Mongo's Mongologues 5: Halloween Special - Wamagranates & Pomegranates

Mis Queridos FPT readers, today is Halloween. Trick or treat!

Today, IaM brings to you an extremely, extremely rare fruit. The first picture above is the by-product of genetic engineering by the University of California, Davis. US Davis has one of the best Agriculture Schools in the world. The first picture propounds, for the first time in public, a Wamagranate. Through the use of genetic engineering, UC Davis has crossed a watermelon with a pomegranate. The geneticist, who is a friend of mine, tells me that a Wamagranate is about nine-tenths watermelon, and one-tenth pomegranate. And, dear FPT readers, I have to tell you, it is one delicious treat. Adding the genes of the pomegranate to the watermelon gives this rare treat a spicy, delectible flavor.

Many of our readers who reside within the United States and Western Asia will recognize the fruit in the second photograph. Of course! It's a pomegranate. For our readers who reside in the south-western Pacific islands, and east asia, who may have never seen a pomegranate, we use them here as a halloween decoration. This is done because pomegranates come into season shortly before halloween. Their season usually ends before Christmas. Pomegranates can be messy to eat, and for this reason, many of our readers may have never tasted this classic halloween fruit.

As an aside, this fruit contains massive quantities of vitamin C and polyphenols (anti-oxidants such as flavonoids). There are many techniques to eating a pomegranate. Whatever the case, one begins by cutting the crown off the top of the pomegranate, about a half an inch down from the crown. If one reviews the photographs, one notes that the pomegranate grows in sections. Separate these sections with a sharp knife. The last photograph shows this result.

There are varying ways to obtain the delicious, juice-filled afils (seed sacks). Some involve putting the sections in water. This is really not necessary. Once sectioned, simply remove the juicy afils from their fibrous surroundings. They may be powered by themselves, or added to myriad dishes, including salads.

Okay, where's my treat?

Kitty Litter Box Birthday Cake! Wow!

This edible work of art was done by one our facebook fans as a birthday cake for her son. This is an instant classic - wow!

Free Black Jack Tacos On Halloween Night After Dark At Taco Bell

Visit Taco Bell on Halloween - after dark - and you will receive a free BlackJack taco. This is their new taco that comes with a black colored shell and a new spicy pepper jack sauce and retails around .89 cents.

No one from our staff has tried this item - but free is always the best price.

The FPT Pumpkin Carving Contest

Our long time reader, and resident cynic, Tom Sawyer sent along this photo of his carved pumpkins for Halloween. We have decided to run a contest for the best overall carved pumpkin picture sent in by our readers. Our staff will roundtable and judge all submissions and the winner will receive some assorted free food coupons and whatnot. Please submit your photos to us by email - using the link found on the right side of this page. We will post all photos in this thread and the winner to be announced Halloween evening.

$2 Buck Choc - The Fat Pride Times Unsual Food Item O' The Week

One of our staffers found this unique offering on deep-discount for only $1 Buck, and brought several back to our test kitchens for staff review.

This is a large piece of peanut butter like fudge with a chocolate bottom - portion is huge it weighed like 14oz - or just under one full pound. We found it to be fair to middlin' overall. Tastes a little waxy and bland but for $1 buck we were happy overall. However, if we were faced with paying the $2 bucks as it is named - it would not rank very high. Our recommendation is that if you find it on sale - grab a couple.

Mongo's Mongologues #4: The Wonderful World of Raspberries & Blood Oranges

Mongo Monologue 4:

Dear readers, thank you for your previous encouraging comments. Today we explore the wonderful world of raspberries and, once again, blood oranges. These comments are once again posted in the interest of the prevention of diabetes and heart disease. Possibly, in a future post, I will discuss the causes of these diseases. As a primer, our readers here at the FPT may elect to research "Metabolic Syndrome."

If one views the first picture, we see that IaM has procured a beautiful basket of fresh raspberries. As an aside, procuring these delicious berries reminded me of my youth. Although I was born in San Diego, all of my family is from Michigan. When I was a boy of six to eight years of age, my mother used to fly me back to Oxford, Michigan to visit my grandparents. My mother would always send me in the summertime. At that time of year, berries of all types; namely, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and so forth grow in the wild and are ready for our exploring readers to pick from the wild.

Many of our FPT readers may mistakenly think that raspberries, and other berries, are exorbitantly expensive. These magnificent berries, loaded with vitamin C and anti-oxidants, may be procured at a very reasonable price during the heigth of the growing season. In point of fact, this writer procured these raspberries at Vons for $0.99, while they were on sale.

Let us now move on to the second photograph. I noticed that many of our FPT readers were intrigued by the beauty of the dark flesh of the blood orange as portrayed in a previous post to this forum. This second picture is a photograph of extremely high quality blood oranges. That is indeed how they appear when approaching them in the market. But, do not let appearances fool you; when it comes to blood oranges, the nastier looking, the better. When selecting blood oranges for your shopping basket, IaM has found that the nastiest looking ones are the best. Attempt to find blood oranges that look "splotchy" and have a prominent amount of a red tint to the peel.

Many of our discerning shoppers here at the FPT may simply avoid a blood orange such as the one on the left in the second photograph. Although it looks badly scarred, remember, when selecting blood oranges, the nastier looking, the better. I powered the one on the right for breakfast yesterday. I cannot tell you how delicious it was. The flesh was a deep blood color and the smell of citrus would remind anyone who has been there of the Sunkist stand at Disneyland.

Well, it's Saturday morning and it's time to prepare for a college football Saturday. Today, we have Penn State vs. Michigan at the Big House. Please stop back soon for IaM's discussion of another Halloween treat that tends to come into season at this time of year.

Microsoft & Burger King Release The Windows 7 Burger In Japan

Microsoft teamed up the 10 or so Burger Kings in Japan for this unusual cross-promotion. The Microsoft 7 Whopper was released on the same day that the Windows 7 OS was also released. What is unusual about this burger, - it has 7 patties between the buns. The burger was only available to first 30 customers each day for a price of 7.77 yen - about 9.00 in U.S. dollars.

Carl's Jr. New Parmesan Chicken Sandwich - $1.00 Off Coupon

BADDA BING, BADDA BOOM: CARL’S JR. GOES ITALIAN WITH THE NEW PARMESAN CHICKEN SANDWICH

CARPINTERIA, Calif. – October 21, 2009 – Today Carl’s Jr.® restaurants launched its newest creation: the Parmesan Chicken Sandwich. Featuring a crispy breaded chicken fillet topped with melted cheese, smothered in authentic marinara sauce all on a sesame seed bun, wise guys everywhere are lining up at the drive-thru to chow down.

The link below get you a $1.00 off coupon for this new offering and more!

Carl's Jr. Coupon

Rock Legends RUSH Perform With Large Chicken Roasters On-Stage

Everyone here loves this. The rock and roll legends Rush played live on their last tour with a big rack of chicken roaster machines on stage. Every now and again a Chef would come out and baste them up good. One of our reader's saw this tour and just now remembered that we would want to know about this.

Thank You Jim.
"The Bird Is The Word"

Carl's Jr.'s - Clean & Open Kitchens - The Way It Should Be

One of the reasons our staff here at the FPT continue to be regulars at Carl's Jr. is they keep a tidy ship. If you look at photos above, they actually have a walk-out from the kitchen/counter area that allows you to see the floor(which is clean). Makes one wonder what the competition's floors look like. Another plus is you can see the cooking area and the food being prepared, as well as there are both counter and kitchen employees in plain sight. This has not been our experience at other places. Many places you cannot see the food prep area and finding an employee out front can be an issue as well.

Picture below is from another "good food fast" national chain - notice you cant see behind the steel wall where the food is prepared and no employees in sight. First person to guess what chain this is using the comments below will receive some free foood coupons from the FPT.

New Cheetos Giant Color Changers - Turn Your Tongue Green

Wendy, one of our staffers spotted this unique new offering from Cheetos and snapped this MOBI photo for us. As the bag says they are 'color changes', meaning they turn your tongue green when eaten.

We are asking for your input - has anyone tried these? Can you send us a review and maybe a picture of a green tongue?

Weekly Poll: Is Liquor Food?

This week's poll offers up a question pondered, but never answered by modern civilization. Is liquor a food?

Please vote by using the poll found on the right side of this page. Any comments are welcome - just click the comments link below.

Mongo's Mongologues 3: Pork - The Other White Meat, Onions, & Baked Potato

Installment 3 from our friend Mongo:

Today, we explore the wonders of the other white meat, pork. If one views the first picture, one will note that we have a beautiful pork loin. The loin is from the back of the pig. Notice that we are also exploring further expeditions into the world of anti-junk food.

If our readers view the second photograph, one will note that we have green onions on the grill this evening. It is not commonly known, but onions of all types have exceedingly high amounts of vitamin C. It is also in the chemically basic form, calcium ascorbate, as opposed to ascorbic acid, which is commonly found in citrus and other foods.

Our more discerning readers may have noted that in the second picture, we once again have a delight in aluminum foil. Within, we have an Idaho potato. Contrary to popular knowledge, potatoes are an essential foodstuff and do not necessarily make one fat. That which makes one fat while eating potatoes are the toppings one applies.

In the last photograph, we have a Potato a la Mongo. This delicious accoutrement may be slammed in states other than California. First, one takes an Idaho potato. Cook well (if you motards can't figure that part out, no need explaining). One then applies butter sparingly.

We then take the green onions from the grill (those in the picture are from a small market, but should substitute those from Vons). Apply the green onions along with a generous serving of sliced jalapenos.

Voila! - Baked Potato a la Mongo.

New 100 Flavor Coca-Cola Fountain Machine Info From Our Readers

Thanks to regular readers Magnum and Skep for pointing us towards more info on this new food technology.

Link below is to a great info page that also has some great pics to look at.

Coca-Cola Future Fountain

Coca-Cola Currently Testing New 100 Flavor Fountain Machines

A reader has emailed us some interesting info about a new 100 beverage choice fountain machine being tested in certain markets at this time by Atlanta based Coca-Cola. The unit (shown above) is the same size as the ones in use now that typically have around 6-8 flavors. The new machines uses concentrated flavor cartridges that are as easy to change as an ink cartridge in a printer.

If any of our readers has seen these or can give us any info/experience info - please email us with the link on the right column of this page.

MOBI meal photos from Chris Norton

Regular contributor Chris Norton has sent along another round of MOBI meal photos taken during his travels.

Chris also sent along a description of each:

Picture 1: "Breftis. Biscuit sans gravy. Hashbrown. Chocolate rice crispie treat. Bacon hand carved from a pork rump. Oj."
Picture 2: "Mystery Meal"
Picture 3: "Cotto Salami & Pepperjack Chee on Pumpernickel with spicy mustard, peanut m&m's, and wild cherry pepsi on granite.

Thanks for your ongoing contributions Mr. Norton.

The Subway Faux Plastic Sub

If you visit a Subway, take a look at the plastic sandwich they have at the very start of the line inside the glass. It truly looks real. We had to ask if it was actual food that had been painted with 'shalaque', which is that clear glue that will preserve almost anything or just a fake. We want one of these. They should offer them for sale - 10.00 would be fair.

New Doritos Flavors: Black Pepper Jack & Smokin Cheddar BBQ

There has been two new flavor releases recently from Doritos - "Black Pepper Jack" & "Smokin' Cheddar BBQ". We have tried the Black Pepper Jack flavor - good but not grand. The Smokin' Cheddar BBQ actually sounds better, but we have not had the chance to try these. Looking for volunteer reader reviews if you can help.

The unusual thing on these two flavors is the bag promotes a very unusual website that is only online from 6pm to 6am that is a flash-based interactive movie thing set in an "insane asylum". The site is definately worth a look - link is below.

Asylum 626

Tillamook Cheese Baby Loaf Tour

On our weekend grocery junket we were pleasantly suprised to find the Tillamook Baby Loaf Tour was set-up in the parking lot. Check out the decent 3/4 size mini Volkswagon van they have all 'cheesed' out. The friendly reps were offering free cheese, buttons and coupons. The baby loaf is the smaller version of their older standard big block of cheddar. The FPT endorses all Tillamook foodstuffs - including the tasty ice cream.

Mongo Mongologues #2: Squash, Hairy Melons & Blood Oranges

Our friend Mongo has spoken again and this time he discusses squashes, melon, and blood oranges.

"Got those little ma's from the Farmer's Market here in Silverlake(the yellow squash picture above). Very, very odd. IaM no know what they are. It's like a cross between a cucumber and a squash. They're kinda crunchy on the outside, but they have nice cool seeds like a cucumber on the inside."

"Blood orange(the other photo above). Very good for you. Anti-diabetes food. That one is from Australia. Air freight(expensive). They come into season here soon. About another month or two. They really, really good. They small. About the size of a big plum. IaM special connection on those when they come into season. Instead of $3.99/pound, IaM can get for 3 pounds for a buck. They can look nassy, too. I think the crop is not large enough for a store like Vons to buy in quantity. Armenian store seems to buy from farmer type guys.

They also got something else coming into season soon. IaM never had courage to try. It's a hairy brown melon. About the size of a football.

Please check back often for more Mongo Monologues!

New Mickey's Beer Caps Answer Guide From the Fat Pride Times

Our team has launched a new site with symbol by symbol answers for the Mickey's beer cap puzzle collection. There will be new cap answers posted daily until we get the whole known collection up.

We are looking for photo submissions of caps if anyone can help us with that. If you have a specific cap you are trying to solve, please email us with the link found in the right column of this page. We will solve it and post it ASAP.

Mickey's Beer Caps Answer Board

Large Angry Man Wants His Chicken Video - MA

This large man has some issues. Mature audiences only please. The FPT does not endorse this type of behavior.

The McDonald's Charges For Extra Condiments Warning Sign

First off, the staff here has to come clean and admit that we stopped at a McDonald's drive-thru this morning on our grocery junket. Normally, we would not but a couple of staffers had to get something in their bellies so they could take their meds and this was just right there on the way. When we pulled thru the lane we noticed the sign declaring that "There Will Be An Additional Charge For Extra Condiments". The first thing wrong with this is that what is the big deal with giving out a few extra ketchups or a BBQ sauce to a paying customer? Second thing is the wording on the sign is all bold and "in your face" - like something you might read if you were in the line for food in the county jail. There was no polite wording or thanks for understanding anywhere. The whole thing is just cheap and rude. I can think of plenty of other places that will give out as many ketchup packets as you want - some even have big tubs and you just help yourself.

The Old Leave My Shopping Cart In A Parking Space Move - It Is Wrong!

The staff here went on our usual monday morning grocery junket trip and we spotted this in the parking lot. I am sure you have all seen this move before and been locked out of a spot because of it. This is a sign of society breaking down and it is also just wrong.

MOBI assorted picture pack sent from KBLO's Chris Norton

Our friend from KBLO radio sent along the MOBI pix you see above. Pictured is a Spicy Chipotle Sunchip bag spotting, a meal plate, a Marysville, CA Pizza Hut personal pepperoni pan with coke and the FPT promo playing on his automobile MOBI device. Thanks - we always are wanting any pictures anyone would like to share.

Mongo's Mongologues - The FPT Point/Counterpoint Corner

Our friend Mongo spoke to us about doing an anti-junk food post - and we at the FPT like to honor all perspectives, so of course we are happy to do so. The staff here is fond of all varities of foodstuffs from fresh fish to swedish fish.

Mongo Mongologue:

IaM is older than most of our FPT readers, and I have seen many of my friends ravaged by the effects of diabetes. Therefore, this corner of the FPT shall be devoted to anti-junk food. The following pictures show how one (like IaM) can lose 75pounds.

The first picture is a Porterhouse steak. Nothing wrong with some good beef. For our more discerning readers, one will note that one side of the Porterhouse looks strikingly similar to a picture of a New York strip steak that was previously posted to this forum.This is for the reason that a Porterhouse steak is a New York on one side of the bone, and a filet on the other. The best of both worlds!

Do not suspect that IaMongo is a hamma having seen the second photograph. That flower just happened to bloom the day before I put the Porterhouse on the grill. I had to take a photograph.

The third photograph is the Porterhouse on the grill. If you will note, there is aluminum foil underneath the steak. That foil contains a spanish onion, and is a delicious addition to any bbq. To properly cook a spanish onion, simply wrap it in foil and throw it directly into the coals of a bbq. After about forty-five minutes, the onion will be sweet and tender. It's a must-try for our FPT readers. To properly cook a quality cut of beef on a bbq, one must first acquire mesquite coals. The fourth picture shows the results.

In the interest of diabetes prevention, and the prevention of heart disease, we move on to the fifth picture. Instead of french fries or other processed foods, try a California Cucumber Salad a la Mongo. The recipe is stunningly simple. Take one large cucumber. Unlike liberal-whores, we Republicans peel them before putting them in the mixing bowl. Cut the cucumber across the grain and then cut the pieces in half. Take two Roma tomatoes, cut them up length-wise, and throw those little whores into the bowl. Now, most importantly for a California Cucumber Salad a la Mongo, one takes three green onions and chops them into relatively large pieces.

I prefer to get my green onions at Vons because they are invariably high quality. But, one may substitute green onions from a BT market. One then mixes these ingredients. Having done so, we then add one small avacado. Cut it length-wise and add the pieces by hand to avoid damaging the beauty of this wonderful fruit. Now is the time to spice-up this little thang. Go to Vons and buy their house-brand Olive Oil Balsalmic Dressing. Apply generously. Garnish with four Pepperonchini peppers. To finish this California delight, one must dust this salad with cracked black pepper. Voila. Cucumber salad a la Mongo!

Fried Bologna Bisquit by Hardee's - A New Reader's Review

Hardee's recently intoduced a very unique breakfast item and one of our new readers answered our request for a taste test report.

"I got this item unsure if it was something I would even like, because I have not had bologna in many years. It came with a nice cheesy meltover and I am again a fan of bologna (fried or not). Cost under 2.00 and I would recommend trying it" - Skeeter

Thanks Skeeter! We appreciate all help from our readers here at the FPT.

Here are the official stats for the: Oscar Mayer Fried Bologna Biscuit

Thick-cut slice of Oscar Meyer bologna, melted American cheese and a folded egg inside of a signature Hardee's Made From Scratch(tm) biscuit.

Tac-Bac - Tactical Canned Bacon

Ms. Skep, one of our favorite contributors has discovered a truly unique food item. Tac-Bac is pre-cooked canned bacon. Each can holds 54 pieces inside and has a 10 year shelf life. For those readers with bomb shelters or panic rooms, this is a must have item. Also the label is really cool looking. The website thinkgeek.com sells it online and it is on eBay sometimes as well. Cost is around 15.00 per can.