2020’s Hottest Holiday Junk Food, Part 1!
I’ve collected several of this year’s hottest holiday junk foods, and by “collected” I mean “ate ravenously.”
One good thing about the constant barrage of bad news is that you totally get a pass for eating garbage. Cut to a shot of me holding up the latest terrible newspaper with one hand, and shoving Ferrero Rochers down my throat with the other.
Elf Cereal!
(Found at Target)
I am SO into this, and I’ve never even seen the movie! I would’ve given the cereal high marks for its bright box art alone, but it’s really the flavor that pops loudest.
Think of it as maple-flavored Kix. The syrup flavor is rich, deep and not at all what you’d expect from a “cartoony” cereal. It’s more like something Trader Joe’s might sell, if that makes sense. It’s honestly a shock to taste something so complex when the cereal looks like that.
I’ll warn you that I seem to be in the minority re: Elf Cereal. Not everyone is a fan. I could see the heavy maple flavor getting old in a big giant bowl of the stuff, but if you’re like me, and you mostly just grab small handfuls over the course of several weeks like a thieving squirrel, I think you’ll dig it.
GRADE: B+.
Christmas Blonde Roast 2020!
(Available at Starbucks)
A thing about me: I don’t do the big fancy coffee drinks from Starbucks. Even the beloved seasonal offerings like PSLs and Gingerbread Lattes. If I’m gonna frivolously plow through 700 calories, I’d rather it be on potato chips.
Thus, I am all about Starbucks doing holiday versions of their regular coffees. I’m particularly fond of their Christmas Blonde Roast 2020, which is advertised as being “sweet and figgy,” but to me barely tastes any different from the Blonde roast I drank back in March.
And that’s not a complaint! I can appreciate a good flavored coffee, but when I want coffee, I almost always just want regular goddamn coffee. So the fact that this has such mild modifications is perfect for me. It’s the Christmas coffee version of the “This Is My Halloween Costume” t-shirt.
GRADE: A. I’m also digging that holiday cup, which looks like a stage from an Xmas edition of Frogger. Read More…
Brach’s Turkey Dinner Candy Corn!
You’ve heard of Brach’s Turkey Dinner Candy Corn, right? A whole Thanksgiving dinner in candy corn form? It’s as gross as it sounds!
Me and Jay got our hands on a few bags for a Purple Stuff Podcast taste-test. (We haven’t released a minisode in years, and what better excuse than green bean candy corn?)
I won’t spoil our reactions, but yeah, this was pretty extreme. Brach’s Turkey Dinner was for some reason classified as a *Halloween* candy, so if you reallllly want a bag, you may have to fish around eBay at this point.
The flavors include roasted turkey, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, sweet potato pie and ginger glazed carrot. (Obviously, it’s the first three that you’ve gotta worry about.)
Click here to listen to the minisode!
Thanks! There’s more Purple Stuff to come this month, both here and on our Patreon page. Stay tuned, and rinse regularly.
Dino Drac’s Holiday Highlights!
By this point in November, I’m usually a week deep into Dino Drac’s holiday season. Alas, in 2020, it’s been a struggle to find a moment when my trivial shtick wouldn’t seem tone-deaf. I’m not sure if we’re really there yet, but I gotta dip my toes in the water at least!
Even beyond this week’s intrigues, we knew it was gonna be a mutant holiday season. Many families, including mine, have canceled whatever their traditional celebrations would’ve been. I walk into Target and see Christmas stuff, and it somehow feels more out of place now than it would’ve last April. It’s just been that kind of year.
So, maybe Dino Drac can be a small sense of normalcy in this abnormal season. Over the next month and a half, I’ll toss you everything from strange recipes to old toy catalogs, just as I always do at this time of year.
For today, though, I wanted to highlight some of my holiday articles from the past. Some of you are new to the site, but even a few longtimers haven’t read everything.
Consider the below an archive of warm blankets for whenever you feel a chill! Read More…
Purple Stuff: CBS Halloween Specials, 1985!
It’s Halloween week, and we’re coming in with a big swing!
In this special edition of The Purple Stuff Podcast, me and Jay from Sludge Central are diving into the 1985 broadcasts of Garfield’s Halloween Adventure *and* It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!
They aired back-to-back on October 30th of that year, which also marked the world premiere of Garfield’s special. The podcast is as much about the old commercials as the cartoons, so get set for lots of talk about Toys “R” Us, Teddy Ruxpin and, uh, Mix ‘n Eat Cream of Wheat?
If you’ve been feeling like Halloween’s gotten crushed under the terrible weight of 2020, this show oughta be a major spirit boost!
Click here to listen to this week’s episode!
Oh, and you can watch all of the commercials we’ll be discussing in the above video. Some real home runs in that batch!
Huuuuge thanks to our pal Rabbi — aka The Haunted Drive-In — for donating his copy of the specials for use in this podcast. We couldn’t have done it without ya, bud!
As a reminder, The Purple Stuff Podcast is also on Patreon, where you can grab an exclusive bonus show each and every month. (October’s is coming soon, so you’d be getting in at the perfect time!)
As you’ve probably heard by now, Apple TV has locked up the exclusive rights to all of the Peanuts special, so this is the first time in forever that It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown won’t be airing on regular television. Definitely sucks to lose such a big tradition, but maybe we can take that as encouragement to start making some new ones?
Enjoy! Thanks so much for your eyes and ears, and for sharing the show around!