Kung Fu Fortunes

I don't know much about the Kung Fu Panda franchise.  While I've heard the original was enjoyable, the only thing I've actually seen was a very charming Christmas special.  I was aware that a third movie was in theaters but I was still very surprised when I went to my local Chinese restaurant and wound up with Kung Fu Panda fortune cookies.

Such simple marketing and it was done perfectly.  A takeout order of shrimp fried rice is certainly a more appropriate tie-in than a cheese burger at one of the big chains.  It works because of how big a surprise it was too.  How often do you see anything different on takeout packaging.  Honestly it made me laugh.  In fact I said to my co-worker that I hoped my fortune would be something like blatant like, "Go see Kung Fu Panda 3, in theaters now!".  I didn't really expect that actual fortune to be movie related though.

Turns out it totally was!  Really there is only so much more I can write about a fortune cookie.  I thought the whole thing was a cute, unexpected promotion.

Flash Friday: Double Down vs. Double Down

Happy Flash Friday everyone!  Before I get into today’s amazing bit of Flashy-ness I wanted to give you a quick explanation of what happened this week.  It’s not like me to miss two updates in a row and not give some explanation of what is going on.  Without going into too much detail, there has been an illness in the family that has me pretty distracted.  I’m going to be taking next week off too.  There may be an odd update if I feel like it, but I wouldn’t expect too much until December.

With all that said it should be pretty obvious that I haven’t been in the best of moods.  Last night I check my email and see a message from Newt over at the Newtcave blog.  He had stumbled across the old villain spotlight I had written about Double Down.  If you remember that article the last thing I mentioned was that I wished I could draw because I wanted to see a picture of Double Down eating a KFC Double Down.  I might have even begged for someone else to draw it for me.

Thanks to Newt you can now see exactly that.  Again, you can check out the Newtcave by clicking HERE.  And I just wanted to send a giant thank you to Newt, because this really did make me smile at a time I needed to.

Monster Cereal Returns

Halloween is one of those holidays that has really grown over the years.  Certainly it has become more commercialized, but I think in the past 20 years it has also become a lot more acceptable for adults to enjoy it.  I really enjoy Halloween, so I see that as a good thing.  To cash in on those people trying to get more into the Halloween spirit General Mills seasonally produces Franken Berry, Count Chocula, and Boo Berry cereals.  This makes me very, very happy. 

The big monster cereal news this year is that not only did the monster trinity get released but so did the long discontinued Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy.  I suppose we should get a little history out of the way so we can talk about what these two are now.  Count Chocula and Franken Berry were first released in 1972.  Obviously Chocula is a chocolate cereal.  Franken Berry is a strawberry flavored cereal.  Boo Berry was released in 1973.  It is supposed to taste like blue berries.  Instead it tastes like magic and anyone who claims a different monster cereal tastes better is a heretic of the highest order. 

Fruit Brute was released in 1974 and was a fruit cereal with lime marshmallows.  So instead of focusing on one flavor Fruit Brute was more like a Fruit Loops.  I honestly don’t remember the cereal much because it was discontinued in 1984.  Three years later Fruity Yummy Mummy was released.  Like Fruit Brute it was a fruit cereal but it has vanilla marshmallows.  It didn’t last very long and was discontinued in 1993.  Now Fruit Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy are back.  So did General Mills package the same cereal in different boxes and solicit them as different products?
 

The new Fruit Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy aren’t the old cereals you may or may not remember.  Instead each is given its own flavor.  Yummy Mummy is an orange cereal with marshmallows and Fruit Brute is a cherry cereal with marshmallows.  I was able to get a box of Yummy Mummy and once you add milk it tastes a little bit like eating a orange creamsicle.   I saw a box of Fruit Brute but wasn’t able to grab it at the time.  Hopefully it will still be there when I return for it. 

One last note, you’ll notice that Target somehow got an exclusive packaging that differs from what the other grocery stores are receiving.  So if you’re looking for retro box art you can find it at Target.

Shark Week at Cold Stone

One of the things I love about my birthday is that it falls either during or very close to Discovery Channel’s shark week.  This year it will be starting on August 4^th.  I complain that every year Discovery is losing their focus on conservation and that they need to showcase more sharks than just the great white, but then I prove myself to be a giant hypocrite and watch every second of new programming regards of what it is about.  I’m a weak person and I can’t deny the chance to watch sharks (other weaknesses include Komodo Dragons, non-cartoon Tasmanian Devils, and fire).



This year Discovery channel and Cold Stone Creamery have come up with the perfect treat to eat while watching Shark Week.  They’ve frozen buckets of chum and dipped them into…no that’s not right at all.  Actually they’re taking blue sweet cream ice cream, mixing it with graham cracker pie crust, and adding gummy sharks.  In the even bigger cake form they’ve added devil’s food cake and Oreo cookies to the mix.  I haven’t tried either of these yet, but they probably taste a whole lot better than a bucket of chum.  Here's hoping that there is a good special on hammerheads this year, because that'd make a pretty cool birthday present for me.

Hangover Thursday: Guinness Luxury Bar

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head?  I’m trying hard not to fall asleep at my desk after a night of Shadowrun followed by three overtime periods of amazing hockey.  Recently my mother in-law went to Scotland and Ireland.  She brought me back wonderful whisky and Guinness items; one of those items is the topic for today.  Seriously, this is awesome.

The Guinness Luxury Milk Chocolate Caramel Bar.   I was told about it before I saw it.  The package describes it as a chocolate bar with “a delicious caramel and Guinness flavoured centre”.  While I’m not a giant fan of chocolate I really enjoy both caramel and Guinness.  I’d had chocolate stout before, but never stout flavored chocolate.

It’s a fairly big chocolate bar divided into 12 squares.  It looks like any other chocolate bar with some kind of filling.  The only thing left to do is taste it at this point. So how is it?  After all this build up all I can say is that it’s okay. 

 The chocolate is good but the Guinness caramel doesn’t really taste like Guinness.  Instead it tastes like every liquor filled chocolate I’ve ever had.  Way more like whisky than Guinness.  That being said it isn’t bad, it just isn’t what I was hoping for.  Once I got around my expectations I did enjoy the chocolate bar, I probably wouldn’t buy another one though. I’m also still thankful that I was able to try one.

Hangover Thursday: Game Changer

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head?  I’m still on the Session Black train lately. With the NHL playoffs in full swing I’m planning on when I can plant myself on a barstool more often and watch some hockey.  Sure I can watch the games at home, but it’s more fun to watch them with other people.  It doesn’t even have to be my favorite team playing; the intensity of the playoffs makes almost any game fun to watch.

One of the larger chains of sports bars just made a pretty interesting announcement. Buffalo Wild Wings and Red Hook brewing are creating their very own beer.  Game Changer is described as “a premium craft beer that is designed to go perfectly with our flavorful wings while watching a game.”  Isn’t that descriptive?  It throws out a bunch of words without giving any actual information.  Luckily Redhook isn’t filled with corporate doublespeak and was kind enough to let people know that it will be a Pale Ale with an abv of 4.6%.

I’m not a fan of Pale Ales but I wish them the best.  If it is successful it raises a few questions.  Will Game Changer only be available at Buffalo Wild Wings?  Will bottles be available at other liquor stores?  Could you buy a six pack from the restaurant to take home?  BW3 already sells their sauces to take home, why not their own beer?  Will other restaurants follow suit and have their own craft brews?

Taco Bell Everything Dies

I didn’t watch much television this weekend (Sundays and Mondays are my weekend). I know big football game and all that. During the little bit of television I did watch I was repeatedly subjected to Taco Bell’s newest commercial where they try to tell us they are actually using meat in their tacos now. I think that’s what they were saying, because I wasn’t paying much attention to the people talking. No, I had heard something in the background and I was instantly hooked.

I was actually going to link to the commercial, but Taco Bell hasn't even uploaded it to their website yet. The song is from one of my favorite bands, Mariachi El Bronx and is titled “Everything Dies.” Take a listen to the link up above and the next time Taco Bell interrupts your favorite show listen to the background music. Don’t take this as an angry post either, I’m glad the guys are getting some kind of recognition and hopefully a fat check came with it. It won’t get me to actually eat at a Taco Bell though, it’s been years since I’ve set foot in one.

Hangover Thursday: Sanders Chocolate Stout

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? Have you recovered from the first round of Holiday madness yet? We are in one of my favorite times of year. I’m not a giant Christmas person, but when it starts getting cold all of those seasonal stouts and porters start coming out. So even if I haven’t been able to make it out to my local bar in a while, I’m happy to know some of my favorite beers are there waiting for me.

I was born outside Detroit. Regardless of the city’s reputation, it is something I’ve always been proud of. There are a lot of things up there that I miss and some food items that I don’t just miss, but my soul is incomplete without them. Real Coney Island Hotdogs, I could talk for days about them. Kowalski hotdogs and sausage are amazing. I demand Vernors Ginger Ale every time I’m sick. Then there is the reason I’m even bring all of this up, Sanders Hot Fudge. Sanders makes all sorts of wonderful things like creampuffs and cakes, but their ice cream toppings are king.

So know that you know of this Motor City love deep in my heart you can understand my excitement when I stumbled upon Detroit Brewing Company’s Sanders Chocolate Stout. It was a must buy and because I found it while I was going to spend time with my family on Thanksgiving, I was hoping they’d appreciate it too. I know, you’re thinking Ken this is a lot of buildup just to talk about a beer. How was it? It was okay.

I almost ended the post there. Seriously, there is a good chocolate smell. There are hints of coffee in there too, almost making this a mocha stout. It hides its alcohol taste pretty well. I think it would be a good beer to give someone who was just branching out to stouts. The flavor was a little more subdued than I was looking for. I’d certainly drink it again but I wouldn’t seek it out unless I knew I was going to be seeing other refugees from Hockeytown.

Cadbury Screme Egg

Every Easter I have one Cadbury’s Crème Egg. It’s about all I can handle; those things are like sugar over load. But much like Peeps, Cadbury has decided they wanted to sell their candy more than once a year. So because of that we now have Cadbury Screme Eggs.

I’ve got to go pick up some last minute Halloween candy tonight, just in case we actually get any trick or treaters tomorrow. If I run across any Screme Eggs I’ll pick up a couple. You know, for science.

Hangover Thursday: Allnighter

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I’m doing well right now, earlier in the week I had a couple beers that snuck up on me with their alcohol by volume. One minute I was feeling normal and the next I realized I was getting a pretty good buzz. You have to watch yourself when you’re drinking Tripel’s friends, they’ll sneak up on you.


Today’s Hangover Thursday is once again about that late night food. I was at a Steak n Shake the other day for lunch and as I was walking in I noticed a really strange decal on their window. It was for something called a 7x7. When I asked the waiter about it he laughed and said it was part of their late night menu. I was curious so I asked if I could look at it. Steak n Shake calls it their Allnighter menu and it is glorious.

From 11pm to 6am Steak n Shake rolls out this menu full of things to soak up a stomach full of alcohol. Mini-burgers, chili fries, cheese fries, nacho fries, and my favorite the Steakburger Slinger. They weren’t kidding around when they came up with this. A skillet full of hashbrowns, topped with chili, two burgers, shredded cheese, and two eggs. All of that for 6 bucks. As amazing as that sounds, it isn’t nearly as ridiculous as the item that first caught my attention.

The 7x7 is undoubtedly the king of the Allnighter, all other menu items bow down in its presence. The 7x7 is 7 burgers and 7 slices of cheese all on one bun. It’s a full pound of meat. It’s price…7 dollars and 77 cents. Brilliant marketing, just brilliant. My local Steak n Shake has a giant window decal of this burger tower on the front of their restaurant. I can’t find any mention of it on Steak n Shake’s website, so you may need to check with your local store to see if they offer this meat beast.

Muppet Pez

If you’ve been on the site since the beginning you may remember that before Brandon started here that we didn’t update the site on Mondays. Mondays are normally one of my days off. This past Monday was a rainy mess of a day. To get everyone out of the house we loaded up the car and rolled my son the local Toys R Us. After checking out the Lego, Nerf, and Superhero stuff I found some pure awesomeness on the pegs.

Behold the animal Pez dispenser. I am not a giant candy person. I’ll take potato chips over candy 99% of the time. There is something about Pez though. I don’t cheat either; I never eat a packet of Pez without loading it into the dispenser. Years ago when I was deep in MMO addiction I always had a Pez dispenser with me as I played. The process of loading the candy before you eat it slows the whole process down too, so it takes you longer to eat them all.

Anyway, they had the whole Muppet lineup there, but I’ve already said on the blog that Animal has always been my favorite Muppet. They actually have a pretty good sculpted likeness too. A lot of Animal merchandise doesn’t look quite right. We also got my son a “My First Cookie Monster”, apparently Cookie Monster has delicious eyes.

Hangover Thursday: Haymarket

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? Considering last night was my first night back from vacation I didn’t feel the need to head out to the bar last night. I did plenty of drinking this weekend though. I grabbed a bunch of Fat Tire, something I can’t normally buy in Florida. I also managed to down a bunch of Guinness at an Irish Pub. On Sunday I went to the Haymarket Pub and Brewery.

I usually like any place that brews their own beer. Haymarket had eight of their own beers on tap plus a handful of beers from other people. They also had a good selection of bottles, but it seemed a bit pointless to me to buy beer from someone else. I went with the Blacksox Porter and was very happy with that decision. Haymarket offers their beer in a number of different sizes; so you can easily put together a flight of beers or just get a really big glass of your favorite.

There is more than just good beer at Haymarket the food is pretty fantastic too. We were there for brunch and I ordered something called the Morning Riot. The Morning Riot is house-made Italian sausage, mozzarella, smoked pulled pork, pan-fried sunny-side up egg, Yukon potato hash, and toast. It tasted as ridiculous as it sounds; I highly recommend it.

Haymarket offers really in-depth brewery tours. I was interested, but the party I was with wasn’t jumping at the idea of an hour and a half brewery tour. It’s at the top of my list of things to do when I head back to Chicago though. This isn’t the last time I’m going to be talking about Haymarket, they’re involved in something called Drinking and Writing, but that’s for another day.

Pizza Cones

It may be a little outside our wheelhouse, but today That F’ing Monkey is talking pizza. Chicago stuffed pizza, giant slices New York style, pan pizza, thin and crispy; I’m pretty much a fan of it all. Lately Pizza Hut seems to be throwing pizza toppings on everything they can find. Last month they put out high class Hot Pockets, this month their covering slices of garlic bread in pizza toppings. To my knowledge they’ve never offered a pizza cone.

The Pizzacraft PC0304 Pizza Cone set will give you the tools to make 6 pizza cones. Just look at that picture. I get hungry every time I see it. I’m sure cooking them is a little tricky, you don’t want to burn the outside but you have to make sure the center is fully cooked. Imagine your friend invites you over for pizza and then you get that on your plate.

The 6 cone kit from Pizzacraft currently goes for 25 dollars. I’m not the only one who thinks this is an amazing deal though; as of this writing Amazon is temporarily out of stock. If you’re determined to have pizza cones I’m sure you’ll be able to find them on sale elsewhere. If you do track them down, let us know how they turn out.

666, I’m loving it!

Have you noticed all the fast food chains promoting their fish sandwiches lately? It’s an easy indicator that we are in the middle of Lent. For those not of a Christian bent, Lent is an observance that lasts from Ash Wednesday till the day before Easter. One of the ways it is observed is by fasting. Over the years that fasting has evolved to most participants eating fish and no other meat. Some only do this on Fridays, so do it for all of Lent. So believe it or not, there is a religious reason for things like McFish Bites.

Because I had known all of this, it didn’t surprise me when I saw the most recent McDonalds commercial showing that I can get two of their Filet-O-Fish sandwiches for 3.33. I thought the price was a little strange, but I didn’t think much of it. The commercial went on to inform me that I could also get two of their medium French fries for 3.33. Again, it was a strange price. Sure it was the number 3 (it’s a magic number) repeated three times, but there was something else bothering me about it.

Now that really got me thinking. 2 Filet-O-Fish and 2 medium fries are 6.66. McDonalds currently has a deal aimed at Christians, that if you take full advantage of it will total up to the Mark of the Beast. Sure, I get that sales tax will keep it from ringing up at 666; just adding drinks to the order will change it completely. Still, behind all those holy fish sandwiches is the Number of the Beast.

Flash Friday: Flash Tots

Happy Flash Friday everyone! Today we are going back to the land of fast food toys. You may have already heard that Sonic is giving away plush tater tots dressed like superheroes in their kid’s meals. You didn’t misread that, plush tater tots dressed like superheroes. I was very lucky that my wife went to Sonic the first day of the promotion and had the workers digging through the boxes for a Flash Tot.

So here we have the Flash tot. The design of it seems to be based on the Justice League cartoon. The ear wings and the Flash symbol are very similar to the designs used in that show. It doesn’t show up extremely well in the picture, but the body is actually textured with tiny rough patches, to make it better resemble a tater tot. The Flash Tot has legs but no arms. Actually all of the tots are set up that way. It’s a strange design choice but very cute.

The plush tots are pretty tiny, I’ve used my Kapow! Flash for a sense of scale here. This probably works to their advantage though, I’m pretty sure part of the charm is the size. The rest of the line is pretty Superman centric. There is Clark Kent, Superman, Supergirl, and the only villain in the line Bizzaro. Tots not belonging to the Super-family are Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, Aquaman, and Plastic Man. Look out though, because there is also a pack of trading cards.

There isn’t a whole lot you can say about a plush tater tot dressed like the Flash, so this week’s Flash Friday is a pretty short one. Have a great weekend everyone.

What kind of Ice Cream?

Summer may be over, but here in Florida we haven’t really gotten much of a break from the heat yet. That means it is still prime ice cream weather. Ben & Jerry’s have been known for making different and pop cultured themed flavors before. Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream is pretty much my favorite ice cream in store freezers right now. The ice cream makers have stepped up their game though and made something that I don’t think anyone could have expected, Schweddy Balls.

Based on the Saturday Night Live sketch where Alec Baldwin is playing Pete Schweddy a guest on the NPR Show The Delicious Dish. Schweddy then goes on to talk about his rum balls and the Schweddy Ball jokes come rolling in. It is a classic and has been voted as one of the funnier bit of SNL history. So why not turn it into a “vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum & loaded with fudge covered rum & malt balls.” If that sounds like something you want in your mouth, grab it quick, because this is something that is only going to be around for a limited time.

Personally I just wish they’d bring back from Russia with Buzz. The “cross of coffee ice cream with coffee liqueur & dark coffee ice cream mixed with espresso fudge chips” was my favorite ice cream ever.

Hangover Thursday: My Drunk Kitchen Interview

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? As this is (hopefully) updating; I’m on a plane going to Charlotte for Heroes. Last week we featured videos from the series My Drunk Kitchen. If you haven’t watched them, I highly advise that you do so now and then come back here. I’ll wait.

Okay, everyone back now? Excellent, now that everyone is caught up on the awesomeness we can move forward onto our next big helping of awesomeness. I was able to interview Hannah Hart, the creator and star of My Drunk Kitchen.

KO: The first video seemed pretty impromptu. What is the story behind it?

HH: Basically, I was cat-sitting for my sister...and then I found a bottle of wine and claimed it as my own.

KO: How much planning goes into your newer videos?

HH: Little to zero. I'm far too lazy to plan.

KO: I'm guessing you film with your webcam. What do you use to record and edit your video?

HH: My macbook! And iMovie.

KO: I came home trashed one night and melted a spatula while cooking bacon and eggs. Have you done anything similar?

HH: YES. I destroyed the precious skin of my forearm just last week. :(

KO: Have you accidentally destroyed any cooking implements?

HH: I've gone through more oven mitts than I'd like to admit.

KO: You've mentioned roommates in your videos. What do your roommates think of your videos?

HH: They are all busy New Yorkers, so I think they care very little to be honest. Most haven't even watched them!

KO: Can you tease the next video?

HH: Si. <--- That's the tease. ;)

So a big thank you goes out the Harto for taking the time to answer some questions for us. Not only is she fantastic, but she was our first non-comicbook interview on the site!

Hangover Thursday: My Drunk Kitchen

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I am currently in the middle of moving my work desk, so I’m more coffee deprived then anything today. That won’t stop us from talking about booze though. When I get drunk I get loud and I get hungry. Not just hungry, but supernaturally hungry. I’ve shoved food in my face for hours at a bar only to want something more to eat the moment I get home. That hunger sometimes leads to drunk cooking.

Hannah “Harto” Hart knows a thing or two about drunk cooking; in fact she has her own series of web videos called My Drunk Kitchen. I’m including two of those videos in today’s post but you owe it to yourself to watch all of them. That F’ing Monkey has been a long time fan of Epic Meal Time, but I promise you that Youtube has room for two booze infused cooking shows.

I don’t think I’m giving anything way, but most of the cooking jobs don’t go as well as planned. I can sympathize, when I used to live near downtown Orlando I once sat on the kitchen floor for half an hour prying off the top of a can of Chef Boyardee with a bottle opener. Of course the next day I found can opener in the drawer, but that night I was too far gone to find it. Back to My Drunk Kitchen, check out the videos, go to http://hartoandco.com/ and check out her website. Enjoy the cooking. Fear the baking.

Flash Friday: Flash Cakes Found

After weeks of searching I got a picture text one day of a friend holding up a box of Hostess Flash cakes. I had been to every grocery store in my area numerous times and like a 70’s Hostess ad; I had been thoroughly defeated by the snack cake. Batman and Superman branded treats were everywhere. I had run across Glo Balls at one location but no Flash Cakes. So finally it came down to some friends who were way down in South Florida who came to my rescue. What follows are entirely too many pictures of a snack cake and its packaging.

Back in the Saddle Again; Where I've Been

So Brandon and I were away at the yearly That F’ing Monkey planning summit, well not really. The two of us went up to Pittsburgh for our friends Eric and Shannon’s wedding. Because we were up there for 5 days, expect this week, including Hangover Thursday and Flash Friday, to be mostly wedding trip themed.

So how did Pittsburgh treat me? Well the first thing I have to let you know is we stayed at a hotel near the airport with no other real transportation. For the most part, if we couldn’t walk there then we couldn’t get there. Considering there was a Primanti Brothers just a short walk down the street, we weren’t too worried.

If you aren’t a Pittsburgh native or addicted to the Travel and Food networks you’ve probably never heard of Primanti Brothers. It’s a chain founded in 1933 and famous for putting their coleslaw and french-fries on their sandwiches. I still have fond memories of my first visit to Pitt when I was a little kid. Ever since I can remember I’d pile my fries on my hamburgers, sandwiches, sloppy Joes, etc… When I got my first sandwich there it felt like someone understood me.

Our food choices were hotel food, Bob Evans, Primanti, or Wendys. We ate at Primanti a lot. I started with egg and capicola, then corned beef and pastrami; then hot sausage, and finally I created what I consider to be a masterpiece of sandwich construction. It was no slaw, double fries, egg, hot sausage, and capicola. That was just the sandwiches, there was also the giant slices of pizza for a buck fifty and the bacon, chili cheese fries. Not all in one day of course, just over the time we were staying there.

Check back tomorrow for the story of the craziest photographer in the word.