Keebler Cinnamon Roll Cookies - Caramel Pecan

Cookies are snacks I don't often find myself indulging in. Whenever I pass by an aisle that has Pepperidge Farms cookies, I'm slightly tempted to buy them, but I decide against it, and usually choose to buy chips and candy instead. I mean, I love Oreos and Nutter Butters, but I can't remember the last time I bought a box of them. However, I am up for novel ideas, and this next item seemed novel enough to purchase.

Keebler is a brand that I don't think I've purchased since high school. There commercials never appealed to me, and I always gravitated toward Chips Ahoy when I wanted chocolate chip cookies. However, how often is it that you see Cinnamon Roll Cookies that boast having "The Delicious Flavor of Cinnabon Cinnamon"? Cinnabon, like cookies, is another indulgence that I rarely find myself eating. Who doesn't love Cinnabon? If each bun weren't roughly 600+ calories, I'd certainly increase my Cinnabon intake. Notice that the bag suggests that you warm these up for a great taste.


The cookies are of below average to average packaged cookie size

I tried the cookies both straight out of the bag, and I also tried them warmed in the microwave. If you don't have 20 - 30 seconds to heat up the cookie, I can tell you that they're still pretty good. They're soft cookies, which is a plus, and they carry a strong cinnamon bun flavor and taste. When warmed, they are better, but that could be said of most cookies. Overall, I'd say that this was a good purchase, and maybe I'll start purchasing cookies more often.

Keebler Cinnamon Roll Cookies - Caramel Pecan: 8/10

How the ratings work

So, you maybe wondering what the difference between a 5 and an 8 is or why I would bother to rate something a 9 instead of giving a straight 10. Well, I decided to list out what my ratings and their ranges, so you can refer to them.

10: The best.
7 - 9: Would buy again
4 - 6: I'd have to think about it before buying it again
1 - 3: Would not buy again
0: Nope!

So if something is an 8 rather than a 7, that means I would be more inclined to buy it again, and if I scored something a 6 instead of a 4, that means mean I would be more willing to give the 6 another chance as opposed to the 4.

When it comes to the 1 - 3 range, 3 would be bad, but it was not disgusting. 1 would be something REALLY bad and 0 would actually offend me.

Not too long after my last post, I found myself at Safeway. While walking through their mixes and powdered drinks aisle, my friend and I found that they completely rearranged their liquid water enhancers. Prior to this, the Target nearby had a larger selection, but now Safeway did. Something caught my eye near the bottom of the rack, and I saw it as a must-buy.



I have no fond memories of Kool-Aid as I did not drink it as a child. I saw the commercials and wanted to join in the fun that the mascot brought with him, but I never did get to mix a packet of Kool-Aid in a pitcher of water like the children in the commercial. As an adult, I didn't drink Kool-Aid because I didn't like the idea of my calories coming from a liquid. Kool-Aid has put out low calorie powder mixes, but as stated in my previous post there are certain problems with powder mixes. I had a choice of grape, orange, cherry, and tropical punch, and I chose tropical punch because I love blue flavors.



Red in color, blue in taste

Alright, so once again, I get a liquid enhancer that has a deceptive color. Make no mistake, if you were served this flavor you would think that it tastes like blue. For 16 oz. of water, I used two squirts as I usually do, and I really do think that this tastes noticeably sweeter than Mio in two squirts. I liked the flavor and the aroma because it tastes like something named "tropical punch". I look forward to trying out other flavors offered by Kool-Aid.

Kool-Aid Liquid: Tropical Punch: 8.5/10

Crystal Light Liquid: Peach Bellini

Long ago, when cavemen hunted dinosaurs, in order to flavor your water without adding calories, you had to open up a small packet of Crystal Light and mix it with your water. Well, technically, those Crystal Light powdered mixes were 5 calories per serving, as were other low calorie water enhancers, such as sugar-free Kool-Aid and Hawaiian Punch, but they were as low calorie as can be. A problem that I often faced with these mixes was that if I did not mix them thoroughly with the water, there'd be a little pebbles that would form at the bottom of my drink. Also, if you bought the Crystal Light containers that were meant for liters and you didn't use it all right away, the powder would often dry.

Then Mio came along and solved all these problems by being a concentrated liquid flavor enhancer for water. Gone were the days of finding flavored sediment at the bottom of your water and hoping that the leftover mix you didn't use wouldn't dry out. Now, everything came down to squirts and mixing became much easier. Once Mio did this, Safeway and Target started putting out their own water enhancers. After that, Dasani came along and also got in the water enhancing game. During a recent trip to Target, I found this:






Crystal Light, probably the most famous of low calorie powdered drink mixes, has put out their own liquid flavor enhancer. With Mio, I noticed that with their recent products (now with electrolytes I think), they seem to be targeting athletes. With Dasani, they seem to be targeting people who just want to relax and have a zero calorie flavored drink. With Crystal Light, it seems like they want to target people who like fruity cocktails. Well, let's see how well this goes.



I expected a much pinker hue, but it was very red instead

My friends know that I don't drink alcohol. With that stated, I can't tell you if it captures the flavors of a bellini, but it certainly is peachy. When I opened the cap, there was a very strong peach smell, and being a fan of peach flavored items, I was looking forward to this. The initial flavor was okay, but the problem that I had with this was that it had a sour taste that was somewhere between the flavor of wine and vinegar. Although it wasn't bad, and the initial taste was quite good, the aftertaste still bothers me. Because of this, I can't say that I'd choose it over Mio, but if you feel like having a zero calorie mocktail, by all means try this out.

Crystal Light Liquid: Peach Bellini: 6/10

Shrimp Snacks: A bitter start to 2013

The updates haven't been coming in. I wasn't planning to do another post until someone asked me if I was going to do another one, and I have a bunch of pictures and snacks, so I decided why not? The first snack that I'll be talking about in 2013 is one that my friend Josh and I had high hopes for:


Look at that. They have fried little shrimps all over that plate. I love shrimp. I love crispy fried foods. This seemed like it would be a winner. I don't know what the numbers mean though; maybe the bag is telling the reader that 100g serving contains 2900 mg of something. Who knows? All I know is that the picture looks delicious

As you can see, the actual snack itself doesn't look quite as appetizing. Whatever, though, right? Doritos come in triangles and triangles don't look appetizing, so looks don't mean anything when it comes to snacking. The texture was predictable: very crispy. The flavor, however, was a let down. It was slightly flavorless with a bitter aftertaste. There was no salty or savory aftertaste, but only slightly bitter. I would probably prefer snacking on little dried shrimp than snack on these again.
Shrimp snacks: 3/10

Riska Natto Rice Snacks

Usually when someone mentions the word "acquired taste", it means either, "You might not like it at first, but you'll grow to like it", "It's something you have to grow up with to like", or"You'll never like it how much you'll try it". A few foods fall into the last category; the first food that comes to mind is bitter melon. Many foods fall into the first and second category. Licorice certainly falls into the first category for me. Growing up, I never really liked it, but after high school I liked it more, except for that salted licorice my friends Chris and Brittany gave me. I think something like ume or natto fall into the second category. They're foods that belong to a certain culture and don't really exist outside of them. At first, I tried natto just because of the terrible descriptions people gave it. However, after a while, I kind of like it, or at the very least, I have a higher tolerance to it.


First of all, what is natto, you may be asking. Well, it's basically fermented soybean, and when it gets fermented, it's develops sticky webs not unlike a spider web.The flavor of natto for me is hard to describe. I can easily describe the texture, as it's a bit slimy and sticky. It's like if you ate gel or glue. I guess I could describe the flavor as having a subtle sweetness with hints of bitter. When I opened this bag of snacks, it certainly carried a very strong smell. I wondered if a natto flavored snack would taste a lot like natto or a just a little


A natto rice snack

Well the chip starts off with a sweet flavor, but as you chew, there's definitely some bitter to it. It also tastes like there was a bit of horseradish or wasabi flavoring, but this was not indicated on the ingredients list. After eating a few of these, it does give you the mouth feel of eating natto. The slimy texture that's left behind is one that is very unique. I can say that this snack is certainly not for everyone, and if you have an aversion to natto, you might not like it. Like I said, I haven't really gotten around to liking natto yet, but I am becoming much more tolerant of it.

Riska Natto Rice Snacks: 7/10 (much less if you don't like natto)

Tohato Bokun Habanero Kimuchi Chips

For all the number of cereal mascots there are, I wonder why Chester the Cheetah and the Pringles man are the only mascots representing chips. Of course, I've heard of the Frito Bandito before, but we all know what happened to him (he gave his life in the Battle of Dorito). Anyway, I would think that companies that sell chips would want a mascot to appeal to kids. I guess parents and concerned adults would be against the idea, as it would make chips and unhealthy snacks more appealing to kids, but if Trix Rabbit, Cap'n Crunch, and all the other sugary cereal icons can still exist, why not have more fun characters?


Bokun Habanero, from what I've read, translates into Tyrant Habanero. Imagine having a mascot like that. Imagine Dictator Dorito forcing his people to work on Cool Ranches. Anyway, if you notice at the lower left corner, there is a bowl of kimuchi, which is the Japanese variation of kimchi. At the lower right, there is what seems to be a pepper meter, and this one indicates that this bag of chips is three peppers hot. And dead center, we see a pepper jack-o-lantern.


If someone could translate the picture for me, that would be awesome. I see two peppers side-by-side, with one of them having bright pink lipstick, so I'll assume they're a pepper couple or something of that nature. I have no idea what is going on in the other two pictures at all, so I'm not even going to assume what's going on.


A kimuchi chip

Well, first of all, this was not three peppers hot. This was not even one pepper hot, as I did not detect any spice at all. Maybe this was for kids and the pepper meter thing was just for decoration or fun. The texture is reminiscent of Pop Chips or some other baked potato chip variety. The flavor is slightly sweet, with a definite kimuchi scent. How would I grade this? Well, there are plenty of other American chip varieties I would rather purchase, but none of them, outside of Pringles and Cheetos, offers a pepper tyrant. I don't think I would get these again, unless there was a variety that actually followed the pepper meter.

Tohato Bokun Habanero Kimuchi Chips: 7/10