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Impulse Buy - Disgusting Christmas Candy

For some, the Christmas season is about the comfort of family and friends. Others celebrate the peaceful aspects of the holiday. For a few candy manufacturers, it’s the time of year to trot out various confections centered on the idea of reindeer feces.

Blue Bell Spiced Pumpkin Pecan Ice Cream

Over the last few years, I’ve been feverishly squawking that the fine folks at Blue Bell should get behind a pumpkin ice cream flavor for the holiday season. Their masterful way with the cold, creamy stuff would be well-suited to the cause, easily topping rivals with a pure pumpkin explosion that cheerily evokes this special time of year. Well, those magnificent bastards have finally heard my pleas, bringing forth “Spiced Pumpkin Pecan,” a marvelous concoction that strengthens a brand domination I’m simply in awe of.

Restaurant Roam - Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (Epcot)

For anyone visiting Walt Disney World with little girls in tow, face time with the Disney Princesses is an absolute priority. In fact, the royal ladies are often treated a bit like The Beatles, commanding a large amount of attention whenever they hit the parks, attracting scores of parents and anxious kids seeking an autograph, a picture, and a little insider conversation. Primarily tips on how to keep a tiara clean.

Blue Bell Caramel Kettle Crunch Ice Cream

I’m a big supporter of any ice cream company that dares to enter uncharted waters of funky flavoring, zeroing in on specialized tastes outside of the freezer aisle norm. But not too outside of the norm. Watching the Travel Channel and Food Network would have anyone believing there’s a market out there for hideous gunk such as fish and pizza ice cream. Nobody wants that. Ice cream belongs in the realm of the sweet, not the wecanbecausewecan mentality. Still, even lords of the cold treat can get a little ahead of themselves from time to time.

Restaurant Roam - 'Ohana at Disney's Polynesian Resort

I’ve come to the conclusion that ‘Ohana should be accepted as a way of life, not just another restaurant situated on the Walt Disney World property. It’s home to an appealing Polynesian atmosphere, an animated dining area, and an obscene parade of luscious food that could give an Andre the Giant-sized appetite pause. ‘Ohana isn’t for the meek or the miserable, it’s a sweeping playground for drooling carnivores who’ve pulled the safety restrictions off their meat intake valve, or perhaps a place for those who enjoy the kitsch of Hawaii without the burden of a plane ride.

The 2010 Great American Pie Festival in Celebration, FL

Last weekend brought about the return of the Great American Pie Festival, an annual event that rolls on down to Celebration, Florida for a few days, leaving the lucky ‘burb in a diabetic coma. It’s a time of community. It’s a time of joy. It’s a time of rapidly expanding waistlines.

Restaurant Roam - The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at Disney's Hollywood Studios

In February, I was coerced into celebrating a dark, impossibly depressing event that I’ve come to anticipate with all the hand-trembling, teeth-grinding joyfulness of tax day: my birthday. Barf. To help digest such a bleak occasion, I made a choice to visit one of my favorite Walt Disney World restaurants, The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, located at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s not an establishment known for its killer culinary lavishness, but solely for its spirited ambiance, and on a day like that day, I needed all the simulated enchantment I could seize. To me, the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater is a home away from home.

Impulse Buy - Doritos 1st Degree Burn Blazin' Jalapeno and 2nd Degree Burn Fiery Buffalo

People enjoy heat. I’m not a member of this wet-brow, runny-nose club, but I applaud anyone who dares to confront food that could possibly liquefy them. Doritos isn’t new to the ways of zesty, but they’ve introduced a pair of amplified flavors to help cross-promote Pepsi Max Cease Fire, a “cooling” brand of lime-infused soda eager to make a dent in the marketplace. This coupling of drink and chip is intended to provide the ideal snacking intensity, yet these Doritos retain a bit more snap than anticipated.

Restaurant Roam - Kona Cafe at Disney's Polynesian Resort

The Kona Café is one of those super-secret handshake restaurants inside Walt Disney World. While obviously open to the general public, the eatery’s reputation is perhaps most widely circulated through Disney superfans, a blindly passionate group that always speaks highly of the establishment, practically breaking down in tears when the name of a certain menu item is uttered. That’s right, I’m talkin’ Tonga Toast.

Restaurant Roam - Les Chefs de France at Epcot

Those mouth-watering highlights of “Julie & Julia” aside, French cuisine doesn’t hold quite the same twirl of utensil-dancing romanticism for me as it does the general public. The food retains outstanding craftsmanship and thrilling exotic flavors, but rarely, if ever, have I been in a position where I bust out a touchdown dance when the prospect of visiting a French restaurant is brought up. While hardly an exclusive Parisian hideaway shooing away Americans, the prospect of lunch at Epcot’s Les Chefs de France was somewhat daunting. However, for the purposes of high adventure, reservations were made, hunger was locked in, and personal prejudices were cast aside.

Impulse Buy - The Twilight Saga: New Moon "Heart's Desire" Chocolate Bar

Goodness, has it been a year already? On the eve of the release of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” the producers have lined up a new round of merchandise to cash in on the assured hysteria unleashed Friday in movies theaters everywhere.

Impulse Buy - Eggo Star Trek Waffles

I suppose when Gene Roddenberry dreamed up “Star Trek” in 1736 (I might have the date wrong, but it feels pretty long ago), he was hoping for a sweet ride of fingertip-rubbing merchandising potential. Toys, games, apparel. All the bases were covered by his popular space show.

Impulse Buy - KISS M&M's

To help celebrate the release of their new album, “Sonic Boom,” superband of the land KISS decided to undertake a rare publicity move, issuing some kitschy merchandise to help create an ambiance of gotta-have-it excitement. The price? Well, to retrieve luxury items such as $5 T-shirts, Mr. Potato Heads, and fleece blankets required a trip to Wal-Mart, the satanic figure of Western mass merchandise stores. The horror. The horror.

Impulse Buy - Candy Corn and Bat Dots

I adore Dots. Those little gumdrop knobs of goodness have been a friend for a mighty long time, dating back to my moviegoing youth where it was the candy of choice. The tooth-melter above all tooth-melters. Amazingly, eating a lime-flavored Dot today provides a sense of time-travel back to those salad days of matinees and PG-13 classics. Actual movement from such a small button of sugar. Few confections can claim the same sensation.

Restaurant Roam - Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort

Character dining at Walt Disney World is always a mixed bag. Elementary culinary experiences aimed toward the Duggar crowd of mass appeal, these family feasts are a chance for broods to chow in total chaos while costumed icons roam the floor encouraging photo and autograph interaction. It’s really never about the food at these establishments, only the easy-peasy face time with characters that would normally be a hassle and a half to tackle within a theme park. Still, Disney does cough up a little extra effort for these daily events, leading me to visit the restaurant Chef Mickey’s, located in the Contemporary Resort.

The Minnesota State Fair (2009)

The Minnesota State Fair ended its run last week, but it wasn’t the close on just any old year. 2009 represented a record run for the annual “Great Minnesota Get-Together,” pulling in an astounding 1,790,947 people over 12 days to experience caloric thunderstorms and blinding state pride. I even added a few twists of the turnstile on my own, making a short pilgrimage to my beloved place of birth to enjoy a state fair like no other around.

Impulse Buy - Snickers Fudge

Snickers Fudge is the latest in a long line of “Limited Edition” candy to hit store shelves, encouraging sales beyond the norm. Just something to catch the eye and freshen up old caloric favorites. 

Restaurant Roam - Le Cellier at the Canada Pavilion (Epcot)

I think a proper challenge for any resident of Orlando (or perhaps adventurous tourist) is to dine at all of the pavilions located within Epcot’s glorious parade of countries, the World Showcase. It’s an expensive proposal (Mickey’s a cute mouse, but he loves money), but not impossible, especially if this lofty gastric quest is portioned out over an extended period of time. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try, satisfying an itch for a theme-park-exclusive challenge and to wave an extended middle finger toward my personal foodie fraidy-cat nature. While I’ve visited a few of the countries in the past for eats, I’ve never actively pursued them all. It’s time to change that. The first stop was the famed Le Cellier, located inside the Canada pavilion.

Gwyneth Paltrow Makes Quick Roast Chicken & Potatoes

The Magic Kingdom Turkey Leg

The Magic Kingdom Turkey Leg. If there was one single Disney food item I developed an insane amount of curiosity about over the years, it would be that salted, exotic meat stick.