Junk Food Nation, Happy Friday. And may I just say: IT IS COLD OUT. HOLY S IS IT COLD OUT. I mean, seriously. I know those of you in the Northeast are like, “Eff off, JFG, we’re buried under 8 feet of snow!” And those in the Midwest are like, “You don’t KNOW what cold is, JFG, unless you’ve had your saliva freeze to your lips on the way to class.” I’m pretty sure there is an indigenous person from Greenland cursing me, surfing Junkfoodguy.com while he sits on his ice cube bed.

WHATEVER. I grew up in Upstate New York, and while I live here in DC now, I KNOW WHAT COLD FEELS LIKE. Teeth chattering. That knife through my thighs as I walk to the subway. The blood in my freakish ears turning to slush. I may not be able to cry ice cubes but COLD IS COLD. Once my privates jump back inside my body, set up camp, launch Netflix and orders from Seamless, I’m pretty sure that it’s cold out. And today, DC broke a 120-year old record. 5 degrees? So -15 Celsius?  AWESOME.

Despite this morning’s frigid commute, I think the coldest I’d ever been, however, was during the week between Christmas and New Year’s during my senior year of college. I had come back to campus in New Jersey after Christmas, with plans to spend NYE in NYC with my girlfriend at the time. I needed to make a one night pit stop on campus before heading to NYC that next day. It was, like, December 29th in the Northeast, so it was definitely snowy and cold. A quick Google search reveals it was probably close to 16 degree Fahrenheit that evening. (Thanks Google!)

Here’s the thing: APPARENTLY, the campus shut down all heat over the holidays. WHY they would do that when some students couldn’t go home for the holidays, WHO KNOWS. Anyways, I was able to see my breath while I sat at my computer indoors. The dorm I lived in was old and Gothic – everything was made of stone! So the walls were cold, the floor was cold, and I WAS AN ICE CUBE. I remember turning on ALL the lights, hoping that the ambient heat from the lightbulbs would help warm the room. I went to bed that night, all lights on, wearing four layers, covered in blankets, shivering, thinking I might seriously freeze. It. Was. Ridiculous.

When things are that cold, or as cold as they are today, it really makes me worry about people who don’t have homes. The DC Metro area does an OK job providing places where people can get out of the cold, but obviously it’s not all encompassing, and more could always be done.

Anywho, I want to hear YOUR coldest-moments-ever stories. I’m not necessarily talking SNOW stories, but COLD – it could be in Miami when it was usually 34 degrees out and you were wearing a bikini, it could be as you were leaving a Green Bay Packer game and your car broke down. It could be funny, it could be serious – I’m just curious. What was your coldest memory? Let me know in the comments below. And stay warm out there, JFNation.

Today’s junk food: New Snyder’s of Hanover Raspberry Creme Sweet Pretzel Sandwiches!!

New Snyder’s of Hanover Raspberry Creme Sweet Pretzel Sandwiches were sent to me recently by my good friends at Snyder’s of Hanover. Man, it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed one of their products.  Well, I guess not that long – I reviewed one of their new Poppers back in December. Still, feels like I haven’t had a Snyder’s product in a while. Let’s change that. These Raspberry Creme Pretzel Sandwiches, in theme, were clearly designed to capitalize on some of the Valentine’s Day buzz.

Of course, I missed the Valentine’s Day release of these New Snyder’s of Hanover Raspberry Creme Sweet Pretzel Sandwiches. I am no stranger to Snyder’s sandwich pretzel concoctions, however – their York sandwich pretzel is BAZILLY.

New Snyder’s of Hanover Raspberry Creme Sweet Pretzel Sandwiches have raspberry creme in between two pretzels. Simple construction, so the key will obviously be execution. What does the creme taste like, and what will the texture be?

New Snyder’s of Hanover Raspberry Creme Sweet Pretzel Sandwiches contain natural raspberry flavor, so I guess that’s good. When I opened the bag, an artificial smell of raspberry came wafting out. Even though I could tell it was fake, I didn’t hate it – I’m smelled plenty of artificial things.

Each of these New Snyder’s of Hanover Raspberry Creme Sweet Pretzel Sandwiches was small but still a decent size, maybe the width of a quarter.  I tried twisting open the pretzels like an Oreo? No dice. The creme has the pretzels WELDED SHUT.

I noted immediately that while there was some tiny bits of salt here and there, these were in no ways a salted pretzel, which was interesting to me – Snyder’s wasn’t going salty/sweet here? Ok….

I popped a bunch of these New Snyder’s of Hanover Raspberry Creme Sweet Pretzel Sandwiches into my mouth and crunched, and….hmmmmmm. Interesting, in a good way. I liked them, for sure, but they require deeper analysis.  My friends over at Chip Review did not like these, so I want to fully explain why I enjoyed these.

The taste of the pretzels is standard – light and crunchy, and like I said before, not salty. They did have a buttery feel to them, which I liked. The crème itself was very sweet, and did have that fake-raspberry flavoring – reminded me of the flavor of a raspberry ice cream. It was creamy and sweet with the raspberry flavor mixed in. This wasn’t a fruit-only raspberry flavor, this was definitely a raspberry-milky confection.

Together with the pretzel, the flavor IMMEDIATELY reminded me of a snack I grew up eating – STRAWBERRY POCKY. Those Asian cookie sticks dipped in light pink fake strawberry frosting? NAILED IT – the flavor of these was right on the money. Yeah I know one was raspberry and the other was strawberry. Didn’t matter – the flavor profile triggered the same reaction in my head.

The second flavor I was reminded of was the intersection of eating a fruit sorbet or sherbert and getting a bite of waffle cone. That mix of carb and fruity milky confection was also represented here with this flavor. I had plenty of rainbow sherbert growing up – loved the colors as a kid – so that flavor of ice cream cone and rainbow sherbert flavor in my mouth was unforgettable.

The final flavor I was reminded of, and this is a distant third, were of strawberry wafer cookies, either made by Voortman or another company. While not a perfect match, that fruity milky crème flavor of these sandwiches pushed my thoughts in the direction of these wafer cookies.

I say all this to say that, to a certain extent, I sort of agree with Chip Review – these are a super sweet pretzel sandwich with raspberry crème that, at first seemed an odd combo. BUT, if you like ANY of the three things I described above (which I do), then I think you will REALLY enjoy these. As it stands, I can’t stop popping them into my mouth.

PURCHASED AT: Sent to me

COST: $3.69 retail

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