Junk food II
More of my tasting adventures! The previous post about North American junk food is here.
Sno Balls
I've known that Sno Balls exist for a long time now. I thought they were round and white. Wrong! At least the two specimens TFV sent me were pink sort of half-globes. They were fascinating. So many layers! The colour! Nothing like that is sold where I live.
I shared both of them with friends, so I cut the first Sno Ball before we ate it. I was surprised that it was so soft and so bouncy. My friend commented that it was like it was alive. We were surprised again when we ate some -- so springy! Like eating a sponge.
I liked Sno Balls most of all, I think. The dark cake-part inside resembles a Finnish dry cake with light and dark layers, and the familiarity was nice. I like marshmallow, as well, and the whole thing was just sweet enough. The two friends I shared the other Sno Ball with liked it, too, and they also thought it was like eating a sponge.
Peanut Butter Cups
TFV asked me if I've had any peanut butter cups -- or peanut butter at all -- and I admitted that I'd never tasted any. I've never seen any on the stores here, either. I had to ask my friends if it's sold here because I suspected that it would be, just not anywhere I'd have noticed. Several of them confirmed that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are sold here (on a special import shelf in selected stores) and they are so good.
Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Cups
Now I got to see for myself what they taste like! And the answer is... they taste like peanut. I should have seen this coming, but somehow I didn't. I've read so much about peanut butter, ever since I was less than ten years old and read Peanuts (it's translated as "Kids" here) and the children ate bread with peanut butter and/or jam in it. I thought it must be really good since everyone was eating it in the comics and not just plain butter like I did. Twenty years later I find out the taste of peanut is quite strong in peanut butter -- and it disappointed me a bit because I don't really like peanuts. But then, I don't eat butter anymore, either, so I guess I can live without eating peanut butter.
I shared these with friends, too. One of them made a remark on "Trader Joe's" and mused on how we know all these North American brands without even really knowing what they mean; she hadn't been sure whether it was a company or a store or something else. I'm exactly like her. I'm familiar with the name "Trader Joe's" but I'm not sure what it is, except that it's got something to do with (edible) goods. (Another friend who was present said that she'd never heard of it. I think this depends on what a Finnish person reads: I've learned it from blogs, my other friend from books.)
We all agreed that the salty flavour of peanut butter paired with chocolate felt like an unusual combination. Snickers bars are sold in Finland but we couldn't come up with any other chocolate and salty things combinations (it's possible we're just not familiar with them, of course). We all liked the peanut butter cups, though. Me included, although I could do with a little less peanut in them.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
I tasted these after I'd tried the Trader Joe's variety and I thought the difference was huge. These taste much more like chocolate and butter -- richer somehow. Also there was less peanut flavour, which I approved of. I can see why so many of my friends love these!
When I was talking with my friends about the peanut butter cups, one of them said something about the peanut being a pea nut -- and I'm glad she did because I'd NEVER thought of it. It's called 'earth nut' in Finnish (I'm not sure how to translate it: earth, dirt, ground; anyway the thing where plants grow) and I'd never conceptualised the pea part of peanut. It was a strange revelation also because I love peas, but my friends pointed out that peanuts taste like overgrown peas (and I'm not a fan of the wooden flavour of those). I was given peanuts that were still in the pod and tasted them now that I could compare them to peas. They tasted less like peanuts, for some reason, maybe because they'd still been in the pod. I couldn't quite make the connection to peas, either. Still, it's really cool and I'm glad I learned that!
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
Because TFV is awesome I got to taste mac and cheese! Also because the food industry has figured out how to make cheese powder. I'm not quite sure what to think about that...
A friend told me that she's always thought that "mac and cheese" means a McDonald's hamburger, so now that misunderstanding has been put to rights, too! I made the Kraft mac and cheese dinner for her and her husband and it was astonishingly easy. As it's supposed to be, of course. I hadn't realised there's nothing but macaroni and cheese in it because I'm so used to eating macaroni with meat. Also I'd thought the cheese would be more substantial. I guess if you make this by yourself instead of using the instant product (or almost-instant, anyway) it looks different.
We all liked this, also my parents with whom I ate the second pack. It seemed like a great emergency instant meal, if not something to eat regularly -- it was pointed out that it's probably pretty much nothing but carbohydrates. (And fat, of course.) This (or something like it) may also be sold in Finland without my having noticed because it would be weird if it wasn't sold here. Students would probably love it. So easy! And I've already written about the appeal of fake cheese.
Chocolate chip cookies
These TFV didn't send -- she insisted that I make them myself, the way they're supposed to be made. I found a recipe and a translation online so I bought the ingredients and made these on Sunday. I put hazel nut chocolate in them and they're really good. The dough is amazing. Just the right combination of sugar and butter and other delicious things! I understand even better now why there's cookie dough flavoured Ben & Jerry's ice cream (I've tasted it, so I understood pretty well even before).
I mostly resisted eating the dough raw and baked it into cookies. They weren't all ideal; some of them were too small and very crunchy when I think the middle should be softer. At first I thought I kept most of them too long in the oven but today I made a fresh batch and realised that I'd misremembered the temperature, so the oven was actually a bit too warm. Still, they tasted really good and smelled heavenly. I shared some with friends and they liked them, too. When I tasted them the next day they were somehow even better -- more like the dough, with clear salty butter flavour -- so maybe I had them when they were still too hot on Sunday.
Next: sweets!
Sno Balls
I've known that Sno Balls exist for a long time now. I thought they were round and white. Wrong! At least the two specimens TFV sent me were pink sort of half-globes. They were fascinating. So many layers! The colour! Nothing like that is sold where I live.
I shared both of them with friends, so I cut the first Sno Ball before we ate it. I was surprised that it was so soft and so bouncy. My friend commented that it was like it was alive. We were surprised again when we ate some -- so springy! Like eating a sponge.
I liked Sno Balls most of all, I think. The dark cake-part inside resembles a Finnish dry cake with light and dark layers, and the familiarity was nice. I like marshmallow, as well, and the whole thing was just sweet enough. The two friends I shared the other Sno Ball with liked it, too, and they also thought it was like eating a sponge.
Peanut Butter Cups
TFV asked me if I've had any peanut butter cups -- or peanut butter at all -- and I admitted that I'd never tasted any. I've never seen any on the stores here, either. I had to ask my friends if it's sold here because I suspected that it would be, just not anywhere I'd have noticed. Several of them confirmed that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are sold here (on a special import shelf in selected stores) and they are so good.
Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Cups
Now I got to see for myself what they taste like! And the answer is... they taste like peanut. I should have seen this coming, but somehow I didn't. I've read so much about peanut butter, ever since I was less than ten years old and read Peanuts (it's translated as "Kids" here) and the children ate bread with peanut butter and/or jam in it. I thought it must be really good since everyone was eating it in the comics and not just plain butter like I did. Twenty years later I find out the taste of peanut is quite strong in peanut butter -- and it disappointed me a bit because I don't really like peanuts. But then, I don't eat butter anymore, either, so I guess I can live without eating peanut butter.
I shared these with friends, too. One of them made a remark on "Trader Joe's" and mused on how we know all these North American brands without even really knowing what they mean; she hadn't been sure whether it was a company or a store or something else. I'm exactly like her. I'm familiar with the name "Trader Joe's" but I'm not sure what it is, except that it's got something to do with (edible) goods. (Another friend who was present said that she'd never heard of it. I think this depends on what a Finnish person reads: I've learned it from blogs, my other friend from books.)
We all agreed that the salty flavour of peanut butter paired with chocolate felt like an unusual combination. Snickers bars are sold in Finland but we couldn't come up with any other chocolate and salty things combinations (it's possible we're just not familiar with them, of course). We all liked the peanut butter cups, though. Me included, although I could do with a little less peanut in them.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
I tasted these after I'd tried the Trader Joe's variety and I thought the difference was huge. These taste much more like chocolate and butter -- richer somehow. Also there was less peanut flavour, which I approved of. I can see why so many of my friends love these!
When I was talking with my friends about the peanut butter cups, one of them said something about the peanut being a pea nut -- and I'm glad she did because I'd NEVER thought of it. It's called 'earth nut' in Finnish (I'm not sure how to translate it: earth, dirt, ground; anyway the thing where plants grow) and I'd never conceptualised the pea part of peanut. It was a strange revelation also because I love peas, but my friends pointed out that peanuts taste like overgrown peas (and I'm not a fan of the wooden flavour of those). I was given peanuts that were still in the pod and tasted them now that I could compare them to peas. They tasted less like peanuts, for some reason, maybe because they'd still been in the pod. I couldn't quite make the connection to peas, either. Still, it's really cool and I'm glad I learned that!
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
Because TFV is awesome I got to taste mac and cheese! Also because the food industry has figured out how to make cheese powder. I'm not quite sure what to think about that...
A friend told me that she's always thought that "mac and cheese" means a McDonald's hamburger, so now that misunderstanding has been put to rights, too! I made the Kraft mac and cheese dinner for her and her husband and it was astonishingly easy. As it's supposed to be, of course. I hadn't realised there's nothing but macaroni and cheese in it because I'm so used to eating macaroni with meat. Also I'd thought the cheese would be more substantial. I guess if you make this by yourself instead of using the instant product (or almost-instant, anyway) it looks different.
We all liked this, also my parents with whom I ate the second pack. It seemed like a great emergency instant meal, if not something to eat regularly -- it was pointed out that it's probably pretty much nothing but carbohydrates. (And fat, of course.) This (or something like it) may also be sold in Finland without my having noticed because it would be weird if it wasn't sold here. Students would probably love it. So easy! And I've already written about the appeal of fake cheese.
Chocolate chip cookies
These TFV didn't send -- she insisted that I make them myself, the way they're supposed to be made. I found a recipe and a translation online so I bought the ingredients and made these on Sunday. I put hazel nut chocolate in them and they're really good. The dough is amazing. Just the right combination of sugar and butter and other delicious things! I understand even better now why there's cookie dough flavoured Ben & Jerry's ice cream (I've tasted it, so I understood pretty well even before).
I mostly resisted eating the dough raw and baked it into cookies. They weren't all ideal; some of them were too small and very crunchy when I think the middle should be softer. At first I thought I kept most of them too long in the oven but today I made a fresh batch and realised that I'd misremembered the temperature, so the oven was actually a bit too warm. Still, they tasted really good and smelled heavenly. I shared some with friends and they liked them, too. When I tasted them the next day they were somehow even better -- more like the dough, with clear salty butter flavour -- so maybe I had them when they were still too hot on Sunday.
Next: sweets!