Octopus Overlords

I recall them being more prevalent, but I don't know if I remember them being "better" (personally). I know we loved BK in high school because a couple Whopper Juniors made for a cheap meal.

Sudy wrote: ↑Sun Apr 04, 2021 10:43 am This history on Wikipedia is interesting. My sole experience with Hardee's was in North Carolina between 95 and 98, which would have been just before/during the Carl's Jr. merger in April 97. Other than the peach cobbler dessert, my only memory is of what I think were multi-decker burgers with square shaped patties. Everything felt like an excess there. (A delicious excess, but one that had you sick by the end of the meal.) I feel like they also did something with sourdough there, perhaps as a promotion. But I may be crossing that memory with Burger King and Culver's who have done similar.

I don't think roast beef was on the menu at that time, not on my area. Wikipedia says they semi-acquired a chain named Rax Roast Beef in 1994, which would place it in that time frame. Apparently Rax was in 38 states at their peak, but I never remember hearing the name. This was after the Roy Rogers acquisition in 1990. I can't remember if I recall fried chicken on the menu in the mid-90s. Possibly.

But nothing on the current menu looks familiar, I presume because most of it is post-Carl's stuff, even though it says the chains diverged again a couple years ago (at least in terms of marketing).

We had Hardee's here into the early 80s. Then they all sat vacant for a long time until all the store fronts slowly became Tim Horton's in the 00s.

Of all the delicious things this country hides, I'm sorry that's what we had to export.

Yeah, we get crap poutine north of the border, here. It makes no sense. Tim Horton's does have a pretty good deal for Tim Bits and their fast food version the chicken panini is pretty good and sometimes they do a good deal on a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel... or they did in the before times. It's probably been close to two years since I hit one of their drive-thrus even though they totally took over my immediate area. They are like what people used to make jokes about for Starbucks. There are three of them on my artery to the expressway, a 4 mile drive.

Ya HArdees still has a Frisco sourdough burger. Not bad as I recall.

Rax was awesome. MUCH better than Arbys.

Chicken is a crappy beef substitute. It tastes nothing like beef! And yet chicken can be good as chicken.

As I've mentioned in the past, the secret to not hating meat substitutes is to stop thinking of them as fake beef and start thinking of them as a different food altogether. Stop trying to figure out if a veg burger tastes like a hamburger. Instead, decide whether the veg burger tastes good in and of itself. Then you can consider whether having more veg burgers and fewer hamburgers is worth it for the benefits.

A lot of people who avoid 'fake meat' think nothing of eating more chicken to get away from red meat. They are switching to a different food rather than trying to imagine that their chicken sandwich is a hamburger.

Because that would be silly.

Sudy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:13 am I recall them being more prevalent, but I don't know if I remember them being "better" (personally). I know we loved BK in high school because a couple Whopper Juniors made for a cheap meal.

Definitely more prevalent, but yeah, I guess I agree about them not necessarily being better. That's mostly nostalgia talking. But now, good luck finding one, and if you do, they're quite subpar. I actually can't remember the last time I stepped into one.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:02 am They are like what people used to make jokes about for Starbucks. There are three of them on my artery to the expressway, a 4 mile drive.

That's pretty much how they are in Canada. I looked it up once, and my city seemed to have the most Tim Hortons per capita of any other city. I don't exaggerate when I say they are on pretty much every major corner. For comparison's sake, I think we have 3 Starbucks locations tops, and one of them is in a Chapters, and the two others are standalone.

Have an online buddy who goes to BK all the time and lives off their $1 bacon cheeseburger.

Not something I'd brag about...

Behold, the resurrection of original McD's french fries. The only catch is you have to make them yourself.

For those who don't care about history and only want the recipe:

I tried Burger King's Impossible Whopper. No cheese or onions. (Sans cheese is usually how I prefer my Whoppers as I believe they stand on their own, and I didn't want it to drown out the taste of the patty during today's experiment. White onion I don't mind a couple thin slices, but I didn't feel like tasting them all afternoon.)

Impression: Mildly positive.

I enjoyed it. It smells, looks, and tastes good enough. But it doesn't stand up to detailed scrutiny. That doesn't mean it's a failure; it was satisfying, and I think I could switch to these without much difficulty to (pardon the cliché) make the world a better place.

The inside of the patty looks a lot like meat. However if you examine the surface it doesn't look quite right. The taste... it's good. Impossible burgers are flavoured with heme. And with those toppings slathered on, it's tasty. But there's definitely an aftertaste. Not a bad aftertaste, but something different. Mrs. Nym on the other hand said she didn't like the flavour, but bear in mind she only had one bite and she's a fairly picky eater who can be slow to warm up to new things. Next time I think I'll try one with cheese.

Nutrition-wise, though... Kraken already touched on it. There's no benefit here. Fats-wise, it's a wash. There's a lot less cholesterol. But there's more than double the sodium. Double the fiber, but still only 6g.


I can't say I wouldn't prefer the original beef Whopper instead. But that's not the point, right? And I didn't expect it in the first place.

Wife declared the other day she's done with red meat (at least until she starts craving my ribs). So I bought a burger-sized portion of the impossible (-ly expensive) crap for $6, and fried it up, mixing with a jar of Prego, zuke sticks, spinach and cherry tomatoes. The texture seemed mushy and mealy and it stuck fast to the non-stick pan. The smell was bad, certainly nothing like delicious red meat caramelizing in the pan. I did not expect the texture would resemble ground beef when it was done, but I tasted a bit and seemed like it did. Wife liked it well enough, there's a whole jar of the sauce leftover so she's going to have it again tonight (and perhaps tomorrow). She may try other things with it; I see no reason to spare a cow to eat this instead.

at least until she starts craving my ribs

RIIiiiibs!!! RIB ZOMBIE!!!!!

Jeff V wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:37 pm Wife declared the other day she's done with red meat (at least until she starts craving my ribs). So I bought a burger-sized portion of the impossible (-ly expensive) crap for $6, and fried it up, mixing with a jar of Prego, zuke sticks, spinach and cherry tomatoes. The texture seemed mushy and mealy and it stuck fast to the non-stick pan. The smell was bad, certainly nothing like delicious red meat caramelizing in the pan. I did not expect the texture would resemble ground beef when it was done, but I tasted a bit and seemed like it did. Wife liked it well enough, there's a whole jar of the sauce leftover so she's going to have it again tonight (and perhaps tomorrow). She may try other things with it; I see no reason to spare a cow to eat this instead.

The one and only time I ordered an Impossible burger, I ordered it medium. The server rolled his eyes and said "that's not how these work."

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:05 pm
The one and only time I ordered an Impossible burger, I ordered it medium. The server rolled his eyes and said "that's not how these work."

Yeah, that would probably be disgusting.

I could have gotten gotten a free Impossible Whopper today, but I just couldn't bring myself to prefer that over beef. Though it helped that there was a better promotion I already intended to use.

The Burger King Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich is... not great. This appears to be a Canadian exclusive at the moment. You're not missing much. I shouldn't be surprised; I haven't had a good chicken experience at BK, perhaps ever? The sandwich is edible, but the breading just isn't great. And it's really not very spicy (though I'm OK with that).


Why aren't there more apple sodas? Mrs. Nym found an organic apple "spritzer" at the pharmacy, but at 23g of sugar in a 355ml can it's basically pop. It's really good. I remember in the late 80s/early 90s there was an apple soda my dad used to get from the grocery story in what I think were 1l glass bottles. It was one of my favourite drinks, and I was sad when it became unavailable. These days, Jones has a green apple soda, but that too can be hard to find, and the candy/sour taste is over the top. I just want, basically, carbonated apple juice. I sometimes mix apple juice with ginger ale as a facsimile.

I love Sidral Mundet from Mexico for apple soda. We used to be able to get it at Taco Bell but it's been off the menu for a while now.

https://www.mexgrocer.com/brand-sidral-mundet.html

Sudy wrote: ↑Thu May 27, 2021 12:39 pm Why aren't there more apple sodas? Mrs. Nym found an organic apple "spritzer" at the pharmacy, but at 23g of sugar in a 355ml can it's basically pop. It's really good. I remember in the late 80s/early 90s there was an apple soda my dad used to get from the grocery story in what I think were 1l glass bottles. It was one of my favourite drinks, and I was sad when it became unavailable. These days, Jones has a green apple soda, but that too can be hard to find, and the candy/sour taste is over the top. I just want, basically, carbonated apple juice. I sometimes mix apple juice with ginger ale as a facsimile.

Do they not have anything comparable to this in Canuckistan? Suffice to say, it tastes vastly superior than artificially-flavoured, green-dyed sugar water.

I haven't seen either of those, but I'll certainly keep my eyes peeled. I'm always on the lookout for new beverages.

I dont care a thing for sparkling stuff but Martinelli makes THE best apple juice and ciders.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu May 27, 2021 1:28 pm I dont care a thing for sparkling stuff but Martinelli makes THE best apple juice and ciders.

I doubt that. Maybe for store-bought. But I've had fresh cider at a cider mill. Martinelli doesn't even come close.

This apple soda is ok https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value- ... z/10324683

...but as apple juice goes this Mott's Natural is great https://delivery.publix.com/landing?pro ... gIrBvD_BwE

Tastes like apple cider, but it's available year round.

I'd been gently prodding Wife to try an Impossible burger ever since I first had one a couple of years ago. She has been enjoying those Morningstar Farms hockey pucks for ages. By her own reckoning it's 40 years since she had a real burger.

A couple of months ago she interviewed the founder and CEO of Impossible Foods, and that conversation ended with her promising to try his product. So last Wednesday we went to burger night at Jake & Joe's (outside, of course!) for her rendezvous with destiny. Friends, she converted on the spot. It was the most amazing burger she had had since she stopped eating beef. They have a permanent place in our freezer now.

I tried the Charli drink at Dunkin. It's named after one of those "influencers" on "TikTok" that the "kids" like these days. Cold caramel coffee topped with cream and cinnamon. It's tasty, but for health reasons, you should probably limit yourself to one per lifetime.

What is that?

It's a Jollibee.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:52 pmWhat is that?

A pyromaniac bee?

Never heard of them. But do have a Red Ribbon bakery here in town. May need to go by there. I need a Jeff V recommendation on what to buy there first. That Halo-Halo is calling to me though.

Wonder if that will show up in John Oliver's show. That mascot is his latest "crush".

Here's a perfect example of having too many similar products causing overall confusion. I believe in simple. If you have too many similar products, you risk confusion to your customers and to those preparing them if they aren't trained properly to discern the differences.

Tim Hortons now has 3 cold Coffee based beverages. They have the Ice Capp which was introduced first, and more or less a coffee based Slushy.
Then several years ago they introduced Iced Coffee to their line. This is my favourite, but I've often had some where they'd just used the Ice Capp mix, and this you can tell right off the bat as it was never meant to be used as Iced Coffee and it's extremely sweet on its own.
This summer their newest introduction is their Cold Brew. I know what Cold Brew is and what makes it different, but I doubt the general Canadian population cares enough to notice. At first glance, the Cold Brew is very similar to the Iced Coffee. In fact, at first I thought it might have been a rebranding effort to change the name of their Iced Coffee in order to chase trends. The attribute of a Cold Brew is to brew it cold resulting it in a smoother, less bitter and less jittery brew. Out of curiosity I decided to try out their version and it was awful. It wasn't smoother, not anymore than their Iced Coffee anyhow, and it was bitter and had grains floating around in it, which possibly meant it was the last of a current batch, but it definitely wasn't worth the price increase. Just them chasing trends without actually delivering. Their Iced Coffee is perfect as is, and adding Cold Brew I feel confuses the menu while not adding anything special. And while ordering, it's far less complicated to order an Iced Coffee vs a Cold Brew as they'll know immediately what to put in an Iced Coffee by default, vs asking you what you want in your Cold Brew. The Cold Brew feels quite irrelevant in this case.

Iced coffee is perfectly dreadful and ought to be banned under terms of the Geneva Convention.

Yeah, when coffee gets cold you pour it out. Or microwave it, if time is of the essence and you still need your jolt.

Am I right in assuming that nobody ever drinks plain black coffee iced?

Kraken wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 12:03 am Yeah, when coffee gets cold you pour it out. Or microwave it, if time is of the essence and you still need your jolt.

Am I right in assuming that nobody ever drinks plain black coffee iced?

I sometimes drink black coffee iced! I can even enjoy a couple shots of espresso poured over iced.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:52 pmWhat is that?

Jollibee, Filipino fast food, IIRC. Supposedly very good fried chicken, never really did try it though.

I tried to brew my own cold brew coffee once, and bought a "cold brew concentrate" once. As I'm not really much of a coffee drinker, I didn't really notice any difference, and my dad said both tasted "awful". So that's that.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 12:03 am Am I right in assuming that nobody ever drinks plain black coffee iced?

You are not right. In fact, if I really need caffeine in hot weather, my #1 drink is an iced Americano (espresso + water = strong black coffee.) No sweeteners, no cream, just coffee over ice.

Cold brew got especially big several years ago. I don't drink coffee products often as they tend to upset my stomach. But I really enjoyed cold brew the few times I had it. It definitely has a different flavour profile. But I still suspect it's unlikely someone who dislikes black coffee would enjoy it.

I'd definitely consider it a different product from iced coffee. Whether it's different enough/good enough at Tim Horton's, I don't know. They're kind of late to the party. I look forward to trying it when I have a chance though. I don't think I've ever had iced coffee black, but I certainly would if I knew I liked the coffee.

Drinking normal coffee that's cooled to room temperature is just gross though... that's not the same thing as cold brew. That said, I've certainly had my share of that as well because when you're tired, coffee is coffee.