Meme Schmeme: Six Questions

Very few people I'd do this for, Chrissy is one of them.
But I won't enjoy it and I'm only using photos I'm sorting through anyway. (Look at my dad as a baby, and he claims he doesn't have a sweet tooth.)


Ten Years Ago I was sitting at a computer in a cubicle at a job I loathed. I was clock watching and trying to mentally leave my surroundings. I thought Falling Down was a mighty fine film.


Six Things To Do
˚ Plan a trip to Noah's Ark
˚ Make path for piece of junk washer to exit and new piece of junk washer to enter
˚ Buy more candy
˚ Eat more cheese (it still is, after all, Dairy Month)
˚ Make alternate plans for trip to Noah's Ark when plans unravel
˚ Lose weight


Fav Snackage
Please refer to the Gummy Pyramid (I told you I was sorting though old photos).


What I'd Do If I Were Loaded
That's loaded, not load bearing.
What I'm doing now, only more of it. And further away for longer periods of time. With a house, several dogs, and cabana boys.


Places I Have Lived
Madison, WI
La-X (the city, not the airport)
The Twin Cities

Oh, I've wasted my life.

Why The Wisconsin Candy Dish?
Because Candy Jones was taken. This started as a class assignment with a lot more local dish and professional type stuff like interviews and research. So here I am no longer being graded, doing a meme.

Procrastination Sunday: QBZ Warheads

Summer, baseball, a Sunday drive to visit the Ho Chunk Nation. All reasons why this post is short and sweet. And sour in a good way.
QBZ Warheads were on the new product sale rack at Walgreen's in mid-May so I bought them, ate them alone, ate them on the phone, took a nap, then ate the rest with Butter Snaps.
I tossed a bag to Bug who snarfed them in seconds without comment.
That, from a 12-year-old, is high praise.
The niblet blocks, not as crazy sour as other Warheads, are almost mellow in comparison. They're an approachable snacking size and the colors are fun and appealing. The sour fruit chews are easy for aging (or rotting) teeth to chew, so keep chewing while there's a tooth in your head (the new slogan of the American Dental Association).
This post is dedicated to our youngest taste tester, Bug, wishing him a sweet congratulations on winning yesterday's Home Run Derby at the WMLL ball park.

Way to smack a ball, Bug!

Home Run Derby photo by Jackie, aka Bug's granny

Emily's Chocolate-Covered Fruit

"Are you Wisconsin Candy Dish?"
"Why yes. Yes I am."
A delivery guy showed up with a box of chocolate-covered fruit from Emily's the other day, still chilly in it's cold storage pack. I didn't think those things actually worked, but they do. Mmm, thermal control.
Maybe the thick, waxy coating on the Everyday Chocolates from Emily's Everyday Treasures helped keep them from melting. Like they did minutes after arranging them in candy dishes on Nitro Nanci's garden table. And of course Nanci has to rearrange everything; so that didn't help.

If you like sugar with your sugar, I mean fruit, this is a less guiltier than usual pleasure.
The worst I can say about this candy, is that the chocolate gets in the way of some succulent dried fruit.
The strawberries and cherries tasted the best, countering the thick, waxy dark chocolate with their girth, and in the cherry's case, a sweet tartness. They're made from sour cherries which taste nothing like the ones we used to chuck over the fence into the Erdman's backyard because, well, we hated them. We threw rotten apples from the Prestigiacomo side, and rotten plums, tomatoes, cherries, and apples from ours. A malevolent fruit salad.
Judging from the mouthful of strawberry chocolates Nanci shoved in her mouth (you do not want to see that photo), she preferred the Chocolate-Covered Strawberries.
She managed to say, "Mmpff, good. Cost at store? Bllmmpff, haven't seen them. Strawberry."


There was something odd going on with one of the blueberry chocolates. I was eating them by the handful, thinking, "Blueberries and dark chocolate, how healthy am I. Where are the pork rinds?"
Then I ate one which tasted like my last lip wax.
However, despite radioactive dog drool which had to be scrubbed off Silkwood style, and the feeding frenzy which was last night's Mallard's game, I polished off the last of them without incident when I got home. (The funky animal in question is Rufus, who dragged me around the duck pond like a discarded peanut shell stuck to his fur. More on the mammoth St. Bernard later.)
I would get a pack of the cherry Emily's, and the strawberry is not without its charm. The cranberry? Eh. The chocolate blueberries might be okay on a road trip.
If there were a thin milk chocolate coating on Emily's chocolate-covered fruit, I'd be eating them right now.

A Walk On The Wet Side

After The Aftermath

Houses didn't collapse into draining lakes around here, but things weren't quite right with a few objects al fresco.

A picnic table submerged in water is just what those upstart ducks need. And remember boys and girls, don't eat lunch at Mendota Park in sandals—a Lake Mendota duck will nibble your toes. And now that the picnic tables are a bit moist, you're bait.

Is that where I left the Raspberry Cheesecake ice cream?

Let's have another look.
Can anyone resist a Doberman in sunglasses?

Cheesecake swimming in raspberry ice cream (swimming in Lake Mendota). Mmm, melty.

Back in my freezer you go, prodigal ice cream.

Does anyone remember where we parked the car?

The parking lot belongs to Them! now.

Has Yo Jimbo been here?

Lactose Tolerant

In case you didn't know: June IS Dairy Month

Testers' Take
Babcock's Grasshopper ice cream wasn't for Jackie, she's not a mint ice cream or bug eater. Grasshopper is still available as a regular flavor according to the Dairy Store's Online Menu, which should be almost completely ignored. You must go there in person, fighting all the over achievers in the lake shore dorms for Badger Camp.

Bug's granny didn't like the School of Medicinnamon either, although she described it as, "A piece of coffee cake in the morning with ice cream on it."
And what, may I ask, is wrong with that? Toss on a hunk of Asiago cheese with a malted on the side and I'm there.
The Double Scotch was too butterscotchy for her, and she wanted her double shot cut with vanilla ice cream.
She thought the Cotton Candy tasted like "ice cold cotton candy," making it sound so good I forgot how much it really sucked.
None of the adults liked the Chocolate Cookie.
Last seen eating: Three scoops of Pineapple Cake ice cream instead of her morning egg. She says it tastes like my mother's cheesecake and a banana split. Both excellent breakfast foods.

Karen Didn't like the Grasshopper, Cotton Candy, or Chocolate Cookie. She found the first two smacked of artificial flavors, claiming Roscoe wouldn't eat the Cotton Candy off the floor. (I've seen him eat cigarette butts out of an ash tray to get to pizza crust.)
The Grasshopper was over mintified and the Chocolate Cookie was just too much, but Karen loved, loved, loved the School of Medicinnamon.

She also loved the Pineapple Cake which reminded her of Italian ice, only creamier.
The Double Scotch was just the morning pick-me-up Karen needed when I burst in all adrip with BGH. She even tasted coffee in her double scotch. Good for you, Karen.
Last seen eating: A bowl of Double Scotch.
Bug said, "It's too hot for ice cream."
He did, however, shove an entire roll of blue raspberry bubble gum tape from the Island in his mouth and later come lurking about with an empty bowl ala Oliver Twist.
Kids these days with their Rock Band and their Blu-ray and their bowls of gruel.

I don't know about you, but we were brought up to eat ice cream for breakfast. Maybe that's why Bill Cosby's Chocolate Cake For Breakfast is so funny to the lactose tolerant crowd.
Last seen eating: Chocolate Cookie ice cream.
MIA: Raspberry Cheesecake

In The Test Kitchen

Back From The Dairy Store

June is Dairy month and the Dairy Store Ice Cream menu has melted. The June Menu at Babcock was less than descriptive, and they've already mooved on to July. BGH and warm weather? Here's what I took home from the June Menu:

Chocolate Cookie
Ice cream sandwich pieces in chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce
Overkill? Perhaps. It was too rich for the elders, although Vince and Bug seemed to enjoy it.
Two out of five udders





Double Scotch and Cotton Candy
Butterscotch ice cream with butterscotch sauce and spun sugar colored pink then frozen
The Double Scotch was my favorite. Great name, simple concept—butterscotch sauce in butterscotch ice cream. It reminded me of Butter Rum Lifesavers hidden in a sear sucker pocket.
Four-and-a-half udders





The Cotton Candy ice cream effected the weather in the back yard. A front from the steamy morning air and Roscoe's breath met frozen pink sugar, forming a light fog.
I don't think anyone but Jackie (Vince, Bug, and Roscoe's granny) liked the cotton candy, it was too bland and sweet. I'll check the footage and get back to you.
Half an udder





Grasshopper
Leftover blender drinks from the sixties and ice cream sandwich pieces from the Chocolate Cookie ice cream
I didn't care for it, and Bug was the only one who claimed to like it. I think because of the name.
Half an udder for you, Grasshopper





Pineapple Cake
Pineapple cake flavored ice cream with pineapple pieces
This was the ice cream that drew me to the Dairy Store on a Saturday morning. It was disappointing, missing the citrus bite and large pieces of cake I wanted. Karen and Jackie liked it, will post more from the taste testers later.
Two-and-a-half udders

Raspberry Cheesecake
Cheesecake ice cream with raspberry twirl and cheese cake hunks

I don't know what it tastes like because someone, Zach, forgot to stack it in the pile with the six other flavors I had him spelunking for. I'll be seeing you soon, Zach.





The School of Medicinnamon
Cinnamon ice cream with praline and caramel swirls
Karen and I loved this premium cinnamon ice cream. Pralines offset the lightly spiced cinnamon; something to snack on while you gorge. Somehow, the swirls of caramel weren't too much. Yum.
Four udders

This menu is dedicated to Sam, Nitro Nanci's Brittany Spaniel, one of the sweetest lap sitting, door-to-door treat scrounging pups to fetch a ball.

We'll miss ya, boy

Sam photo from Nanci and the Sam Collection

Roscow

New Flavor: Dog Nose

Cow Gum From The Island

What's dispensing from that cow's butt? Why it's blue raspberry bubble gum all the way from Manitoulin Island and the effervescent Chrissy.
From the Bubble Mania Barnyard collection, this little plastic bovine didn't produce stale gum or cut my tongue or cheeks. Not those cheeks, we have a strict one butt per post policy here at The Dish.
The bubble gum tape dispenser makes a lovely conversation piece, easily moved from place to place to drive home the point, "Hey, I'm chewing something I got from a cow's butt!"
Overwhelming craving for Babcock Ice Cream taking over every fiber of being.
Mmmooo, wonder what the School of Medicinnamon tastes like, syringes and spice? How does Pineapple Cake or Raspberry Cheesecake sound?
Yeah, pretty damn good.
Ice cream for breakfast, it's what does a body good.
Yes, I'm still on a diet.
To be continued...