snackdown! - 7.11.11

happy 7/11 everyone! if you haven't visited your local 7-eleven today & picked up your government-mandated complimentary 7.11 oz slurpee, i honestly don't know what the hell you're doing sitting here reading my blog. you could have FREE ice & syrup coursing through your veins RIGHT NOW! if you've already gone & got your slurpee, congratulations on doing your duty as an american citizen. also, here's an eat!drink!snack! bonus tip: there's no free slurpee tracking system in place at 7-eleven, so if you don't care about honesty, you could get multiple free slurpees at multiple 7-eleven locations.

a second eat!drink!snack! bonus tip: if you're a breeder in need of respite, get each of your tiny breedlings a slurpee post haste...the earlier the better. once your spawn comes down from his and/or her sugar high, it's early bedtime for them & more free time for you...unless you ALSO get a slurpee, in which case there's a chance that you might pass out early too. anyway, good luck today, never forget & here's some stuff that happened in the world of edibles & drinkables this week...

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nosh nook #162 - tuesday, october 27, 2009

cheesecakes vs cheese steaks (link)
10.26.09 - the ny times - by jennifer 8. lee

woo hoo! game one of the world series is tomorrow night! championship yeah! are you friggin pumped, philly? i wasn't on your side for any of those NBA conference finals back in the 80s, but i'm on your side this time! that's because you're taking on the yankees & those douche nozzles are my sworn enemies so i'm supporting you! their douchiness is your gain, phillies! fyi, it's the world series, so you need to use a bounty of exclamation points or you won't be taken seriously as a sports journalist! steve phillips, for instance, didn't use enough exclamation points. ha!

so yeah, go phillies. win your senators some cheesecake. according to the ny times, "if the yankees win the world series, new york senators charles e. schumer and kirsten e. gillibrand will get a supply of philly cheese steaks. if the phillies win, pennsylvania senators arlen specter and bob casey will win a supply of junior’s cheesecakes." maybe if the phillies win, junior's will throw in a free mouse for the PA senators! senator specter feeds on baby mice anyhow. well, at least he does if he still has room after eating a 543 calorie, 37g of fat slice of junior's cheesecake. surprisingly, that's actually less than his state's cheese steak, which has 690 calories & 29g of fat.

as the times points out, the best part about the whole world series wager is that senator gillibrand "was just railing against obesity monday morning at a rachael ray event." maybe it's just a friendly wager & we shouldn't look into it that much, but maybe gillibrand's PR people should coordinate her messages better? if they did, glen caplin (her chief spokesman) wouldn't have to call back the times & utter the words, "the senator believes in everything in moderation, except winning world series titles." um, nice save glen but GO PHILLY! BACK 2 BACK!

nosh nook #80 - friday, july 3, 2009

chocolate pinnacle: max brenner's new place takes the treat to a new tier (link)
07.02.09 - philadelphia daily news - by howard gensler

scientific fact: chocolate is pretty much the best thing ever. my only complaint about it is that it isn't more easily worked into every single food experience, but in nyc, there's a place that's trying to make that dream a reality--max brenner chocolate bar & restaurant. there are two locales here & i went to one of them a few years back for a random bday party. i had the bagel with melted chocolate & peanut butter. it was pretty tame compared to the rest of the stuff on the menu, but it still rocked my face.

brenner's now opened up his first philadelphia restaurant & according to the philadelphia daily news' howard gensler, it's just the next step in his success story. that story "began with a small chocolate shop in israel 13 years ago. a man from australia came into the store, went nuts for brenner's handmade chocolates and offered him the chance to expand to the other side of the world." now there are locations in australia, singapore, the phillipines, israel & the u.s...a friggin' chocalicious empire. the new one in philly is in the rittenhouse sq area pf philly. trendy! the perfect area for brenner's mission--"developing a chocolate culture." philly could use more chocolate culture.

since max brenner's basically obsessed with chocolate & that's the theme of the place, a majority of the items on the menu are made with chocolate. as the article mentions, there are drinks like the chocolate disco cocktail & the suckao--a drink "in which you concoct your own warmth by mixing milk and chocolate over a burning candle." there are breakfast dishes like the aforementioned bagel & the chocolate chocolate chocolate pancakes. there are dinner items like vidalia onion rings with a dark chocolate ranch dipping sauce & the chocolate pizza. when it's time for dessert, they've obviously got you covered as well.

you'd think all that chocolate might be bad for you, but as brenner is quoted as saying, "my grandfather lived to 98 and every day he downed a shot of whiskey and ate chocolate. happiness and fun are the key for health, and chocolate makes it happy." clearly, brennan is obsessed.  it could be worse though.  at least he's obsessed with chocolate & not mariah carey.