#tamber talks

[tamber-tales]

My friend sent me something that I am unashamedly stealing to show you all

[tamberrio]

I love the raw egg arson siblings

Like girlies nobody is forcing you to do this like you can stop if you want.

[tamber-tales]

The culinary horrors of Craft Night

See, me and a group of my friends have this Thursday night tradition where we theoretically get together and do crafts. Oftentimes this ends up as a game night instead, in which case we claim the craft of playing a game, or watching a movie. But what it always has is Weird Snacks.

You know when you go to the grocery store and see some wacky new flavor of something and think "Gee, I'd like to try that, but I don't want to commit to eating an entire package, and I'd feel bad throwing it away if I hate it." We have collectively solved this problem by inflicting it upon each other every week. That way we all get to try the Weird Snack and it increases the likelihood that at least one person will want to keep whatever's leftover.

Last night @crowscriven inflicted the salmon mousse (part 1, part 2) upon us, but dessert was my horror to bring. I had ordered the Thanksgiving Dinner Oreos back in November, but because of shipping shenanigans they went to my parents' house and I didn't get them until Christmas. And it was finally time to unveil them.

I'm something of an Oreo fanatic. I love trying the new flavors. I carry a quart of milk with me to every Craft Night and drink all or most of it while consuming oddities. And these were very special, only-by-mail-order Oreos that came in this lovely tin:

And when I opened them, the smell (which we later pinned to one specific cookie) was horrendous.

All the better to inflict upon my friends.

Here's our list of flavors; note that all of these were regular Oreos with various candy coatings rather than committing to trying to flavor a cookie like a dinner. A shame. Some of them would have definitely been improved by at least choosing the vanilla cookie over the chocolate one.

I'll go through the comments in the order of intensity of experience:

Sweet potato:

It was fine. Tasted vaguely like confectionery. Nothing special.

"Is this supposed to be sweet potato?"

"It's sweet, not very potatoey."

Carmel apple pie:

It was a bit like one of those things from McDonalds. For me personally this was the second worst one, but everyone else found it unoffensive. I just have a migraine issue with certain kinds of cinnamon flavoring.

"It's alright, kinda cinnamony."

"Tastes like a packet of apple cider from the grocery store."

Cranberry sauce:

This was the winner of the evening, and we are all grateful that we saved it for last. It was very cranberry, with little sour crystals that made a very nice tartness with the sweetness.

"I'd eat more of those!"

"Definitely the best one to end on."

"Can I have the last piece?"

Pumpkin pie:

Very disappointing. It tasted a little like a PSL without the coffee, but only a very little. Just sweet and vaguely holiday-flavored.

"Cheap latte."

"Like licking a pumpkin-scented candle."

"Like letting the wax melt and dipping your finger in it and then putting your finger in your mouth."

"Don't they already make a pumpkin pie cookie? Why is this so lame?"

Creamed corn:

It sure was corn. Nobody like it very much, but it was at the least palatable and tasted food-like.

"Exactly what it says on the tin."

"Why is it so sweet?"

"Very much creamed corn and very much not a flavor an Oreo should be."

Turkey and stuffing:

This was flat out the worst thing we have ever tried at Craft Night. It managed to wrangle that throne from the durian pocky with no contest. We used to argue about which flavors of Oreos were the worst (my personal previous least-favorite was the Sour Patch Kids flavor), but this took the cake. Zero debate.

"This smells vile."

"Strong not-food vibes."

"I think I liked the durian pocky more."

"This tastes like a dirty sponge smells."

"Like gravy you left in the back of the fridge for a week."

"It's like I ate turkey, vomited a little in my mouth, and swallowed it back down."

So! Overall, a terrible but very enjoyable experience, which is what Craft Night should be. As @quohotos very accurately stated, it was like going to a Yankee candle store and being allowed to eat the candles. Except for the turkey one, which was like eating hot garbage.

I don't think I'll be ordering this kind of special edition box again, partly because it was $20 for twelve cookies plus $20 in shipping (which they did not disclose until after the purchase was made), and partly because even thinking about that turkey cookie makes me want to throw up. I'd rather have an Arbor day cookie with real wood. But hey, we had fun, and that's what really matters!

[tamber-tales]

Alright folks, the diehard followers among you may have noticed that another July 12th has passed us by, which means our Craft Night group should have held THE GREAT CEREAL CELEBRATION.

And you would be correct!

I am finally FREE of my stupid elimination diet, and I plan on getting back to posting Craft Night snacks again, beginning with this party!

This year we held it on July 11th for scheduling reasons, and learned the lesson that we really do need to let each other know what we're bringing ahead of time. More on that later. For now, the fare!

First up: regular-ass Cinnamon Toast Crunch

One of my personal favorites. This box was already opened because SOMEONE in our group decided to pregame the cereal party with other friends.

Next: pantry staple Cheerios

A classic. Can't go wrong with these. Honestly, it was nice to have them as a palate cleanser, what with the absolute sugar-fest going on otherwise.

Then: Fruity Pebbles

Gross. I hate these things and always have. Didn't even taste them. One person did turn the leftovers into a cake the next day, and that was okayish. I mostly ate the frosting.

And: Cap'n Crunchs Peanut Butter Crunch

Decent. Didn't cut your mouth up quite like the regular stuff, but one of our friends with a peanut allergy did have some (he also brought it, so go figure. He's an adult). We also did a deep dive on Cap'n Crunch lore because we were trying to figure out who some of the characters on the back of the box were, and learned way too much about Soggies.

The second CTC offering: Waffle version

It's basically the same stuff, but a different (worse) shape. There will be one more CTC in this list.

A cookie with flair: Oreo Puffs

You all know how much I love Oreos. These were pretty good, though some people didn't like them as much as the Oreo O's (I think we got those last year, but I honestly don't remember). I mixed them with the Cap'n Crunch to make homemade Reese's Puffs.

The second Cheerios offering: Cheerios Oat Crunch with Cinnamon

Honestly? Kinda disappointing compared to regular ones. Way too sweet for Cheerios, and the texture of the oats wasn't great.

The one that caused logistics problems: Scooby-Doo Cinnamon Crisp

We really did have a lot of cinnamon-flavored things, didn't we? Anyways, these were so us-coded that THREE people bought them, hence the future need to check in with each other before the celebration next time. I didn't particularly care for the flavor. Some people thought they tasted like a cinnamon-flavored Kix, but Kix is all corn and I could taste the other grains in there. It's not bad, just kinda meh.

The final Cheerio: Banana Caramel

These were. A flavor. And that flavor was banana Runts. Like exclusively. I hate fake banana on a good day, and these were icky. Some people enjoyed them enough to take the box home, so at least I didn't have to deal with it.

My personal favorite: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Root Beer Float

I think these are great. They really do taste like a root beer float. They're better without milk, though. Someone suggested they would be a good sundae topping, and that person is absolutely correct. I'm gonna try that, and with the leftovers I'm gonna make rice-krispy-treat-style cereal bars.

Other than that, we had a big bowl of Chex mix made by the lovely @crowscriven, which, like the Cheerios, was also a good palate cleanser and much-needed savory relief in this land of sugar. A couple of friends wandered up to the garage and, when offered cereal, were gobsmacked at the number of options, but they accepted the duty to try some (as they should).

Many thanks to everyone for continuing on the journey to making THE GREAT CEREAL CELEBRATION into a real national holiday. Can't wait to see what we find for next year!

[tamber-tales]

Crow made beautiful delicious mocktails :)

They glitter!

[tamber-tales]

Well I forgot I can’t put videos in a reblog so here it is: the secret horror in my fridge

[tamber-tales]

Today on my adventures, which I may detail at a later date, I found the elusive, the mysterious, the very-recently-in-service,

Denver

Ghost

Wendy’s

[tamber-tales]

So today I’ve been going through all my DVDs because I’m setting them up at my new house, and I’ve discovered that, despite making a spreadsheet specifically to catalogue movies I already own, I have managed to acquire several more duplicates than I would have expected :/