice marshmallows. It all came together flawlessly and looked just so perfect, I mean everything is so goddamn symmetrical I couldn't believe it. I can only hope I can ever achieve the same thing twice and believe me, I'll be trying. Tomorrow's dinner will be something I've never made before and should be a unique variation to Japanese cuisine. Oh, I have plans. I have ways of making you enthuse, Mr. Ox.

Second photograph brought to you by ACATRAWRAWFIGHTTHEPOWA!©

Goneby Goodies & Perfect Poultry

It's that time again, time for another retrospective post on more by-gone junk-food. Things of my past that I once loved that largely or almost all no longer exists. It makes me sad but it's a bitter sweet sort of sad, it's nice to remember how great these things were, wish and hope that in the future we might see them again.. Maybe.. Maybe if fate is kind and the stars align properly one day the light of holy retro-revival will cast down upon one of these products and even if only for a brief period of time, resurrect it again so that it can be enjoyed once more.

#1
Fruit String Thing:

Remember these? I don't know if you do but I definitely do. They came out and were around during the 90s (about 1994-1995) and existed during the 'fruit snack craze' of that time, I loved these things. I could inhale these things like no ones business. This was partly due to the fact that the things tasted vaguely like Fruit Roll-Ups and partly due to the fact that while like Fruit Roll-Ups they were still somewhat different, maybe due to their shapes and designs but whatever it was made them taste different and in my opinion made them taste better. Fruit String Things were of course Fruit flavoured and typically Strawberry, consisting of the string which was the inner part you inevitably ate first because it was the best part and who could resist eating that first? I knew many kids that wouldn't even eat the thing, fuck the thing said they. They'd had the string, they'd seen the mountain top and it left the 'thing' looking like.. Well.. NHHRR.. A thing.. (goddamn redundancy) the strings appeal and flavour was somehow enhanced strangely by it's abnormal shape and wiggliness, I love when I can describe a food with the word 'wiggliness', it feels kind of.. Dirty.. Dirty in a good way. Though now that I think back on it, these were definitely enhanced by their shape, their nearly shoe-lace shape made the string so oddly palatable that it just can't be described.. One of the great mysteries of the world is the mystery of why string makes such a tasty and welcoming snack.. It really baffles and doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense.

#2
Dunkaroo's:

Of course it had to be a kangaroo with a name like 'dunkaroo's', now come all the obligatory and over-used Australian jokes/jabs that just kind of make me sigh and shake my head because really.. I can only hear the same recycled comment/attempt at a joke for the googolplex'th time (is that even a word? I know googolplex is a number but.. Ah fuck it, it's a word for my purposes and intent) before it starts boring a hole into my brain and I just want to punch you for saying it. Not because it pisses me off necessarily but because really must you? These were actually launched in 1988, not the 90s which is interesting because holy shit they're actually quite old.. They're basically the American equivalent of a popular Japanese snack called "Yan-Yan", a package of biscuits ('cookies' to Americanized audiences) with a small reservoir of cream-dipping goo for your biscuit smothering pleasure. These were fucking good, I mean really good. Especially the cinnamon graham variety above because who can deny how awesome cinnamon graham is as a biscuit and then you're going to go and give me a tiny pool for my biscuits of cream-dipping slime that has sprinkles? I almost want to believe there is a God and that it/he/she does love us. It nearly brings a tear to my eye.. However proof of Gods non existence in my book is further substantiated by the fact that.. Well.. These are no longer around and that's shite. Dunkaroo's, I need you again. Come back to us, please, I'll even weather the shitty Australian border-line racist jokes. I needs you.

#3.
Dizzy Grizzlies:

I'm normally not really a cookie fan but lately I've been remembering why I used to be.. At least I used to be a bit more. Hailing from the mid-1990s (1996 ish by my memory) the Dizzy Grizzlies were a version of Nabisco's popular Teddy Graham's cookie that was, well.. It had one side that was more or less a normal Teddy Graham while the other side was covered in a thin layer of chocolate frosting adored by little tiny sprinkles or like.. I don't know.. The micro bastard off spring of sprinkles? At any rate, Dizzy Grizzlies were a cool snack to have for school lunches and by god these things were tasty and addictive as all hell. I remember my favourite way to eat a Dizzy Grizzly was to take one into my mouth, hold it on top of my tongue and savour it, letting the chocolate and cookie gradually dissolve and turn mushy before gently crushing it against the roof of my mouth and enjoying the last vestiges of flavour before swallowing. Oh yeah, I was weird.. But goddamn try that shit with some cookie you love some day, tell me that's not the best thing you've ever done and you won't be doing it again. You'd be lying, LYING THROUGH YOUR DAMN FOOL LIAR TEETH!!

#4
SqueezePops:

Mid to late 90s the fads were fruity.. I mean that literally, not figuratively even though some of the fashion was admittedly a bit fruity in that right and it's own right.. Fruit candies and snacks were all the rage and in particular lollipops of all variety were major-sellers from fizzing lolli's to lolli's that doubled as flutes and rings, the lollipop was an ever popular staple of mid to late 90s junk foods. While I wasn't particularly crazy about these in the sense that oh my god I had to have one, they were among my more preferred snacks. Not really about satisfying that 'I want to feel like I've actually eaten something' feeling these were delegated to the equally important and useful 'convenience and lasting' junk-food group. Among others of it's type were Push-Pops and other candies which could be closed off and carried around for a long period of time, inevitably lasting past the point that the other kids had finished their snacks off sometimes days ago while you still had this. Sometimes you ended up with a surplus of these types of snacks, a 'back log' if you would and that was just awesome because automatically everyone else was jealous of your apparent foresight (even if you knew it was just a fluke and refused to ever learn from it to actively influence it into happening) - These weren't bad for sure and they lasted as mentioned, my new muses the Warhead Candy Sprays are still with me so they speak as a tasteament (testament, see what I did there? Hah.) of how 'convenience' snacks can be worth it. Plus for the time these sprays and a Squeeze Pop would last? My god.. You've gone and screwed the company producing them over because they expected you to be back for more. Maybe later guys, maybe later..

Getting onto dinner, man did tonight's ever come out excellently and I've got some great photographs and a wonderful description and story to tell;

Tonight's dinner is called Shiro-to-age Niwatori (White Fried Chicken) and man did it ever sell. I AM SO EXCITED! You have no idea! Tonight I achieved once again the rarity that is enthusiasm out of James for a meal I put a ton of hard work into and I couldn't be more tickled! The chicken itself is a Japanese chicken cooked Karaage style which is a technique of Japanese cooking in which typically meats are fried in a light oil (in my case I have a secret for my Karaage technique that makes it unique) and is somewhat similar to the preparation of tempura. So my chicken started out Karaage style fried with chunks of mushroom, a single satsumaimo (sweet potato) wedge added to each of the plates corners and the chicken added dead center and on top of it? On top of it was a special first-time creation that came out just so perfectly you'd think I'd been making it my whole life! I am so happy! It was what I call Shiroi kurimusosu (White-cream Sauce) and was a savoury and creamy sauce that I just couldn't have been more proud of. The Anpan (Sweet Bun) tonight was a pure winner as well as I whipped a special Amai Shiroi kurimusosu (SWEET White-cream sauce) that I packed into the Anko (Red Bean Paste) filling and gently spread on the top of the Anpan bun itself, of course nothing real to report on the Ume no raisu purin (Plum Rice Pudding) - If it ain't broken, don't fix it as I've said in the past. Man James really loved this and scarfed this shit down and afterwards? I. EARNED. PRAISE. I'VE. NEVER. HEAAAARD! Yes!!!! His feedback was that it was "really excellent", something I've never heard from him before and I know meant I did a good job and that he liked the chicken particularly because I sliced it into nuggets (which is how Karaage is typically done) instead of leaving it on the bone.

Second photograph brought to you by Such a WINNING meaaaal!©


And tomorrow I shoot again in my never ending quest for more enthusiastic praise! God my self esteem is soaring!

An Early Halloween PART 14; Cornucopia of Cats! & Fishy Feed

So it stands confirmed, Halloween is going to suck. I have no money to do anything fun (can't even buy myself booze and I probably would if I could. I'd love to be able to go out and have a night drinking for Halloween.), James is working and I'm going to probably end up spending the night alone and at home wishing I were doing something else. Wonderful. This year is.. Well.. This year sucks.... Moving on though lest I allow myself to be swallowed up by the incredible depression that threatens to consume me over this misfortune, I need to do another Halloween entry to bring my spirits up. This will probably suck the last bit of Halloween cheer out of me so it'll likely be the final entry in my "An Early Halloween" themed post segments that I've been trying to consistently do throughout the month (and a bit before since it is noted as being 'early') - I'm certainly not going to post about my exciting Halloween night where I sat and stared at a wall wishing I were somewhere else having a fun time. Fucking hell that's some bad funk.. I do apologize, I can't really help it although maybe it's not so bad and there's still time for something to happen. This is how Holiday movies play out, right? If X-Mas can have it's Holiday miracle, why not my Halloween? Here's hoping!

I've got quite a few things to round the post out with, this should be one to remember and one hopefully somewhat worthy of a sign-off for the Halloween that could have been but never was. I'd certainly be able to post something more epic on Halloween night itself but since that's not happening, let's begin;

TOPIC #1:
THE ALLMIGHTY CATKIN 

To start off with I had promised probably about the time that these entries began that I'd one day take a photograph of the ALLMIGHTY CATKIN with it's face awash with the eerie glow of Hell! (or at the very least the eerie glow of the low-wattage tiny bulb of Hell.) and lo-and-behold I'm finally delivering. Sitting upon my computer desk where it's glorious perch exists (amongst my other black cats and black cat toys/plushes because I adore black cats) it's face is a surprisingly intense orange colour which is made more luminous by the (possibly lead) orange paint inside the Catkins head which seems to enhance the light it puts off through some strange and unknown reaction.. Wait.. Eerie glow of Hell.. Right, we've established that so there you go! If you ask me this is still one of the single greatest gifts I've ever received and it's just.. I mean too cool for actual words. I don't think there's another Jack-O-Lantern in the world cooler than the ALLMIGHTY CATKIN, you can quote me on that.

TOPIC #2
Palmer Twisted Pumpkins:

Palmer, a company well known for making Holiday candies and goodies has recently come to my attention for these Twisted Pumpkins which were.. Nh.. NHHRRR.. Brought.. To my attention.. As I sigh and the vein in my forehead throbs after being spurned once more by the specter of redundancy. Is there anything better than chocolate that has "delicious" creamy centers? As indicated in an early article nearly everything is made better by the inclusion of something creamy, PB Crisps made this a law by simply existing. I've had these before and I've got to say that it's a close tie.. I hate peanut butter for how terrible it is for you but I love it for how delicious it is, it's a goddamn double-edged sword and that and my natural inclination for chocolate put me at a heated stand-still in trying to pick my favourite Twisted Pumpkin candy. On one hand, peanut butter and on the other hand double chocolate. NOT FAIR! This is the sort of shit that drives people MAD! You WANT me to beat you with the multi-year old spotted dick!?


TOPIC # 3
Palmer Worry Worts:

Okay I found these and these are just too cool/cute/gross, little wart candies that are of course apple flavoured because what else would you make a junk-food that had a Witch mascot on the bag taste like? Apple has to be it, Witches love apples; never fucking trust a Witch that gives you an apple.. I say as I stare at James and check the toxicity of my own apples. These are really cool and neat snacks, they're little bite-sized sour green apple candies with a sweet red apple puss in the center. I love anything that has puss in it and is genuinely edible.

TOPIC #4
General Mills Monster Cereals Lip Balm:

Okay, what the hell!? WHY WAS I NEVER INFORMED? GENERAL MILLS MAKES LIP BALMS OF THE MONSTER CEREALS?! BY ALL THAT IS CAT-LIKE AND HOLY, WHERE ARE THEY SOLD AND WHY DON'T I HAVE SOME!? Because I'd probably ingest these motherfuckers like candy if they even tasted a quarter as good as the Monster Cereals do. The idea of having something I could smear on my lips that would make them sexy and make them taste like Count Chocula, Boo Berry or Franken Berry? MY GOD MAN, WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE!? IT'S WONDERFUL! GLORIOUS! STUPENDOUS! AND MOTHERFUCKING VEXING TOO BECAUSE I'VE NEVER ONCE SEEN THESE IN STORES! If you can't tell I'm INCREDIBLY frustrated that I've never seen or had these, I only recently discovered them and I've got to say. AWESOME. I NEEDS ME SOME MONSTER BALM!!!!!! (god that sounds perverted almost)


BONUS TOPIC
General Mills Count Chocula Ice Pops:

These were released in 1994, coming shy of causing my spine to freeze over which would have been ironic given what they were. I did in fact have these, these were goddamn delicious and amazing on a stick. It's like Count Chocula came to your house with his freezing decrepit flesh and raped your mouth thoroughly with his deliciousness. Yes, I just said that. ENJOY THAT MENTAL IMAGE YOU FUCK. These things were GOOD and actually tasted vaguely like Count Chocula cereal as much as you can expect something frozen and ice-popish to actually taste like cereal. We all know Count Chocula is amazing, epic, wonderful and can do no wrong.. Did you really expect me to turn on him here? Only reason I'd turn on anyone is General Mills for discontinuing these because WHY!? We weren't good enough to market Chocula Pops to!? The Count just got tired of his pops being sucked?! (Hahaha too much fun with this article) I don't know and I don't care, I WANT CHOCULA IN MY HAIR! ...Wait.. What?

....I just crossed a weird line of perversion..

And moving along..


FINAL TOPIC

 And this is what's kept me going for the past few days. My depression has been pretty epic and crushing, honestly I've felt like I've been struggling to stay awake through the past couple of days and it hasn't helped that things have been pretty rocky and tense. But every time I get too down, I look over. You see, James brought me another gift. The most adorable and randomly thoughtful thing that he SHOULD NOT have gotten but did because it was frivolous and UN-needed but entirely too sweet and caring making me water up in the eyes, he brought me home another mew (haha) friend, it's official name being 'Swips' or something like that.. It's on the tab.. But it's a winged cat and therefore I shall name it and not give some soulless corporate business the pleasure of having tacked some crappy half-assed name on my buddy. This buddies name? BAB-C, Bab-C is an acronym. It stands for Bad Ass Bat-Cat - That's what Bab-C is. Bab-C is pronounced (Bab-Cee or 'Babsie') and Bab-C is now my minion of horror. Horrible cuteness. Seriously look at that little cat face and those massive eyes and tell me you hate Bab-C because you CAN'T. You fucking can't. Even if Bab-C was currently in the process of clawing your eyes out and eating your intestines through your throat you wouldn't hate it. Bab-C stands for all that is good in the world and goes into my collection of black-cats. The first winged black cat I've ever had or seen! EPIC!

DINNER

I know, I know. I said final topic but I have to technically add my dinner for the night in and technically I guess that's actually the 'final topic' even though it's an obligatory portion of any entry I make on my blog. Whatever. Tonight's dinner was Sake to Ebi Donburi (Salmon and Shrimp Big Bowl), a Donburi being a steamed bowl of Japanese rice topped with various.. Uh.. NHHRRR.. TOPPINGS... GRR..

  
An entry into savoury, this was a winner tonight. I really wasn't surprised, James really really liked it and was fairly borderline enthusiastic about it. Like I said, I wasn't surprised. What I made was a clear winner when I was making it to begin with right down to it's simplest components. For one it was incredibly filling because it's a massive bowl of rice topped by seafood with vegetables and two sides in the usual Anpan (Sweet Roll) and Ume no raisu purin (Plum Rice Pudding) - The sauce I made had an egg, spice, soy and sake (rice wine) base which came out after being cooked just deliciously, I mean you want to talk savoury. This shit was good enough to have on it's own but it was of course mixed into the Donburi itself and then gently caressed over the seafood on top of it. The Anpan (Sweet Roll) featured a Lemon Poppy Anko (Sweet Red Bean Paste) and on top of it was a special lemon creme I've never made before but came out beautifully adding a little bit of a sweet-sour to the meal. Fairly proud of this one all things considered. It's common Japanese fare and nothing special in a culinary sense, not difficult to make and certainly not 'high quality eating' but for my money, it was worth making and for James', clearly worth eating. I am pleased. I shall be once again aiming for an enthusiastic response and the stars tomorrow, however. I've got to keep trying to top the response I get and that means trying to cook progressively more delicious meals! I LOVE COOKING!

Second photograph brought to you by Big Cat Prettyfication Committee©

Consigned Candy Cavalcade & October Originality

Well the strange nostalgia driven cravings have yet to subside since the Squeezit's post made recently, sadly I have nothing to really defend myself against these strange cravings with because most of these strange cravings are for things that no longer exist and I have no hope of ever tasting again. Things are tough lately with money being as tight as it is and of course that's caused tension in life, I imagine that has something to do with my strong desires for these nostalgic memories which I crave so completely now.. I wish I had some spending money but since I don't, I'll take the second best thing. I'll blog my heart and spill my soul out like some bubbling mutagen oozing all over the contents of this once clean.. Well okay, it was never clean but this once un-slimed portion of the blog and make certain it's properly grungy so that the next person to sit here will be stuck to the fucking floor for a little while. How else am I supposed to trap readers? Today we're going to go down a little mini-list of recent cravings for now non-existent wonders, let's begin where we must begin, item #1;

In the 90s I came across one faithful Halloween a sucker that would become the end-all be all sucker for me, a lollipop that not only had a good.. Well no, not even good; GREAT novelty but also excellent taste to boot. That lollipop was known as a Fizz-Pop and up until that Halloween in the 90s and the first time I actually ate one was inside a Sears while shopping for a washing machine and being out of my mind bored, I picked it out of my pocket that I had filled with Halloween treats picked the night before, I remember popping it in my mouth, being surprised that it was so flavourful and after a while, specifically while I was setting foot upon the escalator to go up to the second floor, being stunned and flabbergasted when suddenly my mouth began to vibrate and an odd white foam began to pour from my lips. I was startled.. But in a good way.. And so my love began..

Fizz-Pops were a candy that wasn't made in the U.S. as far as I know and I don't know if they're still around today, I personally haven't seen them since the 90s. I only had the pleasure of having a few of them because of their rarity back even then but I can say this. These were the Holy Grails of my candy quests. They were surprisingly flavourful and lasted a surprisingly long time if you could resist biting into them.. I must confess, I wasted a few biting into them to get to that amazing fizzy center.. It didn't just fizz, it EXPLODED inside of your mouth, expanding and quickly filling every nook and cranny with an odd almost carbonated bubbling white foam which poured from a ninja-bomb like interior within the pop itself. It was almost like a candy-ninja had taken your lollipop and booby trapped it with an extra delicious surprise that threatened to make you look like you had the rabies if you were unprepared for it. And it would come out your mouth if you didn't know it was coming. I know there were other flavours but the only flavours I was ever lucky enough to get were cola, grape and black cherry.

 I regret to inform that I haven't been able to find a commercial online anywhere for these in my hunts, information on them is neigh non-existent as far as I can tell. Instead, I offer pictures while discreetly moving onto the next topic.. *shoves you roughly* GET!

The next subject is not really discontinued, I'm pretty sure these are still made.. Just kind of hard to find.. Caramel Apple-Pops I remember these because I used to go to a dry-cleaners run amusingly enough by this little asian-couple and this little asian-couple always had candy and gum sitting in a bowl outside for their customers.. But the candy in the bowl was for their normal customers and had common-fare you'd expect such as cheap chunks of double-bubble and generic lollipops.. For the special customers, customers they really liked you were given something from behind the counter. Something magical, something wonderful and something apply. You were given the coveted Caramel Apple Lolli! And oh my god were these things ever delicious, they didn't quite taste like caramel apple because you can't really convey green apple in a candy-form perfectly but they were damn close and they were damn good. These things were awesome wrapped in cheap looking celephame that at first glance may make them look like crap candies, oh no. These were not crap candies, these were epic. I'd love one today. It makes me sad to think that I spent so much time refusing to eat so many of them I was given and back-logging them in a hoarde of a stash only today to remember about it and recall that sadly they went the way of many other goodies, victim to my dog who found them and devoured them without a second thought. Damn I loved that dog but if ever I considered gutting an animal for something, that was it.

We move onto the Astro Pop and you automatically know that anything that is candy and can be used as a murder weapon is awesome. You could literally stab a motherfucker to death with an Astro Pop and do so quite easily.

I love any candy that can be described as 'knify' because it makes me think that this is a candy that people should not trust someone like me with. Someone's going to end up in the emergency room and there's about a 50-50 chance that it won't be me. Astro Pops were great because they were amazing flavour-wise and lasted a long ass time, I mean finishing one off was almost not a single-sitting deal.. For me it wasn't and back in the day when I would have regularly eaten these without my conscience bitching at me about how unhealthy they were I was no light-weight with candy. The Astro Pop also boasted several flavours in one pop, featuring in the original alone pineapple, passion fruit, and cherry. Fuck off, that's amazing. Add onto that a kick-ass commercial and a 90s jingle you just couldn't get out of your head unless you ironically jammed an Astro Pop into your ear-hole and directly into your fucking brain and these things were addictive as all hell.

And finally coming to our finishing product/item, since we've had two lolli's so far we can't properly call this a 'candy' post if I don't end it on some varying candy. To that end I've chosen the Devil of the candy world, the constant temptor and seductor; chocolate.

Hershey's Cookies 'n' Mint to be precise. Normally I hate mint, I mean HATE HATE HATE HATE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE! ....Ahem.. But with Hershey's Cookies 'n' Mint, Mint became something godly.. Mint became so incredibly acceptable that it was chosen above other candies and other choices because, well.. Oh my god, it just worked. This shit was like crack-cocaine to me, I could eat one of these bars and be nearly certain I'd just orgasmed in public, literal chills ran down my spine from these and goosebumps ran along my arms, I AM NOT OVER-REACTING. 100% for serious and the only other things to have done that to me in recent times have been gourmet chocolates and bon-bons. These were run of the mill candy-bars from the common shelf and they melted me like.. Like.. Uhhh... God yes.. I haven't seen them since the 90s, I'm assuming they were discontinued which is a shame because I won't really eat anything else Hershey's.. Consisting of a basic Oreo cookie broken into milk chocolate with a hint of candy-like chocolatey mint these were just.. Uhhh... God.. I need to go change my panties.. Pardon..

Getting to the half of my post that is always devoted to the dish of the evening I've created something rather unique and original, the basics of the dish are all of course distinctly Japanese and the dish itself? I call it Jugatsu Nippon no aji (Taste of Japan in October);

 The dish is distinctly original and uses almost strictly October themed flavours.. Point in fact I think all the flavours I used for this dish were flavours that are seasonally associated with October and November, they certainly work well together. This dish came out looking absolutely beautiful if you ask me and there's a certain under pronounced subtlety to it that I was quite proud of. Nothing about it looks off or wrong to me and it all just fits together into one wonderful October coloured dish, I was truly proud of the way this looked and it's funny because it's an extremely simple and straight forward dish. It's an itamemono (Stir-Fry) and consists on the main-course which was pan fried in sweet Mirin (Japanese cooking wine) with a little bit of butter, it was sweetened gohan (steamed rice), broccoli, raisins, and buta (pork) topped by a distinctive kurimina ninjinsozu (Creamy Carrot Sauce which was quite sweet in itself by the way but subtle because it was created with a milk base rather than my usual sauces which start with a soy-base) - Of course there is satsumaimomasshu (Sweet Potato Mash) which was lightly buttered, the Anpan was filled with a delicious Kabocha no supaisu Anko (Pumpkin Spice Sweet Red Bean Paste) and topped with a Kabocha no supaisusozu (Pumpkin Spice Sauce) which just set it apart from any I've made before and of course the Ume no raisu purin remained untouched because I can't really change it's recipe without possibly screwing it up and honestly, why take that chance? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

James wasn't quite as enthusiastic about this dish as he'd been about the other two recently so that was a tiny bit of a let down but he was still borderline enthusiastic and I'm quite happy about that. The dish was described as having been "very very good" and was scarfed down fairly quickly (I still don't understand how eating something faster says you like it better. When I eat something I like or really enjoy, I savour it and take my time.. Different strokes, different folks I guess.) - At any rate, dinner was a success. James gave me a thumbs up and indicated it was indeed 'winning' so I'm quite happy with that but I'll just have to shoot ahead in the future for something more with another dish.

Second photograph brought to you by The Cat Face Alliance ;3©

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUNA!!!!