NACHO CHEESE BUGLES

I HAVE BEEN SEEKING THESE EVER SINCE THE ONE ILL-FATED DAY WHICH I CHOSE TROLLI BRIGHT CRAWLERS OVER THESE IN A NYS THRUWAY REST STOP.

A-PLUS SUNOCO CONVENIENCE STORE ON A ROAD THAT IS WESTBOUND FROM KING OF PRUSSIA, PA, I THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENJOY THESE CHIP VARIETALS AGAIN.

I WOULD RATE THESE A 5/5. MUCH BETTER THAN CLASSIC BUGLES IMHO, WITH A LIGHT DUSTING OF CHEESE POWDER (CHEDDAR, BLUE CHEESE, MSG, TOMATO) THAT I THOUGHT HAD A NICE TOUCH. FLAVOR WAS STRONG ENOUGH, AND WELL PAIRED WITH THE STRONG CORNYNESS OF THE BUGLE, BUT WAS NOT HEAVY LIKE A DORITO GETS AFTER YOU'VE EATEN HALF A BAG. COULD HAVE DEFINITELY EATEN A SNACK BAG BY MYSELF BUT HAD TO SHARE W CAMDEN.

ALSO I WOULD LIKE TO INFORM EVERYONE THAT MODERN DAY BUGLES DO NOT FIT ON ADULT FINGERS WITH EASE. I HAD TO PICK THROUGH THE BAG TO FIND WIDELY SPACED ONES.

PLEASE ENJOY THESE IF YOU FIND THEM ANYWHERE. YOU WILL ENJOY THE CRUNCH, THE SHAPE, THE FLAVOR, AND HOW NONE OF THEM BREAK IN THE BAG EVEN WHEN YOU DROP IT ON THE CAR FLOOR AND EAT THE SPILLED ONES OFF THE DIRTY MAT BECAUSE THEY ARE THAT GOOD. YEP.

new bag technology

hi there, i wanted to write a post about a new snack food bag technology that really appeals to me -- the "grip n pour" bag.

it is narrower than a typical snack sized bag.

i came across this bag in a tigermart at a NYS Thruway rest stop, and it was from the rocky mountain popcorn company. good thing! because i have really been craving and thus eating a lot of white cheddar popcorn lately. so i quickly picked up a bag of this white cheddar popcorn, even though it was nearly half the weight of the smartfood and the same price.

well, the popcorn was delicious, and sometimes we need to trust the small time flavor scientists and snack experts to get it right. nice light cheddar flavor. i am very curious to try the "southwest" cheddar flavor of these. hopefully i will find them in my travels someday.

but back on the main subject, from a young age, i have always been an advocate of what my sister calls "drinking" the chips bag when it gets to the end, which is what the "grip n pour" bag logo looks like it is advocating. so obviously i was really into that.

where the idea fell short is that it was not convenient for driving. my partner was driving our car, and his man hands were getting stuck in the narrower bag, so i had to pull the bag off his non-steering-wheel-hand. then, he tried to grab n pour and his visibility was nonexistent. i would not suggest that to readers.

anyway, if you are really committed (i don't recommend this because once i did it with berries n cherries welch's fruit snacks and it really was the worst), you can buy a dozen of these 1.5 oz bags on the website -- OPEN ROAD SNACKS . COM

wish they had a variety pack!

3.5/5 - solid flavor, love the concept, unsure of execution, would definitely give it a second try

smartfood selects

wow, can't believe it's taken me so long to blog about these guys -- smartfood's selects in parmesan herb.

THEY ARE DELICIOUS!

fresh, lightly cheesy, lightly herby, what a summer snack.

5/5

i have not seen them anywhere, my friend joanna who lives in NJ brought them over to my porch once. wish i could find em again...

herr's cheese curls - 2/5 and 3/5

i was VERY excited to enjoy these herr's cheese curls. as you know from my last post, i am wary of puffed cheese curls, but these came in two excellent flavors so i was very excited to try them.

bacon cheddar

deep dish pizza 

you can see that both curls looked very similar, uniformly orange with "oregano" sprinkles. unfortunately, both flavors of cheese curls disappointed. they were very aftertaste heavy and we didn't want to finish eating the 3.5oz bags of these.

texture of curl: dissolved too fast, could use +1 unit of crunch
flavor - bacon: sometimes tastes really bacony, sometimes tasted not bacony at all. i am thinking they smelled more like bacon than they tasted like bacon. the first bite was very bacony, but all others were just very strongly salty fake cheddar flavor. needed to accompany these curls with >250 mLs of water.
flavor - deep dish pizza: this was a welcome relief after the weird bacon flavor, bursting with a punch of marinara, but then like the bacon, only the first bite was flavorful. this flavor could be very good on a ruffled potato chip, but it is just not cutting it on a cheese curl. ultimately, i am a big pizza fan but i was pretty disappointed.

special notes: i was pleased to learn that the bacon cheddar curls were vegetarian.

ultimate verdict - bacon: weak 2 out of 5
ultimate verdict - deep dish pizza: weak 3 out of 5.

tacos locos doritos & the search for do us a flavor lays

last week i was on the hunt for the new flavors of lays -- i polled everyone on philadelphia yelp to see where i can get my hands on those chips. the flavors are chicken and waffles, sriracha, and cheesy garlic bread. i walked twenty blocks in a downpour to check out a superfresh and a walgreens that reportedly had the chips. they did not.
eventually i was complaining to my sister about it, and she bought me some in upstate NY at hannaford's, but i am still on the hunt in philadelphia. alison says the sriracha ones are good, my mom says the cheesy garlic bread chips were a good flavor but kind of weird/alarming on a chip. she is not as adventurous in her chip consumption, so take that with a grain of salt if you are a chip connoisseur.

when i went to wawa to look for these chips, i came across a pleasant surprise, the super meta branded doritos tacos locos CHIPS. obviously i have enjoyed the doritos tacos locos TACOS at taco bell -- i am a big taco bell lover and a big doritos lover, so i have enjoyed the doritos taco shells on a number of occasions. i find them a bit powdery and not that flavorful, but i am looking fwd to trying the cooler ranch ones.

anyway, because of all that i didn't have super high expectations for these chips, though they were in a two-flavors-one-bag, which is a marketing trick i enjoy.

the chips ended up being excellent! i enjoyed them with a wawa chai tea for lunch in the sunny plaza at school. i think the combo of nacho cheese (typically too cheesy/not spicy enough for me, my default is spicy nacho doritos) and taco chips was an excellent balance, and these chips really impressed me.

4.5-5/5

ruffles cheddar & sour cream

wow! sorry for the long delay in posting. i just recently got a phone that takes pictures, so i wanted to wait and be able to share images of the chips themselves & their packaging with my readers.
i am currently eating these delicious ruffles chips in cheddar & sour cream flavor. they were recommended to me by a customer in line at the 10th/walnut wawa, and he was right on target.

these chips are delicious. not the best value, it is $1.09 for a smallish 1 7/8 oz bag at walgreens, and utz makes a much bigger bag of cheddar & sour cream chips for 99 cents, but i really think the ruffling makes a difference.

chips themselves are classic ruffles w orange dusting. ruffles are one of my favorite wavy chips varietals, i definitely like the smaller tighter ridge on them and it is working with these. flavor is smooth but interesting enough, i could really do some damage on a big bag of these.

perfect for a mid morning chip snack. 5/5