French Fry Diary 626: Cabanas - TCM Cruise Day One

This past October I had the opportunity to go on the TCM Classic Cruise on board the Disney Magic. It was my fiftieth birthday gift from The Bride.

After you board, you have time on your hands as your rooms take some time to get ready, and sometimes your luggage takes some time to arrive as well. The Disney Cruise lets you make the most of your wait time by opening their huge buffet up on the top deck, Cabanas. It's like a Florida tourism feeding frenzy.

First things first, buffets on the Disney Cruise work different than traditional buffets. They are station based as opposed to line based. If you want French fries, you go right to the French fries as opposed to waiting in a single line until you get to the French fries. Also, new on this trip, due to supposed health reasons, they have servers who get the food for you. You can't do it yourself any more. Not so happy about that, and I'll talk about it in another post. I get it, but it is what it is.

I got, or rather my server got, some chicken and those wonderful baked steak fries the Disney Cruise is famous for. The chicken was thin cuts, very spicy and citrusy, of which I was only allowed two pieces, and I got a reasonable amount of the fries. You can see what a serving size is, plus what I got when I asked for more please would be from the picture.

The fries were very good, but you can see how folks are being shamed into smaller portions by the powers that be. Happy, but not happy, if you know what I mean.

French Fry Diary 625: Dominic's Tavern

They always say start with a joke, so I will. This one comes from my friend and fellow South Jersey Writers' Group member Jessica Walsh. What day do potatoes fear the most? Friday. Ba dum dum.

Jessica is the co-editor, along with Amy Holiday, of the new SJWG speculative fiction anthology Reading Glasses, and she also found us this great place for the aftermeetings of the SJWG - Dominic's Tavern.

I have to say up front I really like this place. We got to go several times before we moved our meeting venue to another town. Still I think the extra hike would be worth it for Dominic's. It has a friendly biker bar vibe, lots of big screen TVs, and waitresses in pseudo-Hooters wear, but not too over the top. No matter how you slice it, Dominic's is far far superior to either Applebee's of the Phily Diner.

What I usually get are these terrific big chicken tenders with a spicy kick. They're called jumbo tenders and they kinda remind me of the Cap'n Crunch Chicken that Planet Hollywood used to have back in the day. And the tenders come with large natural cut regular cut French fries on the side. They are a bit greasy but crisp on the outside, and hot and soft on the inside, the way a good fry should be.

The SJWG, including Jessica, Krista Magrowski, Amy Holiday, Mieke Zamora-Mackay, Janice Wilson, Karen Harbin, Mark Doenges, and others have had a great time at Dominic's in our aftermeetings, recommended. And (shameless plug) don't forget to click on their names to see the terrific work of these great local writers. Good food, good conversation, good friends, good times.

French Fry Diary 624: Wholesome Goodness Potato Chips

Wholesome Goodness, whose slogan is "love foods that love you back," has been showing up in local Rite Aids and Wawas recently. Besides potato chips they also sell healthy cereals, sauces, granola, broths, and juices. They say their mission is "to replace food that has become highly processed, loaded with sodium and fat, and made with ingredients you can't pronounce." Let's see how their potato chips are.

As usual I opted for the Barbecue Flavored variety of Wholesome Goodness Kettle-Cooked Potato Chips. They have no transfats, no MSG, no cholesterol, and even though they are cooked in vegetable oil (containing one or more of the following: canola, corn, or sunflower). They are also kosher, all natural, and have no preservatives.

True to their word however the hardest ingredients to pronounce are paprika and torula yeast. They seem to have a problem with many ingredients, and are quite proud to go so far as to ban one hundred and twenty-six ingredients used by other companies.

Upon opening the bag I was struck by a wonderful smokey barbecue aroma. The taste of the chips themselves did not disappoint either. The barbecue flavor is subtle and understated, it's nice with no burn. They have the twisted shapes promised by kettle cooking that is so perfect for dipping. These chips were really good.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #172

Here's another courtesy of friend and sometime contributor Robin Renee. Wow, those lucky Stockton State College students!

Fry High

Apparently there's a reason you can't just eat one fry or one potato chip.

Much like chocolate, or the more illegal addictive substances, French fries have a particular effect on the human body.

And no, Health Nazis, I'm not talking about obesity or transfats.

Apparently, French fries can get you high. 

Wow, man...

Random Tater Pic of the Day #171

I had the opportunity to go to T.G.I. Fridays this past weekend, and noticed a change in their fries. Whether it's a permanent change or perhaps they ran out that day, they had regular cuts rather than their usual natural cuts. Either way, they were still quite good dipped in that wonderful Jack Daniels sauce.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #170

This lovely plate of fish and chips comes from the Three Broomsticks in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Orlando, courtesy of FFD friend and contributor Sarah Hawkins-Miduski. You can read the full blog entry here.

French Fry Diary 623: Utz Wavy Baby Back Ribs Chips

I've talked before how much I love Herr's Baby Back Rib Potato Chips, or pig chips as I like to call them, before. So when I saw these - Utz Wavy Baby Back Ribs flavored crisp all natural Potato Chips (another contender for longest chip name ever), I just had to get them.

I can only really compare them to the Herr's version. These chips are thinner, and their ridges are ever so slightly smaller. The thinness, usually a Lay's trait, makes them a little less functional as dipping chips.

I have to say the flavor isn't as strong as Herr's, but I think that's a good thing. The baby back ribs seasoning flavor is still there, just very subtle. I like it. So much so that if I have a choice between pig chips - Herr's or Utz, I think I'm going for the Utz.

The Power of Potatoes

Folks are always telling me how bad French fries are for me, and that potatoes are starches not vegetables. Well, ha, it turns out that they're not as bad for me (or you) as we all thought.

This article indicates that potatoes, especially sweet potatoes, are pretty fierce disease fighters. Check it out here.

Thanks to friend Lisa on the Facebook for hipping me to this.

French Fry Diary 622: Smith's Bacon Fries

These are not at all what they sound. The full name of the product is Smith's Bacon Flavour Fries, and it's a 'bacon flavour cereal snack,' which I've been told is a breakfast snack. These come from a stash my big sister Bobbie got for me from the UK by way of friend Kelly from Toronto. Thank you, Bobbie and Kelly!

We've talked about Smith's Potato Crisps here before, but this isn't first opportunity to actually try one of their products. The bags are tiny, about the size you get cookies in at Wawa, holding 24 grams, which is roughly .8 ounces - not a lot. Airlines feed you better. The ingredients indicate bacon flavoring as opposed to bacon, and the packaging advises they be eaten immediately after opening, and that they're 'ideal with all types of drinks.' Well, color me intrigued.

Upon opening, they had a very smokey aroma, not pleasant, but not all that unpleasant either. The thick inch long strips are formed and seasoned to appear like bacon. The Bride (yeah, she played guinea pig again) said they tasted very artificial, but with a good crispy bacon taste. I didn't think they were that bad. I ate more than a few.

I can definitely say I get the crispy (extra crispy) vibe in the aftertaste. And the aftertaste is the problem. They kinda have that same thing going on that a lot of the 'meat chips' have, plus a little bit of the whole processed potato (although notably there's no potato here) taste in there as well. Good in small amounts.