Brand limitations…

Sen. Bernie Sanders has more than once said we had too many choices and that no one needed 20 different toothpaste varieties to select from.  Of course,  under his democratic socialism there would be only one brand and its shelf would be empty most of the time.   Some people do grind to a halt when presented with a plethora of choices,  but most of them can be guided to considering what’s available then using personal preference and logic to actually make the decision they have been avoiding for quite a while.

The difficulties of maintaining social distancing when cranking out various types of frozen food meant that some lines of consumer brands  were halted  when COVID-19 hit.  Manufacturers concentrated on the most popular items they could produce and get shipped efficiently.  Meanwhile,  both retailers and consumers howl when a favored product disappears.   If you have children,  you probably keep some frozen pizzas in your freezer.   I am childless,  though I do have a slew of young visitors,  so I keep some too.   Many of the paused items will likely return eventually,  but if peoples’ preferences change,  there is no guarantee.   Bernie Sanders should love this —  reduce choice by disease so no one can blame you for a feature of your brand of politics!

 

 

Ever wonder…

…where Blue Bell ice cream got its name?  This  will explain  all about my favorite ice cream.  Nancy Pelosi can keep her Jeni’s, which is pretty tasty but so wildly overpriced it is a wealth preening tool rather than ice cream.   Häagen Dazs is highly rated,  but to me it tastes like flavored wax.   I have tried Halo,  which didn’t taste like a substitute for ice cream or anything else much,  Edy’s and Breyer’s which I don’t regard as tasty enough to be worth the calories.  Publix tastes good but is too fluffy and comes in large sizes than I need.  Mayfield is okay, but the only of it products I truly like is the Sugar-Free Orange Sherbet, which is made only for the institutional markets.

So I’m a Blue Bell fan and will likely be one until I die.   If you’re from the South ad remember the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain,  there’s also a clip embedded which explains its rather peculiar name.

Let ’em eat ice cream!

The Trump campaign has put out a  brutal ad  against Nancy Pelosi and given her a new nickname in the process.  Of course it will stick because she put herself in front of insanely expensive kitchen appliances and a gourmet ice cream collection.  It doesn’t hurt that she lied like a cheap rug the entire time she was trying to explain why she wasn’t really doing what you thought she was doing.  As for the ice cream,  well you have only to look at the rolls of fat her Armani dresses reveal when she doesn’t wear a jacket to figure out her husband isn’t getting much of the ice cream collection.  She might contemplate Hillary Clinton’s figure to determine if eating your way to success actually works…

No,  Donald Trump fights fire with fire,  and it takes a mere  75 seconds  to make Pelosi look like the snarling partisan elitist she truly is.  Megan McCain,  hardly a Trump supporter, calls  the ad  a “kill shot.”

 

 

Dangerous pizza?

I have burnt my tongue very slightly on pizza once or twice in my life,  but I have never required an emergency room visit due  to a pizza encounter.   Apparently a fair number of people do each year,  and that’s from immediate injuries,  not just gaining weight.

 

 

Dickens set your table…

Author Charles Dickens had a lot to do  with  turning a  religious celebration into a holiday that is all about home, family, and Christmas dinner.   In 1843,  when Dickens first published A Christmas Carol,  the Christmas he depicted was a shift away from the holiday of the early 1800s,  when Christmas celebrations had degenerated into raucous public parties and in America,  they were also shunned by Puritans, Calvinists, Presbyterians, and Quakers.

The story appealed to middle class family,  and distinct menu items from the Cratchit’s table later showed up in cookbooks as prescriptive Christmas dinners.   Turkey and cranberries frequently featured in the festivities and decorations for the home,  however simple,  were expected.   I doubt a  fruitcake baked  in 1878 was expected to still be making appearances at the family dinner,  but because the baker died before the cake had aged a year and was to be eaten,  it became a legacy and tradition instead of dessert.

In the Deep South one will nearly always have turkey,  but also beef tenderloin and/or ham.  Sweet potato casserole minus most of the extra sugar and all the marshmallows will be on offer along with home baked bread, cranberry and nut gelatin salad,  perhaps a corn casserole or scalloped potatoes or Hasselback potatoes and an assortment of pies and cakes.  Small wonder everyone tends to laze away the afternoon and avoid anything which smacks of productiveness!

Fry shortage?

Wet and cold weather has  damaged potato  crops in Idaho and  in two of Canada’s largest-producing provinces.   Some growers were able to dig up some damaged crops for storage, but growers in Manitoba,  North Dakota and Minnesota received snow and rain,  forcing them to abandon some supplies in fields.

Demand for this tasty treat has risen internationally, and since the U.S. will have little available for export,  prices could rise substantially and shortages may occur.  Fry makers prefer longer potatoes for use, but this year’s crops are smaller and less convenient to prepare.  Eat up quickly, folks!!

Monkeys outsmart humans…

Homo sapiens sometimes isn’t  —  witness how often we  behave like  rut people,  doing the same thing for whatever reasons,  even when we fail to achieve the best outcomes.

Mild and not…

This article  is way short on specifics,  but admitting it studied only Chinese adults tells me instantly that it’s focus was exceptionally narrow and that the study is therefore quite a bit less useful than it could be.  Why didn’t they study India,  which has regions featuring very spicy food and very hot food?  Color me unimpressed…

 

 

 

Beer from shards…

If you discovered some 3,000 year-old yeast,  would you use it?   If so,  for what?  Bread?   Israeli scientist had to revitalize six ancient strains of yeast, but once they had accomplished that,  they used it to  brew ancient  types of beers. 

This is the first time that living yeast were actually extracted,  identified and recreated from ancient pottery vessels and may lead to some other useful  —  and enjoyable —  techniques.  L’Chaim!

 

 

Doughnut disaster…

We all make fun of doughnut-inhaling cops,  so we shouldn’t be surprised that they have  made fun  of themselves with a burned-out doughnut truck.

UPDATE:  Krispy  Kreme has  stepped up with a big delivery to make up for the loss of the burned out truck and the delicious treats.  now that is some sweet corporate responsibility!