Happy Holidays!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #257

There simply are no words, other than... Merry Pringles...

Random Tater Pic of the Day #256

Pringles around the holidays is always known for their out-there flavors, but sometimes they go a bit far, falling into odd-texture weird taste realm of Jelly Belly.

I'm not the only one who feels this way. Here's a pic of friend and sometime-contributor to French Fry Diary, expressing her concern for Pringles Sugar Cookie Potato Crisps.

Yeah, I think Pixie speaks for all of us. If we want sugar cookies, we'll have sugar cookies, and if we want potato chips, we'll have potato chips, or crisps, as Pringles calls 'em.

Stick to chips/crisps, Pringles.

French Fry Diary 725: Lay's Milk Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

We've talked about chocolate covered potato chips before. Usually it's a special or gourmet thing. Here a major potato chip company, Lay's, has them, of course in limited edition just for the holiday season.

Now I got the Wavy Milk Chocolate, but they are also available in Dark Chocolate, and Milk Chocolate with Almond Bits. These are decisively decadent, but it is worth mentioning that the Dark have less calories. That said, they're not too bad. Just don't eat a few bags in a sitting, even though they're just fifteen chips per bag.

The chips are thin, but not completely covered with chocolate so you get a good portioning of both the salty and the sweet. These are really good, they almost melt in your mouth, and they just might be a bit addictive. Yeah, that's a recommendation. Good thing they're only around for a limited time.

French Fry Diary 631: Sweet Potatoes Vs. Yams

Last week I posted some really cool pics from my friend Robin Renee of her Homemade Vegan Sweet Potato Pies. A conversation via text later indicated that Robin didn't think they were technically sweet potatoes, but yams instead. This got me thinking about what the real difference between sweet potatoes and yams actually was… and therein I discovered quite the conspiracy.

It would seem that what we think of in America as yams are really just sweet potatoes, just another variety of them. We've been calling them the wrong name for years. It's just like those French taking credit for fries from the Belgians, we've been giving yummy sweet potatoes the name yams when they are not yams at all. You can read about what's really what in the world of yams and sweet potatoes here.

And while we're sort of on the subject of Robin Renee and the holidays, you might want to check out these two YouTube videos, "Hare Krishna Christmas" and "The Yule Song." Enjoy!

French Fry Diary 496: Pringles Memphis BBQ

Okay, show of hands, who thinks, like me, that Pringles comes out with a new potato chip flavor every week just to see if we notice?

I just got through the arduous task of trying some of their 'interesting' holiday flavors - Cinnamon & Sugar, Pumpkin Pie Spice, and White Chocolate Peppermint, and now I find this... the far more enticing Memphis BBQ flavor.

When it comes to potato snacks (as opposed to, say, ribs or brisket), Memphis BBQ indicates a much hotter heat than most BBQ flavors. As I opened the tennis ball can, I hoped they weren't that hot.

They smelled really good. These potato crisps have a pleasant barbecue taste with just enough bite and heat without being overbearing. I liked these a lot. Recommended.

French Fry Diary 477: More Pringles Holiday Flavors

We have talked about the Cinnamon & Sugar Potato Crisps from Pringles before. Basically they were just regular Pringles chips with a dusting of cinnamon sugar. I kinda expected the Pumpkin Pie Spice chips to be a similar gig.

As usual, in the cases of strange chip flavors, I made The Bride try one first. Her reaction was "Meh." It was just a chip with pumpkin pie spice dusted onto it. The aroma from the can was spot on, much like a scented candle, but after trying one myself, she had it right. They smell great, but I didn't care all that much for these, and as catastrophically picky an eater as I am, I like pumpkin pie.

The final flavor in the holiday trio that my big sister Bobbie got for me is rather specific - White Chocolate Peppermint. These didn't smell so great. Again, The Bride played guinea pig. Her assessment was that these were two tastes that didn't belong together, and related the experience to taking a bite of chocolate mint, then a Pringles crisp, then repeat.

I felt there were more in line with a bubble gum or buttered popcorn Jelly Belly, or faux beef made from tofu, or more appropriately, Lay's Chicken & Waffles Potato Chips - the flavors and textures just do not go well together. It feels wrong. That said however, I found the White Chocolate Peppermint much tastier and preferable to the Pumpkin Pie Spice.

Maybe Pringles will bring these out again next holiday season, or perhaps some new concoctions. Thanks, Bobbie, for getting these for me!

French Fry Diary 468: And So It's Come to This...

In the last couple months, The Bride got me a bag of rare potato chips from Anchor Food Finds, my big sister Bobbie found some holiday themed flavors of Pringles, my friend Marni bought me some snacks from Amish Farmers Markets, and I myself have been trying to obtain the three Save Your Fave potato chip flavors from Lay's. That's a lot of odd chips.

The Bride called tonight on her way home, and said she was stopping at Wawa. Did I want anything?

I told her I wanted potato chips, just a regular bag of regular potato chips. We both had a pretty good long laugh.

And so, it's come to this... I've got potato chip fatigue…

French Fry Diary 466: Pringles Cinnamon & Sugar

My loving big sister spied some intriguing flavors of Pringles Potato Crisps over the holidays, so of course she scooped them up for me. Wow. Looking at the flavors, I'm not sure if she's trying help me with the blog - or if she's mad at me.

The first flavor we tried was the Cinnamon & Sugar. The Bride liked them but said they were simply Pringles with cinnamon sugar in them. Advertising on the nose, I guess. Especially when you consider they are Cinnamon & Sugar Flavored.

I tried one very tentatively, as I am sometimes allergic to cinnamon, usually the aroma more than ingesting it. I was feeling funky before I ate the crisp, it was definitely getting to me, only 'Flavored' or not.

The Bride was right on target, just a Pringles crisp with baker's cinnamon sugar on it. A bit too much for me though. Good thing The Bride likes them.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #89

Some of the special favors of Pringles that came out over the holidays, courtesy of my big sister Bobbie.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #77

Happy Holidays from Herr's, and French Fry Diary!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #51

For the American Fourth of July holiday, here's a pick from the Recipe Girl website of Red White and Blue Potato Salad. Check out the recipe here.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #42

Here's a pic of the wonderful potatoes made by family friend Roland for our Passover seder this past weekend. As always, they were terrific.

French Fry Diary 218: Passover Surprise

I attended Pesach the other night with The Bride's family. This was actually a big deal as I'm not Jewish, and The Bride was out of town. However I married into a wonderful loving family so they brought the goy along to share in the holiday. I love these folks a lot. Sometimes they even put up with my Christmas tree and Easter egg silliness.

The big surprise, and the reason I'm talking about this here, was finding French fries on the table. Just for the record, for those who don't know, the favorite fried food is not standard operating procedure for Passover, even though they were kosher. Suddenly amidst some strange and exotic foods (yes, even after almost two decades) was a plate of familiar fried friends.

These fries were natural cut Russet potato wedges, tossed in olive oil, seasoned and baked - all courtesy of a family friend who's also a wonderful cook. They were crisp on the outside and soft and hot on the inside - the perfect combination for any fry. They were great, and for this naive goyim boy - no offense to the cook, the brisket, the gefilte fish, or the terrific company - they were the best thing on the table.

Thank you and Happy Pesach!

French Fry Diary 185: Famous Dave's Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que

Black Friday this year was spent chilling with my brother-in-law and my nephew, and before jumping into the crazy world of holiday shopping, the bro treated me to lunch at Famous Dave's. It had been some time since I'd been there and was looking forward to seeing what they had and didn't have.

Famous Dave's is a bit on the darker side of franchise restaurants like T.G.I.Fridays and Applebee's with all the stuff on the walls. It's like hunting lodge from hell décor, with bad country music and southern rock, interspersed with the occasional holiday song. Not the happiest environment, especially with ammo boxes on the wall, but the food is good.

Our waitress 'Famous' Keri happily announced that they had Pepsi products. I had noticed that the various barbeque sauces on the table were in Hank's Root Beer boxes but I was unsure if they offered it - they do. Pepsi worked though, nice and cold to counteract the hotness of the sauces.

Speaking of the sauces, after we ordered we were treated to a 'sauce tour.' A basket of homemade potato chips were served with five empty cups for sampling the five different sauces. They include: Sweet and Zesty, my personal favorite that I even have at home (Famous Dave's also sells these at supermarkets); Texas Pit, kinda hot for me; Devil Spit, this was milder than I thought it be, not bad; Rich and Sassy, was just good bbq sauce and my nephew's favorite; and Georgia Mustard, being mustard, I passed on it.

The sauce tour came with those homemade potato chips, similar to the ones at the British Chip Shop, only not hot, more like traditional potato chips. They were very crispy, but as I said, not very hot, but that's okay, they were for the sauces. I enjoyed them very much.

The burger was very good, just like a burger cooked on the grill at a summer cookout, just the way I like it. The fries that came with them were natural cut potato wedges with ripples on them, thin ones like on Utz Ripple chips as opposed to Utz Wavy chips, ya know? And they go with the fry, not against it like crinkle cuts. These ripples should allow for more crispiness, which I wish they were. Otherwise these were quite good, and the bbq sauces made them even better.

All in all, a great meal with family, and the fries were pretty good too. Thanks for lunch, Matt!

Summer!

Happy First Day of Summer from French Fry Diary!

Memorial Day Grilled Fries

Special treat this time out, folks. A recipe from me, cobbling together a few ideas from here and there, and geared for this weekend's Memorial Day barbeque.

We took russet potatoes, cut them lengthwise, then again, and then again, so they were similar to long potato wedges. Next we threw them in a big bowl and dowsed them in about a half cup of olive oil. Next some salt, pepper, seasoned salt and paprika were thrown in. Then with bare hands you toss the potato wedges like a salad so that all the potatoes get the mixture on them.

For the next step put the bowl in the microwave for five minutes. We're looking for that almost baked potato consistency, but not quite, because the finish is what makes this recipe a barbeque holiday treat. Next stop is the charcoal grill to get those amazing grill lines and make them golden brown. Plate them and enjoy, crispy grilled on the outside, soft hot baked potato on the inside. Mmmm... Happy Memorial Day!