Western States Travel Day 1

I'm still not back - currently in Wyoming in a hotel.  In the meantime, here's a story that's probably more appropriate for my Mother's "food adventure etc." blog (see side bar).

Western States Travel Day 1

A trip from California to Nebraska and back again

 

I should have been suspicious of a snack with no name.  “Amazing Maize snack” or some such statement adorned the front of the package. Dad had already picked up a BBQ flavor and I was under pressure to pick out my own snacks at the Reno Cabela’s.  Not having much to choose from, I picked up the Original flavor and added to the cart with my peanut brittle, trail mix, and dead animal cart (there will be a later endurance posts/product review on this. I bought a hunting game cart to see if it would be an acceptable substitute for the ridiculously expensive aluminum carts for ride camp). 

 

The first day of the road trip is always a push to get as far as possible down the road.  The plan was to lodge at Salt lake city, which meant a long, hard day of driving.  After getting gas in Elko, NV and getting back on the road it was time to explore the snacking options since dinner was a LONG salt-flat drive away and lunch was so long ago, for all practical purposes it may have never happened.

 

Before I opened the bag, I suddenly wondered why there was no picture of the product, nor clear panel on the bag.

 

Oh.  That’s why.

 

I want you’all to use your imaginations now.  You have decided to cook popcorn the old fashion way in a cast iron skillet on the stove.  Now, you aren’t real experienced at this and as a result the oil isn’t hot enough and your corn not fresh enough.  Heck, let’s say you used the WRONG corn type for popcorn. Now, scrape what you have off the bottom of the skillet and put it in the bag.  Add some salt.  Decide that’s your original flavor and call it an amazing maize treat.  Uh huh. 

 

After giggling hysterically I read the back panel while Dad tried to eat the tiny pieces of delapated popcorn out of the bag.  Apparently there was a kitchen “mistake” and they thought it was so tasty, they decided to sell it.

 

Looking at the product, my guess is that the dried kernels of corn are soaked until they split then are dried very fast and popped/fried in lots of oil.  The result is a product that looks like half popped popcorn that is very dry and crunchy – even the old maids are edible and crunch well without being teeth-breakers. 

 

We dragged the Starbucks empty cup out of the trash and decided the proper method to consume this ”amazing maize snack” was to eat it out of a cup, avoiding the soggy stuff at the bottom from the remments of coffee. 

 

Here we are at day 2 with a remaining bag of BBQ “amazing maize snack”.  We are undecided on whether to share our “amazing maize experience” with our unsuspecting friends at the destination of the trip, or save it for my mom, of Food Adventures Etc.