Review: New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit; New Italian Herb Ritz; Nosh Show Ep. 50: Evilly and Cheesity; Never Sent an Email??

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I mean, I think of e-mail itself being outdated since I do much of my communication via text or DMs now.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:

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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: iTunesStitcherTuneInRSS, or, you can also download the episode.

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

New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit & New Italian Herb Ritz

New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit & New Italian Herb Ritz: The Money Shots

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:

New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit: The Money Shot

New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit: The Money Shot

New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit

New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit

New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit

New Balsamic Vinegar & Basil Triscuit

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!!

New Italian Herb Ritz: The Money Shot

New Italian Herb Ritz: The Money Shot

New Italian Herb Ritz

New Italian Herb Ritz

New Italian Herb Ritz

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

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Discuss - 17 Comments

  1. MP says:

    My mom is 73 & she’s never used email. She doesn’t even know how to type. My parents still get their news from a newspaper. I’m 36 & I’ve never owned a cell phone (!) I think I sent maybe 5 emails in the past year.

  2. Jessica says:

    Old people have trouble adapting to technology because it’s changed so much. I honestly wish my mother would give it up because, on top of having to help her with her physical limitations (which I understand), I have to go run every time she’s having trouble with her computer. She tapped the “edit” button on her Kindle email and couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t open messages. Stuff like that.

  3. DeannaR says:

    The only people whom I know that have not sent an email were born decades before the computer was even invented.

  4. MKC says:

    My mom who is 91 has sent an e-mail and got a kick out of it. Admittedly, it was on my computer and I had set her up but she thought it was “neat.”

  5. Johnny says:

    I have family members that are 77-94 that have ever used email. It’s understandable since they’re that old and honestly they have no need for it. They are not the type to need Groupon or anything like that

  6. Kelly says:

    My grandfather was extremely computer savvy and was on ebay, email, surfing the web, and doing digital photography when he died at the age of 88. My grandmother used email as well until her death at 93. I am another person who has never owned a cell phone and never sent a text. I will be 40 next week. In my defense, we just got cell service where I live 2 years ago.

  7. Elise says:

    Old people are the worst ugh. Every time there’s a new tech change at my work, all of the “should already be retired” demographic goes into a panic. So annoying. My parents are in their mid 60s and are wired, albiet they kind of suck at it and my mom is a very annoying facebook friend, and my dad doesn’t understand voicemails… they sure try. My mom even has a booming ebay business. Anyway, feel free to put me on your tally, I vote that email rules and old people drool.

    In other news I am sad the triscuits are not more balsamic vinegar flavored. I love me some balsamic, or as they call it on the steets, “bals vin”. Okay I just say that.

    • ibagoalie says:

      Can hardly wait til you are old and decrepit. Then will I be reading similar comments from your children?

    • junkfoodguy says:

      @ibagoalie: 🙂 fair enough, fair enough. Although I have a feeling that when I’m a grandparent my grandkids will be like, “What, you’ve NEVER sent messages with your mind before??? You have to use you FINGERS????? PFFFFFFT.”

  8. Beeb says:

    My mom has sent very few e-mails, age 71. My Dad retired two years ago and was working his job after retirement and was e-mailing all the time. On another note, apparently President Clinton has only sent 3 e-mails in his life….who knew? I heard that on a reliable network.

  9. Technosquid says:

    It just came out that our governor here in Minnesota only has one email for personal and government matters, and it’s @aol.com

  10. Sara says:

    Well…there are a few Amish families in my neck of the woods, but I don’t feel comfortable inquiring about their internet habits.

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