tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post4907737545681426541..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Cereal Killer By Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-14156169280382170632020-04-27T10:44:15.206-07:002020-04-27T10:44:15.206-07:00Ken,
I'm with you on Grape Nuts, a great and ...Ken,<br /><br />I'm with you on Grape Nuts, a great and unique taste (though due to the sky-hi carbs, I only rarely have them). Have you ever tried them mixed with spoon size (unsweetened) Shredded Wheat? There's a terrific synergy of the two different grainy tastes if you let them "marinate" together in milk for a couple of minutes.<br /><br />And, from the "lost cereals" department, does anyone remember Kellogg's OKs? The Battle Creek boys' knockoff of Cheerios, but in my decades-old memory, a tastier. IIRC, Dennis James did the brand's TV commercials.Mike McCannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06369457898152250682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-13790860807244577272020-04-26T17:59:20.660-07:002020-04-26T17:59:20.660-07:00Stoner's Delight
medium size bowl
successive ...Stoner's Delight<br /><br />medium size bowl<br />successive 1/4" layers of Grape Nuts<br />with thin slices of banana, or other fruit<br />as deep as you are hungry<br />Final fruit layering over entire<br />Pour warm milk just to top of cereal<br />let soak for 2 minutes<br />distribute a 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar<br />over top fruit layer<br />add 1/8 inch of very cold milk<br />use thin metal spoon to carve out chunks<br />of hot/cold-fruit/grain-sweet/sour tongue grenades<br />repeat dark brown sugar and cold milk<br />at each uncovered layer of<br />Stoner Cereal Candy<br /><br />(NOT reccomended ANYwhere near bedtime ;>)DrBOPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07179469265158025584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-3266352432479013442020-04-24T12:07:03.480-07:002020-04-24T12:07:03.480-07:00Speaking of Grape Nuts, ever eat a pine tree? Some...Speaking of Grape Nuts, ever eat a pine tree? Some parts are edible. (Funny how someone like Euell Gibbons was a household word and popular Carson joke subject and then fade away.)<br /><br />I have a Friday question inspired by the recent passing of beloved Muppet performer Caroll Spinney, who was Sesame Street's Big Bird and Oscar for over half a century. Big Bird had a teddy bear that was named Radar that he dearly loves. The IMDb says that Gary Burghoff gave him the bear. Muppet Wiki, which tends to be fairly accurate, says it was given to him by Mr. Hooper (the Sesame Street storekeeper whose death was historically acknowledged in a brilliantly written episode that aired on Thanksgiving Day so kids and parents could discuss it). <br /><br />Do you know any backstage story about it? Was Caroll Spinney (or a Sesame Street writer) simply a M*A*S*H fan? Did the M*A*S*H folks have any feelings about the bear's name?<br /><br />If a tree is eaten in the forest, does it make a sound? <br /><br />Greg Ehrbarhttp://www.gregovision.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-57666789831183736132020-04-24T07:39:53.042-07:002020-04-24T07:39:53.042-07:00Long time lurker, always enjoy reading Ken, and fi...Long time lurker, always enjoy reading Ken, and finally have something to contribute. Have you read the excerpt from Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon about eating Cap'n Crunch? It is hilariously baroque and mesmerizing with detail.<br /><br />http://akkartik.name/post/capn-crunchGFoylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03337147307017507844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-39187317427814023422020-04-23T19:15:40.057-07:002020-04-23T19:15:40.057-07:00As a kid, we did the same - had cereal Monday thru...As a kid, we did the same - had cereal Monday thru Saturday, and then eggs, pancakes, bacon on Sunday after church. I was an odd kid and preferred unsweetened cereals. I loved Cheerios or Corn Flakes with fresh fruit, like strawberries, blueberries, or sliced peaches. Got a little monotonous in the winter when it was bananas all the time. Although in the upper Midwest, we ate a lot of oatmeal or cream of wheat during the winter. I didn't eat Grape Nuts as a kid, but as an adult I love a couple tablespoons of them stirred into plain yogurt with some fruit. If you wait a minute or two, they soften slightly and you worry less about chipping a tooth! MJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-51289306242430316972020-04-23T19:14:32.815-07:002020-04-23T19:14:32.815-07:00As a kid, we did the same - had cereal Monday thru...As a kid, we did the same - had cereal Monday thru Saturday, and then eggs, pancakes, bacon on Sunday after church. I was an odd kid and preferred unsweetened cereals. I loved Cheerios or Corn Flakes with fresh fruit, like strawberries, blueberries, or sliced peaches. Got a little monotonous in the winter when it was bananas all the time. Although in the upper Midwest, we ate a lot of oatmeal or cream of wheat during the winter. I didn't eat Grape Nuts as a kid, but as an adult I love a couple tablespoons of them stirred into plain yogurt with some fruit. If you wait a minute or two, they soften slightly and you worry less about chipping a tooth! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-6696680626048584222020-04-23T11:38:22.235-07:002020-04-23T11:38:22.235-07:00You used the worth "plethora" in this bl...You used the worth "plethora" in this blog. That makes it a winner for me! I have an obsession with using the word "plethora" as much as possible in writing and in oral presentation.<br /><br />So, this leads me to ask you a Friday Question..Are there words and phrases you love and adore that you sneak into your writing?<br /><br />Oh yeah, I rarely ate cereal as a kid but I totally love Fruit Loops as an adult and had a bowl after reading this.sueK2001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-53297886560182885122020-04-23T09:51:25.170-07:002020-04-23T09:51:25.170-07:00Quisp was the best, and you can still find it once...Quisp was the best, and you can still find it once in a while at Fresh Market. I don’t think I ever had Freakies, but I can still sing the commercial jingle...Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13775430353810840374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15260542489923196132020-04-23T05:56:44.593-07:002020-04-23T05:56:44.593-07:00This is a picnic table. Many parts are edible!
C...This is a picnic table. Many parts are edible!<br /><br /><br />Cheers, thanks a lot,<br /><br />StormStormnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-86510932072888770752020-04-23T05:33:12.569-07:002020-04-23T05:33:12.569-07:00Definitely ate all the cereal I could growing up i...Definitely ate all the cereal I could growing up in the 80s... provided it was no more than $3 a box - that was the rule.<br /><br />Nowadays, I try to watch my carbs, but I recently killed off a box of Special K with Dried Strawberries... glorious...Tom Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-80987172042759626082020-04-22T22:22:35.918-07:002020-04-22T22:22:35.918-07:00Don't forget the coolest thing - the records t...Don't forget the coolest thing - the records that used to come right on the box! Just cut out and play. I think we got the Archies and some Paul Revere, maybe...<br />I still love my Cocoa Pebblestbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-72955665910674528472020-04-22T21:24:27.476-07:002020-04-22T21:24:27.476-07:00I'm from Peterborough, Ontario, home to the HQ...I'm from Peterborough, Ontario, home to the HQ for Quaker Oats. They've grown over the years, make all sorts of things, but one of their original big sellers was Quaker Oatmeal. I also went to Trent University, also in Ptbo, and so our marketing class reached out to the marketing dept at Quaker and in they came to talk about their marketing campaign from the early 80s. <br /><br />Just as "healthy" living kicked off with aerobics etc., people embracing thinks like rice cakes as snacks, they decided to do a campaign for Quaker Oatmeal. And who was more kind-hearted, warm and friendly than Wilford Brimley? (Cocoon, Our House)<br /><br />So they advertised it with him talking about the benefits...and his closer for the ad was always..."Quaker Oatmeal...it's the right thing to do." The campaign fell flat. Nobody wanted to be told it was the right thing to do, apparently. But they weren't giving up. They added a voiceover of a peppier tagline...Quaker Oatmeal, it's the right thing to do (pause) and a tasty way to do it!<br /><br />Still fell flat. <br /><br />What worked? The classic jingle. "Apples and cinnamon, raisins and spice, maple and brown sugar, and everything nice....We'rrrrrre going to make a hot cereal lover outta you (outta me?), outta you."<br /><br />To this day, I cannot say the words Apples and cinnamon for ANYTHING without singing the song. Pavlovian response. My wife MAY kill me one day, and that will be the trigger.<br /><br />Oh, and there are a bunch of hilarious commercials with Brimley and some kids. In NONE of the scenes are both Brimley and the kids talking. Apparently Brimley was a "one-take" commercial actor, and the kids messed up a few times to the point the video crew thought there was going to be a murder or two. So the kids' lines were edited in when Wilford wasn't there, he would do his lines and leave. In his segments, they didn't speak; in their segments, they were looking at him but he wasn't standing there. <br /><br />The best class I had in university was listening to those guys for the day...and he's still alive apparently!<br /><br />Paul<br />aka PolyWoggPolyWogghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05239033481272527855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-8408016648504859192020-04-22T20:00:03.311-07:002020-04-22T20:00:03.311-07:00Cereals of my youth:
Nabisco wheat honeys (also ri...Cereals of my youth:<br />Nabisco wheat honeys (also rice). Couldn’t eat them with milk. Yuck. Good out of the box though. When they got old they stuck together like popcorn balls. Yum. <br />Jets Cereal (get set with Jets)<br />Kellogg’s All Stars ( Alakazam, what a wonderful wizard I am)<br />Post Crispy Critters (the one and only cereal that comes in the shape of animals)<br /><br />I think I liked the jingles better than the cereals themselves. <br /><br /><br />iamr4manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03886388328762709050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-14725437092893125082020-04-22T19:15:17.207-07:002020-04-22T19:15:17.207-07:00Imagine my surprise when once looking at the ingre...Imagine my surprise when once looking at the ingredients of Cookie Crisp Chocolate Chip cereal only to find no actual chocolate listed (but it did contain dried apples!) Cereal I really loved as a kid was Pink Panther Flakes (made by Post, ca. 1971), which turned the milk poured onto it...pink (as advertised).Fed by the musenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-8523143590749987302020-04-22T18:43:18.870-07:002020-04-22T18:43:18.870-07:00Y'all don't even KNOW what death by cereal...Y'all don't even KNOW what death by cereal is! My mother didn't want us having sugar (so none of those fun cereals you mentioned), so we ate Puffed Wheat or Puffed Rice, that was... SHOT OUT OF GUNS!!... to the tune of the 1812 overture in ads. We had the kind that came in long plastic bags. (I think mom bought generic before generic was cool.) Imagine eating a bowl of styrofoam packing peanuts with milk - THAT was our puffed wheat breakfast.<br /><br />Here's the commercial. Nowadays I can't hear the 1812 Overture without seeing cannons filled with puffed wheat and rice shooting off.I am scarred for life.<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bn1IYlKiZk&feature=youtu.bePamela Athertonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06482461216176753054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54408074722444345512020-04-22T17:39:11.058-07:002020-04-22T17:39:11.058-07:00From 1961 to 1963, Post cereals had baseball cards...From 1961 to 1963, Post cereals had baseball cards on the backs of the boxes. When my brother and/or I went shopping with mom, we'd dig through every box in the store, looking for cards of players we didn't have. It didn't matter what the cereal was, only that we were able to get closer to the complete set of 200. <br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yicOGKPzB4c<br /><br />Mick, by the way, was on the Alpha-Bits box.Al in PDXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08835073077514498840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-91878702864852965772020-04-22T17:27:43.598-07:002020-04-22T17:27:43.598-07:00My brother, who's a year older than I am, was ...My brother, who's a year older than I am, was a Cap'n Crunch fanatic. One morning, he seemed pretty out of sorts, and I watched as instead of milk, he poured Tang on his bowlful of CC. He threw it down the sink, refilled his bowl and proceeded to pour Tang on it a second time. He decided not to go for the hat trick.<br /><br />Twinkles cereal caught my attention for a couple of years. There was a mini comic book on the back of the box that you could cut around the edges to open (without cutting into the box) and read while eating the star-shaped sugary poofs. It was tied into the Twinkles cartoon show ("Nose, nose, anything goes.") The one two-box-tops-and-50¢ cereal offer I most remember sending for was the Mighty Mouse Make A Face, which had four wooden knobs on it and boasted of being able to create 64,000 different faces. The anticipation of waiting for it to arrive was excruciating; I'd check the mailbox every day waiting... and waiting... and waiting. It was the perfect distraction on the long car trip to and from grandma's house in Sioux City.<br /><br />I'd forsaken cereal for years until USA Today ran a free subscription offer in exchange for sending proofs of purchase for General Mills cereals, circa '86. Eventually, the brand names yielded to the store brands of raisin bran (from which I used to stealthily eat the raisins out of the box as a kid, then leave just the bran flakes for the others.) Then it morphed into getting multi-grain cereals and mixing it with Sun Maid or other raisins that weren't the consistency of concrete. I tried Rice Krispies once, but those are even less filling than styrofoam.<br /><br />For the last decade of so, it's just old-fashioned rolled oats, uncooked, a sliced banana, raisins or Craisins, some walnuts or almonds, fresh blueberries when they're in season and chocolate milk. That's filling enough to skip lunch, then eat a light dinner. Yah Shurenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-31931839099006186112020-04-22T17:22:22.687-07:002020-04-22T17:22:22.687-07:00My grandfather used to pour hot water on GRAPE NUT...My grandfather used to pour hot water on GRAPE NUTS and ate hem that way which I thought a bit strange when I was a kid. But you don't call your grandfather strange.Barry Traylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14134880916215990198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52743378214907776272020-04-22T17:02:55.869-07:002020-04-22T17:02:55.869-07:00Actually, the cereal I liked best as a kid was &qu...Actually, the cereal I liked best as a kid was "Kellogg's Concentrate." I assume they no longer make it, as I sure have not seen a box of it anywhere in decades.<br /><br />As a kid, since getting anyone (Mom) to cook me some eggs and hash browns was never an option (Mom was busy preparing to read from the Bible and from Mary Baker Eddy's <i>Science & Health With Key to the Scriptures</i> at us as we ate breakfast. We had to try to eat and digest breakfast 6 days a week while receiving a lecture on her insane Christian Science religion: Cereal and Brain-washing every morning, put me off eating in the morning for life), I ate cereals which I <i>LOADED</i> with sugar. I'd spoon in sugar till there was a thick layer of sugar covering whatever cereal was hiding under it.<br /><br />These days I no longer keep granulated white sugar in the house, on the rare occasions when I buy a box of cereal, it's usually something pre-sweetened. Lately mostly Cocoa-Krispies.<br /><br />But frankly, my breakfasts nowadays, generally eaten noonish, or at least not for a couple hours after I get up (Mother's Breakfast Bible-readings still haunt me), tend to be scrambled eggs, with cheese or with BBQ sauce (Never both), and some form of potatoes, and maybe pancakes or waffles if I'm really starved. You know, real food.<br /><br />Bowls of gravel remain out of my diet.D McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54917632357767061972020-04-22T16:43:31.861-07:002020-04-22T16:43:31.861-07:00Yes! And you could tear the box at the perferation...Yes! And you could tear the box at the perferations, carefully tear the inner bag, and pour milk right into the boxGreg Barnettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-78997804127739742252020-04-22T16:40:02.007-07:002020-04-22T16:40:02.007-07:00Banana in Rice Krispies and Bran Flakes for sure. ...Banana in Rice Krispies and Bran Flakes for sure. Never tried it in anything else.Greg Barnettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-29865730857290575762020-04-22T15:19:50.021-07:002020-04-22T15:19:50.021-07:00Grape Nuts are delicious! You can put some milk on...Grape Nuts are delicious! You can put some milk on them and then stick them in the microwave for about a minute and they become perfect.<br /><br />I am a cereal enthusiast. Favorites include the originals like Grape Nuts, Corn Flakes, all the Chex and Shredded Wheat. A newer brand, if you can find it, is Nature's Path cereals. Their entire collection is outstanding.<br /><br />The cereal business kept the contract cartoon artists working when they were in between jobs. Disney artists drew box fronts like Rice Krispies while the Bullwinkle people did ones like Captain Crunch.<br /><br />There's an informative fun to read book all about the history of the cereal business called 'Cerealizing America: The Unsweetened Story of American Breakfast Cereal'. It's highly entertaining and available wherever finer books are sold!John Nixonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15534701157125020415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-40089002460364228412020-04-22T14:35:53.099-07:002020-04-22T14:35:53.099-07:00My current line-up: Grape-Nuts with Bananas (I do ...My current line-up: Grape-Nuts with Bananas (I do have fear of breaking off a tooth To soften it up, I let it sit in the milk for awhile); Honey Combs; and, what I ate as a kid, Shredded Wheat with Strawberries.JShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376748020962332059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-25920507778547215872020-04-22T12:48:29.305-07:002020-04-22T12:48:29.305-07:00Same here. In fact for a time, mine was on this &q...Same here. In fact for a time, mine was on this "macrobiotic" thing and the cereal we had to eat were blue corn flakes. They tasted like cardboard :(Janethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16136856533329478197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-16011590239883178542020-04-22T12:41:19.129-07:002020-04-22T12:41:19.129-07:00My cereal choices had more to do with the taste an...My cereal choices had more to do with the taste and or cartoon spokes character. <br /><br />I used to jokingly say, what do they do with the castrated grapes? Grape Eunuchs?<br /><br />I used to put sugar on Sugar Frosted Flakes because it wasn't sweet enough. <br /><br />When I was a kid the cereal companies didn't hide the fact that they were full of sugar; that's how they unadvertised them. e.g. Sugar Smacks, Super Sugar Crisp, Sugar Pops, S.F. Flakes, etc.<br /><br />In the commercial for Cheerios the "Cheerios Kid" (Remember him?) would say, "Cheerios and milk give you 'go power!'" I never got "go power." I figured it was because I put sugar on it. <br /><br />Never ate any cereal with raisins or nuts.<br />Quisp, but not Quake. Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries. Rice Krispies, sometimes. Shredded Wheat. Kellogg's Corn Flakes, but not Post Toasties. Alphabits, eh. <br /><br />Later in life I got back into cereal because of "Seinfeld." Believe it or not. <br /><br />M.B. <br />Mike Bloodworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04755626259169126800noreply@blogger.com