Author: whitneymgordon

Fat Bear Fun Food

It is that time of year again – Fat Bear Week 2022!! And Fat Bear Fun Food is FISH! Lots and lots of fish – fatty salmon makes for a VERY Rubenesque bear.

This NPR article gives a great outline of the week which started Wednesday October 5th and ends Tuesday the 11th. Otis the 2021 winner is back and my 2021 post shares more bear week details and history!

My fingers are crossed for Holly, Bear 435, who has a daughter in the 2022 competition, Bear 335. Holly was the 2019 winner and below is her 2019 “before & after” photo – she has fishing skills and my vote!! And now I am craving Miku’s Salmon Aburi Oshi Sushi!!

All things onions!

Onions are Fun Food – either real onions or Funyuns!

This VERY comprehensive article by Forks Over Knives goes into helpful detail for 6 types of onions and includes interesting recipes! And they confirm that red onions make the best pickled onions that can go on just about anything – Fun Food or not. The quick pickle process is so easy that even I have managed to do it successfully! Here is a recipe that worked for me by one of my fave “recipeists” Beth at Budget Bytes.

Now, onion rings are an unofficial Horizontal Eating category for me. A&W make killer ones with a great coating and I want to try the ones at Sonic once I can make a road trip to the US. This Mash article gives a VERY comprehensive history on onion rings. And this Mash article ranks 15 Fast (Fun!) Food onion rings – I believe my beloved A&W Rings are undersold when placed at #12 BUT I have to agree that the ones at Culver’s were pretty good but #1… I’ll just have to go re-try them on a US Road Trip along with quite a few others on the list.

I may expand my unofficial category to Fried Veggies (not potatoes!) as I now also want to try these Sonic Deep Fried pickles.

July 6th & Fried Chicken!

July 6th is National Fried Chicken Day! Sorry chickens but fried chicken is Fun Food. And so is Fried Chik’n or Chick’n if you can find it!

I learned way more about Fried Chicken from Eater as they dedicated their entire day’s Newsletter (June 29th) to the background, history and best places to eat it! Fried chicken is eaten around the World.

Personally, I’m a fan of fried chicken in nugget format – my friend’s mom makes the best Chicken Karaage and the next time you have indian food, try Chicken Pakora – tamarind sauce or mint chutney is a fun change from sweet & sour sauce or one of these other sauce suggestions. My current fave fried chicken experience happened in Vienna (VFC!) at Figlmuller Lugeck a wunderbar Schnitzel restaurant! And in a pinch, I’d even defend Chicken McNuggets deserving a spot on the fried chicken spectrum…! As Eater says – Fried Chicken is EVERYWHERE.

Whether it is for breakfast with waffles or at any other time of the day, in a bun or biscuit OR all on it’s own, not only is fried chicken Fun Food but all (!) accompanying foods ( e.g. potato salad!) are ALSO Fun Foods.

It’s Cinco de Mayo and…

AND that means Fun Food as well as history and celebration!! This informative CNN article outlines some background and Dos & Don’ts for the day.

While I decide where to go – Vancouver has great mexican restaurants – here are 14 mexican-inspired and VERY fun looking recipes from Brit & Co to try. I actually may just stay home and make their version of mexican pizza! And something with AVOCADO!

The convenience factor of a restaurant is magnified by the possibility of tequila and mezcal drink options. Mezcal is becoming more popular and this Thrillist article shares it’s long history and growing production & brands. But do read the CNN article as this day is not a day of drinking as St. Patrick’s Day has become…

Everything Bagel Ice Cream!?

Hhhuuummm, ice cream and everything bagels (actually ALL bagels) are Fun Food.  Fact. 

But Everything Bagel ice cream that includes cream cheese in the flavour profile seems…. different! And it may be Fun Food however opinions are split in this informative Pure Wow foodie article. If you order/find this brand, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, do a blind taste test at your next get together as Pure Wow did and be prepared for a range of answers – also have gum on hand as reports indicate a lasting garlic aftertaste…! Jeni’s has quite a few “funner” flavours – Skillet Cinnamon Roll or Strawberry Pretzel Pie or Texas Sheet Cake perhaps!

And for more ice cream news, Baskin-Robbins has created approximately 1,400 flavours since 1945. In it’s 77th year, along with a rebranding, they are creating 3 new flavours!  Thrillist has the details in this article and I am now looking for Totally Unwrapped which combines both chocolate and peanut butter ice cream and has fudge, fudge covered pretzels, caramel covered peanuts AND a salted caramel swirl!! 

The Fasties – Awards for Fun Food!

While I may not 100% agree with these winners, I agree with the awards! Thrillist’s 3rd annual Fasties are a PERFECT opportunity for horizontal eating of some important Fun Foods.

Five competing restaurants per Fun Food category and 15 categories so a total of 75 opportunities of horizontal eating experiences!! French fries, onion rings, tacos, cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets plus more – each are Fun Foods. And perhaps future Fasties will incorporate meat alternative categories to broaden their appeal as everyone’s tastes broaden.

And you can’t beat their perspective – their awards are Fun not serious and perhaps a bit educational!! I’m going to go track down the New Menu item of 2022 – Taco Bell has a new Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco!! And also Burger King’s Ch’king with it’s award winning “thick-cut” pickles!

Easter Fun Food Extravaganza!

It is the long Easter Weekend and there is an abundance of Fun Food!

This handy summary of key Easter candy comes from a survey by Instacart. Egg shaped candy comes out on top of Bunny shaped candy and chocolate is #1 no matter the shape! I cannot believe that a majority of people believe Easter candy is better than Halloween Candy though…

My fave apple cinnamon hot cross buns from Cobs are popular and hard to find – they will be baking them until approximately Wednesday. AND McDonald’s has an Easter Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurry, I may have to go tomorrow while it is still the long weekend!

Easter Candy Corn – Someone’s Fun Food…

I’m a BIG fan of Easter Candy (currently missing my FAVOURITE Ganong Easter Cherry Eggs as they were not produced in 2022…!) but as I have already put on the record, I am not a fan of candy corn.

As this Pure Wow article shares, Easter Candy Corn comes in very cute colours. The article also outlines the history of candy corn that stretches back to the late 1800s…! The cute colours are a more recent update.

And I find it very funny that one brand of “candy corn” is calling their version Easter Chick Poop and it is sold out on Amazon…! Seems fitting somehow but I am amazed it is sold out.