# Something you always wanted to try, and were sorely disappointed with when you finally did **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [December 5, 2025, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419 "2025-12-05T04:25:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/361 "2025-12-13T20:48:20Z")
With enough bacon & cheese, damned near anything would be good! But yeah, on a serious note, any sort of semisolid starchy goop plus bacon and cheese would be a decent foil for well-seasoned shrimp. Granular pasta such as orzo, arborio rice, conventional rice, potatoes, yucca, etc, etc. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/362 "2025-12-13T20:53:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > With enough bacon & cheese, damned near anything would be good! Yep. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > But yeah, on a serious note, any sort of semisolid starchy goop plus bacon and cheese would be a decent foil for well-seasoned shrimp. Granular pasta such as orzo, arborio rice, conventional rice, potatoes, yucca, etc, etc. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/363 "2025-12-14T00:26:55Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Although on one jump I had to do some quick steering to avoid landing on railway tracks or telegraph wires! Other than that, my landings were pretty soft and uneventful. Telegraph wires? They still have those? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/364 "2025-12-14T00:48:30Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Telegraph wires? They still have those? There were posts, and there were wires. I was not interested in what signals they might or might not be carrying. I just didn’t want to collide with any of it! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/365 "2025-12-14T01:47:16Z")
I think of ziplines as something that’s gravity powered. This sounds more like a cablecar, without the car. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/366 "2025-12-14T11:41:42Z")
Nope. It’s pure zipline. Gravity For The Win. The only difference is that you’re strapped into something more like a cloth seat than a parachute chest+crotch harness. You see 4 cables in the pic because they have 4 “tracks” running simultaneously. Two people ride down at once, launching together side by side, but quickly diverging fore/aft due to differing air drag. Each harness hangs from a car assembly that rolls on the stationary wire powered only by gravity. Meanwhile the other two rolling cars that ride the other two cables for the other two “tracks” are being hoisted back up for the next pair of riders. There’s a cable reel behind the uphill station and as each car goes down, that reel pays out a second lightweight hoist line attached to the car. Once the rider is detached at the bottom, that hoist line is reeled in to bring the car back uphill for the next rider. Watching several launches before my own, the hoist line was pretty slack the whole way down, suggesting it was not acting as a remote brake for the car. The ride down takes about 90 seconds. Likewise the car hoist back up. It takes a couple minutes to strap people in and a few seconds to unstrap them at the bottom. So when they’re busy, they can launch a pair of customers about every 3 minutes. Pretty good throughput. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/367 "2025-12-14T17:21:19Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Jagermeister and Goldshlager may impress university freshmen but are very mediocre drinks. There is a dive bar near me where I used to play trivia. The regulars were typical older people, pool players, nothing special. Yet they had a Jagermeister dispenser that held several bottles upside down and they all fed into the spigot. A sign on the dispenser made the claim that this location sold more Jagermeister shots then any other place (in the state?). I don’t recall anyone ordering any while I was there. > **[Shaken, Not Stirred: The Jagermeister Machine](https://www.cheaphumidors.com/blogs/general-information/shaken-not-stirred-the-jagermeister-machine)** > > CheapHumidors would like to welcome you to a brand new section of our blog. Shaken, Not Stirred will cover all topics beer, wine and liquor related. CH would like to thank guest author Stan Schubridge at Beertaps.com for kicking things... ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/368 "2025-12-14T17:58:14Z")
Thanks for letting us know about this. We’ll be in St. Maarten a year from now, and will definitely look into this. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/369 "2025-12-14T18:55:31Z")
That facility has three components, a dry land “log flume” ride on an overgrown innertube thing sliding on a slippery plastic surface. Reasonably fun. And a set of 5 or 6 conventional ziplines up near the summit with pretty nice views of the airport and yacht harbor side of the mountain. Also reasonable conventional zipline fun. And then the finale is this mongo steep very fast zipline back down to the base. Transport from the base to the peak is via a multi-stage ski resort-style chairlift. All are worthwhile for the spry and at least a little adventurous, but the finale is sure the star of the show. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/370 "2025-12-16T19:50:17Z")
I was thinking of something red in color and remembered candy apples! They’d come up in stories and songs and I had some rattle cans of candy apple red spraypaint I used for scale models that was nice. The one I finally tried was a fresh apple with a shell of cinnamon red hot hard candy glazed thick. It tasted like … apple & cinnamon red hots, scarecely edible. Pretty looking, though. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/371 "2025-12-16T20:01:02Z")
Caramel apples are always a disappointment too. Way too much apple, not enough caramel. And usually cheap Red Delicious apples to boot. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/372 "2025-12-16T20:22:49Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > The one I finally tried was a fresh apple with a shell of cinnamon red hot hard candy glazed thick. It tasted like … apple & cinnamon red hots, scarecely edible. Those things are nasty. > [@bump](#): > > Caramel apples are always a disappointment too. Nice but bad on the teeth. I just get some caramel dipping sauce and a good apple. Usually- just the apple. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/373 "2025-12-16T21:21:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Those things are nasty. I’ve always been unfortunate enough to have the ones that were refrigerated after being coated in the cinnamon candy mixture, and when I’ve bit in, the candy part shatters, and falls off the apple, leaving me with a sticky, vaguely cinnamony apple, and a bunch of candy shards that I either managed to catch in my other hand, or they’re on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/375 "2026-01-27T16:02:37Z")
Pretty sure it’s Braai at 329 W 51st St, Manhattan, NY But it looks like they went out of business. I could be wrong, this was 16 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/376 "2026-06-03T04:12:49Z")
I don’t know if “sorely disappointed” is exactly right, but I’ll throw this in here anyway. I very rarely indulge in fast-food burgers, but today I had a strange hankering for a Burger King Whopper with cheese, which I understood were “new and improved”. I don’t remember what all the improvements were supposed to be, but they are apparently using an upgraded bun, something has allegedly improved about the ingredients, and it’s now packaged in a cardboard box instead of just being wrapped in paper. The most impressive thing about it was the box, which was considerably larger than, say, the box that a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder comes in. But otherwise it tasted much like Whoppers always did, which was fine with me because I like them, but I have to conclude that the tales of massive improvement are mostly marketing hype. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/377 "2026-06-03T05:13:46Z")
Mine are both career-related. I wanted to be a submarine officer, but the path to get there was to get nuclear-power trained. Turns out I liked the nuclear-power stuff, but the submarine stuff mostly sucked, mainly due to insane schedules and lack of sleep. Years later, I got a master’s degree in environmental engineering because I wanted to remediate contaminated sites. I did _not_ want to do water and sewer, which sounded pretty boring. Turns out nobody wants to pay for site remediation unless they have to, and the work is more about endless investigations that never lead anywhere than actual remediation.. But there’s lots of work in water and sewer infrastructure, which is what I ended up doing. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/378 "2026-06-03T05:33:52Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > which, to me, tasted awful, overpoweringly of rotten onion. This was my response to durian ice cream. The homies didn’t find it nearly as bad. I couldn’t understand how anybody managed to swallow. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/379 "2026-06-03T13:36:19Z")
Hot rollers. There was a learning curve to discover how to wind up my hair, how to pin them in place, how to take them out, what products to use, etc. So I used them many times, but in the end, no matter what I did, my hair didn’t look any fluffier or better than what I could do in five minutes with a curling iron. Plus, the dogs were scared of me when I had these big things on my head, and I was all the time burning my fingers. One day, a roller caught and pulled out a few hairs that got caught between the cylinder and rim. Screw that noise. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/380 "2026-06-03T13:50:10Z")
Not disagreeing about the Whopper, but I do want to say that the improvements they’re touting over at Domino’s Pizza are the real deal. They went from godawful to actually pretty good for mass-market delivery pizza. Certainly better than Pizza Hut anyway (whose quality has decreased noticeably in the past 5-10 years). ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419/381 "2026-06-03T14:24:13Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > A couple years ago I took a three-day auto racing class; something I’d thought of doing for a long time. Can you expand on this? As in, your outfitter, where and when you did this, how much it cost, how much actual tires-on-the-asphalt time you got, etc.? I’ve been looking at booking a similar experience, but the reviews have all said the same thing: nearly two hours of prep for about five minutes driving the car around the track. That’s barely enough time to get through one song one my “Drive Fast” playlist. There’s a way to get more? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-always-wanted-to-try-and-were-sorely-disappointed-with-when-you-finally-did/1025419.md?page=20)