Bounty from the Red Apple included

Formosa brand fruit-flavored mochi - these
initially seemed gross but whose gloopy
sticky semisweetness grew on me, especially
in the middle of the night, when I finished
the whole half pound in two goes. These were
constructed with a dubious artificial
jamlike filling, somewhat sweet; a white
marshmallowy protective layer, not too
sweet; the mochi itself, luridly colored,
perfumed with the artificial flavorer's best
art, not very sweet at all, and what looked
like sugar but turned out to be ground rice,
totally unsweet. The flavors were

mango (yellow), which tasted more like fruit
chewing gum than fruit, but whose filling
had bits of what might have been actual
dried mango;

melon (green), an almost convincing flavor
but more like Midori liqueur than the real
thing; and

strawberry (pink), a good facsimile of the
red hard candies with goo in them (Lilli nas
a friend who called them "grandma candies").

Cheetos in a flavor I hadn't seen before but
whose package puffery I fell for:

XXtra Flamin' Hot, subtitled "xxtra hot
(twice as hot)" - these were initially a big
disappointment, with a huge sour tang, but that
became noticeably hot only after I ate several
in a row. The cheesy Cheeto flavor was absent
or at least totally overwhelmed. The famous red
coating was abundantly applied. C

As a comparison I got the regular Flamin' Hot
version, which was somewhat less red, somewhat
less hot (it was hard to discern any hotness at
all unless I crammed multiple ones in my mouth
at once), and at the limit of my enjoyment for
things sour. This is the version I have enjoyed
in the past, and I still found it kind of good. B

The Costco New Yorks I coated in a rub of mostly
granulated garlic and coarse-ground pepper, with
a substantial amount of salt for Bill's and just
a little for mine. I did these in a nonstick pan
over medium-high heat until crusted and then
finished at lower heat until medium-rare to rare
for his and rare minus for mine. These were
very tender but with substantial gristle. The
flavor was pretty good but with a little more of
an "aged" taste than the lower 48 ones have.

They were a bit over a pound each, and we ate
a bit over 10 oz each, which left enough for
lunch next day.

To accompany the meat I made cabbage sauteed in
beef fat and seasoned with soy. It came out a bit
greasy but tasty, and I noted Swisher scarfed it
down rapidly. I ate my share, heedful of the
formula fat + green vegetable > 0.
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