Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips!

I don't remember when I first tried Nacho Cheese (or, "Nacho Cheesier") Doritos. However, I do recall loving it more than any other chip in this Universe (well, this was before I started relying on microchips). I might've tried them in Australia, but my definitive memories of them start only in Hong Kong. Some of these memories include:

1. Some day in ParknShop, I was allowed to buy small packets of chips. I think the 28g Nacho Cheesier ones were about 3 HKD (or 8 HKD for 3 packs).

2. My mum bought us a big packet of Nacho Cheese Doritos for my brother's birthday. He had his friends over that day, too.

3. For my 10th or 11th birthday, I was allowed to buy a big packet of chips. I was psyched! So many choices, and I could only pick one...so I ended up getting BBQ Ruffles, though I did stare at the Doritos forlornly.

4. There are many moments in HK in which I yearned for Nacho Cheese Doritos. They are painfully sad moments.

But then we moved to the US, where Doritos are inexpensive, come in even larger packets, and have a zillion more flavours. I got older, and my parents didn't restrict what I ate (especially after coming to college). Though, apart from the little bundle of nostalgia associated with it, I don't really eat them THAT often. I stopped eating Doritos a few years ago because of the partially hydrogenated oils in them. However, I crawled back to them as college stress muddled up my rules, free food tempted me, and tears made me careless. Fried in comfort, dipped in guilt flakes...and the remote control of my life.

How could I ever love a product that has partially hydrogenated oils? PHOs repulse me. If i see it on a food label, I immediately lose every desire to eat it - yes, even Herr's jalapeno kettle-cooked potato chips. A perfect analogy is seeing an attractive person, and, on the way to asking him/her out, he/she starts smoking a cigar(ette). Yet you must love him/her. He/she's your idol - understanding, reliable, but abusive.

Until now, Doritos were my sole exception to my PHO rule. I have, fortunately, found a beautiful replacement to Nacho Cheese Doritos. One that requires work, genuine desire and a willingness to travel further than ever before! So what is this new night in shining amour?

*fireworks and fanfare*

Trader Joe's Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips!

*shining streamers and glitter shoot into the night*

They are perfect. They taste like Doritos, and there are no PHOs. What else do I want? SOME MORE PLEASE! [Haha, cheesy joke!] They are also $1.99 for 284 g, which is acceptable.