Trident Layers Gum

I’ve done a lot of food reviews on here, but since I’m a sucker for most new products and try them all out, I thought why not expand my reviews to other things, like gum?

The Trident Layers commercials (as cheesy as they are) sucked me in…people being paid in gum!  It’s that good?  And it looked so pretty, with three little layers of what looked like tasty flavors.

There are two varieties of Layers gum: Wild Strawberry+Tangy Citrus and Green Apple+Golden Pineapple.  I bought both and gave them a try.  Not exactly what I was expecting.

The green apple flavor is what I imagine the poison apple on Snow White would taste like.  The pineapple seems to get lost in the gross poison apple taste so it’s irrelevant.  The Wild Strawberry tasted a little bit better, but it still had too strong of a flavor.  Even after I spit it out I could taste it for hours.  Now if I’m chewing mint gum to freshen my breath, that’s fine.  But when you smell like a half rotten fruit smoothie all day, not quite as appealing.

Basically, if someone offers to pay you in Trident Layers, don’t fall for it.

(Click Read More if you haven’t seen the commercial.)
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Taco Bell Truck!

I must have been really good lately, because I’ve been rewarded with lots of new Taco Bell stuff.  The iPhone app, lots of new menu items (try the Why Pay More nachos, they’re delicious), and now a truck full of tacos traveling the country and giving away free Taco Bell!

The Taco Bell Truck is hitting cities all over the U.S. handing out free tacos at events.  They kicked off the tour on Friday in Huntington Beach and they’re working their way across the west coast right now.

To follow the truck’s progress, you can check out their Twitter page at http://twitter.com/tacobelltruck.  You can also send them a message and ask them to come to your city.  They’re going to get really sick of me if they don’t get to Cincinnati soon, because I’ve been sending them graphic descriptions of my hunger every day.

Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell

If my stomach wrote a song, it would be called “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.”  Actually, I think I did write this song a long time ago when I first discovered the combination Pizza Hut/Taco Bell.  I’m pretty sure I sang and danced I was so excited.  Obviously so did Das Racist, because they really did make a song about it.

These lyrics are what go through my head all day.  I’m constantly daydreaming about being at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.  Now my thoughts have a beat to sing along with.  I’m starving.

[Dedicated to Katie]

Taco Bell Shaker iPhone App

I was never one of those who wanted an iPhone before, but now I have a huge reason to get one.  Taco Bell has released their first iPhone app…The Why Pay More Shaker.  Let’s say you only have $1.63 in your wallet, but you need Taco Bell.  This happens to me all the time.  I go through the menu in my head (yes, I have it memorized) and try to come up with all the combinations I can get for whatever amount of money I have on hand.  I’m terrible at math so this is very frustrating, especially when I’m hungry.  I’ve been known to just go into Taco Bell, throw my money on the counter, and say “what can I get for this?”

The iPhone app does all this for you.  You just type in the amount of money you have to spend, give the iPhone a shake, and it will give you a combination of items you can get for that price.  Shake it again and it gives you a new combination.  If you want to hold an item, just touch the little lock below that reel and it will hold it while shaking up the other two until you find the perfect combo.

Once you choose your meal, you obviously need to get to the closest Taco Bell ASAP, but don’t worry, the app can help you with that too.  You just click on the Store Locator link, and it gives you all the locations near you, along with directions.

The app is free from the iTunes store and can also be used on the iPod Touch.  Delicious.

Finally Putting Chocolate to Good Use

I’m one of the few people who thinks that making chocolate is a waste of time.  I don’t like the taste of it at all and I can’t stand how crazy people go over the stuff.  But now, finally, I have a reason to appreciate it.  Scientists at the University of Warwick have unveiled a race car that runs on chocolate.

Using waste from chocolate factories and combining it with vegetable oils, scientists have created a chocolate-based biofuel that can power this vehicle at speeds of up to 145 miles per hour.  The car meets the formula 3 racing standards, while also meeting many environmental standards.  Besides running on natural fuels, the car is made of renewable materials.  The steering wheel is made of carrot fibers, the body is made from potatoes, and the seat is made from flax and soybeans.

I’m not sure if race cars should be the first cars to be environmentally friendly.  They get used far less than our massive amounts of transport vehicles.  But it’s a start, and hopefully this will lead to more environmentally friendly procedures in the auto industry and others.

Taco Bell’s Fully Loaded Taco Salad

Taco Bell has a new menu item.  I was practically stalking the poor staff of the Taco Bell near my apartment waiting for the new taco salads to be released.  As soon as I saw the first announcement I started asking them when they would be serving it.  They kept telling me to “come back tomorrow,” so I did.  Every day until they had one for me.  I had to wait almost a month before the item was available, but finally I got to try one.

So was it worth the wait?  Well, yes and no.  The taco salads come in Chicken Ranch and Chipotle Steak.  I ordered the Fully Loaded Chicken Ranch Taco Salad, which was basically the same as a Zesty Chicken Border Bowl in a taco salad shell instead of a bowl.  It has beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, chicken, tortilla strips, sour cream, and zesty ranch dressing in a crunchy taco shell.  Basically it is every possible Taco Bell ingredient combined in a big shell.

The plus sides: The taco salad really was as big and full of ingredients as it looked on the commercials.  It tasted fresh and the flavors went together very well.  It was filling and, of course, delicious.  It was much more of an authentic Mexican restaurant style item than most of Taco Bell’s menu.

The down sides: The fully loaded taco salads aren’t really a totally new menu item.  Some of you other hard core Taco Bell fans may realize that Taco Bell had taco salads as a “new item” in the 80s.  They also later introduced the Fiesta Taco Salad which they had for years.  It wasn’t exactly the same as these.  It had ground beef or chicken options with salsa.  The new items are much more of the modern Taco Bell style.  The taco shell also wasn’t the best quality, and I would recommend ordering some nacho chips to eat with the salad instead.  The shell doesn’t taste like it was meant for actual consumption, but is simply more of a holding device.  The biggest down side: the taco salads aren’t just fully loaded on flavor and ingredients.  Each one contains 950 calories.

Overall, the taco salad was good, and I’d probably order it again if I was in the mood for a bigger meal (and have 950 calories to spare).  It costs $4.99, which is a reasonable price for the amount of food you get, but also may be a bit more than some people expect to spend on one item at Taco Bell.  My personal favorite still remains the Chicken Grilled Stuft Burrito.

I also have to point out how disappointed I was to see the horrible Fully Loaded Taco Salad commercial.  I’m usually impressed with Taco Bell’s advertising campaigns, but they’ve done a pretty bad job with this one.  The people in the commercial keep searching for their lettuce and basically complaining about their food the whole time.  I don’t see how that makes anyone want to go out and buy it.  They keep saying “the only thing that makes it a salad is the lettuce,” yet the person can’t find the lettuce…just confusing.  Also they advertised it for over a month before I was able to get the item in the store.  Most people would have given up by then and forgotten about the item by the time it was available.

www.tacobell.com

FREE Meal at KFC

Kentucky Fried Chicken is offering a free meal with the coupon available from their website at www.unthinkfc.com.  The coupon must be printed off before midnight tonight, May 6th, but it is redeemable until May 19th at participating locations.

KFC has really been up on their marketing campaigns lately, and I’m actually impressed.  After introducing their new grilled chicken, they first offered a free piece to everyone for one day, now a whole meal!  They also got this deal endorsed by Oprah on her show and website, so it’s serious.

It’s an excellent marketing scheme really.  After so much bad publicity — mostly stemming from PETA (animals rights activist group for those who don’t know) — about their treatment of animals, KFC has launched a huge campaign to get people back into their stores.  Introduce a new healthier item, give people a free meal, revive the crave.

Some of you may also have heard about KFC fixing potholes across the country and imprinting them with the KFC logo.  They offered to fix every pothole in certain cities as long as they could then paint their logo on top of the repaired hole.  If you’re from Louisville you have probably noticed them — that’s their hometown and where they started the pothole project.

The coupon printing website is very busy due to high traffic, so you might have to try a few times to get it to work.  It will probably say “Server Busy” a few times before you get through.  I had to try about three times before I got the coupon to work.

http://www.unthinkkfc.com

Click Read More to read the letter KFC sent out to mayors across the country regarding the pothole repairs.
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Victory Gardens

Victory Gardens first came about during the 40s, when America was at war.  The government suggested that people plant gardens as an act of support for the country during a struggling time.  Not only was it a way to grow food for your family and community when the nation was struggling, but it helped to bring people together, working on gardens together and making it a social activity.  Millions of Americans planted gardens.

Today, with the U.S. in the midst of a recession and another war, and with the fear of global warming constantly an issue, some people are asking for the Victory Gardens to be revived.  Michelle Obama has even planted a garden at the White House.  With fewer people growing their own food these days, it has to be shipped across the country, or even from other countries.  The costs of shipping, along with the gasoline used, all adds to the rise in cost of food.  It also adds to global warming because of all the extra travel and pollution caused by the trucks and manufacturing, packaging, and processing.

People have been looking for different ways to cut costs with the economy in this state, but instead of just cutting back, you can add fresh produce to your diet, while avoiding the high prices at the grocery store.  Now that spring is here, it’s the perfect time to plant.  And why not make it a social activity like they did during the war?  Have the whole family get involved with choosing which things to plant and what you can cook once it grows.

Even if you don’t have a yard, you can grow small plants on a porch, balcony, or windowsill.  What you plant also depends on the region in which you live.  You can find out which plants are best suited for your region at the Arbor Day Foundation here: Arbor Day Foundation You also need to know what time of year to plant.  Some plants must be planted early in the season, and some later.  Find out here: Planting Dates

There are many sites available for ordering seeds.  Here are a few options:

Seed Savers

Rare Seeds

Victory Seeds

Gardens Alive!

[Thanks to Katie!]

Grocio – Find Cheap Groceries

When I go grocery shopping I know the things that are cheaper at one store and those that I wait to pick up at another for better prices.  I always thought it would be nice to know what the sales were before I headed out, and which store would give me the cheapest price overall so I didn’t have to go jumping from place to place.  Grocio is a new web service that has given us that option.

The site has a simple and quick registration, where you put in a user name and your zip code.  Then you will be able to compare prices at stores all around your area without having to leave home.  You can choose which stores you want to compare, then type in your grocery list.  Grocio then will give you the cost of buying those items at each store you selected and let you know what your total would be at each place.  They also match coupons to your purchases which you can print out and bring to the store with you to save extra money.

Grocio is a completely free service which is launching this week in Arizona and will soon be all over the country.  You can register now and they will let you know when it is available in your area.

Click here to visit the site: Grocio

Click Read More to see a quick instructional video on how the site works.
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Pizza Vending Machines

Vending machines that will deliver a hot, fresh, 9 inch pizza in under two minutes — sounds too good to be true, but WonderPizza has developed machines that do just that.  The vending machines can hold up to 102 pizzas of three varieties.  For $5-6, the pizza of your choice will be oven baked and delivered on its own tray.  You can even select how crisp you would like the crust.  WonderPizza developed the machines in Torino, Italy, and they have now made their way over to the U.S.

I’m keeping my eye out for the WonderPizza machines.  I know that if I have a choice between tiny bags of chips and cookies or a big tasty pizza, I’m going for the pizza.  Considering the concern with health and weight in this country, however, how well will these machines really go over?  Ordering pizza for dinner is one thing, but being able to just pick it up as a snack might not be very well receieved.  Then again, in our fast food nation, maybe it will just be a way to make food even faster.