Category Archives: Specials

Empty Bowl Catch-Up: Episodes 33–35

Forgive me again: time moves strangely in The Bowl. The thirty or so Earth minutes Justin and I spend recording each episode of our meditative cereal podcast requires a six-week spiritual pilgrimage, an astral projection light years away onto a planet made entirely of milky tides and cereal dust archipelagos. It is here, and only here, that true breakfast bliss can be channeled into our world through a microphone-equipped conduit.

And that’s  I once again forgot to do a dedicated post for the previous two Empty Bowl Episodes, so I humbly introduce them here alongside our newest episode: Thirty-Five.

New to the show? It’s okay if you skipped syllabus day: the only supply you need is relaxation in great supply. Allow us to share with you the joyous American introduction of Tropical Froot Loops, the new holy reign of Honey Maid Cinnamon Graham Cereal, and the belated ascent of Chaka the Chex.

Want to spend a little more time gazing with us at the planet Bowltide’s ample Aurora Cerealis? We’ve got plenty more interstellar sojourns at our Anchor hub, including Thirty-Three and Thirty-Four. You can also follow along on Twitter, or send in a listener question. We can’t discuss or respond to every email, but each one supplies lumens to our displaced cosmic holograms.

Spooned & Spotted: Lucky Charms & Cinnamon Toast Crunch Soft Baked Bars (6 count boxes)

New Cinnamon Toast Crunch Soft-Baked Bars Plus Lucky Charms 6-Count Boxes

Woof, it took me a while to unscramble my brain before starting this post—just looking at a Lucky Charms Soft Baked Bar threw me into a hapless hypnotic sugar trance. It’s not that the things taste bad; they’re actually addictive little blondies, so simply appealing that after getting halfway through their initial, Costco-exclusive 40-count box release, I simply couldn’t see right. A punch-drunk man-sized Dough Boy, I waddled and swayed around the house scaring my cats like a kaiju. After giving the rest away, I vowed to never touch a Lucky Charms Soft Baked Bar again—especially not the one I found flattened into a wrapping-fused pancake at the bottom of my backpack.

That said, now that Lucky Charms’ doughy delights are available in far-more-reasonable 6-bar boxes, I recommend everyone keep an eye out for them on their next grocery trip. The unpretentious pleasantness of these Lucky Charms treats also bodes well for General Mills’ companion release: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Soft Baked Bars, which are entirely new and could very likely outshine their marshmallowy cousins.

These CTC bars, however, shouldn’t be confused with Cinnamon Toast Crunch Soft Filled Bars, a frozen product released alongside a Cocoa Puffs version, both consisting of oven-ready soft breads with neufchâtel cheese inside. Tragically, those particularly tempting desserts ended up being wholesale only, meaning the only ones who can enjoy them are elementary school cafeteria-goers and the freelance kindergarten cop I hired to smuggle me out a crate of ’em. He never came back.

Instead, I’m sure Soft Baked Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars will be less cheesy, but far easier to tear open at a moment’s notice for a quick hit of swirling cinna-sugar goodness. If you manage to find them before I do, let me know what you think in the comments below!

Spooned & Spotted: Lucky Charms with Red & Yellow Balloons

Children's Miracle Network Lucky Charms with Red & Yellow Balloons

If you’ve ever wanted enough sugary balloons for an amateur performance of Up starring Nena and Pennywise, then boy do General Mills and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals have something that’ll float your sewer-in-the-sky-bound houseboat.

Exclusive to Costco (in, of course, twin-packed 1-pound boxes), Lucky Charms with only red and yellow balloon marshmallows are the latest collaboration between General Mills and the non-profit fundraising group for children’s hospitals, which does a lot of miraculous co-branding work in the month of May. This isn’t the first time Lucky Charms has debuted a variant with single marbit-focused color variants, but I don’t think the balloon marshmallow in particular has ever been given such a spotlight. Either way, the yellow balloons could easily double as lightbulbs for diorama re-creations of the Homestar Runner eating an incandescent sandwich.

Our thanks to Gabe Fonseca of Cereal Time for the tip. If you happen to spot a new cereal or breakfast product—of the many-hued marbit variety or otherwise—you can send them over at our Submissions page, or tweet them @cerealouslynet.

The Empty Bowl Episode Thirty-Two: The Triple Pop-Tart Conspiracy

If it feels like time keeps on slippin’ into the future, here’s your chance to put your flip-flopped foot down and say no: time isn’t slipping. It’s anchored to this single, calm second, on a peachy-keen breakfast beach along the milky shores separating last night’s dream from this morning’s bowl of cereal.

To all Empty Bowl newcomers, please remove your shoes and worries as you enter the thirty-second episode of my and Justin‘s meditative cereal podcast. On deck this time we have parallel cases of unorthodox cereal ownership, a licensed cereal 20,000 leagues better than Mario’s, and a great Blizzard inquiry.

Want to pause the everyday a little longer? We’ve got a half day’s worth of other episodes at our Anchor hub. You can also follow along on Twitter, or send in a listener question. We can’t discuss or respond to every email, but each one warms my heart like Cinnamon Cheerios.

The Empty Bowl Episodes Thirty & Thirty-One: The Beckoning Breakfast Beach

Yes, yes, time is an illusion, and despite me promising last time I forgot to post an episode The Empty Bowl that I wouldn’t do it again, somehow it’s been four weeks since then and I’m grizzled as a snooze-button-happy hibernating bear. While I’d like to say this is because our meditative cereal podcast has brought me a literal amount of tranquility, it’s really because I’ve been measuring the passing weeks by how many times I make up song parody lyrics using my cats, Beignet & Jupiter’s names.

Benny & the Jupes! It writes itself!

But I both digress and hope you’re handling your time indoors well. If the space-time continuum’s sucked you in and rattled you around like a child’s toy vacuum, at least there are two new episodes of The Empty Bowl to unplug and unwind to. As you may notice, we’ve got a new show look & feel that aptly maps the feelings we try to project. So put on the rose-colored glasses of a Saturday morning cereal-eating child and join me + Justin on a beach made of Franken Berry dust, as we listen to crashing waves of milk (vanilla almond, for my sake) and explore breakfast’s latest and greatest news.

In these episodes, we try to tell Sea Berries from Spider Berries, check out cereal history’s least remembered video game, and once more sing the praises of those oh-so-underrated Golden Grahams.

Still working on your tan? Our beach never closes, with more episodes at our Anchor hub. You can also follow along on Twitter, or send in a listener question. We can’t discuss or respond to every email, but they’re all eligible for consideration in our seaside book club.

The Empty Bowl Episodes Twenty-Seven Through Twenty-Nine: The Cereal Caretakers

Fitting time for a meditative cereal podcast, no?

Despite having more time for mindless sugar-munchin’ than ever, I’ll admit it’s been a bit tough for me to focus on bloggerly duties—especially as quarantine’s made it difficult to stake out and take in new products from the supermarket. Likewise, I’ve apparently forgotten to share the debut of The Empty Bowl’s latest three episodes. So if you’re one of likely few-to-none who wait for me to post here before listening, I’m sorry for needlessly withholding these 90+ minutes of cumulatively calming content.

But the milky-silver lining here is that now you can listen to me and Justin delicately describe new breakfast happenings for the duration of a feature-length film. You’re even welcome to visualize the experience with an in-bowl diorama of your own—I call being an Oreo O!

In our newest episode, we explore the nuances promised by Kellogg’s JUMBO SNAX, say dozens and dozens of words about Peeps, and peel back the foil on decades of toasted oddities.

If you find yourself with just a few more hours to fill with something Empty, you can find more episodes at our Anchor hub, follow along on Twitter, or send in a listener question. We can’t discuss or respond to every email, but I’d rather read them than eat a forty-year-old preserved pizza pastry.

Spooned & Spotted: Cereal & Pancakes! (IHOP & Cap’n Crunch)

New IHOP Cereal Pancakes (Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch)

(UPDATED MARCH 2: IHOP is adding frequent Lucky Charms co-collaborator Cinnamon Toast Crunch to their cereal pancake ensemble, and Cap’n Crunch too!)

Finally. Validation.

For too long, I’ve been playfully chided by friends, frenemies and sea anemones alike for my admittedly uncommon habit of drizzling maple syrup on just about every cereal out there—just to see if it’s good! And it almost always is! But now? IHOP is giving me implicit permission to go full hog on a stack of cereal pancakes, amber lagoon and all.

What’s that? There’s no mention of syrup in this ad for IHOP’s new Cereal Pancakes? Well, there’s (strangely) no explicit brand mention of Lucky Charms either, so forgive me for wanting what is already no-doubt a brain-buzzer of sugary madness to slide down my gullet a bit easier.

IHOP Cap'n Crunch Pancakes

Sure the Lucky Charms (Fruity Lucky Charms, specifically) pieces are exciting, but what’s got me geeked here is the “CREAMY CEREAL MILK MOUSSE” drizzled about with ersatz artistry. No clue exactly what it’ll taste like, but if I’m already taking creative liberties with these panned cakes, I might as well scrape off all the mousse, replace it with syrup, and take it home to eat with a bowl of Eggo Cereal.

Because no disrespect to IHOP, but only one ounce of awesomeness? I can do better. Continue reading

The Empty Bowl Episode Twenty-Six: Risky Shrapnel

A C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S V W X Y.

Now that there’s an episode for each letter of the alphabet, the only things we’re missing above are TEB, U and some sweet Zs. If you’re in the market for a crunchy podcast with cozy vibes, look no further: my and Justin‘s (roughly) biweekly soaks in heaven’s hottest cereal jacuzzi are meant to chill you out (and possibly knock you out!) by detuning the world in favor of casual, breakfast-centric discussion.

This time around, we’re sharing some tragic news about one of our favorite cereals, choking down chunkfuls of Sippable Toast Crunch, and considering the possibility of too much cereal.

If you’re tired of looping your ABCs to fall asleep, you can find more episodes at our Anchor hub, follow along on Twitter, or send in a listener question. We can’t discuss or respond to every email, but they’re much more pleasing to our eyes than cinnamon slurry.