Pet peeves...

One of my current pet peeves is related to how some folks feel compelled to express their creativity and try and re-invent the wheel. Can take many forms and it encompasses many domains - sometimes it's one of those fugly cars with the oddest colour which makes you realize that it's not because something can be done that it should be done. Sometimes it's re-re-booting Friday the 13th merely a few years after the first reboot. Sometimes it's your favorite music software or Facebook or YouTube...
 
One of the worst example which is a personal irritant is the food industry creating all kind of odd flavoured variations of basic products - which often only end up taking precious shelf real estate - because nobody buys things like lime and liver-flavored greek yogurt, anyway. 
 
This week I got a bag of whole wheat bagels from the usual rack - or so I thought. As usual, I had to go through a few of them until I found one with the expiry date label visible (because there doesn't seem to be any standard for that labelling stuff).
 
It wasn't until a few days later when I took the first bite that I realized something was wrong. Then I saw, in smaller prints on the bag, the word "onion". Try eating that with peanut butter and a banana or raspberry jam... In onion-flavored whole wheat bagel, shouldn't the emphasis be put on the word ONION instead of WHOLE WHEAT?
 
Mea culpa for not reading the label more carefully, but then again, with smaller fonts and all the junk they print of those bags... Am I alone in this world thinking that if you want some herring and blue cheese ice cream you should buy herring, blue cheese and ice cream and just DIY? That maybe pilchard-flavored waffles aren't such a great idea?
 
Classics became classics for a reason - a regular flavoured bagel is a darn versatile thing, which works equally well with cheese and eggs as it does with marmelade or peanut butter - so long as you don't throw frickin' onions into the recipe...
 
Rant off.
 
Man, I'm really turning into an old grumpy man... :P
 

Personally, I'm very happy that the wheel has been re-invented many times. I'm pretty sure my gas mileage would suffer if I had to install wheels made of chipped flint on a wooden axle.
 
I do strongly agree with the basic sentiment, though, that "new" and "progress" are not synonyms.

And then on the other hand, when they DO come up with something new that is genuinely nice, they call it "Limited Edition" and only sell it for a few weeks. Orange Kit Kats for example. 

OTOH, I can't focus on the negative all that much. The folks at our local Whole Foods said they could get us full boxes of cheddar cheese curds and even give us a 10% off. :P
 
Perfect for those quebecers gathering nights involving poutine.
 

 
 
PS - As you can see, outside of my studio which is a cat-free zone, it's pretty much impossible to take a picture w/o a cat in it around here. 

I now drink V8 Fusion instead of soda.  However, I pour 16oz. (1/3 of a bottle) into a 20oz. glass then add 2oz. of 7-Up to give it a little zing.  I love these things!  And they're far healthier than soda.  Of course, some make for a killer "adult" mixed beverage as well.
 
You might give a couple of flavors a try and see what you think.

Yeah... kick the soda habit. Even the old stuff with real sugar is a chemical &%^$storm. It's generally highly acidic which is not good for teeth or the body in general.  Just really bad stuff in it for the human body. All the artificial food colors.... do some research on the colorings they use in cola drinks and find out where they originate.....
 
Water, tea, etc.... natural juices .... heck, buy some lemons and make lemon aid at home.... sweeten with just a touch of honey, or use stevia.

bitflipper
I've foregone pop for many years. Can't tolerate high-fructose corn syrup or aspartame. If I do have a soda, it'll be Mexican Coke.
 
You see, they don't subsidize the sugar crop in Mexico like they do here, which makes the price of sugar lower. Expensive sugar is why US soda pop manufacturers use that horrible laboratory abomination called HFCS. I'm sure you can find Mexican Coke in Las Vegas, just look for the little mom 'n pop tiendas that cater to Mexicans. You can often get a killer taco there to go with it.
 
My beverage of choice is soy milk, but something's gonna getcha no matter what. Soy milk boasts 50% more calcium than milk, and I recently experienced my first kidney stone (a chunk of calcium). I'm going back to boiled water.
 

Wow Bit, sorry to do this but I'm about to spoil your day!
 
http://gizmodo.com/mexican-coke-is-ditching-cane-sugar-for-high-fructose-c-1459437477
 
EDIT: Wow, guess I didn't see the update at the bottom, "Our precious stateside Mexican Coke will continue to be sweetened with 100 percent cane sugar. Crisis averted"

Rain
No bacon. Ever. 

Blasphemy!

 If I ever get a dog I'm going to name him Peeve 
 
 Foodwise the only things that have bothered me lately are when I read the labels and find that the product was "distributed by" so and so. The origin of the actual food is unknown. I went to one website and found a description for the distributor that says, " we employ over 100,000 people around the world". This happened to be  spray can of bacon flavored cheese spread that I was using for crackers at a get together. I don't think it had much real cheese or bacon in it and who knows where it was made. 
 
 I have bought other products and the label  tells you where the distributor got it. Sometimes it's scary. Sardines from  Bangladesh, Clemintine segments from China.
 
This isn't always a negative. I was a little leary of that cheese spread though.

I practically never buy prepared food - well except the obvious butter and bread and such...
 
My "solid" grocery is 80% fruits, veggies, raw nuts - and stuff like lentils and beans. Add to that lean chicken breast, salmon and eggs for animal protein, and that's the stuff that's on my menu for the week, pretty much always.
 
I do let my hair down on our weekends and maybe have a steak or some chicken andouilles from Whole Foods, or one of those thin crust veggie pizzas.
 
Oh and Mosh - this shouldn't happen anytime soon - pretty much the opposite. Part of the reason for me taking good care of myself is that I want my future kid to have a healthy dad. And when you want to make babies, you know... ;) 

craigb
And now he's rubbing in the fact that he still has hair he can let down...
 
 

As you see on the pic, it's receding - my already huge forehead will soon reach levels beyond disproportionate...

I was thinking, when life gives you lemon...

 
;)
 
(Fearless = greatest movie ever)

UbiquitousBubba
Reading the ingredeient list can spoil your enjoyment of Diet Soylent Green.

"Contains adult joggers under the age of 30 years only".

Yep, vacuums suck. This one makes claim to suck twice as much as any other.