KFC Cheesy Bacon Bowl

A few years back, KFC created heaven in a bowl. They somehow managed to jam Thanksgiving into a plastic bowl, slap a top on it, charge you 5 whatever it is, and send you into a pants-unbuttoned couch coma full of happiness. Other countries hated America more, hypocrite health nuts wailed on about how horrible of a creation it was (and I call them hypocrites because they're happy to sit down on Thanksgiving and indulge in the exact same foods), and fat people wheezed a collective breath of satisfaction that they lived in a world where they could eat a bowl full of Thanksgiving any time they wanted to.
At first, I criticized KFC for their use of corn: "Get these goddamn vegetables out of my heartburn!" But soon realized that the corn was integral. The famous bowl wouldn't work if one of the items wasn't there- the gooey and salty goodness of the mashed potatoes, the crispy and kind of sweet chicken, the salty spiciness of the gravy, and the sweet corn fighting against all of it. It all worked wonderfully, with melted cheese goo all tying it together like a shiny and colorful middle finger pointed right at your heart. It was perfect. It IS perfect.

But then KFC stepped it up. America is fat. America likes bacon. America likes putting bacon in anything they can. LET'S PUT BACON IN THE FAMOUS BOWL!!! The ad campaign itself said "wow, another one for the colonel." I was psyched.

surprisingly not as easy as I thought to eat this while driving

Immediately upon digging into this monstrosity, I saw the inherent and should-have-been-obvious problem with this creation: the famous bowl is perfect as it is. PERFECT. So how could bacon make it better? Somewhat sadly, it couldn't. It honestly just distracted me from the flavor I wanted. Gravy and bacon are both very strong and although somewhat similar, they're basically flavors that work against each other, competing for flavor domination. I found myself thankful that I didn't mix the whole thing up, as the bacon stayed in the center of the meal, and I was done with it and left with a third of the bowl with no bacon. And it was better. Also, the bacon wasn't anything special. Up close, it looked like real bacon, but at quick glance it looked like bacon bits. It kind of tasted that way too.

Try it- if you're reading this blog, you know you are going to- you may already have. Maybe you'll love it. But my guess is that you'll say what I said: "eh... it's neat, but I think I'd rather just have a regular famous bowl." So treat this post not as a good or bad review, but if anything, as a reminder that we live in a country where the KFC Famous Bowl exists, and we should be thankful for that, bacon or not.

Original Famous Bowl: A

Cheesy Bacon Bowl: B

-Mike

Cookies from THE COOKIE JAR...

I recently stopped into Aroma Joes in Somersworth, NH to grab a coffee one morning- the one where you can actually go inside. I don't get there often, so I'm not usually able to take a gander at what they have for pastries and donuts. Most days, I have to yell about something through the drive through window and cross my fingers they still have some left. "CRANBERRY ORANGE SCONE PLEASE!.....what? Sold out? Sigh...I'll just go hungry." But this day, that wasn't the case! I ordered my coffee and as I was looking in the case at the various treats and something off to the side caught my wandering eye.
A small package of cookies...

There were three cookies in the pack and after hefting the bundle in my grip for a moment, my brain had already decided that these had beat out all the other things in the shop that day. So I decided to try them.
And boy, am I happy I did.
These cookies are fantastic. I've had my fair share of chocolate chip cookies in my day and honestly, most of them get lost in the shuffle. A cookie has to be pretty damn good to shine beyond the mediocre masses of them. These definitely do.

Chock full of chocolate chips, I'm talking PACKED, but somehow it's not too much. It's like the cookie to chip ratio is somehow perfect. The cookie itself is rich and chewy, with just the slightest salty hint to make for that perfect sweet and salty taste that I pretty much want EVERYTHING I snack on to have.
I ate the first cookie fast and then savored the second two. The moment I was finished I kind of wished I had bought a second package. Now that I'm typing this, I wish I had a package in front of me. I'd tear into it like a wild man and hope to the good lord above that nobody was around to see how much of a pig I was making of myself.
So go track down some of these cookies. Their website says that all Aroma Joes coffee houses have them. The locations are listed there. You can also read up on their story and some pretty solid testimonials. Check them out at: http://thecookiejarnh.com/ .
I could only rate these cookies with an A. Anything else would be absurd.
Review by Rich