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Tag: Cookies

Dr. Kitchenstein Presents: Cookie Salad

Some of you have read or heard me talk about All-Hallow’s Giving (and if you haven’t, you can here). But what you might not know is that’s not my only made-up holiday/event/excuse to get creative in the kitchen. For a while I’d host thematic New Years Eve gatherings, for example. And for the past four years now, I’ve had folks over to play a home version of The Match Game. In that instance I once again take to the kitchen wherein I put together variations on Macaroni & Cheese and present a bevvy of cookies.

Which brings us to this: Cookie Salad:

CS_03

(extreme close-up, detail view)

What is it? How’s it made? And most important, how’s it taste?

Plugs, Pics, and Pix

Golly Gee, so much going on…

Let’s start with some plugs.

First, plug-plug for G-MAN: CAPE CRISIS #1, the first issue of an all-new, 5-issue series by my friend and comics’ superstar Chris Giarrusso, who’s best known in comic book circles as the man behind Marvel Comics’ MINI-MARVELS. G-Man is Chris’ own creation, but it’s in the same spirit of the work he’s known for: kids with superpowers being awesome and funny. I’ve read the first issue and it’s great and when it hits comic shops in August, do yourself right and pick up a copy. And if that’s not incentive enough, the book’s got all kinds of back-up strips in it, a couple by yours truly (more on that in a bit).

gman_cc_miniseries_1Buy this starting in August!

Next plug: KIRBY KRACKLE is a “comic book rock band from Seattle” who I happen to be friends with (that’s right, I know rock stars). They just released their Summer Single titled “Ring Capacity”. And in as much as it’s about DC Comics’ superhero Green Lantern, it’s also a straight-up catchy rocker of a song. And it’s FREE! For serious. Go here, sign up for their mailing list, and boom, they e-mail you an mp3.

single_colorDig it.

Oreo v. Hydrox: Taste Test & Analysis

It is rare for there to exist one version of a thing. Superman is not the only super-powered hero. MS Word is not the only word processing software. And Kellogg’s Raisin Bran is not the only raisin bran.

This is the case with chocolate sandwich cookies, which is the generic name for “Milk’s Favorite Cookie”, the Oreo. But if you visit your local cookie vendor, you’ll discover Famous Amos makes a chocolate sandwich cookie…Newman’s Own has their Newman O’s…and there are always the more generic, off-branded versions as well.

In the beginning, however, there was the Oreo and the Hydrox. And any trivialist or food nerd will quickly tell you that the Hydrox pre-dated the Oreo.

But the Oreo is the most well known. Oreo, like Xerox for photocopiers and Kleenex for tissues, has become the common-use term for the chocolate sandwich cookie (by way of example as MS Word spell-checks this very document, “Hydrox” gets the “you spelled this wrong” red underline; “Oreo”, no problem. In fact, it only corrects you if you fail to capitalize the O). This was the case for me even as a child, where I just assumed Hydrox was the “off-brand” version of the Oreo. I may not have been the only one, as years ago the first cookie, the Hydrox, was no longer available for purchase.

More recently, however, the Hydrox has returned. Labeled as a 100th Anniversary Limited Edition, you may once again find Hydrox in your local grocery.

Which led to the question: despite their chronology or popularity, what’s the difference, really?