Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Tag: food

• Jingle Kisses All the Way

  Posted at 4:50 pm by kayewer, on December 7, 2024

  Christmas is the only holiday with its own set of nostalgic rules which every American must follow. For example, department stores will receive boos if they put up one string of tinsel before November, the Macy’s parade must be held on Thanksgiving Day despite rain or alien invasion, and it isn’t the holiday season until certain legacy commercials appear on television.

  During Thanksgiving weekend, I saw a perennial favorite appear; the Hershey’s Kisses ad featuring a choir of the red and green confections as finely tuned bells playing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” The third red Kiss in the second row of the ten Kisses (with a silver Kiss choral director) wears itself out with the final extended note, swiping its tag like a hand across its pointy “brow” with a “whew” at the end. It’s cute, and a classic.

  In 2020, somebody in the marketing department at Hershey decided to bring out a second version of the commercial. As the Kisses begin the tune, a child’s hand appears and snatches a Kiss away. And not just any Kiss, either. The darling snatches up the third red Kiss just seconds into the performance! And we then see the owner of the hand–a little girl and who we assume is her father–putting Kisses into the tops of thumb print cookies.

  Like Lil’ Abner’s friends the Schmoos, whose goal in life is to be eaten, we understand that Kisses are eaten as is or baked into other treats, but the bells are also replaced in the new version by a light jazzy version of the song. Some find the overall effect jarring.

  Within hours, somebody posted the original ad on social media, and the protests exploded. It seems a lot of people do not like Hershey toying with the good old ad. There have even been video parodies online of the terrified Kisses as they are picked off by the kid one by one as they scream in terror, and armchair commentary from somebody hoping they get to see the original ad on TV but must endure the new one, to their vocal discontent.

  Not many things divide the online community to such extremes as when somebody is messing with something familiar. Movie remakes undergo the same criticism, along with renaming sports teams and trying to introduce new soda concoctions.

  We are used to commercials which tout all sorts of crazy gadgets with the tag, “makes a great Christmas gift,” or “order now for holiday delivery.” Watching those Kiss bells toll out a simple tune is an ASMR tradition which, as per popular vote, can’t be toyed with (to coin a phrase), and it doesn’t say to buy the bright packages at all. But we do, in massive amounts.

  I haven’t seen the newer version on television this year, but I also am reminded of other long-gone ads such as the Norelco shaver which featured a Santa gliding through snowy hills atop an electric razor, and the company dropped the R to make the name NOELCO instead. They didn’t change a thing. That’s smart. We won’t see those ads anymore, because No(r)elco was bought out by the Phillips company (the folks who sell electric toothbrushes). Unless the marketing department wants to put their new logo at the end of the old commercial, which has been done successfully in the past by others, that ad is lost to history or old video clips.

  However, the electric razors of today are not ergonomic mouse-like devices anymore, so children today would not know what they were looking at. They might ask, “Daddy, why is Santa riding a mouse with circley things on them?”

  A third classic commercial does change every year, and nobody minds: the Hess toy truck ad is filmed sometime in summer, and features kids in winter gear hoisting a new version of an old classic toy to the tune of “My Boyfriend’s Back.” This is the 60th anniversary of the toy. Hess gas stations were bought out and renamed Marathon, but the trucks (or variant transports) are still sold. Batteries included.

  Whew!

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged christmas, fantasy, food, hershey-kiss, hess, kiss, music, norelco

• Icy and Hot

  Posted at 7:05 pm by kayewer, on October 5, 2024

  It’s officially autumn, which means the weather may take the form of any of the other three seasons at will from one day to the next. Where I am, this weekend has seen temperatures nearing 80, but days ago the highs were only in the 60 degree range. We have already had nights in the low 50s, so people began retrieving their blankets from the dry cleaners’ storage service, only to put them away because it’s too early, and break them out too late when the temps drop once again.

  The clothing stores already have fall and winter gear in stock, and I bought a couple of flannel shirts anticipating a cooler winter. How do I figure this out? I check the Old Farmer’s Almanac. They’ve been predicting weather for ages, and their record of success is much better than that of, say, Punxatawney Phil (the famous PA groundhog from the titular day in February) or the local wooly bear caterpillar (not to mention the poor meteorologists whose best guess is based on the fickle directional paths of storm activity days away from where they’re reporting).

  Colder than normal temperatures for old houses without insulation mean the folks need to layer or pay a hefty heating bill to stay comfortable. Same goes for people who bought newer houses with high ceilings and no fans to push heat back down to where they actually live. Heck, some people still don’t know you can often reverse the ceiling fan blades to do just that.

  A friend of mine has a condo with a fireplace, so nightly log burning is the way to go. The heat doesn’t spread well, however, so other rooms may still be a bit cool.

  This is where those blankets come in. The dry cleaner offers storage services for people who like to simply move their belongings to a strange location for a few months out of the year. At least they don’t need to undergo the embarassment of actually admitting to owning off-season anything.

  Don’t be fooled. They don’t buy everything new. I know this, because the local dry cleaners has a rack in the front of the store where they keep those quilts and blankets for those paying for the privilege of keeping those things out of their homes for 90-some days every summer. I often look at those items and think to myself that I have better taste in bedding than these folks. Magenta plaid. Really? Folks, beware. Your bedding may be on display at the dry cleaners where your neighbors can see them.

  Then there are space heaters, or hybrid cool/hot devices that do both. These make great companions for cold all-season rooms or sun porches which still tend to be on the chilly side. This is when people go out to the local hardware store to pick up one or two little versions to heat up smaller spaces, along with some logs, kerosene and lighters.

  Me, I keep it simple. Layer up, set my thermostat to something not indulgent but bearable, and break out the portable foot warmers while I wait for that last hot day of the year, which may come in December for all we know.

  Gives the meteorologists something to wait for.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged art, food, home, travel

• The Poison Field

  Posted at 7:04 pm by kayewer, on February 17, 2024

  This past week, news was released about a chemical which is present in nearly all of us (four in five Americans) and is commonly used in grain fields. The ingredient is called chlormequat. The grain in question, oat plants, apparently tend to grow tall enough that they bend, and the harvesting equipment is not made to deal with this, so the chemical is applied to stunt the growth of the stem in height and makes it thicker instead, so it doesn’t bend and eases the harvesting process.

  Since when do we alter the food instead of the tools we use on them?

  Anyway, chlormequat has been found to cause altered growth in animal embryos and affects post-natal health as well. It’s known as the first plant growth retardant, having been discovered in the late 1950s. It is forbidden to be used on crops in the US, but it is permitted to appear in imported grains from other countries which do use it.

  That way of thinking reminds me of the Cabbage Patch Kids craze in the 1980s; some Americans who had trouble finding one of the squeezable tyke figures simply went abroad to buy them, and that is exactly what our cereal suppliers have done. Some of the foods we have trusted for generations contain the building blocks of a chemical that can affect human fertility.

  Two of the big cereals concerned are General Mills’ Cheerios and Quaker Oats (Quaker is owned by Pepsi). The issue affects both regular and organic versions of the nation’s most popular oatmeal. Oh, and Cheerios has appeared in past articles about using a type of coating for their little round oats which is considered shellac. A weed killer chemical was also found in them years ago.

  Many of us embrace a healthy lifestyle and try to incorporate foods which are good for us. I have taken to eating steel cut oatmeal because it is considered the best choice. Steel cutting preserves the nutritional value of the product. After reading about this new chemical scare, I took a look online to find an alternative steel cut oat product certified to be chemical-free, and found none.

  Before that, I ate Cheerios. Never look back, they tell us.

  So it looks like our food suppliers are going to feed us whatever chemicals they want, and other than extreme limitations of what we eat (which seems useless), our choices are only as broad as what we will tolerate. I would think it would be better to figure out how to better harvest the plants the way they actually grow in nature, which means changing the harvesting tools.

  Don’t poison the mouse; build a better mousetrap.

  But who am I? Just one of the “hungry masses” cereal companies make money and profit from. I’m glad my fertile days are over, but I cringe now when I see a cereal ad and think of the future of people who think that grains are a harmless basic of existence. The field has been tainted, and the “amber waves of grain” may soon glow under black lights.

  No wonder so many people have given up on breakfast.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged breakfast, cereal, cheerios, chlormequat, food, health, oats, quaker-oats

• Tossing My Cookies

  Posted at 7:00 pm by kayewer, on January 13, 2024

  A popular phrase attributed to several renowned chefs says that their best crafted culinary dishes are flushed down the toilet as poo tomorrow. This is a humble effort to bring the realities of food and cooking down to their basics; the right ingredients, skills and a bit of luck can bring delightful joys to your table. Food is still a basic of life functionality.

  Why, then, is there a $160 box of a dozen cookies out there?

  A place called Last Crumb is offering what they call their Platinum Collection; a dozen large cookies baked with quality ingredients and shipped individually wrapped in a huge box to your door.

  What would you do if you were porch pirated of that extravagance? Break out the Dom Perignon and get yourself wasted, I would guess.

  There is a full description of the cookies you receive; each one unique. There’s a cookie called “What’s Up, Doc?” which is carrot cake, the “Florida Man” (key lime pie), the “Sack Lunch” (PB&J), and of course, Chocolate Chip XXX (a typical cookie touted as a 2.0 upgrade).

  Milk is not included.

  The last social media post said there were 48 boxes left of this limited edition special collection. Box #49 or so went to the home of one of my workplace managers, who gave a thumbs-up to the huge baked cardiac event inducers. They didn’t mention which they tried first, but my guess is the first choice favorite, which was then thoroughly devoured, leaving them with eleven others to sort through.

  And I consider one Crumbl cookie a month a treat if I can decide on one flavor. I still consider Girl Scout cookies a wonderful purchase. I must have poor taste.

  Sure, there’s nothing wrong with a little indulgence now and again, but is the world really a better place for a $13.33 cookie? Marie Antoinette wouldn’t bat an eye, but somebody who doesn’t have a slice of bread for a PB&J, let alone the PB or J, would shake their heads.

  But I shouldn’t be on this rant anyway. Just the other day, word got out that people were standing in line at Target stores in the early morning hours to buy the Stanley Cup. I immediately thought of the hockey trophy and was confused; turns out the OG thermal products company Stanley (a corporation since 1913) had produced a pink tumbler which was in high demand; as in fistfights at the display counter and run over grandma to get there high demand.

  I haven’t been in a Target store since they don’t seem to care so much about their employees as they tolerate misbehavior from customers; two recent incidents include an employee fired for asking kids to remove their bikes–which they were openly riding indoors–for which he was beaten and suffered injuries they didn’t need to pay for since they fired him, and a suit alleging that young people were riding store-provided mobility carts at high speed and injuring shopping pedestrians.

  It seems we will do anything for a thrill. Buy a $13.33 cookie, or stand in line for a thermal mug.

  So it’s back to consumerism in all its ugliness, after about four years of a stagnant world forced into a peaceful lull.
  
  Pass me a Girl Scout Thin Mint, please.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged 160-cookie, baking, cookies, dessert, food, last-crumb, stanley-thermal-cup

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  	Eden on The Poison Field
  	Eden on Final Tally