https://www.csnews.com/7-eleven-adds-its-popular-restaurant-concepts-speedway-stores

My small town has a Speedway — no 7-Eleven yet; they were trying to build one but could not get approval for underground gas tanks at that location. Since 7-Eleven bought Speedway, they’ve kept the Speedway name but have been working in 7-Eleven store brand products and trademarks (“Big Gulp,” “Slurpee”). I’m…

It’s an origin story for Ron Silver in “Heat Vision and Jack.”

Yep. Most people I know who are familiar with both just seem to like Costco better— and it’s hard to explain why. I have a SIL who works at Costco, but I think I’d prefer them even if I didn’t.

I have a jar, but have not tried it yet, of the new gravy from the Better Than Bouillon people. I am a faithful and regular user of Better Than Bouillon, so I have high hopes for Better Than Gravy.

I  strongly recommend the Fermented Hot Sauce Society group on Facebook -- be sure to check out the “files” tab, which has a wealth of good information. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2186993828252093

You do know the ALDI/Trader Joe’s connection, right? ALDI was founded in Germany. At one point, the two brothers who had built up the company split it between them — one brother got the northern half of Germany (and a list of potential countries for foreign expansion), while the other got the southern half (and a…

I bought a bottle of hickory syrup from a vendor at the county fair this past summer, and it’s quite good. I was not taken completely by surprise, because I’d watched Adam Ragusea’s video about various types of tree syrup a month or two earlier:

Here, at least, you can get a regular-size hot dog with chili.

I used to order the Chicago dog frequently -- not being from Chicago, I have no idea how authentic it is/was, but I loved it. They stopped carrying it in my part of the country (rural Middle Tennessee).

A few years ago, Heinz tried to switch the fast food places over from packets to tubs (their tub is designed so you can either peel it open for dipping or tear off a little spout for squeezing). But the fast food places were reluctant — the tub contains more than the packet, and they were scared that the customer who,…

In 2004, I went to Kenya for a two-week trip working in the Kibera slums. Our hosts took us to Carnivore, a very touristy Nairobi restaurant, near the airport, which serves a variety of exotic and less-exotic African meats. I wasn’t familiar with Brazilian steakhouses at the time and didn’t realize that Carnivore was…

When I think of criticism of Arby’s, I don’t think of “The Simpsons” -- I think of Jon Stewart, who made so many Arby’s jokes during his tenure on “The Daily Show” that the company -- trying to appear to be a good sport -- took special, one-time-only ads on his last couple of shows lampshading Stewart’s criticism.

I love making my own yogurt. As you say, there are benefits to having a supply of plain yogurt — if you want a particular flavor, just stir some fruit preserves, or granola, or honey and vanilla into that day’s serving. If you want to marinate chicken, marinate chicken. Yogurt-making is really pretty easy, and a lot…

I’ve never been able to figure out why McDonald’s in the U.S. — which is supposedly Coke’s biggest customer and the best place to buy Coca-Cola — does not carry Coke Zero Sugar, which I like much better than Diet Coke.

I went to college in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the early 1980s, and I think Chi-Chi’s was one of the first (nominally) Mexican restaurants I ever ate at. Oklahoma, at the time, had very strict alcoholic beverage laws, and I still remember a Chi-Chi’s in Tulsa being raided over some liquor law violation and it being all over…

Bojangles has great biscuits. I believe that, like at Hardee’s, the biscuits are made up in-house (“from scratch”) and not frozen or pre-made.

I’m not really surprised to hear about one of these entertainment types getting the clap.

When the golfer Arnold Palmer died, I watched an instant documentary about him and one thing I learned was that when he first became famous, he practiced signing autographs. He was annoyed by celebrities whose autograph was an unreadable scrawl and thought it was respectful to the fans to give them a readable…