Various and sundry, part 2: "Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat"

But I can eat some Lean.
Well, at the request of my commenter (that one, the one who comments, you know), I can't skip the Hot/ Lean Pockets story, so here we go.

I tried them maybe once before, and thought they were pretty bad. They were also fairly high in fat and calories, and didn't seem worth it in any way. But before I went home for Christmas, I grabbed something I could eat before a crack-of-dawn flight when nothing would be open. 4:40 am, actually, and in winter that's about 3 hours before dawn, so. . . I saw the Pockets, b'fast style (Egg, Cheese, and Sausage), and thought they seemed okay. And then, wow, they were great! And not only that, but they were actually Lean Pockets, and I didn't even notice! 1-minute tasty hot breakfasty goodness.

So when I got back into town, I got some more. And then I tried the Egg, Cheese, and Ham. And then Chicken and Broccoli. And the Turkey, Cheese, and Broccoli. And Lean Pockets Subs in Meatball & Marinara and Philly Cheese Steak. And the Whole Grain Supreme Pizza. All good! (Although I think I prefer the crisper-ize regular shell to the soft sub bread. And the meatball one was unevenly filled, which happened to be okay because I felt compelled to stuff it with veggies anyway.) All taking two minutes to heat. Exceptionally good for someone who may always be running late, or who should really eat something quick before heading out for a drink with friends, or someone who might say "I'll eat in a bit" for about 3 hours and then end up smooshing meals into one bigger portion or something instead of having a nicely-spread-out supply of energy throughout the day.

Anyway, I like them. Oddly enough I really like the Turkey, Cheese & Broccoli even though I think those were the original Hot Pockets I tried years ago. They may have changed their formulation, or maybe I was cooking in a regular oven and that affected things. Or maybe my palate has just gotten lazy and desperate.

The Hot Pockets angle: well, I confess, I did try a non-lean version, because they were the only kind offering a "biscuit" crust. They were breakfast ones also, of course, and "hearty-sized" to boot, but really, they did deliver a hearty and filling (and tasty) meal for their 13g fat tag. If you're someone who eats unhealthy stuff now and then throughout the week (as I do), it wouldn't make much of a difference to have one of these bad boys, say, on Saturday or Sunday when you were feeling blah or lazy about breakfast. Just not as regularly as the smaller-portioned, more sensibly-fatted Lean Pocket, and I think it would be fine. One strange thing I noticed was a slightly coconutty flavor to the biscuit. The only ingredient I saw that would remotely explain it was palm oil. Does palm oil taste coconutty?

Speaking of Lean, the last time I went to the grocery store, to my surprise I saw a Butternut Squash Ravioli Lean Cuisine entree. I was delighted! I grabbed it immediately. But somehow it must have fallen out of my cart, because when I got home, it wasn't there. Bummer. Today I scoured the freezer and had convinced myself it was gone and I'd never see it again, but finally I saw a little hole and Voila! there it was, hiding in the back of the shelves. I got two and tried one as soon as I got home. Very good! Apparently it's part of a new dish plan they're trying out where you get twice as many vegetables as you used to get, and that was good, because I do like vegetables. But I guess I wish if more vegetables were getting added to things, I'd rather have them added to the chicken fettucini than delicately-flavored butternut squash ravioli. Or how about some green veggies in the salisbury steak, guys. A big pile o' carrots don't make me feel very veggified. Still, these vegetable matched the ravioli well, even if the sugar snap peas were a little fibrous.

Still to come!

village lip lickers: what are these, aren't you breathless to find out? If you don't already know?

drogheria & alimentari: and this---so exotic! It must be treasures from the Continent.

big bamboo jamaican irish moss peanut drink: I'd planned to cover this one tonight, but I am never one to turn down the request of a fan

The NES games on ebay are now about the cost of a nice new car. Initially, I looked wistfully at the ad, but now I can just look and say "I ain't that crazy!" Holy cow. And three days to go. Hibbily jibbily!

Various and sundry, part 1

I don't know if I'm going to have time to write the more cohesive sorts of posts I have in the past, so I'll have to go with what I've got, whatever it may be. I think sundry is one of my favorite words.

Apart from recently deciding that perhaps I like my right arm as much as I like ol' lefty (previously my lifelong favorite) and still not being able to find a recipe for that smooth and sultry corn pudding I had at a restau in Florida about ten years ago, my mind has also recently been twiddling a few things. I'll start somewhere, since I must.

Is the robot featured in a few season-two episodes of Silver Spoons really a robot, or just a person hiding in a bad robot rigging that includes weird hosey arms?

I satisfied my curiosity quite easily. It turns out that Foobar D. Robot is indeed, regrettably, a "robot." I had to check several pages of "his" website in order to verify this, since it's hard to believe that such a poor version of a robot could exist, even in 1983.

What made it even less believable is that they still hire out these things for parties and events, for a mere $1200 a pop.
I guess that's a bargain for what people most likely think is a child actor laden with robot costuming that seems to be made of random items from around someone's house. You could definitely mimic it if you had some boxes, decorating supplies, ventilation hose piping, and were reasonably talented in the arts and crafts mileu.

But even more startling than the appearance of these poor robots, and the persistence of their existence, is the fact that people actually do pay for them as entertainment!


Coming in later parts of "Various and sundry"!!!

village lip licker hunting

my recent foray into the world of hot pockets/lean pockets

drogheria & alimentari holy grails

big bamboo jamaican irish moss peanut drink and the place it led me

and, though by then the auction may be over, a discussion of this ebay item:
every NES game ever made

!

Excuses, excuses

I've been gone for a while, so I didn't have a chance to write anything, but I'm planning to sometime soon now. That's the important thing.

What's been on my mind?

I finally read Devil in the White City, and now I feel like I have to read several books on the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and go visit Chicago again. I hope I can actually get in a visit! Preferably while my presently-Chicagoan friend remains Chicagoan.

How ineptly I confronted winter when finally faced with some of it. There was some residual ice around this town when I returned, and it flipped me on my ass. Twice.

Now I can't post in here because the editing links don't show up properly. All that's here is spellcheck and add image. Is that some kind of Safari bug?

Lame.