Guarana Soda

I was at The Barn, a sort of job-lot grocery store in Greenfield, MA, when I found this: Guarana soda. It was at a truly bargain price: $1.00 per 12-pack (that's not a typo. It really was twelve cans for one dollar.) Imported from Brazil, the soda is flavored with guarana berries and sweetened with cane sugar. Lynnafred put a couple of 12-packs into our shopping cart. "First of all," she said, "Guarana is delicious. And second of all, they're loaded with caffeine. This soda is guaranteed to be excellent."

It is excellent, actually. I'm not sure how much caffeine is in the soda (the label doesn't say) but the flavor is very good. Sort of fruity with a hint of citrusy sharpness. Lynnafred says it tastes a lot like Monster energy drink, which makes sense because guarana is a big ingredient in Monster.

For me, though, the flavor is startlingly similar to one of my favorite defunct soft drinks, OK Soda, a one-time product of the Coca-Cola Company which was briefly test-marketed in 1993.

Guarana is good stuff, refreshing and a little fruity. We liked it well enough to run back up to The Barn again at the end of the week to buy five more 12-packs. Chances are, it's going to be hard for us to find in the future.

This "Markdown" Is No Deal

Seen on the Markdown/Clearance shelves at the local Big Y Supermarket, these Toy Story 3-themed Kleenex Pocket Pack tissues.

Big Y, the most expensive supermarket in town, uses their "markdown" shelves as a last resort to sell products that are last of a one-off, damaged, or slow-selling.  A day ago, the markdown area was crammed with piles of these Pocket Packs.  At $1.19 each,  I predict they're going to be there for a while. (8-count bundles of Kleenex Pocket Packs usually run around three dollars, even at non-discount places like Staples.)

Last Call For Coconut M&Ms

If you missed out on Coconut M&Ms during their very limited release last summer, your second (and perhaps last) chance has arrived. Right now, as I type this, the candy aisles of Dollar Tree stores have what are probably the very last Coconut M&Ms available. Get there quick!

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Vintage Sunday: Burns & Allen & SPAM

SPAM. First marketed by Hormel in 1937, it rose to fame thanks to relentless advertising from the very beginning - and being a non-rationed food during World War II certainly didn't hurt. George Burns and Gracie Allen were featured in a lot of 1940's and 1950's SPAM ads.

"SPAM 'n' eggs go great together!"

"So do SPAM 'n' waffles 'n' me!"

Whoa. Say goodnight, Gracie.

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The Secrets of Chef Boyardee

The food aisle of the local Big Lots had a big display of Chef Boyardee cans. They were labeled "Spoon-Sized Pasta Shapes," but the labels were unusual - the usual photo showing the product (the "serving suggestion") was missing. Lynnafred picked up a can to take a closer look, and noticed a bil;ingual "Nutrition Facts" label (English/French) faintly showing through the red background next to Chef's picture. We decided to buy a can to see what was underneath.

At home, she carefully worked her way under the top label with a knife and then started peeling away the glued seam, revealing Chef Boyardee NHL Pasta. The pasta was shaped like little National Hockey League logos, and all the text was in English and French, for sale in Canada. The label was cluttered with graphics and information about a special contest; the lucky winner would receive tickets to the 2009 NHL All Star game!

The contest ended in December 2008. ConAgra must have found itself with thousands of unsold cans of Chef with obviously outdated labels and decided to cut their losses by sticking on a new label and sending the cans out to the remainder market.

So - the contest ran from September 29th to December 24th in 2008, and the NHL All-Star Game was on January 25, 2009. That pasta must have been pretty old, eh? Was ConAgra tarnishing the good name of Chef Boyardee by slapping on new labels and putting the stuff out at Big Lots?

Nope. Contest dates notwithstanding, the bottom of the can includes a quality assurance code and a "Best by" date of July 13, 2010. We're good until next summer if necessary.

Paula Deen Peanuts

Did you know that Barnes & Noble sold snacks?? I didn't - not until the other day, when I was poking for bargains on the "red sticker" markdown table (75% off! Aces!) and found this can of Paula Deen Handcooked Virginia Peanuts.

Inside, I found delicious - and quite large - peanuts seasoned with a blend of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. They were quite good, though not good enough that I would ever even think of buying them at the full price ($6.95 for 12 ounces? You've gotta be kidding me. Sorry, Paula, I'm not paying double the usual retail price for peanuts just because they've got your fancy vanity label on them.)

The markdown price was a bargain, though, at $1.75 - a deal made all the sweeter because of the big red sticker covering Paula Deen's face.

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Markdown Nonsense, part 3

More good times in the Stop & Shop produce department - today's prize: A tomato, a peach, a head of garlic, and an avocado - it's an Instant Salsa Kit (just add an onion and chop fine.)

Markdown Nonsense, Part 2

Stop & Shop's produce markdown clerks are at it again with their ridiculous "box lot" markdowns. Check out this amazing Dollar Deal: Two lunchbox-size boxes of Sun-Maid raisins, and few soft 'n' wilty celery sticks, and a handful of partially dehydrated "baby carrots." Now that's a Snak-Pak for you!

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Sunset Brand Long Sweet Peppers

Whenever I'm at the supermarket, I check the markdown bins to see what kind of interesting things I can scoop up on the cheap. Yesterday, I was there buying rolls so we could make sausage subs, and these slightly wrinkled but still quite useable long red sweet peppers were deeply discounted - the regular price was $2.49 a package, but I got them for 40 cents each. Score!

First thing I noticed was the label - Sunset brand, produced in the massive greenhouses of Mastronardi Produce Ltd. of Ontario. The same company that makes the best out-of-season tomatoes I've ever eaten. I'm happy to say that, even though these peppers were a little past their prime, they were completely awesome.

At first glance, these "Ancient Sweets" as Mastronardi calls them don't seem to be your average cubanelle peppers that have been allowed to ripen to red. Cubanelles are a thin-walled pepper and seem a little broader than these. The Ancient Sweets have a succulent thick wall, and were easy to peel after pan roasting. They were also absolutely delicious! Rich ripe pepper flavor, full-bodied and not overly sweet.

After roasting and skinning them I removed the small seed pod from the stem end and cut the peppers into long strips to put in the subs, and they were perfect, with a much better flavor than the common red bell pepper I would have used if these weren't available.

Right now, I'm drying two of the seed pods from the peppers. It's too late in the season to start pepper plants, but next year I plan to start a flat of them and see how many I can get to germinate. I'd like to nurse at least six of them to transplantable size and set them in the garden.