Junk Food Nation, it’s Tuesday. Yesterday was a rough day and I’m sorry for the lack of post. Like I promised, I added a third winner to today’s Turkey Hill winners:

TODAY’S TURKEY HILL FREE COUPON WINNERS:

Today’s random winners are:

@ruuuuudiii55

@elisekay

@Cobbla1

Congrats, you three!! – email me your contact info to Junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com and I’ll get the free coupon in the mail to you!

TODAY’S WAY TO WIN A FREE 1.5 QT OF TURKEY HILL ICE CREAM:

To win today, COMMENT BELOW. You know the drill – I’ll pick a rando to win, and announce it tomorrow.

WAIT, SO…THIS HIGH SCHOOL KID WASN’T A MILLIONAIRE?

One of the things that caught my eye over the weekend was this story in New York magazine about a 17-year old high school senior who apparently made $72 million trading stocks. The article had it all – interviews with this kid’s goals and dreams, what his friends thought, how he made his riches, etc. I was prepared to write a whole post about him myself, giving my typical WTF JFG take on the whole thing.

But then, not 24 hours later, I see THIS New York Observer article in which the same kid admits to making the whole thing up! As he explains it, he and his friends have a high school investment club where they simulated trades and made $72 million in THAT setting. He then basically admits to misleading the prior reporter, blah blah blah.

All I can say is WTF. I know that these days everyone is a busy body fact checker, and its hard to nail down certain things which are usually subjective…but basically this whole thing started because apparently the kid got nominated to BusinessInsider by his classmates for one of those Top 20 under 20 lists, and BI ran with it, despite never confirming proof.  Nice job, guys.

BI: “Show us your proof!”

The kid: “No.”

BI: “Ok…fine.” *runs article*

And then other press followed the story to him. Plus, you participate in simulated stock trading, and then claim you are worth $72 million? Isn’t that what crazy people do when they convince themselves that they and a celebrity are dating in their heads and then they start believing it in real life? Yikes.

TODAY’S JUNK FOOD: Limited Edition Red Velvet Peeps!!

Limited Edition Red Velvet Peeps! Because Peeps haven’t just been for Easter in years. No, Just Born is going to load you full of Peeps, year round, whether you enjoy them or not.

I’ve only reviewed a few Red Velvet items on this blog before, and I’m only a so-so fan of the flavor. I know what I’m looking for, though – cocoa flavor and cream cheese icing. Does it bother me that these Peeps are disturbingly red and likely to make me scared of the color of my poo?  ………..Moderately.

When I opened this package of Limited Edition Red Velvet Peeps, I did smell Red Velvet aroma, loud and clear. It’s hard to describe other than I got definite cocoa smell, which is different than regular marshmallow-y Peep smell.  It was like putting my nose to an open powdered hot cocoa packet, except with less snorting and sneezing.

The bottom of each of these Limited Edition Red Velvet Peeps was coated with some plastic-y confection, like a hardened base of ….cream cheese frosting, perhaps? My hopes might be too high. The white coating resembled the sort of random white base confection on these Red Velvet cookies.

Ah, but how did they taste? I must say, not bad…not my favorite, but not bad. These Limited Edition Red Velvet Peeps actually do a pretty good job getting across the red velvet flavor, all things considered.

The body of the Peep, in all of its red glory, was cocoa-y and soft – provided just enough cocoa flavor while still having a decent Peep marshmallow base.  Honestly, the flavor profile made sense – since you normally put marshmallows in your hot cocoa, the mixture of cocoa and marshmallow flavor paired well.

The white base provided, in my mind, most of the “cream cheese frosting” flavor, despite the fact that it was NOT cream cheese frosting. Nope, I thought of the base more like a white chocolate/confection coating that was flavored like cream cheese frosting. The taste profile was pretty much there, although it was one of those situations where if I thought too hard about it, the base didn’t taste like anything at all.

The real test was whether, when I popped a full Peep into my mouth and chewed, I got the sense of Red Velvet, and I definitely did.  It didn’t taste EXACTLY like red velvet cake, it tasted like a Peep flavored like red velvet and HEY that’s what this is supposed to be. So, all in all – not bad, Just Born. Not bad.

PURCHASED AT: Target, Germantown, MD

COST: $1.25 on sale

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy