Why? Because. There I said it.

My six-year-old daughter has taken to asking 'Why?' in response to everything I ask of her. I happily suffered through the why stage with her a couple of years back when the question was posed to learn more about her world. Now, however, I am certain the reflex-forced 'Why?' punctuates her sentences purely as a means to annoy me. Okay, I'm not certain about that, but...

When that 'why' flies out of her mouth all I really want to say is "BECAUSE!" but that's just too cliche and I can't bring myself to settle for that answer (although, it is intriguing). So, after mentally whittling my list of possible comebacks, I have come up with two viable options. A) I can either get crabby and annoyed and then spend the rest of my day miserable. Or, B) I can come up with the most absurd comeback possible, force a laugh out of her and possibly lure a smile out of myself in the process.

I'm happy to report that option B has been tried and tested. Preparing for an outing, I asked her to fill up her water bottle. The inevitable, fast as bullets "Why?" shot out of her mouth and assaulted my ears. I took a breath and responded "Because if you don't, you will get thirsty on our outing, your mouth will feel like cotton balls and you may think we are in the dessert. And, the problem with the dessert is that there is very little water to go around. So, then we'd need to find a camel to carry us across the sands and hopefully somewhere during that ride we would find some water. I really think it would be easier to just fill the bottle now and we can be on our way." Problem solved.

So, Loving Rice readers, when you hear that I've been testing horrific chip flavors, please don't ask 'why'. Instead, together, let's embrace the absurdity that is a blueberry and hazelnut flavored potato chip.

A few posts back, I mentioned that a potato chip company has been stocking Bangkok grocers shelves with some odd flavors. And, in a comment I said I couldn't bring myself to give them a try. A reader threw down a challenge via email and the next day I was out buying four tins of oddly flavored potato chips in order to provide the following information. (Information that will prove insanely helpful if you are ever struck with an urge to come to Bangkok and grab a tin of chips. Otherwise, consider it a virtual romp for your taste buds and thank your lucky stars you never applied one of these little cardboard textured, horridly flavored wonders to your palette.)

My general advice after tasting Bangkok Grilled Chicken Wing, Soft-shell Crab, Lemon & Sesame and Blueberry & Hazelnut? Skip them all. Bangkok Grilled Chicken Wing was the only one that I could actually eat more than one of. It tasted like a potato chip covered in the ramen noodle seasoning packets. Not tasty, but choke down able. The Blueberry & Hazelnut was by far the oddest of sensations. I can't compare it to any actual food item I've ever tasted before. All I could think about was the scent of one of my childhood toys-- the blueberry scented character from my strawberry shortcake doll collection. I felt like I was eating that scent. Lemon Sesame was another odd sensation, hitting my tongue with a blast of fake lemon flavor that was followed with the typical potato flavor. And, finally, Soft-shell Crab. This one blew me away. The odor coming out of that can was unbelievable and the taste had me running for glass after glass of water. The single bite I managed to taste conjured up images of putting a long dead and rotting fish in my mouth and squishing it around for a bit. Horrid.

And, what about my 'why' asking six year old? She tasted alongside me and absolutely devoured the tin of Soft-shell Crab. And, not once, ever pausing to ask why such a flavor was even created in the first place.


*By the way, this is an ad-free blog and this post, like all of my other posts, is not affiliated with any endorsement or paid review. I'm purely having fun investigating all that Bangkok's grocery shelves have to offer. The opinions expressed are entirely my own and I encourage you to do a taste test as well!