Junk Food Nation, it’s New Year’s Eve! A time for champagne, a time for fun hats and fancy 2014 glasses, fireworks….and supreme letdowns.  Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy the feeling of the New Year.  But I find New Year’s Eve to be really really BLAH.  I’ve voiced my opinions on this before, but it can’t hurt to re-hash them.  NYE is not my “least favorite” holiday – I simply dislike this “holiday” aside from the fact that I do not have work tomorrow.  Here is why:

1) MAINLY, It’s not a holiday you can celebrate any other time but at midnight between Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. Other holidays you can spread out – college roommates have “early Thanksgiving dinners / Friendsgivings” together.  Christmas parties go all December long. Fourth of July BBQs happen before, during, and after July 4th.  But no one, and I mean NO ONE, is ever suggesting “Hey, let’s all countdown to midnight and drink champagne on January 3rd!!! WOOOOOO! Let’s go nuts at midnight on December 28th!!!!!!!”  Nope, NYE is constrained to that singular moment each year.  Which dovetails into the second reason I hate NYE…

2) It forces you to pick amongst your friends.  Because you can only celebrate NYE at one specific time, you’re forced to choose WHO you want to count down with. If you have a loved one, it’s an easy decision.  Otherwise? If you have three or four friends EACH having separate parties? You’re forced to tell one friend “Um…yeah.  I wanna celebrate the New Year with…these other people.  Sorry.”  Which is harsh, no? And if you go to one party and LEAVE at 11:00 to ring in the New Year at another party? Host of Party 1 now think you’re a douche who only wanted the free food and booze. Which, of course, is true.

3) NYE parties always stink. And your options are usually limited – go to a restaurant or bar and pay $100+ for a forced party, or go to one of four-five house parties which will each have only four-five people at them.  There’s no real activity involved (I don’t count drinking, which can happen at Christmas, Halloween, Labor Day, or Wednesday) except counting. At least with Easter you get to decorate eggs.  On NYE you get to clean up red solo cups.

4) Pressure to have a good time.  NYE is just a day out of the year.  It’s a completely secular holiday which has no real sentimental meaning.  Why then are we so stressed that this countdown, these last minutes, need to be JUST RIGHT or AMAZING?  Like, if you’re not on a trapeze having three way sex and drinking a bottle of tequila that’s on fire RIGHT at the stroke of midnight, then you’re not “celebrating it right.”  It’s ridiculous and an added stress that I think is unnecessary.

Yes, curmudgeon city? That’s me; welcome to town.  I do know that people like to use it as a benchmark between old and new.  I know it DOES mean something to some people (New Year’s babies, for example).  And I personally HAVE had good NYE experiences.  I’ve been to great parties, have celebrated with good friends, have done the whole blackout drunk thing, AND have felt each of the four things I described at one time or another.

So be responsible tonight kids.  Don’t drink too much on that trapeze.

Today’s junk food: Nice! Peppermint Creme Cookies, and Nice! Dark Chocolate Orange Creme Thin Mints!

Nice! products are the Walgreens’ brand line of goodies, and the Walgreens near me always has HUGE sales to get rid of inventory right after each holiday.  I clean up at Easter time.  This time, I checked out their holiday stock of treats, and found the above: Nice! Peppermint Creme Cookies, normally $3.00 a box, on sale for $0.75????? THAT’S A DEAL SON!  That’s an entire box of, essentially, peppermint Oreos for less than a can of soda from the vending machine. YES YES YES.

These Nice! Dark Chocolate Orange Creme Thin Mints were only a dollar to begin with, but $0.49 cents per box?  I couldn’t resist!  I had a whole different review planned for today, but since I want to get all the holiday treats out of the way before the New Year, I figured I’d tackle these last minute nom noms.

We’ll do some quick photos and then get right to the review.  Let’s begin with the Nice! Peppermint Creme Cookies!

These Nice! Peppermint Creme Cookies were just as I expected them to be – just like a Peppermint Oreo.  I haven’t had the Cool Mint Oreos in a while, so I can’t compare directly, but what I can say is this:

1. Twist-apart-ability: Right now.  Didn’t have that weird unable-to-be-moved problem like the Market Pantry Sandwich Cookies.
2. The cookie itself: Light and flaky, full of cocoa flavor.  Felt LIGHTER than an Oreo, actually.  Very crumbly, but I kind of liked that.
3. The crème: Sweet, slight peppermint flavor.  Not as smooth as Oreo crème, definitely a little more gummy. Didn’t taste completely like peppermint, more of a wintermint flavor, if that makes sense.
4. Combined: Still, a SOLID cookie.  The gummier crème made up for the flakier cookie, and all in all, good choco-peppermint flavor.

Seriously.  These might not be as perfect as Oreos, generally, but these hit the mark just right.  A tasty cookie.  Not bad for $0.75!!

 

Next up: Nice! Dark Chocolate Orange Creme Thin Mints!

These Nice! Dark Chocolate Orange Creme Thin Mints were also what I thought they’d be – mini-Peppermint Patties with a hint of citrus taste.  The main thing was I wasn’t sure how mint and citrus would taste together.

When I first bit into one of these tiny patties, I got chocolate flavor, of course, and the immediate taste of orange-oil.  The chocolate/orange taste is familiar for anyone who’s had a holiday box of chocolates.  With each chew, however, a minty tone began to emerge. The final flavor I got was, bluntly, a mix of orange and mint.  The chocolate WAS refreshing, and left my mouth icy, and I wasn’t sure what I had just eaten.

Did I like it?  It wasn’t my favorite flavor in the world, but I must be honest, I couldn’t stop eating them!  Mint and citrus – wasn’t horrible.  We’ve tasted that a million times before in mojitos.  Adding chocolate?  My mind kept flipping between tasting chocolate/orange, then orange/mint, then mint/chocolate.  That it made my brain spin a bit was…actually, kind of cool.  I think I liked these.  Yes.  I’ve decided I like these.  Give ‘em a shot; you might surprise yourself.

Happy New Year, everyone!

PURCHASED AT: Walgreens

COST: $0.75 for the cookies, $0.49 for the mints

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy