June 14, 2017
It’s not Italian sausage. BUT, for a meatless meat (yes it’s labeled vegan), it has the texture, if not exactly the taste, of a meat. The texture is the biggest problem with many meatless meats. They, or we, can always work on how it tastes. In its own right, it’s fairly good tasting, but on the bland side.
And the kid walks? Find out here, maybe.
June 3, 2017
There are only three questions to ask of a curated coffee: how long has it been on the shelf, has anyone blown off the dust, and are there still overdue fines? It seems we’ve come a long way from curating book collections to curating bulk produce.
While claimed to be a 50/50 blend of light, Colombian Morales, and medium, Ethiopian Limu, roasted coffee beans, all the beans in the can looked the same. Judging by the color and the amount of oil on the beans, I’d call them a medium roast. When the beans were removed from the can, and compared side by side, there was a mix of small and medium size beans.
Aside from the marketing hype, this is a nice coffee. In the can and ground, the beans had a nice aroma. Brewed and in the cup, the coffee had a nice taste. There was a little bitterness, but nothing exceptional. Overall this is a smooth drinking medium roast coffee. Price $8.99 (13 ounce can).
June 3, 2017
Everyone wants to be hot. Most of us are not. And so it is with these chips.
While still not for the squeamish, these chips do not live up to the reputation of the howling hoblin hotty Habanero ghost pepper (Bhut jolokia) for which they’re named.
Most of the heat in the chips is felt on the lips. The best way to bring a quick tingle is to hold a chip between the lips for a bit. Call it a lip lick. As the seasoning varies some by chip, the more seasoned chips can also be felt on the tongue. The rest of the mouth is mildly involved by comparison unless the chips are taken by the handful and held in the mouth for some seconds. There’s a little earthy taste to these chips aside from the heat. That gives them some added interest. Perhaps just overpowered by the heat, the chips did not taste salty.
If you like heat in your food these will satisfy that need without causing a trip to the emergency room (not guaranteed), because in these chips the ghost is just a will-o’-the-wisp.
Price $2.29 – 7 ounce bag
Calories 140/ounce (28g) (about 13 chips)
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Electrons are fleeting as they go about their daily duties. The ants in the world of physics, these little guys are constantly on the move. Whether lighting a room, pushing the Tesla to visit grandma, or holding a molecule together, electrons are tireless in their tasks.
You can do good by capturing fleeting moments of their work. While you sleep or go about your daily duties the spare time of your computers, tablets and phones can help find the answers to important questions which affect your lives and all the lives around you.
The World Community Grid sponsors projects which use the spare computing time of your devices to find, e.g., cures to childhood cancer or medicines which help fight Ebola. There are other projects you can sign up for with similar good causes. You can read about and sign up for the World Community Grid here.
Similar sponsors as the World Community Grid from around the world are also available running many other projects. One of them even searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life. All the projects run under the BOINC app. Information for other sponsors, their projects and BOINC is available here.
The BOINC app runs on your Android, Windows, Mac OS X or Linux (Intel) device. I’ve been running this on two of my Android devices, an older tablet and a newer phone for about 3 months now. The app is very aware of battery level, internet connection and processor activity. It can be set to only run when; the battery is over a certain charge percentage and charging, the device is connected to a wired network and when the processors are below 50% activity. Those settings are adjustable to your needs. The app can be suspended at any time also.
This post was in response to Evanescent.
May 31, 2017
Garlicky, salty, crunchy, edgy and 89 cents every day – what more could you want? Add a little zest to your salads or just grab a few straight from the bag to snack on, they’re pretty good. Personally, I do both. Other, milder, flavors are available. But the best part is they’re 89 cents every day, meaning there’s no need to wait for a sale.
Calories 30 per 2 Tbsp (7g) Price 89 cents per 5 ounce bag
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ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
May 31, 2017
If you need a guacamole fix, these are unlikely to satisfy. As a chip, they’re okay and in some ways sort of a mild Doritos.
Rather than have the flavor sprinkled on as an afterthought, these chips seem to have the flavor “baked” into the flour of the tortilla. In addition there’s still the traditional sprinkle of seasoning coating the chips. There’s a faint hint of guacamole in the flavor. As a flavored chip, the flavor is not objectionable. These, or at least this bag, do not taste overly salty. And like almost any chip, you’re likely to eat many more of these than you should.
I suspect these are a seasonal item. Although they showed up well after Cinco De Mayo, which one would think is the appropriate time? For me, a regular tortilla chip dipped in some real guacamole is the way to go.
Calories 140 per ounce (28g, about 11 chips) Price $1.99 per 12 ounce bag
click on images to enlarge
ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
May 20, 2017
In a seemingly endless number of nutty snack bars, here’s one more. To the possible delight of many readers, if this one becomes a permanent resident on the ALDI shelves, this bar seems to be a variation of the very popular but short-lived Simple Nut Bar.
Without having a Simple Nut Bar present for a side-by-side comparison, this Roasted Nut Bar seems very similar. From memory, my preference would be the Simple Nut Bar. But I could easily live with this one. Like the Simple Nut Bar, this one is mostly nuts. Comparing the back of the boxes (see Simple Nut Bar box here), the ingredients are very similar. Both are products of Canada. That leads me to believe these are produced by the same company and are just variations of the product formula.
There’s a minimal amount of sticky binder to hold all the nuts together (almonds, peanuts and sunflower seeds). If you’re looking for sweet, or chocolate, this is not for you. As the bar is mostly nuts, it is hard and crunchy. For a snack food, this has a reasonably good nutrition mix. Of course, being mostly nuts, a high percent of the calories come from fat (most likely the nut oils). Carbohydrates are lower than many other snack bars. While not a high power protein bar, these do have an okay 6 g of protein. Calories 180 per bar Price $2.79 per box (6 bars in a box)
click on images to enlarge
ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
Most of us in the US originally came from some other place. Even though many of us seem to have forgotten, it’s important to remember that fact. This is the ship some of my ancestors came to America on. This is part of my heritage.
Photo from N.Y. Public Library, via Wikimedia Commons.
May 20, 2017
The beans are light brown with no oil. Lys means light in Norwegian and Kaffe means coffee. All the pieces fit together to support the claim on the package of “light roast”. The advantage of a light roast is that the more delicate flavors in the coffee are brought to the front. They are not hidden behind stronger flavors brought out by a dark roast.
Made in a press, the coffee is on the thin and watery side. After all it’s a light roast by design. Once the mouth adjusts to the fact that this is supposed to be a light roast, there’s a nice flavor to the coffee. When cooled some there’s a bit of sourness. There’s little to no acid and no bad tastes, making this a very smooth coffee. It’s a different experience and an enjoyable one at that. The coffee reminds me of the Jacobs Kronung coffee reviewed a long time ago.
While the taste is different, for comparison purposes, the “strength” of the coffee is somewhere above a strong tea. For people who don’t like coffee, this may be a gentle way to give coffee a try. For an everyday dark roast drinker, this is a way to take a break and clear the taste buds – think of it as sort of a colon cleanse for the mouth? Price $7.99 (12 ounce can).
For another reviewer’s thoughts on this coffee, see Become Betty here.
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