I tried some instant Korean seafood soup that my ex-roommate left in a cupboard. (A different ex-roommate than the one in the furniture thread; I seem to be going through them rapidly.) It was seriously vile. Decided to pack it in and go out for Mexican after about two bites.
Rather a shame, because any product with “dried cuttlefish” on the list of ingredients is hard to resist.
Wet mops (as in, the kind that have built-in bottles of cleansers; attach pricey cleaning pads on the bottom) - well, let’s see, I’ve experimented with 3 in the past few months:
Clorox Ready Mop - absorbent pads, wonderful - oops, the plastic around the cleaning solution cracked, I’ll just patch that up with some masking tape. Yikes, the thingymebob that squirts out the water just disengaged from the mop. Death at 2 weeks, RIP.
The Grap It Go Mop - sturdy but the cleaner is foam, so you can’t refill it with your own liquid cleanser. Plus, J&J tests on animals, so they suck.
Swifter Wet Jet - the cleanser pads are WAY less absorbent than 1), but I’m stuck with it at the present time. 
I love poking around Whole Foods, and a recent trip there turned up:
Udon Pride instant soup. Enjoyed it well enough that I bought some more.
Hot ‘n’ Spicy Wasabi Chips, made by a company called Eden. Beyond winning the no-brainer name contest, these seriously rock. As the back of the package explains, they’re made of “a selection of fresh sliced vegetables and dough” that’s formed together and baked, so they’re low-fat as well. I quickly learned not to eat several in rapid succession, and most people I’ve given them to like 'em.
In other foods:
Quaker Oats Breakfast Squares. The oatmeal raison are now staples of my kitchen.
Vanilla Pepsi. Finished the bottle, doubt I’ll buy another.
I don’t recall exactly what they’re called, but the company that makes Sour Punch straws produced a spicy version, in mango and tamarind flavors. The mango flavor was great, haven’t tried the other.
McGriddle Cakes. Thought they looked unappealing, somehow imagined they’d be crunchy, tried one on a whim. Really enjoyed it.
For BiblioCat. Share and enjoy.
Well, of course it does. Gives you the power of the Mighty Og Himself :).
I tried Farmer John’s chewy candy squares - soft fruit taffy (like Sunkist or Starburst brands.)
They stuck so hard to the wrapper I ended up either eating paper or having to cut them free and leaving part of the candy on the paper.
How hard is it to get waxed paper? They’ve been using it for saltwater taffy since 1900.
I’ve had no problems with my Swiffer WetJet since I got it last fall. Cleans the floor pretty well, but not as well as regular mopping.
Which brings me to the new Pine-Sol dirt-sinking solution - pulls the dirt to the bottom of the bucket. Seems to work well for me. The dirt is, indeed, at the bottom, and the floors are still clean a few days later. Spilled water on the floor doesn’t have dirt in it when wiped up with paper towels.
I know you weren’t looking for the TV ad products, but just in case: Skip the Perfect Pancake. My gf’s grandmother had one, and I tried to use it. Got batter all over the stove twice before switching to a standard pan.
It’s not so much that I wasn’t interested in the “As seen on TV products” as much as I’ve already read a couple of threads on those, and the stuff I’ve read seems to agree with your experiences with the Perfect Pancake. And don’t even get me started on how those commercials make everyday people like me look like they have an IQ of no more than 40! I mean, fergoodnessake, flipping a pancake ain’t rocket science, y’know. And neither is draining pasta, or shaving your legs. . .hell, I told you not to get me started!
I know exactly what you mean. I mean, if a collander is giving you that much trouble, should you really be cooking at all?
My girlfriend still wants the Miracle Blade knife set, though. sigh
I drank a thing of Snapple Peach Meal Replacement yesterday. It was pretty good. I was shaky-hungry before it, but not after it, and it tasted OK. I don’t think it could really replace a meal for me, but it got me unhungry enough to cope with making some real food, which is what I wanted.
In other product news, me and mr. emilyforce went to the Austin Hot Sauce Festival today, and this year for the first time we bought stuff to take home: a jar of Austin Spice Company’s Campfire Corn and Bean Salsa, and a bottle of their new stuff called “LOVE YOUR COUNTRY, BUT FEAR YOUR GOVERNMENT HOT SAUCE” (it tastes great, like a thick Tabasco, and mr emilyforce could not pass up the hype – there’s even a Ben Franklin quote on the bottle: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”). Also we got a T-shirt. We’ve been loyal customers of theirs since we moved here, and go through a jar or two of their insanely tasty Salsa Verde every week.
Also a bottle of a kind of thin, extra-spicy molé sauce: “Howard’s Yummies Presents Ron Howard’s ‘This Ain’t Opie’s Hot Sauce’”. They were giving out samples of it on chips, and also thimblefulls of it mixed with something called “Hot Sex” liqueur – shockingly tasty either way. I think the liqueur was a kind of Bailey’s Cream type deal, or maybe a Kahlua. It was indeed hot, as were all things in the park today. The sauce contains habañeros, orange juice, jalapeños, chocolate syrup and cocoa, cinnamon, and other tasty ingredients. Wow. Yum. It came with a little plastic shot glass with a red LED that blinks for a while if you slam it down.
That is simply vile swill. Gah.
Foreman Grill, Foreman Grill, Foreman Grill. I cannot possibly recommend this enough. I have the little bitty model with the bun-warmer on top and it was the best $25 I’ve ever spent on my kitchen. There are other brands too; I believe the non-trademarked name of this style of grill is “contact grill” but I always call the other varieties Fauxman grills.
I have the non-Wetjet variety of the Swiffer Mop, and I like it. Granted, I have a small studio apartment with a smallish kitchen and smaller bathroom, but the Swiffer works fairly well and it is excellent for squishing bugs on hard to reach surfaces!
Having switched to sugarfree soda only a few months ago, I find the diet varieties of Vanilla Coke, Vanilla Pepsi, Cherry Coke and Wild Cherry Pepsi more standable than most diet sodas.
I’d also like to come in and praise Neutrogena T-Gel. It smells. . . it smells like a non-bleeding flaking scalp.
Liquid valerian extract. Smells. . like a good night’s sleep.
Ketel One vodka-- yum yum.
Boddington’s ale.
Momokawa sake (made in Forest Grove, OR)