December 16, 2002
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Now for something completely different! A blog from moi that is actually positive! Yep, today I’m going to talk about things I like–foods, products, companies, and especially knives. So you may find a helpful consumer hint or two herein.
Frozen foods: Plush Pippin brand frozen apple pies are wonderful! Brush an egg glaze on the crust, stick it in the oven, and prepare yourself for the best apple pie you ever tasted (or second best, if you are lucky enough to live with a prize-winning cook). It is way better than Sara Lee or Mrs. Smith.
Then there is Coca-Cola. After all these years, I still think it is the best sody pop on the planet. (Vernor’s Ginger Ale used to be better, but they ruined it when they went national–when you could only get it in western Pennsylvania, it was sublime.) It has a crisp clean taste that has stood the test of time and fended off pretenders like New Coke. (When that stuff came on the market, I stockpiled the good stuff–at one point, I had six cases of cans and a couple dozen liters in plastic.) It was probably even better back in the halcyon days when it contained cocaine, but what the heck, it’s still the best.
Car insurance: Thank God for Geico. I have no idea how their service, but their rates are the best. I hate mandatory car insurance. Our cars put together are probably worth less than the collision deductible many people have on theirs. Geico at least lets us drive legally, unlike most everyone else I know out here.
Knives: I love Swiss army knives. Here is the inside scoop on them. There are two companies that supply knives to the Swiss army, Victorinox and Wenger. Victorinox was first by a few years, but Wenger knives tend to be more innovative and better engineered, especially the scissors (Victorinox uses a spring that always breaks; Wenger uses a torsion bar that doesn’t) and the can opener blade.
You want a really good mid-price knife, look for ones made by CRKT, the Columbia River Knife and Tool company. You may have never heard of them as they do no mass market advertising that I am aware of. Their Mirage and S-2 models have been discontinued and if you can find them, you should be able to get a great deal.
For low-end knives that are decent (by low-end, I mean around $20 or so), you can’t beat Master Cutlery/Jaguar. They have extremely innovative designs, plus they aren’t above making good copies of more expensive knives. They also make some of the most outrageous fantasy knives around. Beware of outrageous mark-ups, however–I recently saw a knife that wholesales for less than $8 for sale at a pawnshop for $40. Don’t ever buy a knife at a pawnshop unless you are a very experienced collector.
Next: I dunno. Maybe more of the usual vile bile, maybe not.
Comments (11)
Funny how useful the scissors can be on a swiss knife. I’ll try to remember the bit about torsion bar versus spring — I’ll never remember the names.
It seems to me that coke was stronger when I was a kid; at least I like to believe it. But then, beer tasted like shit, so what do kids know?
What happened to Vernors — we used to go downtown in Detroit and get it straight from on tap from a huge elaborate marble fixtured Vernor’s store palace — it had to be the best pop on tap in the world, thick and deep bronze colored.
But then old man Vernor died and his son took over. The first thing he did was reduce the amount of ginger in the ale (Vernor’s ginger ale it was called, I seem to remember) and we all said he ruined it. At the same time he was advertising it as new and improved. Didn’t fool anybody, sales went straight down. In his defence, there had been rumors that Vernors might have to shut down because of costs, rumors probably started by the son. I think the old man would simply have raised the price. Can’t trust these young ‘uns, never could. Not even us young ‘uns.
I knew you liked something, I never doubted ya. Me, too. But I don’t drink Vernors anymore, unless to reminisce and lament, and I don’t do that either. Do I? Alas.
You brought back memories of days home sick as a child when Vernors was the “medicine” the doctor ordered….only good if the fizz tickled your nose and made you choke if you gulped too much.
No worries on emailing me…I have not yet figured out where to actually answer comments fellow bloggers leave at my site either! My dad owned a pharmacy with a soda fountain so I am familiar with coke syrup too as one of the perfect remedy! ~ßJ~
Damn!*S* I knew we had something in common! LOL….I love knives ( not to mention swords- I have a goodly collection), and I’m an aple pie snob. I’ll have to check out Plush Pippin, if I can find one….and I agree about coke. My ExOM stockpiled a bunch of it,too…we ended up drinking it all, though…anyhow, I hope your folks’ holidays are far out and groovy! *HUGS* & Pax~Z
Thanks for the tips on the knives. I was looking for one for my husband. He is birthday is the Jan. 4th.
I noticed that you wanted to know how to reply to a comment. Just click the the link to how many comments you have, and scroll down….then add the comment. Good luck. Or….just click on the person’s name and go to their site and add a comement in their guestbook. MAKE a great day!
Thanks for the compliment, Darlin’. I know my pies are better than even the excellent Plush Pippin, but it’s nice hearing it from you, even if you only said it because you’re scared of me.
I’m starting a bit of a knife collection. I’ve got a couple throwing knives, have meant to learn how to use them, but haven’t had an opportunity yet. Perhaps this winter, when it’s cold and silent, and there’s nothing else to do in Whitehorse.
Great info! Unfortunately, Coke is not the original formula now that they claim. Before they came out with New Wave Coke, they used nothing but cane sugar syrup as the sweetening agent. New Wave used high-fructose corn sweetener. Coke Classic uses either/or both. I can taste the difference easily. The corn syrup makes Coke thick, sits in the tummy & has less refreshing capabilities. It also has an after-taste (sorta like Pepsi, which used corn syrup long before Coke). I have complained to them several times about using the corn syrup. Guess what else? Corn syrup is more fattening than cane sugar syrup, because it breaks down in the body better! Corn syrup binds with fat.
Wow. Good comment by Pikake. Why is it, as we progress, nothing is ever as good? Thank God for the young and brand new.
Wow. Good comment by Pikake. Why is it, as we progress, nothing is ever as good? Thank God for the young and brand new.
I knew it! I put my comment in, then read some more comments from another blog, then when I went back, I found my comment still hanging in the box and not showing on the comments page. Testing my memory they were, and this time I doubted myself. Ergo, failure again.