January 30, 2012

More Snacks: Scary Seaweed! Plus Re-Giveaway Winner

Yep, we have a new winner of the HUMAN snack-pack and t-shirt giveaway!


Plus there's also a micro-post about snacking.  Because the funny thing about snacking... even after you've said you're done, finished, that's absolute it for now?  Somehow two minutes later you're all "well, hell, just one more..."

And what happened to the big ol' post I was going to do on an important, sensible, and much-loathed medical screening procedure I had done last week? Well, still waiting for lab results, and somehow it seemed like its asking for trouble to write the whole thing without knowing what the biopsy's gonna say. So stay tuned and there'll be a post later on that--because no doubt you are all just dying to know what Crabby has hidden up her... um, sleeve!  Her blogging sleeve, yeah, that's it. There might be text and pictures and videos, who knows?


But First Off, Our Re-Giveaway Winner:

The new winner is Azusmom! And I'm always psyched when the RNG gets around to recognizing long-time Cranky Fitness commenters. Congrats, Azusmom, and please check in to claim your prize before the end of day Friday, or at this point I'll just arbitrarily assign a new re-re-giveaway winner.


Got a Favorite Snack that Frightens Bystanders?

Anyone else have some go-to snacks that seem to make those around you nervous? The more new health food novelties I experiment with (kale chips? Bright orange nutritional yeast sprinkled on everything?) the more I'm discovering a great side benefit: I can freely offer to share with those around me, and no one takes me up on it!

My new favorite, which I mentioned last time, is a seaweed snack that the sinister folks at Trader Joes are seducing innocent snackers with.



I was cheerfully oblivious for many years, because I've never been a sushi fan and thought "seaweed? No way!"

And the first time I tried one of these seaweed snacks, I almost spit it out.  Eww!  It tastes fishy, what a vile and disagreeable thing for a cracker to do! Who would eat these on purpose? That's... hmm, hang on... because it seems there is this also a nice little oily salty crunchy action going on behind the fish taste.... Maybe not so gross? Perhaps one more... No, Eww there's the fish again! Aack! But wait... mmm, oil and salt, yumm!

By the end of the first pack, sadly, I was hooked.  Now, damn it, I am forced to visit Trader Joe's on an ever-escalating schedule. Because if I tried to buy a week, or god forbid, a month's, supply... I'd need a forklift and a dumptruck and it's hard to find parking for 'em in the crowded TJ's lot.

However, it could be worse: as it happens, there are lots of nifty seaweed health benefits, since sea vegetables have "anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anticoagulant, antithrombotic, and antiviral properties."

And despite the lovely oily/salty flavor, the nutritional info isn't too horrible at all:


Hate Me For Going On and On About Trader Joes 'Cause You Don't Have One?


Doesn't it suck that we can have a McDonalds on every freakin' corner throughout the world, and yet getting to your nearest Trader Joe's may require you to drive for 47 hours and cross through several large red states on your way?  Well, there are other brands of seaweed snacks at Asian grocery stores and health food places. And I'm too much of a novice to have investigated other sea vegetables, or even tried the bit sheets of nori that aren't conveniently marketed and displayed as snacks. But I suspect these may be options as well.

Anyone else know of any Scary Snacks, either that you or others around you fear? Or any thoughts on anything at all?

14 comments:

  1. you KNOW I love me some roasted seaweed, Cranky!
    And Id have to say people are just afraid of what I eat across the board but I gets the most recoils in horror at my ostrich jerky.
    definitely that jerky.

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  2. How weird am I Miz that I'm thinking "Ostrich Jerky? Bring it on, where do I buy it?"

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  3. Someday I will visit a Trader Joes.

    In the meantime, I think I must get myself some dulse. Haven't had it in years. Plus, it's winter which means fire in the wood stove and I remember that I loved toasting my dulse on the wood stove when I was a kid.

    Ah, memories.

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  4. I just concentrated on the fact you could eat the entire bag for 60 calories. SCORE! Unless they taste like fishy dirt, I will take a hike to my local Trader Joes and if they are horrible Cranky, when you come back to New England I'm stalking you.

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  5. Then hope you don't like 'em Starving Bitch, 'cause I've always wanted a stalker!

    My dream is that someday, somewhere, someone will come up to me and say "Are you Crabby McSlacker?" Alas, no luck so far.

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  6. Scary snacks are fun. I used Tanka bites to frightened my children. Finally they tried them and loved. Never judge a snack by it's unappetizing earthy color. That's my tip of the day.

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  7. No Trader Joe's here, but yes i like and can find seaweed for snacking.

    As for scary snacks, unless you really don't like raw cashews...

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  8. EEKS! Not tempting me with that seaweed stuff! ;-) BUT I have like 5 TJ's within 3-4 miles of me & I know people are going to hate me for that BUT we are way overcrowded here with people & cars so there is a trade-off! :-)

    I don't bring cereal in the house too often - I LOVE IT - like that Kashi healthy stuff! I am going to try some Attune ones though & we shall see! ;-)

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  9. I love things like that. They had something similar for tasting last time I was at costco and I would have bought some except I'd have had to buy a WHOLE CASE. Seeing as my husband doesn't like it it seemed like a bad idea.
    I wish we had Trader Joe's up here...*sniff*

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  10. If you don't have TJs, you may not have Whole Foods either, but WF sells Sea Tangle Snacks' Roasted Seaweed that I'd say are superior to TJs product. And that's coming from a big Trader Joe's fan...

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  11. Roasted seaweed YUM!
    I love TJ's too- but you can actually buy some good seaweed at your local asian market. Cheap, good, and you can even get it individually wrapped as well.
    Its also a good place for finding other scary snacks!!

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  12. Great post - I would never have thought to snack on seaweed. Snack time with hypoglycemia is extremely important and hey the waistline's telling me to give it a go. Will just have to do some trawling to find a supplier - it could be a good excuse to visit 'over the water' and pick up some while there.

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  13. You can order a six-pack of the seaweed snacks from Amazon, http://amzn.to/rqTbdP. You just have to sucker some friends to split the first shipment with you if you're not sure whether you'll like them.

    And these aren't scary, but I love them, Chia Chargers. All-natural, awesome four-bite wonders that have Chia seeds in them. What's not to love.

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  14. How about Red Kale Chips for a snack?
    From my wife's collection of weird foods... www.lovingearth.net I haven't dared yet!

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