Daily Rations - Part 4 - Macaroni and Asian Beef

Of all of the ration packs that I've reviewed so far this week, this one is the one I've feared most, even more than the cabbage rolls.  First of all, while I'm pretty sure I know what macaroni is, I wasn't really sure what Asian beef sauce was.  I imagined a cross between Chef Boyardee canned pastas, and that red "sweet and sour sauce" you get at mall Chinese food restaurants.  After opening the pack and checking it out, I was only mildly more confident.  If it was a cross between these two things, at least it seemed to lean a more towards the Chef Boyardee, instead of resting in the middle.

While the smell that came out of the package wasn't spectacular, I had hope in my heart.  After taking my first bite, I was really surprised.  I was really surprised because the mysterious "Asian" sauces wasn't that bad at all.  Stranger still was how much I disliked the macaroni.  I would have thought that the meat with a possible four year expiration date would have been much worse than the pasta.  Considering I think I might have some pasta in my cupboard that's been around for at least a year or so, and I'm sure it's fine. When it comes to meat I wouldn't trust frozen meat for more than a few months, let along a couple of years.

All around I'd say that I was pretty surprised by this meal.  I was expecting a horror show, but instead I got a slightly spiced meat sauce with some really horribly textured pasta.  It wasn't great, and if I got it at a restaurant I'd probably return it, but not bad for a quick lunch today.

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Stuff I Want To Try

Pasta Flavored Ice Cream Bar With Tomato Bits - Gari-Gari Kun -It seems kind of wrong, but there's nothing about it that I hate. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

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This Week In Candy

Above is my first attempt at chocolate pasta.  It worked fairly well but I'm lacking in any kid of sauce to put over top of it.  Suggestions are more than welcome.

This week is not going as I had hopped.  Last week I started a new article that I had hopped to post this week, but then this weekend happened.  I woke up on Saturday not feeling great at all, then my not feeling great turned to downright horrible.  So I'm going to be taking it easy this week.  Don't worry, there's still a new review, and many other fun segments will still be posted.  I'm starting to feel better today as well.

You may be wondering why I posted a new review when, as I said above, I'm not really feeling well.  It seems unfair to review any treat when you're sick, right?  Well here's the truth, I have many reviews sitting around waiting to be posted.  Probably about 100 of them.  I like to be consistent and always post every week (now with the Japanese reviews twice a week), but I'm not always up to tasting a treat and writing a review.  That's where this backup comes in.  When I'm sick, or too busy to write a new review, I can always go to my backup.

Well I'm going to go rest for a while, right about now I could use a cup of soup and a can of ginger ale.  If you happen to know any good recipes to help out a sick Candy Critic, just leave them in the comments.

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Spreads - Zoodles

I just finished an art piece for bewarethecheese.com's fine art gallery "Senses". For this piece I had to photograph, and eventually eat more than 40 different spreads.  I've decided to post a little something about each spread that I sampled.

You're probably thinking that I'm nuts for calling Zoodles a spread.  I'll admit, I'm pushing it, but only because you don't really spread them the same way you spread something like butter.  As far as eating Zoodles on bread, well that's been a favorite snack of mine since I was a little kid.  I don't remember if I saw someone else doing it, or if I just started it myself.

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Cool Shaped Pasta

I think I want to try and discover the greatest shapes for pasta ever created.  So far this collection is number 1, have you seen better?

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