So many developments

A lot has happened since my last post about a surprising “Chef’s Signature” flavor.

That includes my purchase and careful happy hour tasting session of a Devil barbecue chip, retasting the signature salted egg and trying a new signature roasted chili flavor. I also discovered a “Sun Chips” spicy salted egg flavor. Is that right? Is this really a new flavor? Are there still Sun Chips? I recall that’s what these were called 30 years ago. And now Lays has 25^th anniversary flavors. Seaweed gochujang, anyone?

Needless to say, that made for a busy March.

I’ve been limiting my time at the store, however. In lieu of leisurely afternoons spent in the Chips and Snacks aisle, I’ve been botanizing, reading, and writing.

Over the past 15 years I’ve assembled an eclectic (and superb—is there a word that conveys the joint meaning?) grass collection and I added to it this week with some new species and varieties. I found them on a sparsely-populated island in the Andaman Sea. I explored the island for over a week, finding many interesting grasses. Some were growing wild; one formed an oceanfront lawn. The color of unirrigated manilagrass lawns in the Thailand dry season is spectacular, ranging from a dull sandy color, to a neutral yellow, to a bright gold, depending on how the light hits it.

Of course I supply irrigation to the grasses in my collection during the dry season. So what I see at home are green leaves. But it is fun to see the grasses in the wild, too.

I haven’t been to the store in a while, so I have great expectations for my next shopping trip. I’ve probably said this before, but it’s an exciting time for potato chip flavors right now.