Addictive Foods via Yahoo

Yahoo just released an article on the 10 Most Addictive Foods.  I have a big problem with their list - some of the foods I can't imagine how they made the list and the others I don't really agree with.  Let's have a look at the list.

10. White Bread
I might be the only person in a group at a restaurant who doesn't get tight in the pants when a basket of bread with some oil or butter is put on the table.  No taste to bread and just a waste of room.  Save that stomach space for the steak, toolbags.

9. Donuts
BOOM!  Love donuts, but only #9?  Way too low on the addictive scale.  Have they tried Krispy Kremes?

8. Pasta
The article talks about pasta covered in butter, salt and cheese, not actual meat sauce.  I dislike about 90% of the pasta items out there and once again put it into the bread/rice/pasta grouping of wasted space.

7. Cake
Never been a sweets guy and don't enjoy cake, even on my bday, unless its white on white and even then I'm "ehh" on it.  Last 2 weddings I've been in/to I've skipped/latered the cake.  Doesn't do it for me, bring back out the bacon covered scallops, please.

6. Chips
My #1 most favorite snack of all-time.  In the last 5 years I've only gone 3 days without chips (yes, I've kept track) and its very sad how enjoyable they are to me.  A quick trip to CVS or 711 to score a solid bag of chips can make a death in the family seem like a bump in the road.  I'm shocked chips are only #6 on this list.

5. Cookies
See cake - not into sweets.  I do enjoy Lemon Cooler cookies, some sugar cookies and some peanut-butter cookies.  Overall, 0% ever buy cookies for myself.

4. Chocolate
Shouldn't this be lumped in with cake or cookies?  Never understood the whole women and chocolate thing.  It always shocked me growing up in movies and TV how women would drop a deuce over a piece of chocolate or a box of chocolate.  Come to find out, it is 70% true on how some women react to it.  I don't see the appeal of a pure chocolate bar like Hersheys.  Snickers, maybe.

3. French Fries
Big time - love these and just started buying frozen fries (steak fries or seasoned fries) recently.  Not sure why I never bought fries for myself before, but if I've always enjoyed a good fry.

2. Candy
Very broad, don't agree with the ranking, but I can see it being in the top 10 for sure.  I really don't get too down with the candy, but I will still hit up some Sour Patch Kids, Gummy Worms, etc if given the chance.  Does gum count as candy?  Bubbilicious Watermelon and Strawberry gum should be considered candy. 

1. Ice Cream
This one blows my mind - never been an ice cream guy.  Used to go to a local ice cream shop where I grew up just to see this girl I was into and got ice cream some of the times.  Thank God they had bubble gum ice cream (see candy) cause ice cream does nothing for me, even in the summer.

OK - after the analysis and commentary on the Yahoo ranking, here is my ranking:

10. Kid Snacks/Fruit Snacks
This includes Fruit roll-ups, Gushers and the like - always enjoyable. 

9. Steak/Steak Tips
Not necessarily addictive as other foods, but preferred over many options if available. 

8. Mashed Potatoes
The older I get the more I appreciate mashed potatoes.  Great side dish that can really be paired with any main course.  I've always rocked mashed potatoes as a main dish as well.  

7. Cheese
This is a broad one, but for me it incorporates nacho cheese, cheddar cheese, cheese dip of all kinds, etc.  Those pair well with a lot of my other addictive items on this list.

6. Bacon
Bacon can go on anything and can be eaten for any meal of the day.  Always been a big fan, but tough to make on my own, which is why it ranks so low.

5. Donuts
I got really into donuts working in NYC between 2009 and 2011. 

4. Fries
Restaurant fries or frozen fries - game on.

3. Buffalo Wings/Fingers
These are a staple in my freezer and a great appetizer.

2. Pizza
How did pizza not make the Top 10 ranking?  Holy crap, it was tough to decide between pizza and chips as the #1, but they are damn close.  I can slam down a large pizza with ease. 

1. Chips
I can't think of any chip flavor I dislike, although I don't care for pickle.  I know more about chips than most folks and have spent time researching brands, flavors and history. 

Memory Lane

As previously mentioned, my favorite book series when I was growing up was The Babysitters Club.  I also loved the Anne of Green Gables books, but there were a limited number of those and I couldn't buy a new one each month from the Scholastic catalog.  Scoring a new Babysitters Club paperback was one of the (repeated) joys of my childhood.  This article on EW.com lists author Ann M. Martin's favorite books from the series.  Of course I read and owned each one she mentions.  I'm a little disappointed that none of the extra fat vacation books were included on her list, but it was still a treat to see the familiar covers.

Old people crack me up

Feeding off Herself's blog regarding the elderly, Lee Corso had an "elderly moment" on GameDay this afternoon with a child.  This is hilarious to me, but I'm sure Lee will get a lot of backlash in the media as this was run on national TV live (ESPN).  Awesome.

Well, It's Official

I am an elderly person.

I called my grandfather last night to wish him a happy 88th birthday.  We discussed a number of things, including how the world has changed during his lifetime.  Grampa mentioned that he recently read an article stating that cursive writing is being phased out in favor of typing.  The very same article I blogged about earlier this week!  We both lamented the death of cursive writing and then I launched into, "And no one writes thank you notes anymore either!"  I should move into an assisted living community, age requirements be damned.  I suspect my material would be well received.  And I really enjoy pudding.  For some reason I imagine pudding would be heavily featured on menus for senior citizens.  Perhaps that is just wishful thinking.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

I started listening to Christmas music last week.  While I generally love holiday tunes, there are a few songs that have been popping up far too frequently for my taste.  I would like to invite the following four Christmas songs to KILL THEMSELVES so I don't have to listen to them ever again.

1) "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"
This song is brutal.  Even Nat King Cole, an undisputed holiday song master, can't save it for me.  And when you factor in versions where the singer attempts a lisp. . . .  Good God.

2) "Santa Baby"
There is absolutely no need, in my opinion, for a horny Christmas song.

3) "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"
The Jackson Five have a cover of this song that I almost don't mind-- mostly because they are actual children instead of creepy adults talking in baby voices.  (Another hit against many covers of "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth".)  But I am a real Puritan (minus the religion) about my holiday songs.  I don't want any hanky panky in my Christmas tunes.

4) "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
Well, if "they" are neither Christian, nor living in a Christian-influenced nation, "they" probably don't know it is Christmas.  I only knew this week was Diwali because Stephen Colbert told me so on his show.  And yet I doubt there are bands in India lamenting my ignorance in song.

One generally disliked Christmas song that won't make my list is "The Twelve Days of Christmas."  Ever since my dad led my family in a version of this song at my grandfather's Christmas party many years ago, I always think about my Uncle B belting out "FIVE GOLDEN RINGS" in a perfect falsetto (eight times) and smile when I hear this song.

Would You Like to Try the Word Buzz?

Today I came across yet another article proclaiming the death of cursive writing.  Any mention of cursive always reminds me of The Dude, who is somehow cursive illiterate.  When we lived together only a few years ago, he used to ask me to read birthday cards from our Nana out loud to him because he could not read cursive script.

For reasons unknown I have always been a cursive enthusiast.  I remember the first time I wrote my name in cursive at the kitchen table.  My Uncle D wrote it for me to copy and I was very pleased with myself when I reproduced the foreign letters underneath his.  We started learning cursive and practicing our script penmanship in second grade.  At the time I couldn't imagine that writing in cursive would ever be quicker than printing because it took me so long to labor over each individual letter.  Years later when I was cranking my way through exam blue books in college, I always wrote in cursive because it was so much faster.

The following line from the article caught my attention:

. . . cursive script could be taught in kindergarten or first grade instead of third grade because it’s not as elaborate as it once was.

Not as elaborate?  What the?  The following illustration blew my mind.  Look at the capital Q and Z in New American Cursive!  Are you kidding me?  Even the capital F and T are super simplified.  I learned all of the extra curls illustrated on the blackboard below.

I will gladly admit that the Keyboarding class I took in ninth grade ended up being my most real-world-useful high school course, but it makes me sad to think that young students will learn to type at the expense of learning cursive writing.  When I took Keyboarding, I hadn't even heard of the Internet.

In conclusion, I am old.  Also in conclusion, Billy Madison's grasp on cursive writing is superior to The Dude's.

Thief

Until this morning I always associated the word thief to the solid 1999/2000 song by Our Lady Peace. 

Now it is a person who has access to my apartment basement and stole my Trek Hybrid Mountain/Racing bike.  I'm beyond heated, but thanks to Herself, I was able to quasi pull out of the anger waterfall when she brought Pee Wee Herman & his Big Adventure into play.  Solid move by Herself.  I then brought Newsies into it, she countered and finally ended with Antoine Dobson.  So weird that someone could steal a bike out of a basement.  The person obviously knew me and had access to the basement.  DAYUM!