Halloween Madness

by krista on October 16, 2000

There seems to be an inordinate amount of new products out this year. Sheer craziness. I was out at my favorite grocery store, Western Beef in Ridgewood, Queens (they have the largest walk-in meat locker I’ve ever seen. Great when it’s a blistering 98° out, not so good in October) when I saw these out of control orange and black s’mores pastry treats. Remember, these are not Pop Tarts, this is the Nabisco version, and as the site says, “Even when they’re hot they’re KOOL!”

Spooky I also noticed that the Just Born company has made black cats and white ghosts in the style of marshmallow peeps. I think there must be something tricky about achieving a dark purple color with food dyes because the end result always turns out looking creepy and gray. (The same is true with cheaper brands of purple eye shadow. The color is always murky and less bright on than in the container.) This works fine for Spooky Cats since it’s Halloween and it’s o.k. to be scary and ominous, but this year Hostess tried making purple Snoballs for Easter and they were neither cheery nor festive (though they tasted mighty good).

I’ve never cared much for mint (and it always seems like when I mess up and accidentally push the wrong buttons on a vending machine, I end up with Junior Mints), but I was amused by the York’s “Peppermint Batties” I saw the other day.

I was happy when I noticed a new Rice Krispies Treat at a distance. But when I got closer and realized it was the Christmas version, I became a little dismayed. Enough already. People are still wearing shorts outside. I felt a little better about the Ghostly Rice Krispies cereal. Pumpkins and ghosts=good. Santas and snowmen=we’ll talk in a month or two.