I Digress

One of the statistics that Detroit boasts about it that it has the highest per capita consumption of potato chips in the nation. [And Detroit also has high rates of obesity and diabetes as well.] There can be a lot of reasons for this high potato chip consumption rate in Detroit, but I attribute it to the "Better Made" brand of potato chips being made in Detroit. For those who don't know about Better Mades, they are the best potato chip in the world. They are a little bit greasy but they sure taste good. They have been made in Detroit, in the old neighborhood, on Gratiot Avenue, about a half mile south of the City Airport, since 1930. http://www.bettermadesnackfoods.com/

I am going to a Superbowl party tommorrow, so I took a road trip into Detroit to buy a tin of Better Made chocolate covered potato chips to bring to the party. The chocolate covered potato chips are a new product, and they sure are good. They are very rich and even I can only eat a couple of them. They also melt in your hand and make a mess, too. But they sure are good.

I went into the Better Made factory/store and asked for a tin of chocolate covered potato chips. They were a bit suprised that I drove almost 30 miles just for a tin of Better Mades. But I did. I complimented the women on staff there for being so thin. I know it would be pretty hard to stay thin working at a Better Made factory! I used to see that up at Mackinac Island all the time at the fudge shops. All kinds of girls would be working at the fudge shops at the start of the season and only big girls would be working at the fudge shops at the end of the season! The Better Made staff seemed to be pretty excited about the upcoming Superbowl, and wanted to know who I was rooting for. To be honest, I don't even know who's playing! So I made my comment that it's too bad Ford Field has a dome on it so the Superbowl visitors couldn't get a "real" view of Detroit's gray skies, sitting in the cold sleet and rain and snow!

While I am digressing I might as well digress a bit more about Boston Coolers. Vernor's Ginger Ale used to be made exclusively in Detroit, and a "Boston Cooler" is made from Vernor's Ginger Ale. You take a glass and put one scoop of [Stroh's?] vanilla ice cream in the glass and then fill the rest up with Vernor's Ginger Ale. It is really good, especially when you are a bit under the weather with a cold or have a tummy ache. The reason it is called a Boston Cooler is that the soda shop they were first made at was on Boston Street in Detroit. And contrary to popular belief, a Boston Cooler does NOT use root beer. That is a Brown Cow. A Black Cow uses root beer and chocolate ice cream. But the Boston Cooler is the best in the world!

At my workplace, we have a monthly birthday party for everyone in the department who has a birthday that month. So I requested that in my birthday month, instead of having cake and ice cream, we have Boston Coolers and Better Mades instead. We did and they went over really well.