McDonald's Pumpkin Pie

Autumn is one of the best seasons for many reasons. One of the reasons I love it so much is the weather starts to cool without getting too cold. Halloween spirit is in the air as people begin to dress their homes with outlandish decorations. However, one of the things that I look forward to the most is pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is something that you don't usually get after the month of December. Of course, stores still offer pumpkin pie during other seasons, but it doesn't seem right to eat it after the holiday season. That being said, I also enjoy it when food and candy makers start putting out pumpkin-flavored items.

McDonald's has put out pumpkin pies for the season, and I certainly do not object. The apple pies that McDonald's offers are not necessarily what you think of when you think of pie, but they're delicious nonetheless. I was as excited as that man on the box was about the pumpkin pie that I just bought. However, that may be a look of fear on his face. It's hard to tell.

The insides of a McDonald's Pumpkin Pie

The flavor of the crust and the smell really overwhelm the filling. That is to say, I think that I was eating McDonald's pie crust with mushy filling. I couldn't taste or smell anything remotely close to pumpkin spice. All I could taste and smell was the crust of the pie. I scooped out some of the filling and it felt like I was eating a plain custard or tapioca pudding without any hint of pumpkin spice. While this item isn't bad, it was very disappointing to me because it didn't remind of pumpkin outside of the texture. For only $0.50, I wasn't expecting the best, but c'mon, I'd take an apple pie over this any day.

McDonald's Pumpkin Pie: 6.5 - 7/10

Soda-flavored Cotton Candy

Cotton candy used to be something of a rare treat. It was something you would get if you went to an amusement park, fair, sporting event, or some other special occasion. However, as you grow older, you realize that cotton candy is just spun sugar. You also learn that it’s pretty widely available. The pre-packaged cotton candy you can buy in stores may not be as good as the one you pay $5 for at a game, but it gets the job done. Much like movie popcorn, it’s not just the snack, but the experience itself that enhances things.

The packaging for the cotton candy

Enter this cotton candy. I have no idea what it says, but I love soda flavored things and I like cotton candy. I should clarify this, I like cotton candy when it’s at a special event or when there’s something extra in it. What made me excited about this product is that when I’ve bought cotton candy from Japanese markets, there’s always something extra. For instance, there is a grape variety that has popping candy in it, giving you a pleasant surprise, and there’s a cola variety that turns into gum after a period of time. Think about that for a second, cotton candy that turns into gum. When I bought this soda flavored candy, I had a bit of buyer’s remorse seeing as how there were only three ingredients listed on the back (sugar, coloring, artificial flavoring) which meant that there would be a slim chance of getting a surprise.

They come in packets of two

Well, the best way to describe this candy is that it’s certainly cotton candy. You could buy pre-packaged cotton candy anywhere else and it would taste about the same. The only thing that makes it different is the soda flavoring. There’s no extra pizzazz to make you think “Oh ho ho, now that’s something.” While good and acceptable, I suppose I’m just not a big enough fan of pre-packaged cotton candy to buy it again unless it came with something special inside. If you like cotton candy, then this is worth trying,

Soda flavored cotton candy: 6.5/10

Hawaiian Typhoon Popcorn

Like Terrell Owens, I love popcorn. Popcorn can be a sweet or savory snack, depending on what’s put on it. It’s the perfect snack for the movies, watching television, or for most relaxation activities. The problem with purchasing popcorn at the movies has to do with the price. Everything is overpriced at the movie theaters due to convenience, and it’s not like you can pop your own corn while you’re there.

Meet Hawaiian Typhoon Popcorn, popcorn that has a price that is even more ridiculous than movie popcorn. While a large popcorn may cost quite a bit at the movie theater, some theaters give you a free re-fill. There are no refills with this popcorn unless you buy another bag. How much would that cost? Roughly $5 - $6 per bag. Trying to purchase it online doesn’t help either as you have to pay for shipping as well. I bought this bag to see if it was worth the price of purchase.

Hawaiia Typhoon Popcorn

The first thing I noticed when I opened the bag was the smell. It definitely had a sour cream smell to it, which I assume you can get by getting some sort of popcorn flavoring powder in stores. There are bits of nori on certain pieces of popcorn, but like movie popcorn and microwavable popcorn, not every piece is going to have all the flavoring. I was kind of disappointed due to the fact that I could have probably bought several packets of microwavable popcorn and a shaker of popcorn seasoning and gotten almost the same effect for less money. It’s a good popcorn, but I’d be hard pressed to purchase another bag of $6 popcorn unless I got free re-fills with it.

Hawaiian Typhoon Popcorn: 6/10 (7 - 7.5/10 if you don’t mind the price)

Lenny & Larry's Complete Peanut Butter Cookie

I don't know much about vegan food. Rather, I don't know much about vegan pastries. I've always imagined that butter was an essential ingredient to making moist pastries. Eggs seem like they're essential in some as well. Anyway, before actually trying vegan pastries for myself, I've heard stories and read accounts about how they weren't just inferior to the "real deal", but that they were down right terrible. Because of this, I decided to try one out.

Enter Lenny & Larry's Complete Cookie. I wouldn't know where to start when trying to finding a shop that does vegan pastries (Google and Yelp come to mine...), so I decided why not 7-11. Alright, so this may not be the cream of the crop, but why not. I kept the price sticker on there because I found it to be outrageous to sell 2.29 for one cookie. Albeit, it's a rather large cookie, but for another 50 cents or $1, you could be having some Pepperidge Farms cookies or a whole pack of Oreos. I guess they wouldn't be vegan and be a "complete" cookie though. Also, the more I look at Lenny and Larry, the more terrifying they look. They're like two decapitated Gorgon heads or something.

Pretty much

A piece of the cookie

To my surprise, the cookie wasn't terrible. It was a bit dry I suppose, but the flavors were alright for a peanut butter cookie. Heck, I might go search up a bakery that sells vegan goods just to try other things out. However, again, the price was a bit outrageous (very outrageous). Overall, if this had been $1 or so less I could sort of see not being so harsh on it on the point about price, but as it is, I think you're better off getting a pack of Chips Ahoy and going to town on them.

Lenny & Larry's Complete Peanut Butter Cookie: 6/10

Ben & Jerry's Red Velvet Cake

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is known for their unique flavors. Whereas some ice creams would have a vanilla flavored ice cream with peanut butter cups, Ben & Jerry's goes beyond that by adding things such as chocolate and peanut butter swirls in their ice cream. Instead of using bits of peanut butter cups, they will use big chunks, or, in some cases, halves of peanut butter cups. It's no wonder then that they have a large following. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream has tapped into that part of the human brain and appetite that keeps craving for more, more, more.

Enter Ben & Jerry's Red Velvet Cake flavor. I will admit in this entry that I have never had red velvet cake or cupcakes before. I've heard of people raving about how good it is, but I've never really had the drive to go out and try it for myself. This ice cream is supposedly cake batter flavored with cream cheese frosting swirls and bits of red velvet cake scattered throughout. I figured I might as well try this flavor and see if I liked it enough to go out and buy some actual red velvet baked goods.

Ben & Jerry's Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream

The ice was good enough; it was smooth, and didn't give too much of a cake batter flavor. Sometimes ice creams will have too much of that raw cake batter flavor that is off-putting to me. I liked the cream cheese swirls, as their slight tartness cut into the sweetness of the ice cream. However, the component that I didn't like so much were the red velvet cake pieces. The pieces all tasted a bit too gummy for my liking. Instead of eating cake, it felt like I was eating clay. I can't compare this to real red velvet cake, but I will say that the ice cream and swirls were good, and the only thing I didn't like were the gummy pieces of red velvet cake.

Ben & Jerry's Red Velvet Cake: 7/10

Yaki sauce potato chips

This purchase was another spur of the moment, “Why the heck not?” kind of buy. Barbecue is a great flavor for potato chips. It’s hard to go wrong with sea salt & vinegar. However, sometimes you want to break away and try something new. Sometimes you want to try something that you might not see again. Who knows how long a new flavor will last? Maybe it’ll last a few weeks, or maybe it’ll be good enough to be permanent. Regardless, you can’t take those kinds of risks and assume that that flavor will still be there tomorrow.

In comes Yaki Sauce potato chips. Do I know if this is even the right name? Of course I don’t. What I do know is that I don’t know what Yaki sauce is. There’s a cow on top, and it looks kind of tired. It’s like the Eeyore of cows. Well, maybe it looks so dejected because there’s a steak in the bottom right corner. From this, I will assume that this is something that you dress your steak in.

A Yaki sauce potato chip

The texture of the potato chip is dryer and a bit thicker than a regular potato chip, but not as thick as a kettle chip. The flavor is sweet, like a barbecue flavored potato chip, but there is no salty flavor at any point. There’s also a slight curry flavor that comes at the end. I liked this chip and found it to be very flavorful. It’s a nice detour from the flavors that are available everyday at your local supermarket.

Yaki sauce potato chips: 8/10

O'Zack Gyoza flavored chips

BBQ, Sour Cream, Cheddar, Salt & Vinegar...these are some of the flavors we normally see when we buy potato chips at the supermarket. However, instead of BBQ, why not have BBQ brisket flavored potato chips? Why not have a fried chicken flavor? Maybe it's because it would be difficult for chip manufacturers to emulate the flavors and aromas. However, in the past I wrote about chips that tasted like beef tongue sprinkled with a bit of lemon (gyutan). If that flavor can be made, why not the above listed?

From the country that brought you potato chips that somewhat did the flavor of grilled beef quite well, we have gyoza flavored chips. Gyoza, potstickers, whatever you want to call them is probably not on the top of the list of potato chip flavors that Americans want. It's probably not on any American's list. However, Japan has decided to be more adventurous with their flavors, and thus has produced gyoza flavored chips.

An O'Zack chip

The aroma of the chip is very reminiscent to that of a pot sticker. You get a hint of pot sticker skin an then you get a slight pork flavor to finish. Overall, it was quite a surprise that they were able to do this. It is not just a novel chip, but it is a good chip as well. It seems as if Doritos is the only chip that dares venture out of the normal chip flavor comfort zone. One day I would like to find steak flavored potato chips or something ridiculous like that in a grocery store.

O'Zack Gyoza flavored chips: 8.5/10