Junk Food Nation, the radio show I listen to in the mornings here in DC was discussing IRS scam robocalls, and how to deal with them. We’ve all received robocalls, scam calls, telemarketing calls – if you have a home phone, it’s usually ringing off the hook with people seeking your cash money.  Some legit, some not, but usually all occurring during the most inconvenient part of your day (right during dinner). It got me thinking about what *I* do in those situations.

We are all annoyed by them, but I go back and forth between feeling bad that they have to do that job and feeling that they are the worst people setting out to scam me. Because I feel SOME sympathy, I tend to go for the quick hang up route: if I answer a unknown number, I hear a pause, and then I hear someone asking for me, by full name, I tend to just hit END CALL right there and then. Sometimes they’re actually even from legit businesses – my own bank will sometimes call to see if I want to take advantage of a new credit protection level or what not. I usually do the polite but quick, “No, but thanks” and then hang up before they can do the re-sell.

A buddy of mine likes to play with telemarketers, which I think is both funny and extremely rude. He’ll listen and listen and engage the caller before ending the call with some expletive and a hang-up. In truth, based on what I do, I think this is kind of a dick move. Plus, who has time to entertain calls just so you can get a zing in at the end?  Another friend of mine will just shout STOP CALLING ME into the phone before she clicks off. She’s a psycho.

If you’ve been applying to jobs or buying a home or got into an accident recently, chances are you’re picking up a lot of unknown numbers on the off chance that it could be a legit phone call. And nothing pours water on that curiosity fire faster than a spam call. They’ve started to hit my cell phone too! But the jokes on them – I don’t even answer my own FRIEND’S phone calls. Take that, telemarketers! I’m anti-social!

Let me ask you – how do you handle telemarketers? We all have a story, don’t we? Tell me yours in the comments below.

Today’s junk food: Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Key Lime Pie Dessert Shop Cookies!!

Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Key Lime Pie Dessert Shop Cookies: The Money Shot

If you know me at all, you know I like key lime pie. No, not like. LOVE key lime pie. It’s a tossup between what I like more – key lime or Meyer lemon. But I think Key Lime wins for me in the end. So when i saw these Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Key Lime Pie Dessert Shop Cookies, my brain went YES YES YES as I basically knocked the display over into my shopping cart.

This sack of Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Key Lime Pie Dessert Shop Cookies has a island-like motif to the design package…which is funny, because a key lime plant looks like this.

Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Key Lime Pie Dessert Shop Cookies, you missed your chance to have a big fat slice of key lime pie on the bag!

Oh there it is.

When I cracked open this bag of Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Key Lime Pie Dessert Shop Cookies and sniffed, BLAMMO! Key lime smell! It was really strong – very cool, refreshing, and citrus-y. These cookies weren’t in the fridge or anything, so it lacked some of the coolness that I’m used to getting in my nostrils when I smell a key lime pie, but the aroma was distinctly lime, not lemon, through and through.

Biting into one of these Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Key Lime Pie Dessert Shop Cookies, the cookie was soft and semi-crumbly like so many of the other Dessert Shop cookies – it’s all the oils. Hey, I’m not complaining! I love the softness of these large Pepperidge Farm cookies. The cookie itself DID taste like Key Lime Pie, too! The cookie part was sweet and, IMHO, mimicked pie crust really well – soft, crumbly, with that distinct semi-doughy flavor that pie crust has.

The lime flavor, surprisingly, came from the white confection chips themselves. I tasted the cookie by itself – nope, no lime flavor. IT was all about the chips – they were light, sweet and creamy, and DID indeed have a bright lime flavor to them when I chewed them! Really cool – the chips mimicked key lime pie filling, being both simultaneously sweet and creamy and lime-y.

The problem with these Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Key Lime Pie Dessert Shop Cookies? NOT ENOUGH CHIPS. Now, I know what you’re thinking: if I want key lime pie, I should go eat key lime pie and not complain that a cookie doesn’t taste like pie. No, I get that – and don’t get me wrong, altogether, I think the flavor of these cookies was spot on. But I needed just a FEW MORE chips to really get that great key lime flavor profile. To me, key lime pie is more cool and tart than sweet, so in terms sweetness I didn’t mind that these cookies weren’t cloying and over the top. But while the key lime bright flavor surprised me, I wanted more of it. MORE MORE MORE.

To recap, these were really tasty cookies – good flavor profile, good texture, and great aroma. Critique – more lime please!

PURCHASED AT: Wegmans, Germantown, MD

COST: $2.99 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