Not our name, but our passion
I have always enjoyed wild rice as an accompaniment to dishes when mixed with other ingredients. We have never tried it plain with just salt and butter before. Wild rice is a native North American grain used extensively by indigenous people.
As a side dish it was not our favorite, slightly chewy with a distinct flavor. Iy is excellent when mixed with white rice or meat dishes
7 out of 10
This month’s Snack Crate is a USA box entitled “Road Trip”. These should be snacks we are somewhat familiar with, let’s see. A total of twenty three snacks this month including the drink.
The drink this month is a standard ginger ale from Kentucky. Alex liked it but I do not care for soda. Alex-8 Joe-5
Cougar Mountain Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie from Washington State was a classic case of something looking way better than it tastes. We were both anxious to try the cookie. I found the peanut flavor to be too strong for my taste and I just did not enjoy the texture or flavor. Alex-7 Joe-6
Sifers Valomilk from Kansas were chocolate cups with a gooey marshmallow filling. Alex-7 Joe-6
Better Made Barbecue Chips from Michigan – I do not like barbecue chips but Alex does. Alex thought they were way too salty. Alex-7 Joe-6
Owyhee Idaho Spud Candy Bar – fluffy chocolate nougat infused with coconut flakes. OK but I would have preferred without the coconut. The nougat was extremely soft almost marshmallowy in texture. Alex-7 Joe-7
Salt Water Taffy from New Jersey – typical of the type Alex-7 Joe-6
Cactus Candy fro Arizona were delicious gummy like candy with a delicious flavor. Flavored with real prickly pear cactus flavoring. Alex-8 Joe-9
Pumpkin Spice Moon Pie from Tennessee were graham cracker and marshmallow filling flavored with pumpkin spice. Alex-7 Joe-7
Joey’s Black and White were soft cake like cookies coated with a rich chocolate and vanilla icing, out of New York. Alex and I both quite liked these, the icing was very rich. Alex-8 Joe-8
Blu Monday candy out of Kentucky – Chocolate coating with a sweet filling. Think of a peppermint patty but without the mint flavor. Alex-6 Joe-7
Marsha’s Homemade Buckeyes from Ohio – chocolate covered peanut butter balls; delicious like a high end peanut butter cup with the proportion of peanut butter much higher Alex-8 Joe-9
Anastasia Coconut Patties from Florida – Key lime flavored coconut nougat Alex-7 Joe-7
Berger Cookies from Maryland had a thick fudge coating on a vanilla cookie. The fudge was very rich with a nice chocolatey flavor Alex-8 Joe-8
Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll – this crunchy candy bar with nougat center and covered in caramel and peanuts is from Michigan. Alex-7 Joe-7
Aunt Sally’s Creole Pralines from Louisana cluster of caramel and peanuts Alex-6 Joe-6
Annabelle’s Abba Zabba from California is a chewy taffy surrounding a peanut butter center Alex-6 Joe-6
Goo Goo Cluster – Candy from Tennessee caramel, peanuts and marshmallow coated in chocolate Alex-7 Joe-7
Little Boosie’s Louisiana Heat Chips – these rapper themed chips from Miami, Florida were actually not very spicy and were an OK rippled chip with very mild spice flavor.
Chesapeake Crab Chips from Virginia were crunchy nice tasting chips. I did not detect any crab flavor more of a crab seasoning flavor. Alex-7 Joe-8
Garrett Popcorn – a delicious popcorn mix, both the caramel and the cheese flavored corn were top notch. Best in Box! I don’t know if this is typical but the cheese corn outnumbered the caramel 5 to 1. Alex-9 Joe-10
Asia TransRainbow Belts from Hawaii sweet and sour sugary candy Alex-7 Joe-7
Tuna Jerky from Hawaii – The fish flavor hits you as an after taste, when you first try them the appearance and texture is like a piece of beef jerky Alex-6 Joe-7
Elk Jerky – Tastes like any other slim jim type of meat stick. Good but nothing unique, this one was from New Mexico Alex-9 Joe-8
This was our highest Snack Crate box and one of our highest overall boxes for both Universal Yums and Snack Crate. Maybe it is because it has flavors that we are more used to being from the United States. Be sure to check out our previous posts on Universal Yums and Snack Crate Boxes under Taste Tests.
Alex 7.22 out of 10
Joe 7.13 out of 10
Alex favorite snacks – Elk Jerky and Garrett Popcorn
Joe favorite snacks – Garrett Popcorn
Sometimes when bad things happen you can turn them into experiences of a lifetime. I was relatively young when the plant I was working at as Quality Supervisor shut its doors after over 100 years of operation. I took my severance package and seeing that I was not tied down to returning at a given time I packed up the van and headed to Alaska from my home in New England. I took my elderly parents with me since they had both recently retired paying them back for all of the family trips they took us kids on when we were young. We headed north up through Vermont passing over the border to Montreal. You can click the links for more in depth posts on each attraction. In Quebec we picked up the Trans Canada Highway and headed west averaging 600 miles per day.
Ontario brought us to the north shore of Lake Superior.
We entered Manitoba stopping for the night in Winnipeg before passing the longitudinal center of Canada.
Saskatchewan and the open plains are next up.
Into Alberta and a visit to the West Edmonton Mall.
Heading north out of Edmonton we finally made our way to the Alaska Highway. The highway starts at mile zero in Dawson Creek British Columbia.
Ranging rivers, mosquito infested forests and many trading post style shops like the “Trappers Den” highlight the start of the trip.
Summit Lake Provincial Campground was one of the best sites on the trip even though it was quite cold, at least no mosquitos!
At milepost 613 is Watson Lake, Yukon Territory with its signpost forest.
Whitehorse, Yukon is a spot for car repairs or upgrades before heading deeper into the wilderness.
The SS Klondike National Historic Site and the canyon are nice visits.
Passing the Northern Beaver Post Kluane National Park offers expansive views.
Into Alaska and the end of the Alaska Highway at Delta Junction and then on our way to Tok where a meal of caribou sausage and salmon chowder in a bread bowl was our welcome to the state.
Making our way down state passing Wrangell- St. Elias National Park to Valdez.
Heading north and west we went through Anchorage and down to Homer and Chugach State Park.
Back north brings us to Denali National Park.
We visited Fairbanks and after a short detour up the haul road towards Barrow we headed back via the Top of the World Highway.
Coming to the Yukon River you board a ferry across to Dawson City, Yukon.
Back through Kluane we took the South Klondike Highway towards Carcross, The Carcross Desert, Emerald Lake, Bove Island,the Venus Mill and back into Alaska to Skagway.
Instead of repeating the route south along the Alaska Highway we took the Cassiar Highway south. We passed by Bear Glacier and made our way to the charming communities of Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder Alaska.
We turned east heading into Jasper National Park in Alberta,
and then along the glacier highway to Banff National Park.
Out of the parks and back into the plains by Calgary.
Back into the United States brings us to Glacier National Park with its Going to the Sun Road and Many Glacier Region.
Further south is the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site.
Heading towards the western entrance to Yellowstone National Park we passed by Earthquake Lake.
The highlights of Yellowstone include The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and its waterfalls,
numerous other Geothermal features,
but most of all the wildlife. Having just returned from Alaska the wildlife viewing here is even more spectacular.
Grand Teton National Park was just a short jaunt south of Yellowstone.
Continuing east were stops at Wind Cave National Park, Mount Rushmore National Memorial and The Crazy Horse Memorial.
Badlands National Park was next on the agenda. This again was one of my mother’s favorite parks as it was a setting of many of her historical fiction novels she liked to read.
Into Minnesota with a stop at Pipestone National Monument.
Down to Iowa and Effigy Mounds National Monument.
Some heavy miles going east we made one final stop at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park.
A visit to my aunt and uncle in Cohoes, New York and then home. It was good to see New England and home after many months on the road but the memories of the trip will last a life time. My parents would both pass in a few years and I was glad I could give them this trip in their final years.
Pipestone National Monument is located in southwestern Minnesota, just north of the city of Pipestone, Minnesota.
The catlinite, or “pipestone”, has been traditionally used to make ceremonial pipes, vitally important to traditional Plains Indian religious practices. The pipestone quarries were neutral territory and all tribes had the right to mine the catlinite. The national monument was established in 1937 and Native Americans were deeded the right to quarry the pipestone.
