I told you I was going to, and I did. My original plan was to buy a kilo or so of cheap rump steak and cook it for a few hours until it was nice and tender. However, I found a packet of Carroll Shelby’s Chili mix in the cupboard — which must have been there for at least four or more months — that I’d bought on one of our jaunts to USA Foods in Bentleigh, and decided it would a lot less effort to use that.

The chili that’s made from the mix is pretty good, though possibly a little bland and “packet mix” tasting; I used the cheapest mince I could get my hands on, which didn’t exactly help make it taste any better. Most definitely not the best I’ve ever had but it’s also not the worst. Now that I come to think of it, I’m not sure which is the worst. I hate to admit it, but I don’t totally hate Stagg Chili when the mood strikes.

The interesting thing about Carroll Shelby’s Chili mix is that the Carroll Shelby in the name is the Shelby; that is, he’s the guy who invented the Shelby Cobra. How one goes from being a race car designer to a chili chef, I have no idea (there is an explanation on his website, but I don’t care enough to read it).

I managed to get around eight servings from one pot, and it cost a little over ten bucks to do so. You’d think from the comments above, that it tasted bad; on the contrary it’s really nice, just not the best chili I’ve ever had.

Yesterday turned out to be “family day” for both Justine and I.

For lunch, we travelled to Justine’s mum’s house in Bentleigh to see Rachel, Ron and their kids for Rachel’s birthday — but not before stopping into USA Foods for our quarterly stock-up!

I managed to absorb 2 sandwiches, an apple turnover, some mud cake and mountains of cream; shortly after, I nearly fell asleep (or maybe I did; not sure, but I don’t think so) while watching Muppets from Space on free-to-air TV. So many cameos it’s not funny. Unfortunately, the movie is not funny either.

As we were leaving I gave Dad a call and he and Cheryl were home, so we popped in as we occasionally do, and stayed for dinner as we always seem to do when popping in.

We got home at about 10pm and I started reading The Da Vinci Code since I was unable — and unwilling — to make it through The Years of Rice and Salt (which I will talk about soon). Sometimes visiting family can feel like a trial, but it turned out to be a pleasant day really.

Justine again visited USA Foods today and brought home a bunch of stuff. We go every few months and buy Pop Tarts which are consumed on weekends for breakfast (the flavours available in the US are much better than over here).

Today, Justine brought home a can of Big Red soda for me to try. We had no idea of the flavour, as none is mentioned on the outside of the can. The only “Big Red” I know of is a chewing gum not sold here due to one of the ingredients (it’s not allowed to be sold in Australia; must be high quality stuff!). The Big Red gum is cinnamon-flavoured gum, so I expected the soft drink, sorry, soda to be cinnamon-flavoured too.

I had to try it. So, I opened the soda and took a gulp. At first, it tasted like bubble gum (the ‘original’ type Hubba Bubba flavour) and then I also noticed a tinge of creamy soda (not the fancy kind, the cheap Kirk’s brand stuff).

I love creamy soda but I’m not so sure how well it works when it’s bubble gum and creamy soda.

On our most recent visit to USA Foods, we managed to beat our record of 50 bucks worth of American crap. As we exited the store, Justine had a look at their table o’ advertising and spotted some fridge magents — Justine loves fridge magnets, I think — so grabbed one. When I first glanced at the magnet, the logo looked familiar.

The logo was from a restaurant that used to be in Frankston called “Captain America’s Hamburger Heaven”. It was where the “Saloon” (or whatever the heck it’s now called) nightclub is currently located — anyway, it’s opposite Davey’s and the Grand Hotel. The place closed when I was in year 7 or 8, and I only managed to go there a few times. I remember ordering a foot-long hot dog and not managing to finish it.

So why did I see the logo? Because there is another Captain America’s restaurant that I never knew about in Ferntree Gully. With such fond memories, what can one do but go and eat there again?

So last night, we went. The restaurant has been there for about 16 years so I guess it’s quite popular. It was rather busy and no one seemed to care about the old 80s decor — perhaps it enhanced the ambience.

For nostalgia’s sake, I ordered a footlong hotdog with the lot (excluding cheese though), and also with the optional chili. Justine ordered a vege-burger with mushrooms. We both had chocolate shakes, with mine being malted. Starter was onion rings.

The shakes came, and they weren’t too bad. I’ve had better but they were fine. Shortly after, the onion rings arrived; not bad so far. The rings were huge, hot and tasty. The spicy barbeque sauce wasn’t bad either. Then came the wait… about 20-25 minutes. Eventually Justine’s food arrived and the burger was pretty big; I’ve had bigger but the size was appreciable. I waited a bit longer, and soon my dog arrived… covered in cheese, and no chili. Take it back, I ordered everything but cheese. 5 minutes passed and my dog returned, with the same bun (sans cheese), which had now become slightly burned, and the lot… except chili.

Since Justine was around halfway through her dinner, I didn’t bother complaining again, but no tip for you.

Place wasn’t too bad, food was alright (there was a lot of it!) but really, you may as well go to the Hard Rock cafe if it’s closer. Good for a different night out though.

Introduction: This is the first of the foods from USA Foods that I will review. The Nestle 100 Grand bar is billed as having Chewy Caramel $ Milk Chocolate $ Crispy Crunchies. Well, I love caramel, so this should be good. The wrapper is pretty standard for US chocolate bars, having that slightly plastic/cardboard/waxy feel to it. According to the wrapper, I could hang with B2K in LA or download free music…

Impressions: The bar comes in two parts, much like a Bounty bar. I suppose the reason for it being split is so you can share your 100 Grand. If I had 100 grand I don’t know if I’d be giving half away. My first thought on the taste is that it tasted like a Picnic bar but without the wafers. The Crispy Crunchies fulfilled the wafer’s job of making the bar crunchy but don’t quite hold up as well as the wafers in my opinion. I didn’t really like the Crispy Crunchies either; they reminded me very much of a Bertie Beetle (I had one recently due to the Melbourne Show). The caramel and inner nougat-type centre isn’t too bad though.

Conclusion: I wouldn’t make the 100 Grand bar part of my regular bar-eating regime; mainly due to the Bertie Beetle-type Crispy Crunchies that populate the outer shell of chocolate. The caramel is quite good but not enough to save it.

Earlier today, Justine and a friend from work visited USA Foods in Bentleigh and brought a veritable swag of goodies home.

One of the things I got was yet another bottle of “hot sauce”. Unfortunately they don’t sell any of the deadly sauces (like Dave’s Insanity Sauce). Sadly, they don’t have any more of the Jim Beam pancake syrup I enjoyed so much.

In an effort to have something to write about, if I can be bothered, I am going to write mini reviews of each of the items purchased as I eat them.