Junk Food Nation, as Halloween approaches once again, I’m curious – do you guys wear costumes to work /  school?  I’ve never been a costume guy myself, but I’m curious if the place you work or the school you go to schedules a “costume day.”  I’m reminded of this:

Wearing a costume during the day always seemed strange to me, but I know some offices / schools do it!  I Mean, I just imagine trying to take notes dressed as Zangief sitting next to someone who looks like Pikachu, or meeting with my boss dressed a sexy plumber.  What is this, a porn video? No. PLUS, it would never work for me, since I’m in court a lot:

Judge: “Counselor, please approach.”

Me: “Excuse me, you Honor, but today, please refer to me as…STAR LORD.”

Yeah…. Not so much. Of course, I suppose I could dress up in a costume that could be PASSABLE for court, like this:

Anyways, I want to know – do you dress up for Halloween at work?  At school?  And how has it gone over? I want all of your feelings, viewpoints, or stories on this topic in the comments below. Do it – now.

Today’s junk food: Lay’s Taiwan (?) Flaming Spicy Potato Chips!

Lay’s Taiwan Flaming Spicy Potato Chips were purchased at the same time I bought the Seafood Max Lay’s. This bag was kind of odd though – the flavor is “flaming spicy” and its just highlighted by a burning sun and a red pepper?  That’s it?

I’m sure those Chinese characters mean something.  Sigh, I KNEW I should’ve studied the language harder in college.  SOMEONE WHO KNOWS CHINESE, HELP ME OUT AND TRANSLATE.

Do you like the way the characters are slightly bursting at the top? I do…

Lay’s Taiwan Flaming Spicy Potato Chips contain lots of good ingredients, but a couple things jump out at me – 1. why are all the spices at the END of the list and 2. why is silicon dioxide high on the list? According to Wiki, silicon dioxide is “a common additive in the production of foods, where it is used primarily as a flow agent in powdered foods, or to absorb water in hygroscopic applications.” MMMM tasty flow agent.

PS: I said these were “Lay’s Taiwan” because the label indicated it was a Product of Taiwan.  I have no other basis.

I peeled back the translated nutrient label on these chips to reveal” A BURSTING CHILI PEPPER!  Well, hell, this is a great image – why isn’t this on the FRONT of this bag of Lay’s Taiwan Flaming Spicy Potato Chips??

Lay’s Taiwan Flaming Spicy Potato Chips smelled good when I opened them.  Just a nice savory slight onion and pepper aroma. I felt like a smelled tomato too, despite no tomato powder being part of the ingredients.

I popped some of these Lay’s Taiwan Flaming Spicy Potato Chips and….they were TASTY. Hmm….interesting.  Of all the Asian-Lay’s chips I’ve had, these might be my favorite.

First of all, these were NOT flaming spicy…yes, they had a slight burn, and for non-spice people these might kill your tongue, but to me they just had a tiny bit of sizzle. Instead, these chips just had an AMAZING savory flavor that I can’t really put my finger on.  There was salt, pepper, almost a soy, slightly seafood-y flavor, as well as strong onion and garlic notes.  The SLIGHT fishy flavor was REALLY slight – nothing like the dried cuttlefish flavor I’ve tasted with other foreign Lay’s. The texture of the chips was SUPER light and crisp, and the chips were thin enough such that the potato really took a back seat to the flavor.

If it sounds like I’m having a hard time describing these, it’s because I am.  It was just a general Umami flavor – every single note was balanced with the other.  No one flavor took over, and the chip ended with a little burn.  Very very tasty.  I enjoyed these a lot.

PURCHASED AT: Great Wall, Germantown, MD.

COST: $0.99

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