Live chip blog comin' atcha!
Professional live bloggers and chip connoisseurs Jasper and Mystery D bringin' u the chip 411 from Richmond.
J: Tonight we're going to be sampling four types of Calbee chips. As our readers know, Calbee is Japan's premier chip brand, so I think we're all pretty excited to get our chip on. I'm pleased to announce that we'll also have a special guest blogger here with us tonight at COTW: Mystery D. MD, thanks for joining us.
MD: Well, thanks for having me. It's a real honour.
J: Enough chit chat. Let's get eating chips.
MD: Agreed.
J: MD, since you're the guest of honour, I hope you'll do us the honour of selecting our first chip--I trust you'll do the honourable thing.
MD: I'm honoured that you would choose me for this honourable task. The Okonomiyaki intrigues me so let's begin with that.
J: Delightful. MD, what's your flavour reaction?
MD: On first taste I get a pleasant sensation, but the after effects leave a little to be desired. Salty, savoury...that's definitely a chip flavour. It kind of tastes like ketchup chips only with soy sauce.
J: You can really taste the yolk powder, can't you?
MD: Ah, that's what that is. Yes, it really overpowers the subtle bonito extract taste. What is "Okonomiyaki" anyway, J?
J: I've always heard it described as either a "Japanese pizza" or a "Japanese pancake." But it can't be both, and personally I think it's neither. Whoa, my keyboard has never been greasier...
MD: And we're only on the first bag. To authenticate our findings J has now gone to get a taste reaction report from our random sample of chip tasters.
Taste reaction #1: "It tastes like ketchup chips but not."
Taste reaction#2: "It tastes like mayonnaise mixed with ketchup chip powder."
Taste reaction #3: "I'm shy."
Thanks, chip tasters.
LIVE CHIP UPDATE: We have a towel now.
J: I'll be surprised if the other chips can compete with that. Amazing! On to chip #2...
MD: It's your turn to choose, J. What say you?
J: I feel like seaweed will be weird.
Apologies to all our chip friends out there, all around this world; due to high traffic on COTW the servers are overloaded--hopefully Zerocool will resolve this problem soon.
J: Let's actually open this bag of chips.
MD: That's a tough one, eh? They make those chip bags strong in Japan.
J: Victory!
MD: How's it tasting, J?
J: Fit for a Mer-King. Please pass me the towel.
MD: Yeah, not as good as the last one (as predicted) but a solid chip. I expected a stronger seaweed flavour.
J: This chip is off the hook. But I also preferred Okonomiyaki.
MD: The more I eat the less I like them.
J: In the spirit of authenticating our findings, let's get another taste reaction from the people downstairs:
Taste reaction #1: "I like that kind of chip."
Taste reaction#2: (Shaking head in silence.)
Taste reaction #1 again: "Can I have another one?"
MD: I don't even want to finish these. Should we give these to taste reaction panel?
J: Never! On to chip the third?
MD: Totes mcchips. How 'bout tomato?
J: Let us do this.
MD: It says to tear down... but it won't tear.
MD: These are beautiful chips...vibrant red & rippled...I can't wait to taste.
J: I'm just glad we have this grease towel.
MD: Because you spilled your beer?
J: BBQ! These are barbecue chips in a tomato package.
MD: Huh, I'm not tasting that at all. These are straight up tomato flavour, without a doubt. No ketchup taste at all, simply tomato.
J: Let's get a taste reaction from the taste reaction panel. MD, what are your findings?
Taste reaction #1: Weird, it tastes like tomato soup.
Taste reaction #2: It's like I'm eating ketchup.
Taste reaction #3: These could be zestier.
J: It does taste like eating ketchup.
MD: But it doesn't have the sweetness of ketchup. To me it's plain tomato...but with a crunch.
J: This is fun. Let's get bag #4 over with.
MD: Yes, let's take a little trip to India, via Japan, and eat some curry chips, aw yeah. Where's the towel?
J: One of us has a chip up his/her nose... hang on.
MD: These chips are delicious, and dare I say, my favourite flavour yet.
J: Yeah, they really clear your sinuses. Ugh.
MD: Oh yeah, medical advisory warning: don't snort chips at home.
J: In the spirit of full disclosure, this is not the first time I've eaten these chips, but if the tasting panel were still available I think they'd agree: we have a winner.
MD: I concur. They've got just the right amount of heat and this fine Bavarian Festbier complements them nicely.
J: I like how the Calbee chip mascot looks like he's judging us for eating four bags of chips in one sitting.
MD: What's the verdict chipmaster J?
J: As I mentioned I think the tasting panel would agree that curry was the winner; what I didn't say was that they'd be wrong. Okonomiyaki was absolutely the chip of the evening.
MD: That is complete hogwash and you know it.
J: Well, thanks for joining us MD. This has been COTW's Live Blog: Japanese Chip Edition.
