Sunday, October 12, 2008

Choco Taco


There is a Berenstain Bears book called Too Many Commercials where Brother Bear and Sister Bear are awestruck by the commercials they see on TV. Each week they want the newest toy or cereal that has been advertised. They nag Mama Bear until she finally gives in. Finally, she makes a plan that they can get the next thing they see on a commercial as long as they don't ask for anything else until its gone or has been played with for an entire month. Turns out the toys weren't as great as the commercial made them sound and the cereal wasn't as good as it looked on TV. It's a cute book. I can relate to Brother and Sister. I used to get up early every Saturday morning to watch cartoons and especially to see the commercials. I don't watch TV hardly at all now. But if I happen to sit down while Rick has something like Unwrapped on, I'll start craving whatever they're talking about. I remember them doing a special on the history of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After watching that for a few minutes, I found myself in the kitchen making one. The last craving I had was after watching them make Fat Boy ice cream sandwiches. I'd never had one before, but after watching the show, I couldn't rest until I tried one. And like the bear cubs discovered, sometimes things aren't as great as they seem on TV.

Rencently, I posted a review for a children's picture book by Holly Jahangiri called Trockle. In the story, Trockle finds a wrapper from a Choco Taco under the bed. It's only a brief mention, but the power of advertising works for me. Since reading that book, I've been craving a Choco Taco. I hadn't had one of those in years. In fact, I didn't think they were still made. When I mentioned it to my husband he told me Taco John's restaurant sells them. I couldn't believe it. So, of course, the other day we were driving home and I saw Taco John's and had to stop. Sure enough, they sold them and I was able to satisfy my craving. Then Rick tells me he doesn't know what the big deal is because he sees them in stores all the time. I honestly can't recall seeing them, but he said he sees them. And of course, the store we went to yesterday didn't have them. I guess I'll have to keep looking. But what's so funny is that I got this craving from a picture book. It was so powerful that we made a special stop to buy one. And if that wasn't bad enough, last night I had a dream I was at a store looking for them. Of course, I couldn't find them at first, so I was chewing Rick out about it. Then after he walked away, I found some boxes in this huge walk in freezer, but I was getting frustrated because they weren't the right flavor. So, as you might guess, now it's a quest to find Choco Tacos in the stores.

Do things like this happen to other people -- or am I the only weirdo?

10 comments:

  1. You're so funny! I get cravings all the time, but I don't think I've ever gotten one from a book! LOL I remember when I was pregnant with my first one, I craved iced sugar cookies and couldn't seem to find them anywhere. Now they're everywhere. Good luck with your search!

    Nancy

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  2. A book title just came to mind

    RENA AND THE SEARCH FOR THE CHOCO TACO

    one woman. one chaco. unlimited adventure. ;0)

    christy

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  3. LOL Christy...

    Rena...I am the same way...I see it, I want to eat it...and I drive everyone crazy until I get it! grin...

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  4. That has happened to me (more from commercials than picture books though!) Choco Taco will probably contact you to be in their commercial soon!

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  5. Nancy -- Are you talking about those really soft, almost powdery, sugar cookies with the thick coloured icing? The boys love those!

    LOL Christy -- Sounds like a bestseller if I ever heard of one. At least for the grocery store when and if I ever find them. Hmm, I've already had one from Taco John's, came up empty handed at Roseaurs and they were the wrong flavour in a dream. Maybe I should be keeping notes. ;)

    Brenda -- Good to hear someone else drives other people crazy until you're happy. Very, very good to hear! :-D

    Kelly -- Does Choco Taco have commercials? OMGosh, don't tell me that. Then I'll have to start watching TV. LMHO!

    Maybe TROCKLE will post and tell me the best place to get them. :)

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  6. Trockle would tell you the best place to get one is under Stephen's bed!

    You may have read my tale of Choco-Tacos - I thought I'd made up the name, when I put them in the book! I had honestly NEVER heard of them before. Then one day AFTER the book came out in print, my son William and I were shopping at ACE Hardware and an ice cream treat at the end of the check-out counter caught his eye.

    "Mom! They have Choco-Tacos! They're real. Are you going to get in trouble for using the name in the book?" I assured him that wasn't likely, and I bought one for each of us to see what they were really like.

    Considering it's free advertising - and effective, at that, judging by your post, I'm thinking I don't have to worry too much about getting "in trouble."

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  7. Wow Holly, that is bizarre! I bet you and your son was shocked when you saw them. It had been years since I had one, so I was surprised to find they even made them still. How funny!

    Trockle definitely has good taste! What I love about Choco Tacos is that the cone part is soft and chewy. Rick disagrees and wishes they were crunchier. Can't please everyone, I guess. :)

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  8. Blogger ate my first response. I talked about ChocoTacos (brilliant name), and Taco Johns (which DH had never heard of until he met me) and Taco Tuesdays, which was a promo Taco Johns used to run where I lived. "Two Tacos, 99 cents!" Do they run that in your area? (I'd be surprised if it's still 99 cents, that was in the 80s).

    And how I found 3 orange marshmallow pumpkins, but 2 of them were smashed flat. The one I got was yummy though :0)

    Did you ever find your chocolate caramels? I haven't seen them yet. Maybe you could email the caramel co. and see if they still make them.

    Hope you get your ChocoTaco!

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  9. Oh cool that you found the orange mrashmallow pumpkins. Sorry to hear they got smashed. I've seen them at Walgreens and Walmart so far. And no, I haven't seen the chocolate caramels yet. I can't remember if they were made by Kraft or someone else.

    I did find that our local grocery store down the road sells Choco Tacos. Not in the box, but singles. There's another 290 calories I really didn't need!

    I'd never heard of Taco John's either until we moved up here. I'd seen them while traveling, but we didn't have any locally where I lived in SoCA, just TacoBell. I don't know if they ever sold Choco Tacos there or not.

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  10. I don't know about your ? - all I know now is my stomach is growling like a bear - for that choco-taco

    :( 290 calories I NEED to do without but can I talk that bear inside me to listen???

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