Junk Food Nation, it is FRIDAY. And not a moment too soon! But in even BIGGER news, tomorrow is SATURDAY – and that means tomorrow is 7-11’s VERY FIRST Bring-Your-Own-Cup (BYO Cup) Day! What does this mean? From the 7-11 website:

During BYO Cup Day, customers can bring any cup that fits within the designated floor display with a cutout found in the store to fill up on their favorite Slurpee flavor. From sand buckets, to tea kettles to trophies, Slurpee lovers can choose the way they enjoy this iconic refreshment for just $1.49.

WAAAAAHHHHHH??? As my buddy Joe put it, “Gauntlet thrown.” Here’s a pic of that display and the hole your vessel has to fit through:

VERY INTERESTING, 7-11. But IS this a good deal? When you think about it, there’s a science to this. Yeah it might be fun to fill up a GIGANTIC CUP full of Slurpee, but by the time you get halfway through it, the bottom half will be a pool of syrup – nasty. Too SMALL a cup, and you might as well get a normal 7-11 vessel. Plus, you can’t really fill a huge tub and take it home and put it in your freezer – then it’d be a giant ice cube! I see a lot of wasted Slurpee happening tomorrow. The garbage cans on the sidewalks are gonna have red and blue leaking out of them.

The IDEAL situation is get a big ass cup full of the Slurpee goodness and share it with like four people. But then again, the question is, do I really love Slurpees THAT much to save…60 cents? Maybe 70? Per person??? Plus, how much do you wanna bet that the 7-11 closest to me, which is the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE, will be out of every single flavor while the employees lolly-gag to refill the machines?  MOVE FASTER I NEED COLA SLURRY.

Thus, in the end, this is a brilliant “summer kickoff” promotion for 7-11. Slurpees are ice and sugar, which means they are gonna make like 4000% profit on any Slurpee sold, even if you get a punchbowl full of it. Lots of buzz, not much to risk…makes me wonder why they didn’t do this sooner?

Plus, PLENTY of social media buzz with people showing off their huge cups full of Slurpee!  Check out these examples here and here.

So tell me in the comments, Junk Food Nation – what do you think of this promotion? Are you going to partake? Favorite Slurpee flavor? What vessel would you use? Are you a person that gets brain freeze easily?  Tell me tell me tell me.

Today’s junk food: Takis Xplosion!!

You know, even though I see Takis EVERYWEHRE, I’ve only reviewed them once on this blog. I enjoy rolled tortilla snacks – the Doritos Dinamitas were decent. I dunno – never feel the urge to buy Takis over, say, normal Doritos. But when I saw these New Takis Xplosion that claim to be VERY HOT, I had to try them.

First of all, this picture makes it look like the ingredients in this New Takis Xplosion were doused with gasoline and lit on fire! Lawdy. Still, I’m skeptical of the “Very Hot” label. Why is the red bar not alllllll the way to the right if these are very hot?

Plus, while I still find some things spicy, I realize that my palette has been toughening up. A co-worker recently gave me a bag of spicy cheese popcorn because she said it was too spicy; I couldn’t feel a burn until the end of the flavor. Yeah, that was a humble brag. But you get my point – if you’re gonna claim to be spicy, BE SPICY.

New Takis Xplosion have hot chilli pepper resin. Not sure what that is, but that’s the first time I think I’ve seen “resin” as the descriptor.

These New Takis Xplosion looked pretty much like every other Takis I’ve seen – nice tight rolls of tortilla chip, each one looking sort of like a rolled-up one dollar bill. Bright orange color. The aroma from the bag? Definitely cheesy, and a small bit of tang…no nostril curling vinegar or spice smell, though. I want my eyes to water like they’ve been hit with pepper spray when I smell a spicy chip. No dice here.

The first flavor I got when munching these New Takis Xplosion was CHEEEESE HOLY COW LOTS OF CHEESE.  Yeah, they didn’t hold back with the cheesiness of these Takis, holy hell. I’m not sure how to describe it – it wasn’t like these were caked with powder, but the cheese flavor Takis used to blast these rolled chips was extremely vivid! Very milky, creamy, bright, salty – it was like cheese x10!!!! Whoa.

The texture of the Takis was standard – crunchy, crispy, full of corn flavor. It’s weird – I get the same sense with these Takis as I did with the Dinamitas where the chips almost feel like they’re a tiny bit stale…but they’re not. But the way these crunch and come apart makes me feel that way. I guess I’m just used to lay-flat chips and the flakiness that comes with it.  Not a bad texture, though, to be clear.

The Takis definitely had a good tang, presumably from the chili resin and the citric acid. I often feel like spicy things need tang – it helps add to the general savoriness of a spicy flavor so that it’s not just choke-you pepper flavor. The onion powder also helped round out the savoriness.

But was there burn? I mean, sort of – I definitely caught it at the end. Nice lingering burn that was small but there.  Still, while the cheese punch-to-the-face and spicy tang made me sit up wide-eyed in response to the bold flavor…that face quickly went away when the burn never really caught fire.

Bottom line: Not bad. I’d munch them again. And probably plenty spicy for some (not me).

PURCHASED AT: Walmart, Germantown, MD

COST: $2.88

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