Went to Tesco today. Saw Tostitos. Couldn't believe it. They didn't look like the Tostitos I remember as a kid but whatever.

Took them home. No. They're not round. They're not thick. These are just thin tortila chips. They were alright, I liked the chipotle variety, but they're Tostitos.

I don't know. Maybe Tostitos have changed in the US. Maybe there's no longer a market for weird round, thick tortila chips. I wouldn't be surprised.

But what's really weird is that the bag instructs the consumer to use salsa. Walkers brand salsa (Walkers also makes these crisps). But they say to drizzle it, not dip it. They claim that this is the authentic Mexican way to do it.

If that's right, it's the first I've heard of it. Much more likely is that they're instructing you to drizzle it because these crisps are so ridiculously weak that they wouldn't be able to handle dipping into thick salsa.

So they took a huge weakness in the product and tried to turned it into a positive. I'm not buying it. I'm not going to drizzle your shitty salsa onto each crisp like some kind of a moron.

They also have "NUEVO!" on the bag. This is Spanish for "new". There's nothing Spanish about Tostitos be it the American version or the UK variety.

Also made a so-called chicken, bacon, and potato stew today.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1977648/chicken-bacon-and-potato-stew

You call this a stew? This is a soup. And only one seasoning. It's literally chicken, bacon, and potatos. That's it. You want to know what it tastes like? It tastes like chicken, bacon, and potatos. What culinary genius came up with this recipe?

Also had to use wine in this. You can taste the wine. It's not particularly pleasant. I only used wine in cooking once before and that was awful and I had to throw it out so at least it's not that bad. But having to buy an expensive bottle of wine just for cooking? I suppose I can still drink the remainder.

Have to add some hot sauce, I guess. Salt, perhaps. Basically, I just wasted a pound of chicken, bacon, and potatos.

I mean...what is this recipe? It's boiled chicken, bacon, and potatos. It tastes exactly how you think it would taste. Who are these people giving this recipe five star reviews? What are they usually eating that this shit is considered five stars? No flavour whatsoever.

Reminds me of this beef stew that my mother used to make. Here's a sort of example:

https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/beef-stew-with-carrots-potatoes.html

It was beef, carrots, potatoes, and maybe onions. But instead of brown sauce, like in the pictures on that site, it was a sickly yellowish-brown sauce. And instead of being served in bowls, it was served on plates. So you just got this runny mess on your plate. I called it "puke soup" and for good reason. As a very young child, I was able to eat it by mashing it all up but that's even more gross.

Totally disgusting. It probably tasted like beef, carrots, and potatoes. But I don't want that. It was gross. The presentation was awful and I don't think there was a spice to be found. Actually, that reminds me. You had to load this stuff with salt and pepper to make it at all palatable.

Why plates? I'm sure that we had enough bowls. It wasn't a soup and there wasn't much of this liquid but...still. I think a bowl would have been better.

And what a recipe that must have been. Where did she get it? Why did she continue to make it? I complained every single time she made it and it was a struggle to get me to eat it. But she made it a lot.

You're a parent, part of your job is cooking, just get a recipe book. Try some new recipes. Nobody was saying, "Yeah! Puke soup! Can't wait!". Everybody else ate it because it was there, not because they liked it.

They had cook books in the 80s. Indeed, she had numerous cook books. Why was it the same few recipes all the time? Why didn't she try a better beef stew recipe? It's just laziness on an unbelievable scale.