Thursday, February 12, 2009

Favorite Things

Chick-O-Stick Candy



I love candy...all kinds - chocolates, caramels, taffies, gummis, hard candies, sweets, sours, nuts, nougat, schnazberries (they taste like schnazberries!). I am a big fan of anything in the candy aisle (except Good & Plenty which are deadly poison disguised as candy). You name it, I have probably tried it a couple times. I am getting a little disappointed in all the gas stations around here that do not rotate their candy on a regular basis. Yes keep all the old favorites, but try new things too...there is room because you have 3 different sizes of each candy bar, whittle it down to 2 and you have tons of room to experiment.





Chick-O-Stick holds a special place in my heart...the very taste of which always takes me back to swimming lessons when I was in kindergarten. I would get one out of the vending machine after swimming lessons whenever I had the money and eat it on the bus ride home. What is a Chick-O-Stick you ask? It is basically crunchy peanut buttery goodness (like the center of a Butterfinger) in tube form and then lightly sprinkled with toasted coconut. It is a good classic combination that is delicious, but it has always had one downfall - the shape. It is a cylinder of brittle candy covered in a plastic sleeve, even if you didn't get one that was already smashed (or smashed in the fall inside the vending machine), it was a total disaster to eat. Chunks would fly everywhere, posing significant eye damage and leaving you with a lap full of orange dust and debris. Another issue was that a Chick-O-Stick was just large enough that you usually didn't want to finish it in one sitting and yet it never stored well because of the plastic sleeve and crushability factor. These things have often prevented me from buying a Chick-O-Stick even when I thought they looked really good.



I was delighted to discover Chick-O-Stick Bites the other day. I guess they have existed for years...but no store that I regularly stop at has ever carried them. I feel a little stupid because I have long lamented that this is what they need but never did the research to realize it already exists. All the deliciousness of Chick-O-Stick in convenient, individually wrapped goodness. It does throw the toasted coconut/peanut butter flavor ratios off slightly but the lack of a mess makes it all worth it. I just wish the cowboy chicken was still on the label, but at least he is still available on a t-shirt from the company store.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This comment has nothing to do with candy, but is a mere suggestion for an upcoming Hate Tuesday. Here is my own contribution to your brillian idea of a Two Minutes Hate Tuesday:

Those huge-ass frames (like 16 by 20) that feature a tiny 2 by 2 picture. So much space is taken up by white matte that for some reason the designer thinks is minimalist-stylish. I don't get it. And I consider myself an artist, if only a novice. I like photography with borders, but NOT when the border is so much bigger then the actual picture. I mean, it IS the picture that is supposed to be the real focus, right?

Fondly, your stalker... :P
xoxo

Michael said...

First off, Who is this? Are you stalking me?

Second. I do not take requests. I am not a local cover band playing a wedding. If something is bothering you, you should start your own blog. I have enough hate to vent without adding others'.

Finally, There are reasons for the mattes:
1) It provides a buffer between the wall and you picture, so you can hang a picture that may not match your wall color without direct clashing of styles and colors.
2) The matte is like a palate cleanser for your eyes. It keeps the wall and the frame from interferring with your perception of the picture. Imagine the Mona Lisa with a zebra striped frame - would you be able to appreciate the picture or would you be distracted?
3) The matte draws your attention to the picture in the center. The picture actually stands out more visually when surrounded by a blank field...it does not blend into the background of your wall or frame.
4) It gives the picture room to breathe...not only does a matte usually not cover as much area of a picture a frame (since the matte isn't a structural object), but also when filling a frame completely the picture can feel like it is crowded in the frame. It fits but it can seem tight.
5) As far as interior design goes, these types of visual objects make a room feel bigger and more spacious...the whiteness makes your mind think of open spaces.

So sorry, I don't necessarily agree with your hate...although I admit some people take the art of matting to ridiculous levels and I could see how that might annoy you.