Did You Say Salsa?

The salsa chips you get at most Mexican restaurants are hard to beat.  I have never  found a really good grocery store chip that compares to them. This summer my wife stumbled upon Tostitos Cantina Thin and Crispy chips. In our family's opinion these are restaurant quality good!

I believe we are experts on this.   We have tried all kind of salsa chips.  We have even tried the chips named after famous Mexican restaurants but they always missed the mark.  These chips from Tostitos have the perfect balance of flavor, thinness, and crunch.  They are just as good plain as they are with your favorite salsa or cheese dip.  I have even tried them mixed in with taco salads.  

If you are looking for a good chip then I would highly recommend these.  Be careful you grab the right bag. Tostitos makes two kind of Cantina chips. The labels are similar. Make sure you get the ones with "Thin and Crispy"on the label.  One other word of advice if you buy these don't just get one bag.  One bag will not be enough. Trust me on this one.

It's a Smaller World

I got a package this past week from England.  I think this might be a first for me.  The package was a book that is not available in the United States.  I bought it through Amazon so I did not have to calculate exchange rates. It was a relatively painless process.  I even got the book in a couple of weeks.

It is truly amazing how much easier it is to interact with people we have never met.  It might be simple things like trying a recipe from a blogger on the West Coast.  Then contacting them via email, Twitter or Facebook letting them know you tried their recipe and liked it.  Most of the time you get a note back.  

I liked a page on Facebook from someone over in England who has a famous cat named Bob.  People from all over the world post pictures of cats that look like Bob.  They call them bobblegangers (for those of you that watch HIMYM it's the same as doppelgängers).    I have a cat that looks like Bob and I will occasionally post pictures of him.  I get "likes" from people whose names I could never ever pronounce.  

I still find it fascinating that when I post something there are people from all parts of the world that have a chance to read it.  I wonder what they think about some of the things I write about?  Are there things that I say that get lost in translation?  More than likely yes.  But, if most of my points or comments get across and the person on the other end gets a good laugh or learns something new then I have set out what I wanted to do.  

Watch Until You Drop

I recently found out my family is doing something that is all the rage right now.  It's called "binge watching".  I saw the term in Entertainment Weekly several months ago.  That was after my family had spent an entire weekend watching episodes of Once Upon a Time.  All of this was was made possible by the wonderful tool called Netflix and their streaming service.

We started out with Netflix several years ago with just the one DVD at a time option.  The first DVD we got was Paul Blart: Mall Cop.  After that one we averaged watching a movie each week. Then Netflix started their streaming service. They offered it free at first.   We watched it some but the titles were somewhat limited.  When Netflix went through their "New Coke" marketing snafu and tried to change their name we remained loyal.  We recently dropped the DVD option and have gone straight streaming.  We have supplemented the DVD option by using Redbox (another cool,concept).

The "binge watching" began with Once Upon a Time .  My kids have their shows which ranges from cartoons to science type shows.  The show that has recently gotten the most views in our home is Psych.  We are up to Season 3 Episode 12.  It's a funny show and its nice to be able to watch one of them when your schedule permits. 

"Binge watching" I know should be done in moderation just like everything else.  I know with the name "binge" in the title makes it seem like doing in moderation would be hard to do.  Some days, some weekends, some times of the year are made for "binge watching".  Who knows what next technological accomplishment will create the next trend?  Perhaps some device that instantly downloads hours of entertainment to your brain in a matter of minutes? Don't laugh we said the same thing about video streaming only a short time ago.  

In Search of the Pretzel Bun

It seems like we have been inundated with restaurants touting hamburgers and hot dogs on pretzel buns.  I've seen enough commercials that I now have to have pretzel buns.  Wendy's, Sonic and Ruby Tuesdays all have commercials featuring pretzel buns.  They look REALLY good,

We have not been eating out very often so I figured surely someone local sells pretzel buns.   I  "Googled" pretzel buns and got nothing.  Last week I saw a post from Publix showing these yummy looking hamburgers.  The buns kind of looked like pretzel buns but they were not.  I commented on their Facebook page suggesting they should add pretzel buns to their bread assortment.  A few hours later I got a response back from them saying "but we already do have pretzel buns".  An angelic chorus of "ahhs" went off in my head.  Could it have been this easy that all I had to do was drive down to my local Publix and try this heavenly concept for a bun?  I emailed my wife the glorious news.  I rushed out at lunch to my nearest Publix to snag a bag of pretzel buns.  You could imagine the look on my face when I found out these do not exist at least at the Birmingham Publix stores.  I was heartbroken.  I called my wife to break the news and before I could tell her, she said Publix does not have pretzel buns.  She had also gone to her nearest Publix and found out the sad truth as well.

That night the family trekked over to Red Robin....(yum).  It just so happens they have a limited time only Oktoberfest burger on a pretzel bun!  The Oktoberfest burger was way too busy for me so I worked with the waiter to replace a regular Red Robin burger with the pretzel bun.  I am not sure if it was the pedestal I had put the pretzel bun on, this particular pretzel bun or the Red Robin Burger .  It was not what I had hoped it would be.  

This has not deterred me.  I am in search of trying other pretzel buns.  I might even try to make some of my own.  I welcome any suggestions on where I can find a good pretzel bun.  It has now become my mission.  

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

The movie Paul Blart:  Mall Cop is one of my guilty pleasures.  It's a very hokey predictable movie.  I've seen it several times.  If I am flipping through the channels and it is on I will usually watch it. It's somewhat permanently etched into my brain.  I even let out a chuckle if I am at the Galleria and I see there are mall cops around.  Especially if they are on a Segway.  

There's a lot of good one liners in the movie.  Here are a few of my favorites.

"Peanut Butter:  It fills the cracks of the heart."

"Safety never takes a holiday."

"No one wins with a head butt"

"The mind is the only weapon that doesn't need a holster"

The lines are all delivered so seriously which makes them even more humorous.  

I did some research on the movie.  The film was shot at an actual mall in the Northeast.  The film was shot during the summer but the film takes place around Christmas.  People who shopped at the mall were a little shocked at seeing Christmas decorations in July.  Also some of the windows in the mall featured swimsuits instead of winter apparel.  I found out by looking at IMDB.com there are a lot of movie goofs in the movie. Next time the movie is on I will have to look for them.

I do like serious movies but sometimes I just want to watch something goofy.  So give me The Three Amigos, The Waterboy, and yes Paul Blart: Mall Cop!

Where Were You?

There are moments in your life where you never forget what you were doing when something significant occurred.  September 11, 2001 was one of those days.  The song Alan Jackson wrote called "Where were you when the world stopped turning?" is such a true reflection of how I felt that day.

I still remember that day being so caught up in what I had to get done.   There were work issues I was dealing with.  There was birthday party planning for our oldest.  Our youngest was due in December.  We also started a major renovation to our house on the morning of 9/11.

I remember getting a call from a co-worker that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.  At that time everyone thought it was an accident.  For several hours afterwards, when it was obvious we were being attacked, I found it difficult to comprehend all of the events that were occurring.

By the mid morning the realization sunk in that this was a truly pivotal moment in our country.  So many people were impacted immediately by what was occurring.  A co-worker of mine had a husband in the reserve by the end of the workday he was shipping off to protect some undisclosed location.  We all felt scared, angry, hurt and confused.  Why was this happening?  

Each anniversary of 9/11 causes me to reflect on all of the feelings and emotions that we felt that day.  It still seems like yesterday even though it has been 12 years.  It's hard to believe this has happened long enough now that there are younger people who are too young to remember it.  They can only read about it in text books or watch videos about it.  My generation was too young to experience Pearl Harbor or the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  We read about it but it's not the same as living through it.

Several years after 9/11, I was at an FSU game and they had a beam from one of the World Trade 

Center towers.  I got to touch the beam.  All those emotions from that day came back to me in just that brief moment of seeing and touching that beam.

Unfortunately we will more than likely have many more  9/11 moments in our lifetime and our children's lifetime.  The uncertainty and evil in our world assures that.  I hope when that time comes we will react the way we did in 2001. We came together.  We helped each other out.  We were a lot nicer to each other.  It's unfortunate that it takes events like 9/11 for that to happen.  It's also unfortunate that this generosity and togetherness only lasts a short time before we go back to our old habits.

My hope and prayer is that we never forget what happened on 9/11.

It's All Greek For Me

I know Chobani has been in the press lately because of a less than stellar handling of a recall on some of their products due to some sort of mold that was causing their containers to bulge and to not smell and taste so good.  I am sorry that happened to them.  I am however happy that I had not purchased any of the recalled product.

A couple of years ago I was introduced to Greek yogurt.  At that time I was a regular yogurt eater.  I was a little skeptical of the Greek yogurt at first but thought I would give it a try.  The texture is different than regular yogurt.  It's a little thicker.  The flavor is a little more intense.  Both of these characteristics I really liked.  I started with a couple of flavors at first (strawberry, blueberry and peach).  

What I like most about Greet yogurt is it fills you up and it tastes really good.   It's a pretty satisfying snack.  I have branched out to several other flavors.  Apple Cinnamon  is my favorite.  I also like Mango, Pineapple, and Strawberry/Banana.  Lemon is pretty good as well.  Key Lime is awesome!

I like the nutritional aspect as well.  The extra protein in Greek yogurt is a plus.  The calories are about the same as regular yogurt.  Some of the Greek yogurt brands  seem to be a little more natural.   If you have not tried Greek yogurt I would suggest giving it a try. Although Chobani is good, there are other brands I like. A lot of other companies have gotten on the Greek yogurt band wagon.  The Yoplait 100 brand is pretty good and so is Dannon Oikos.  I am not as big a fan of the Greek yogurt ice cream. I tried the Ben and Jerry's flavors once and I did not like it. Something got lost in the translation.