Junk food Nation, Happy Monday! Sort of…it IS still Monday, after all. Plus, since we went forward an hour this past Sunday, I’m sure everyone is still groggy. When I was a kid, I remember hating the “Spring Forward” part of Daylight Savings because on Sunday night I’d still be bouncing around complaining “Why do I have to go to bed I’M NOT TIRED.” I was sick all weekend, so last night when the clock struck 10:30, I was more than happy to call it a day and collapse into bed. “Even though it’s 10:30, it’s really only 9:3zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”

On a different note, I woke up to see this all over the place on Facebook:

What?? Now look – this is not a commentary on the current Hilary Clinton e-mail thing, nor do I want this to be a discussion of Republican vs. Democrat. You guys know that on this blog, I try to avoid such that BS – so I don’t want the comment section to become a big flame war. Whether this guy was a Repub or a Dem – WHO DOESN’T USE E-MAIL!? I mean, seriously. What is HAPPENING here??

I mean, I think of e-mail itself being outdated since I do much of my communication via text or DMs now. But how, in 2015, has someone, POLITICIAN OR NOT, NEVER used e-mail?? This is a startling revelation to me. I mean, Lindsay Graham isn’t your grampa who lives in an area where there is no high speed internet – he’s a decorated US Senator and lawyer who is a Colonel in the National Guard. At SOME point he had to have gotten a spam Groupon message like all of us, no? I’M SURE HE *OWNS* A COMPUTER, right? Plus, e-mail has been around for I dunno TWENTY YEARS??

But maybe I’m off base – so I throw the question to you: Do you know someone who has NEVER sent an email before? Again, this is *NOT* a political discussion – I just want to see if I’m totally wrong in feeling like it’s crazy for someone to have used e-mail in this day and age. I mean, no Tumblr I can understand…but e-mail? Let me know in the comments below. Meanwhile…

EPISODE 50 OF THE NOSH SHOW IS HERE!

FIFTY EPISODES, JUNK FOOD NATION!  Holy cow. For the uninitiated, The Nosh Show is a podcast started by Marvo from The Impulsive Buy, featuring Ryan from GrubGrade, Dubba from On Second Scoop, and, of course, me, your friendly neighborhood Junk Food Guy.  And today marks the release of The Nosh Show, Episode 50: Evilly and Cheesity:

This week, “Eric and Dubba praise Cheetos Sweetos and Ryan and Marvo praise Taco Bell’s Sriracha Quesarito. They also discuss Taco Bell’s Cap’n Crunch Delights, Peeps-flavored milk, Cotton Candy Oreo cookies, the world’s most expensive scoop of ice cream, and much more.”  You can listen embedded here:

You can subscribe to The Nosh Show using various services: iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, RSS, or, you can also download the episode.

TODAY’S JUNK FOOD: New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit & New Italian Herb Ritz!!

I decided to review these New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit & New Italian Herb Ritz together because (1) they are both new Nabisco products that (2) are both trying to capitalize on some sort of “Italian-style” angle that (3) isn’t a huge departure or addition to flavors everyone is familiar with. I mean, when I saw these Italian Herb Ritz, for example, I was like, “These haven’t existed for some time now? No? Huh. Ok.”

So let’s start with these New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit! Photos first, then the review:

When I opened up this box of New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit and sniffed, I could pick up the smell of balsamic vinegar. It was light – normally if you sniff balsamic vinegar you slightly burn your nostrils. None of that here. I could pick up some tiny basil notes too.

Placing one in my mouth, I chewed and definitely got more basil flavor than what I picked up just trying to smell the crackers. The standard Triscuit flavor was pretty strong; as a result, while I could taste a tang that reminded me of balsamic vinegar, it was pretty muted – I ate a WHOLE BUNCH of Triscuits and was finally able to achieve that sting of balsamic vinegar I was looking for. By itself, the cracker was just ok – slight tang vinegar flavor, a bit of basl flavor, and it sort of lacked salt.

They weren’t bad – the basic takeaway is that if you’re worried the balsamic flavor will be too strong, don’t be. These didn’t blow me away, but they weren’t bad, per se. Decent execution.

Next up: New Italian Herb Ritz!!

When I opened up one of the sleeves of these New Italian Herb Ritz and sniffed, I could immediately smell rosemary and oregano. Unmistakable. I popped the light Ritz cracker into my mouth and chewed – and it was delightful. The light buttery cracker tasted like it had been infused with olive oil and black pepper flavor, with notes of rosemary, oregano, and yes a tiny bit of basil. It basically tasted like when you go to an Italian restaurant and you dip a piece of bread into a olive oil dish with herbs in it. Not super salty, with just the right amount of herb and olive oil flavor.

Really tasty, without being over the top – the overall flavor was pretty subtle. Basically, these won’t blow you away – just good execution in an already solid cracker.

When it came down to it, despite the Italian herb Ritz being a bit more subtle in flavor, what flavor WAS there was complex and accurate, and as a result I liked them better than the sort of underwhelming Balsamic Vinegar and Basil Triscuit.

If you’ve had either of these, let me know what YOU think the comments below!

PURCHASED AT: Triscuit from Giant Grocery, Van Ness, DC / Ritz from Giant Grocery, Germantown, MD

COST: Both were $3.00 on sale

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