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Sledgstone

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Blog Entries posted by Sledgstone

  1. Sledgstone
    With the highly successful Doritos Locos Tacos giving Taco Bell a huge boost in sales, Doritos decided to try and cash in on more of that revenue and hype with Locos Tacos flavored chips. I say "try" because thats exactly what these chips are good for. Trying once and never buying again. They come in two flavors, Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch just like the Locos Tacos. In each bag there are two flavors. The flavored chip and the crunchy taco chip. Doritos has made other products two flavors in a bag on numerous other occasions and they never seem to work right at all.

    You might wonder what flavor of chips are in this next picture, but it doesn't really matter because both bags when poured into bowls look and taste exactly the same. The Cool Ranch and Nacho Cheese bags basically contain the exact same product as I tasted no difference between them. If I had known they would be identical in flavor I would have only bought one bag.
    These chips taste interesting at first but like all snack foods with multiple flavor coated items in them, there was no distinguishing if you were eating a nacho cheese, cool ranch or taco chip. All the flavoring basically mixes together in the bag and the result is a taco flavored chip that noticeably tastes more like broken taco shell pieces with Dorito flavoring than a taco flavored chip. They're not that bad, but not amazing like the Doritos Locos Tacos they are named after.

    I had so many of these chips because I had two open bags that I lost interest in the flavor and decided to use them in soft tacos to try and get some Locos flavor in a home made meal. This is when I realized these chips tasted much better with actual tacos. If anything, these chips would be a good companion chip for a taco dip. But as a stand alone snack they don't seem to hold their own.

    Should you eat these?
    Sure. Try them once to see how they taste, but don't worry about which flavor you buy because they all taste the same. If anything, I recommend buying one bag of the original regular Taco flavored chips and one bag of Cool Ranch or Nacho Cheese. Then eat two chips at once, Taco and the flavored one. That would taste far superior than the flavor of these Locos Tacos chips.
    What Doritos and Taco Bell should do is sell the actual Doritos Locos Taco shells in the supermarkets. Forget these chips, instead sell those shells. Whenever I'm at the store, I always pass on buying Taco Bell shells in favor of the superior Old El Paso brand. But if Taco Bell wants to make more money, they should work with Doritos and bring these shells to the stores. I'd buy them in a heartbeat for my own home made tacos.
  2. Sledgstone
    I used to like McDonald's food. It was cheap, fast and filling. But as I've gotten older and tried more food I've realized how horrible McDonald's food actually is. I was one of the people that would eat their premium angus burgers. Ever since they stopped serving those and the Chicken Selects, McDonald's menu has not been appealing to me in the slightest. One of the few things I would still eat there are the crispy chicken McWraps. Even now I would still eat those. When I saw McDonalds had Premium versions I assumed it would be a better quality McWrap. In a sense it is, but at the same time it isn't.
    The basic McWrap and the Premium McWrap are very different products. The largest difference is the size. These things are pretty big. However, like most new fast food items, they start large and then shrink in size over a couple years once people get hooked on them. These pictures were taken when they first came out which is why it looks as good as it does. These McWraps come in three flavors. I ordered the Sweet Chili. The package I received indicates that it is the Chicken Bacon flavor.. And once I started eating it, I realized I was eating the Ranch. So I suppose this can be a review for all three flavors because the incompetent employees had no idea what they were giving me or how to take an order correctly.

    The package has a rip away tab that works nicely. I was quite surprised to see that the McWrap looked exactly like the picture on the drive through menu. I'm sure they won't look like that in the future considering I've never purchased a Big Mac that actually looks like the picture.


    This McWrap has all the premium ingredients you would expect to see in a good salad and that is where the problem lies. This tastes like a salad. With ranch dressing, plentiful leafs, tomato and cucumber this is a full blown premium salad in a wrap. If anything, the chicken is the odd ingredient in it. Because my wrap was so fresh, the chicken was freshly fried and the wrap was assembled. However, they should let that chicken cool down a bit because a warm salad does not taste appealing to me. Hot cucumbers and tomatoes against a slightly greasy piece of chicken threw the experience off for me. While most of the ingredients are cool, the hot chicken causes temperature differences throughout the entire wrap. After eating one of these, I won't eat another. For the same price I'd rather buy 3 of the regular McWraps which are smaller and focus more on the chicken with no large salad ingredients.

    Should you eat these?
    Maybe. It depends on if you like salad because this is definitely a leafy green filled item. If you do try one, I recommend ordering it with no cucumber as those hot cucumber slices did not taste appealing in texture.
  3. Sledgstone
    Combos were a favorite snack of mine as a child. I loved the pizza flavored ones with a passion. So when I saw Combos Buffalo Blue Cheese Pretzels on the shelf I thought I'd get to relive the pleasant snacking experience of my past with a great new flavor. I was wrong. I love buffalo chicken wings dipped in blue cheese and the art on this bag is misleading. Of course its a pretzel snack and I wasn't expecting it to taste like the image on the bag, so I assumed the filling inside would be a nice buffalo taste with a hint of blue cheese in it. But that wasn't the case at all. I opened the bag and the smell was horrible. It smelled like raw blue cheese and not the creamy kind like on the bag. While thats not so bad, it did not smell right at all coming out of a room temperature bag.

    The inner filling is buffalo flavored and the blue cheese that was so poignant was actually a coating on the outside of the pretzel. When eating one of these the blue cheese flavor is the first taste that makes contact with your tongue. The first couple pretzels tasted fine, but as I continued eating them I realized the blue cheese flavor kept tasting worse and worse to me. As the inside of my mouth started to get coated with the aftertaste, I realized how disgusted I was getting and I had to stop. The blue cheese flavor coating is horrible. After a while it started reminding me of rotten cheese and the smell started disgusting me. The odor is so bad that people around me eventually commented about how horrible it smelled. I gave this snack a second try a couple days later. I opened the bag, caught the scent and basically I got revolted before I even put one in my mouth. After eating another 7 I realized I should have bought a small trial size bag instead. I had to give these away.

    Should you eat these?
    No! I'm a big fan of blue cheese and this flavor is disgusting. In fact, I don't think any snack maker has ever made a blue cheese flavor that tastes good to me. If you see these on the shelf, pass on them and pick up some of their pizza flavored pretzels instead.
  4. Sledgstone
    In my previous blog post I showed my new smoker:
    New Brinkmann Smoker (ECB) El Cheapo Brinkmann
    But the smoker didn't work out all that good right out of the box. These are the following modifications I've made to it:
    When I first got my smoker I put a grate at the bottom of the charcoal pan because I read that a grate will help in keeping ash buildup from blocking the air flow. This was not entirely correct. What I needed to do was have the grate about an inch off the bottom so that air flow can reach every piece of coal while allowing ash to sift down to the bottom. So my first modification was to use some pliers and bend the air fins open more to allow more airflow. Because I'll be able to control the airflow with another modification, I wanted to make sure the airflow would not get restricted by ash buildup. The second mod I did was to install three carriage bolts with nuts 1 inch from the bottom of the pan. This allows me to set the grate on the bolts and gets me the airflow I want. Before doing this, I attempted to use 3 equally sized rocks to lift the grate up.. Not a good idea. It worked but it didn't. The rocks change the flow of air and also absorb heat and break. Installing permanent bolts was the only real solution. Using a drill I made three holes 1 inch from the bottom and installed the bolts. I didn't want to use carriage bolts but they were the only ones I could find for the size and length I wanted to use at the local hardware store. These bolts worked out fine in the end because they didn't sit to far away from the pan's sides to affect how it sits in the base pan.

    The next modification was the most time consuming. I needed to control the airflow of this smoker. This smoker has two vents. The bottom vent which is a hole about 2 inches in diameter and the other is the gap where the lid sits on the body of the smoker. The lid does not go on with a solid seal and is designed that way so there is no need for an air vent on the top. I have seen other people modify their ECB lids by installing an oven gasket around the rim to make it have a solid seal and then installing an aftermarket weber charcoal damper on the lid. However, I did not do this.. I am more concerned about the airflow coming into the smoker at the bottom than restricting or increasing the airflow from the top.
    Here is what I did.. I drilled three holes into my base pan. One of those drill holes was a mistake which I'll explain in a bit. I used one bolt along with a washer, lock washer and lock nut to connect a pickle jar lid to the base of the pan. I needed to drill 2 holes into the jar lid. One to keep it connected to the base pan and the other to act as a slot for the metal control rod. Using a washer, lock washer and lock nut, the lid will stay connected without unscrewing the bolt due to repeated opening and closing. I drilled another hole into the side of the base pan to allow the metal rod to protrude out the side. This is where I messed up. I drilled the hole too high up. Once I had everything in place, I put the charcoal pan into the base pan and realized it was weighing down on the metal rod preventing me from using it correctly. So I drilled another hole right at the bottom of the side and then the pan fit perfectly. Of course this left me with a hole I had to plug up. Thankfully I the smoker came with some extra bolts and nuts and I simply used one of those to seal off the hole.
    The biggest problem with this was the metal rod I was using. I had an old metal sign holding post that I decided to use because it was tough and it already had one end of it bent into a crude loop from a previous project. This was some sturdy metal. After cutting it to the right shape, I was unable to bend it by hand. My bolt cutters have metal bending rods on it and I was able to use those to bend the metal into the angles I needed. This was a pain. I forgot to take a picture of the underneath of the base pan. Its basically a piece of metal bent in three places. Once at a 90 degree angle to fit through the jar lid hole, then another bend to keep the metal from scraping the ground, and then a third bend to keep the metal from scraping the bottom of the pan. In the end it worked out good because the piece of metal has just enough weight to it that it feels sturdy and it won't disconnect. With this done, I now an adjustable damper and I have full control over the airflow.


    A different angle:


    Now that I can open and close the damper to whatever amount of air flow I want to allow in, I need to be able to tell what the actual temperature of the smoker is. For this I needed to add a new thermometer. Adding a new thermometer was easier than I thought it would be. All I needed to do was drill one hole and then use a piece of simple lamp hardware found in my local hardware store's electricity aisle. Its a threaded feed-through with 2 nuts. I can't remember what the actual thing was called on the package in the store, but its basically a brass tube that is threaded for nuts to attach to it like a bolt. Its lamp hardware because electric cords usually go through the opening to the light bulb. But for me, the opening will be for my new thermometer. The hardware store only sold the things in a pack of 8 in varying sizes and the nuts were on the shelf just below them, also in a pack. I used either a 1 or 1 1/2 inch feed through with two nuts. Using a couple pliers I tightened the two nuts and kept the bulk of the feed through on the inside of the smoker to keep the thermometer level. I've seen some people recommend candy thermometers, but I chose instead to get a new Weber thermometer off amazon. Because the thermometer itself isn't installed, I can take it inside and clean it after every use.
    Outside look. I installed it right above the charcoal door:

    Inside look. Two nuts holding it in place. Pretty simple. I also bent this slightly downward to make sure the thermometer sits a bit more tight.

    This new thermometer is significantly better than the one that came with the smoker. I can now get the smoker up to 250 and using the damper on the bottom, I can make small adjustments to the airflow and maintain a constant cooking temperature.

    And here it is all completed:

    Resources I used for this project:
    http://home.comcast.net/~day_trippr/smoker_mods.htm
    http://brinkmannsmokermod.blogspot.com/2011/01/simple-modification-to-brinkmann.html
  5. Sledgstone
    Back in May of this year I bought a new Smoker because I've been thinking about trying out smoking food for a couple years now. I've gotten pretty good with a standard grill, but I wanted to improve my slow cooking skills and try something new with different flavors. After watching numerous seasons of BBQ Pitmasters, I became inspired to finally try out charcoal smoking.
    Instead of buying something expensive, I shopped around, looked at reviews, different makes and models and I decided to go with a vertical charcoal water smoker. A vertical water smoker works by having a heat source at the bottom, a water pan in the middle of the smoker that provides hot moisture, and two cooking grates. One directly over the water pan and the second at the top of the smoker. Because the water pan is almost as wide as the smoker itself, it causes all the food in the smoker to be cooked with indirect moist heat. Vertical water smokers are also cheap. Some offsets are cheap also, but many of the low end vertical water smokers are under $60.
    After reading many reviews, I decided to get a Brinkmann Gourmet Charcoal Smoker. There is a large community of people that use this exact smoker and have shared numerous modifications they have done to improve it's performance. After reading about smoker modifications I was a bit concerned. Why would a new product need modifying? Well, I found out the answer.. If I wanted a smoker that would work amazing right out of the box, I'd have to pay $300 for a Weber Smokey Mountain. So, no.. I decided to go with something cheaper and modify it if needed, hence why these Brinkmann ones are nick named the ECB (El Cheapo Brinkmann). I'll only be using this smoker about 5 months out of the year and not even every week. For what I wanted to do, I figured $90 on amazon was good enough. For that price I also got the smoker cover, which turned out to be better material than I thought it would.
    Unfortunately, amazon shipped this smoker horribly. The box looked like it was kicked a few times and I had to hug the metal of the body and the lid back into a fully circular shape. As well as bending the door into a shape that would close correctly.. I also needed to use a rubber mallet and hammer out one ding in the body. I was not please with the condition, but after full assembly the smoker looked great.
    Here are some pictures of the Smoker new and in use for the first time:
    I never used charcoal before so I had to buy a new charcoal chimney starter and some charcoal. I decided to get the weber chimney and go right for the royal oak lump charcoal. After reading all the safety information about charcoal lighter fluid and how you need to let the charcoal burn out for at least 20 minutes, etc. I had no interest in using it.. thats why I got the chimney starter. Along with some newspaper I'm able to get any charcoal started burning safely. That and I have a friend that uses the same style of chimney to start his charcoal grill. Very simple to use.


    The bottom of the smoker is a charcoal pan with air vents on the bottom. Charcoal is controlled completely by air flow. I added a grate at the bottom because I read that burned charcoal ash will build up and block the air flow which would smother the remaining coals.


    Now that the coals are ready, I put the body of the smoker on top of the pan, then add water to the water pan, put on the grates and add the food. Put the lid on and its done.

    As you can see, this style of smoker is noticeably smaller than an offset charcoal smoker that can usually be about the size of a normal grill.

    For my first use, I went big. I put a pork shoulder on the bottom grate and a rack of ribs on the top. I figured I'd get a good feel for the smoker with two different things cooking at once.

    I also put a couple aluminum foil packets of soaked hickory and apple wood chips onto the charcoal.. Here is where the smoke starts rolling pretty good:

    About 4+ hours later here are the results:



    The end results were not what I was expecting. Because this smoker has no airflow controls, I could not regulate the temperature. Also the thermometer is horrible. It doesn't even have temperatures.. only "warm, ideal and hot". The ribs turned out ok, but overly smoked. The smoke flavor was so pronounced that I couldn't eat the smaller ribs. And the pork shoulder was not even cooked all the way through. I ended up finishing the pork shoulder on my propane grill because I already used 2 chimneys full of charcoal and I didn't feel like setting another to burn. The pork shoulder was not cooked correctly but the smoke flavor was good for it. Because it was thicker, the smoke didn't permeate as much into the meat.
    I'd say this smoker was a failure. But I didn't give up. I decided to make a few modifications, which I'll go over in another blog post. I can say that I would not recommend using this smoker without modifying it. Or if you do use this smoker without modifications do not use lump charcoal. It burns far hotter and faster than kingsford briquettes and with no airflow controls, the lump burned incredibly fast. Also, use almost boiling water in your water pan, and only fill it half way. The water I used was hot from the tap and because of the volume of water the pan holds, most of the heat that would have cooked the pork shoulder was absorbed by the water that was sitting directly under it.
    And for anyone wondering, was the smoker worth it? The answer is yes. Once I had the proper modifications done, I have been making some of the best barbeque I've ever eaten. Definitely worth it. It was quite a learning experience too. Practice makes perfect.
  6. Sledgstone
    http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57526994-94/android-users-outraged-over-motorolas-broken-promise/
    Next phone I buy will be an HTC or a Samsung. I will never buy a Motorola phone again. I specifically bought this phone because it was on sale, it had basically the same specs as the samsung galaxy at the time and it was guaranteed to be upgraded to the latest android operating system.
    I never got that upgraded operating system. Android 2.3 is so outdated, that numerous apps are not even available for it. I cannot even run Google Chrome.. wtf. No Vine, no Time Warner app, etc. Numerous basic features on all phones are not available to me because I bought this phone with the belief that I'd only use the old operating system for another month or so. I remember when my brother's Nexus got upgraded to android 4.1, he was talking about how it was like a brand new phone again.. I was looking forward to this upgrade for so long.. and then my hopes were crushed.
    Say no to Motorola. Don't even bother buying their crap, because its completely unsupported.
  7. Sledgstone
    I haven't liked vBulletin for some time now and mostly put that forum software behind me except for the occasional jab about how bad their software is. I came across this interesting update from PC Gamer the other day... with a part that I emphasized:
    http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/07/26/why-forums-and-comments-are-still-offline/
    http://mos.futurenet.com/forum/
    I don't visit PC Gamer's website, so I'm not certain what version of vB they were using, but this is pretty huge. The took all of their entire network's vBulletin powered forums offline because it was exploited.
    Well PC Gamer, I suggest you switch to Invision Power.
    vBulletin has really gone downhill and I'm glad we stopped using their software when we did.
  8. Sledgstone
    Doritos® Locos Tacos are the perfect combination of Doritos and Taco Bell. I'd say the perfect combination of tacos instead of "Taco Bell", but American tacos are completely different from actual tacos, but lets save that for another time. Currently there are two Doritos Locos Tacos available across the US, the Cool Ranch and Nacho Cheese. Some parts of the US have a third flavor called "Flamas", these I have not seen yet in my area. I did however get one Cool Ranch and a Nacho Cheese.

    Its noticeable that these taco shells are large versions of Doritos. I like getting these as Supreme tacos, loaded with cheese and sour cream.

    The Doritos flavor really adds to these tacos. The key word is flavor, these are not full large versions of Doritos, but actually Doritos flavoring imparted upon taco shells. While Doritos are a very hard and crunchy chip, they did not do a full conversion, these are still taco shells. This makes sense because you are eating tacos. If these were full large scale chips, they wouldn't taste right because everyone is used to the taco shell taste when eating Taco Bell. You'll notice that the tacos come with thin cardboard sleeves, thats because these chips will impart their flavor all over your fingers and hands if you are not careful, especially the nacho cheese flavor. Even if you try to keep the tacos in their sleeves, you will still get seasoning all over your fingers.
    I recommend the Cool Ranch over the Nacho Cheese.. the nacho cheese flavor seems to blend in with the cheese of the taco and it doesn't seem to add much to the overall flavor. But the Cool Ranch tacos noticeably and completely change the flavor profile of the taco creating a completely unique taste experience.

    Should you eat these?
    Yes! Especially if you are a fan of Cool Ranch Doritos.
  9. Sledgstone
    Utz Cheddar Cheese Balls are a nice airy treat with a decent cheese flavor. Utz often changes the containers their cheese balls come in to coincide with different seasons or events. These particular pictures were taken back during the NBA playoffs which is why the container has basketball ridges and corresponding sticker.

    These cheese balls have a decent cheddar cheese flavoring that is superior to Cheetos Puffs. Of course the flavoring is just that, a flavoring.. In no way does it actually taste like little balls of delicious cheese. On the other hand the flavoring is decent for what it is and will satisfy a cheese craving. Being a cheese poof, they are not dense at all, you'll grab a small bowl of these and within a few minutes you'll realize how quickly they disappear. These cheese balls are very consistent in terms of texture and flavoring, but you will occasionally find a ball or two that seems to have a bit of a hard piece.

    Should you eat these?
    Yes. If you are a fan of cheese puff snacks, definitely try these out. I recommend them over Cheetos.
  10. Sledgstone
    The improvements they are making to IPB look really great. Some of the highlights for me:
    http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-9537-ips-40-editor-part-1-content/
    Embeds will always work. Now that is a huge difference.
    http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-9538-ips-40-editor-part-2-uploads/
    Drag and drop images right into the editor. I've been waiting for this feature. No more having to click attach and then navigate to the right folder where your image is.. just drag it right into the editor.
    http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-9539-ips-40-editor-part-3-customisation-and-bbcode/
    This is a big change and I hope they pull it off correctly. All our custom bbcodes will be negated. But the only custom bbcode we actually use is the spoiler tag, which will now be a default feature. All other custom bbcodes will now have to be created as CKEditor plugins.. but there are already a lot of ckeditor plugins available. So I could technically add a variety of new editor features.
    http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/388306-ips-40-editor-part-4-special-features/
    Very very nice. I like this.
    Good! No more having to click the load saved content option. Simplifying this will make the auto save much better.
    Oh! and the editor will now be fully skin-able! The editor won't have to be glaring white on a dark theme anymore.
    Also, the current skins that we use are going to be upgraded for IPB 4.0. We won't have to change the entire look of the site.
  11. Sledgstone
    Kettle Brand Jalapeno Potato Chips are some of the best jalapeno chips available in stores. With that nice large red "Hot" pepper on the front of the package, I was expecting some good heat and these chips delivered.

    The chips are a nice gold color speckled with green jalapeno seasonings. But the flavor isn't just in those speckles, these chips are imbued with jalapeno flavor. After just a few chips you'll begin to notice the nice jalapeno burn sneaking up on you as an after taste. After about 5-10 chips you'll be approaching the full flavor profile of jalapeno perfection. Kettle Brand jalapeno chips are less salty and have less 'folded over' chips than other competing brands and that is what really sets them apart from the others. Every chip is very consistent with flavor and seasonings.
    The only downside to these are probably that they are a bit greasy, just like all potato chips. But the packaging does a good job at grabbing excess grease and seasonings and keeping it all stuck to the inside of the bag, mostly at the bottom. This reduces the overall greasiness of the chips to be a bit less than a regular bag of Lays. If you really enjoy the flavor of jalapeno and want every last crumb and bit of grease, after you eat a bag of these, cut open the empty bag and lick the inside for a special treat of unhealthiness. I actually did this once.. too much grease for me, but the flavor was very good.

    Should you eat these?
    Yes! These are some of the best jalapeno chips you can buy. Expect some good jalapeno heat. These are hotter than Lay's Sriracha chips.
  12. Sledgstone
    Lay's Chicken & Waffles is one of the three Lay's potato chip flavors available as part of the "Lay's Do Us A Flavor" contest. That contest has ended already and I'm a bit late in posting this review. Upon looking at this bag I thought to myself, "Ewww.. Denny's and KFC combined their flavors into what might be amazing chips!"

    The chips are a darker yellow in color compared to regular Lay's. When opening the bag, the smell is the first thing that you notice. Maple Syrup, a very strong maple syrup smell. The flavor is also Maple syrup but doesn't taste like waffles or chicken in the slightest. Its more like pancakes and some seasonings that might be included in a chicken fry mix... But not chicken at all. Its a more meaty flavor because of how greasy the chips are. These were the most unique flavored chips I've ever eaten and not unique in a good way. The first couple chips are interesting to try, but after 5 or so you'll notice a greasy film starting to coat the inside of your mouth and tongue. After 10 chips I thought maybe something else I ate was affecting the flavor. So I tried again the next day after I got home from work.. Nope.. Disgusting. Another 20 chips in and I couldn't stomach them anymore.

    Should you eat these?
    No. I'm glad these did not win the contest. Horrible chips. They reminded me of the failed Olestra Pringles. Not because of the flavor, but because of the possible side effects caused by eating them.
  13. Sledgstone
    Welcome to my new Recipe Blog. I will use this blog to post all my new recipes. All of my old recipes can be found in my original blog by following this link:
    http://www.ancientclan.com/search/?tags=Recipe
    Instead of posting any more recipes in my original blog, I have created this one so I can create more specific categories for the recipes themselves. Pork, Chicken, Beef, Italian, Mexican, BBQ, Grilled, etc. As well as using tags, I will have many specific categories just for my blog and some recipes will fall into multiple categories. Tags are useful as well, and will allow us to view everyone's recipes across all blogs on this site.
    I recommend that anyone that wishes to make their own recipe blog to please type the tag "Recipe" without the quotes, in the tag field of blog entries so they can show up in the combined blog Recipe tag link.
    (Edited to fix link to recipes)
  14. Sledgstone
    I've seen these "New York Style Pita Chips - Parmesan, Garlic & Herb" (huge name) in the store before but I never bought them because the price of the bag seemed a bit high for the amount of product. So when I came across this bag that was "50% more free" I jumped on these chips. I've never had Pita chips before so I had no idea what to expect. The packaging is nice, the chips look good but like I said, the size of the bag is what put me off.

    Here is a small bowl of the chips. The consistency is a bit odd. Because these are pita, some chips are folded closed while others are a bit more open with that regular 'pita pocket' look to them (not in the picture unfortunately). After eating a small bowl I realized why the bags are smaller. These chips are filling! A small bowl is actually quite dense. You don't need a large bowl of these for a good snack. A small serving is perfect. Also.. these chips taste amazing!

    I was astounded by the flavor these chips have. The package says "Parmesan, Garlic & Herb" and that is exactly what you get. These chips are full flavored from the moment you put them in your mouth all the way until you swallow. Amazing chips. The opened chips in the bag are perfect for dipping into sauce, but after trying them with a dip a couple times I felt like I was cheapening the flavor. These chips need no dip. They are perfect tasting. If anything, the flavor is so good, you shouldn't eat them multiple days in a row or you might get burned out on the taste. Eat these every other day, or get a couple flavors of them for a great snack.
    Should you eat these?
    Definitely. The only problem with these chips is the availability of them. Out of the 4 major stores in my area, only one sells them. If you can find these chips, I highly recommend trying them out.
  15. Sledgstone
    I saw these at the store a couple weeks ago and decided to try them out. Cheetos Mix-Ups Cheezy Salsa Mix sounded like a nice mix of heat that would give my taste buds a good work out. Unfortunately, they left much to be desired. While the packaging looked great and the claim of hot spiciness lured me in, these cheese poofs did not deliver.

    Upon opening the package the smell was odd. A weird combination of aromas that I was not expecting. This product features 4 different flavors, Cheddar, Jalapeno Cheddar, Salsa Picante and Chipotle Cheddar.

    I'm a fan of the Cheetos Puffs and Crunchy Cheese Flavored Snacks, but this "Cheezy Salsa Mix" was disappointing. First off, because this bag features 4 flavors, all of the residual seasoning is coating all the individual flavors. The normal Cheddar Puff is coated in such a mess of flavoring that it tastes nothing like a normal cheddar puff. Thats one flavored ruined. Next up is the Jalapeno Cheddar.. the little green ones.. when eating jalapeno, I expect a bit of heat, but these puffs had nothing but a mild hint of jalapeno flavor. As for the Salsa picante.. based on the packaging, I was lead to believe these would be the hottest puffs. But no, while they had a nice flavor, there was no heat. At all. A single drop of tabasco sauce is hotter.
    The only thing this bag of snacks had to offer what the Chipotle Cheddar puffs. This was the most unique flavor I have tasted in a snack in quite a while. Unfortunately, the texture of this puff was horrible. The waffle shape along with the size of the bite wasn't all that great. In fact, I'm not entirely certain if I would like it as a separate product because of all the other flavors in the bag skewing my tastes.
    Should you eat this?
    No. I will not buy another bag of these and I don't recommend you even try them. It claims to be spicy, but this is not spicy at all. I did not care for this mixture of flavors and textures whatsoever. However, if Cheetos made the Salsa Picante or Chipotle Cheddar puffs into crunchy versions sold separately, they might have a decent product.
  16. Sledgstone
    Lay's Sriracha is one of the three new Lay's potato chip flavors available as part of the "Lay's Do Us A Flavor" contest. I haven't had the chance to try the other two flavors, but I did get my hands on a bag of these.
    I have to admit.. I have never tried Sriracha sauce before so I have no idea just how spicy the sauce is by itself. I've heard that it is intensely hot and based on the picture on this bag I can only assume its going to be extra spicy.

    The chips themselves are a bit reddish in color compared to regular Lay's. They smell very mild and not powerful enough to indicate any real heat. The flavor is the regular salty lays taste with a nice heat that hits lightly and then burns the tongue a bit. After about 5 chips or so the burn is a bit more noticeable and at its maximum heat. I didn't notice any back of the throat burn or "creeping up on you burn" like you would normally get with cayenne pepper so i can only assume these chips are more mild in heat intensity compared to actually dripping Sriracha sauce directly onto regular lays chips.

    Should you eat these?
    Yes. If you want to try a new kind of spicy potato chip, give these a try. But don't expect them to be the hottest chips out there.
  17. Sledgstone
    Doritos Jacked chips are thick, large, bolder tasting versions of their regular Doritos lineup. So when I saw the Doritos Jacked Ranch Dipped Hot Wings flavor I had to try them. The packaging details really jumped out at me and being a fan of the Ranch flavored doritos the blue color really grabbed my attention.

    The chips are huge like all the other Doritos Jacked chips and the flavor is almost spot on for what it claims to be. The Hot Wings flavor is a spicy buffalo flavor with a hint of vinegar that gives it a nice bite to the heat. Along with a nice hint of ranch these chips taste good. All the chips are noticeably coated with flavoring and smell great.

    Should you eat these?
    Yes. If this flavor sounds appealing to you, get a bag and enjoy the bold taste.
    (Update!) After eating these at work today the vinegar smell and taste of the chips was much more noticeable. A small change of environment and I realized I must have been getting used to the smell and taste at home. Turns out these are a bit stronger with vinegar than I thought they were and a couple coworkers seemed to notice.
  18. Sledgstone
    I tried Lay's Stax for the first time this week and got two different flavors. Original and Buffalo Wings With Ranch. The originals are nothing special. I used those as a base to evaluate the new flavor I was interested in. Original Lay's Stax taste just like Pringles Original except the chips are about 1 1/2 times thicker.

    Buffalo Wings With Ranch look exactly like they do on the packaging. One side plain with the other side flavored. The chips were very consistent with no one chip massively over seasoned and because of the packaging, not a single busted chip.

    The chips have a noticeable vinegar smell and taste with a very mild taste of buffalo along with an almost non-existent hint of ranch. Overall I was not impressed with these chips.
    Should you eat them?
    If you like vinegar with buffalo, try them out. If not, then pass on them. Just don't eat these with a group of people around or in the office because you might get complaints because the smell of vinegar is very powerful.
  19. Sledgstone
    vBulletin went straight from beta 28 to Gold release with no release candidate versions and they even upgraded their official forums to it. WTF. There is no member list, no users online list. Notifications are horrible, its buggy as hell and looks like crap.
    http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/
    The only thing it has going for it IMO is that the mobile version looks decent on a cell phone screen.. but even then I came across some 503 errors and pages that failed to load. So buggy. They say "Enjoy a clean, up-to-date design that supports easier forum navigation for members and visitors alike." I don't care for their idea of 'clean, up-to-date' it doesn't look up-to-date to me at all. In fact the page navigation floats at the top of the screen in large forums with multiple pages of topics. It took me a minute to even realize it was there. For a basic default skin, this looks horrible.
    It has less than half the features of vB 3.8 and searching doesn't work. All the search results are "unexpected_error"
  20. Sledgstone
    vBulletin has updated their vBulletin 5 Connect demo.. Heres a prime example of the horrible crap of vbulletin's sofware and one of the obvious reasons we stopped using their product.
    vBulletin custom page example:
    http://www.vbulletin.com/vb5demo/custom_page
    Yay, I could have put text on a page.
    Here is an example of a random test page that I made on ipb:
    http://www.ancientclan.com/test.html
    I have the ability to put anything from the database onto any page I want and in whatever format I want it to appear in. Huge difference. Sure vb allows custom blocks and html, but if it was anything as advanced as IPB, you would think they would have made a better example.
  21. Sledgstone
    Instructions to make:
    Sledge's Grilled Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings
    Ingredients:
    - Chicken Wings
    - Sledge's Sweet and Spicy Rib Rub
    Stuff you will need:
    - A good knife
    - Aluminum foil
    - Ziploc gallon storage or freezer bag
    - Grill
    - Tongs
    Instructions:
    1) Prepare your chicken wings! I consider one batch of wings to be about 2 or 2 1/2 pounds. This package is enough for two batches of wings.

    2) If you have never cut chicken wings before, start by grabbing the tip and stretching out the wing.. the muscle structure of the wing will stay stretched out while you hold it allowing for an easy cut.


    3) If you do not have a sharp knife that will easily cut through bone, then grab the wing and snap the drumette away from the wingette in the opposite direction you were cutting, like in this pic.. the bone will pop out of the cartilage thus separating the two pieces.

    4) Now just cut the skin/meat that is still connecting the two pieces.

    5) Now cut the wing tip off and discard it.


    6) Cut the rest of your batch of wings the same way and place all the pieces on a paper towel covered plate.

    7) Get a small bowl of Sledge's Sweet and Spicy Rib Rub ready and get a gallon size ziploc bag for shaking your wings in. Now use paper towels and dry each wing individually and place them in the ziploc bag in rows. Drying the wings can take a while, so go ahead and start your grill and get it heated up and cleaned.

    8) Sprinkle one side of the wings with the rub so they are coated, flip the bag over and coat the other side too.

    9) Close the bag with a bit of air in it, and shake that bag to make sure the wings are fully coated.

    10) You will want to cook your wings on the grill with indirect heat. Line up your wings on the grill on one side, then set the burners on your grill to high, except for the burner your wings are sitting on, turn that one off.


    11) After letting them cook for about 20 minutes, you will want to flip them over and let them cook another 20 minutes.

    12) Use a meat thermometer if you unsure if the wings are done or not. Chicken is done at 170 degrees. Depending on your grill and the temperature it is maintaining, you may have to cook them longer or shorter. Once they are done, put them on an aluminum foil lined plate and then cover them with another layer of aluminum foil and let the wings sit for a good 5-10 minutes. This way the wings will rest and retain their moisture.
    And here they are done!

    Additional tips:
    1) You can cook them faster by cooking them over direct heat, but you will have to flip them very often and the more you flip them, more of the seasoning will be burned off onto the grill surface. That is why I cook them slower to retain the most flavor.
    2) You can get the wings crispier by turning the burner underneath them on in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking. Just keep flipping them. But because this rub has sugar in it, the wings will want to burn quickly! So keep an eye on them and if they start charring up, lower the heat or take them off the grill!
  22. Sledgstone
    Instructions to make:
    Sledge's Sweet and Spicy Rib Rub
    This dry rub can be used on pork or beef ribs, chicken, chicken wings, beef, pork, steaks, etc!
    Ingredients:
    1 1/2 cups brown sugar (firmly packed in measuring cup) 1/4 cup white sugar 1/3 cup paprika 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder 1/4 cup + a little over.. half seasoned salt, half bucks seasoning 2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper Instructions:
    1) Mix all the ingredients together. If you don't have a food processor to mix it with, then use your hands and really work the mix in a larger bowl to break apart the brown sugar so everything is equally mixed in.




    2) This recipe will yield a good sized batch of rub that should last you all summer! Just remember to separate the amount of rub you plan on using ahead of working with raw meats or other foods so you don't cross-contaminate your main batch! So when you are ready to start cooking, set a small bowl of your rub aside and store the rest of your rub in an airtight container. Or do what I do and put your rub mix in a freezer bag and store it out of the way on a refrigerator door shelf. It does not need to be refrigerated, but it will stay fresh longer in the fridge! But keep in mind, regardless of how you store the rub mix, the brown sugar in this rub will cause the rub mix to re-clump after it has sat for a few days/weeks. This is normal, just simply break the clumps apart and its ready to be used again!

  24. Sledgstone
    I didn't take pics of this fix.. but thanks to this website:
    http://anythingbutipod.com/2008/03/creative-zen-disassembly/
    I was able to figure out how to take it apart. Those are some really really small screws.. and thankfully her mp3 player only had a loose battery. Whenever the mp3 player was lightly shaken the power would cut off and only come back on after it was connected to a computer usb. After taking it apart, the solder connections were fine, but the battery wires seemed to be loose on the battery itself. Probably because the battery was floating around dis-lodged from its seat.
    After I fixed the connection on the battery and re-glued it into place (with double sided heavy duty glue foam), it works fine now. I wish I had an actual plastic tool for removing plastic shells because now the seem looks a little marred, but at least its working fine now.
  25. Sledgstone
    So lady's laptop has had a power jack issue for almost a year now, but almost a week ago it got even worse and would hardly stay plugged in or charge unless the plug at the back of the laptop was pushed and held into place just right. I've seen this issue before with a PS2 and I was able to fix that by re-soldering the DC power jack connection to the motherboard. Well, turns out that getting access to the DC power jack on a laptop is a hell of a lot more complicated than a slim PS2. I have to give credit were it is due, and this website had a complete walk through for her exact laptop with pictures:
    http://www.insidemylaptop.com/
    I was able to finally get to the motherboard and the DC power jack after 18 steps of disassembly. x_x I re-soldered the connection and her laptop powers up perfectly again. I also cleaned out a major blockage of dust and lint out of the cooling fan area. Its practically running like new again and doesn't kick on the fan after 20 minutes of use anymore. Yay.
    Here is a pic of the inside of her laptop with a circle around the DC power jack. A pain in the ass to get to, and the part I had to solder was only about 1-2 cm big, but we saved over $100 because thats the cheapest price I found to get it fixed at a shop.

    For my own records, I fixed this on 10/06/2010. Hopefully it will be a permanent fix, because if not I'll have to replace the power jack itself next time instead of just fixing one solder point.
    MAKES
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