Lately I’ve been doing a lot of late-night vibe coding, and once a so-called genius programmer starts going past midnight, snack cravings are basically inevitable. Sometimes I want something to munch on but can’t be bothered to cook noodles, so I started thinking about stocking up on snacks instead.

And of course, the second that idea entered my head, my video feed suddenly turned into a wall of snack ads. Funny how that works — before I wanted snacks, I never saw food ads at all. But once they started showing up everywhere, my resistance didn’t last long. I ended up ordering 50 sticks of a spicy snack just to satisfy the craving, and right after I paid, another coupon popped up. My hands moved faster than my brain, so I also bought a few boxes of milk biscuits.

Recently I’ve also noticed that I enjoy cooking at home more than I used to. Maybe that just happens with age. Even if the results aren’t exactly restaurant quality, I can still follow a recipe step by step and make something that suits my own taste, which is honestly pretty satisfying. No wonder people used to say you don’t really need to force yourself to learn cooking — at some point, you just naturally start doing it.

One complaint, though: shipping these days really isn’t great unless it’s JD or SF Express. Slow delivery is one thing, but not even making a phone call is another.

As for the snacks themselves, I thought buying 50 sticks would mean a huge pile of food. In reality, the whole bundle was only about as thick as a handful of chopsticks. The packaging made each one look bigger than it really was, but each stick was basically a one-bite snack. The flavor was pretty good, though — sweet with a mild spicy kick, exactly the kind of taste I like. They’re best when you just toss one into your mouth and chew. That said, I wouldn’t really recommend them to anyone with weak teeth. After five sticks, I was already starting to lose interest.

The milk biscuits were the better surprise. They were really tasty, very sweet, and had that melts-in-your-mouth kind of texture. The downside is that if you eat too many, your mouth gets dry fast. Sadly, I forgot to buy any soda to go with them, and by the time I realized it, the little shop downstairs was already closed.

Now I’m already wondering what other good midnight snacks I should try next time.

It’s been a while since my little ones made an appearance, so here they are.