Food – Page 12 – Not Content to Crawl

Flowers & Books

Posted onApril 26, 2022

It turns out our five days off together wasn’t completely devoid of fun.

Thursday (04/21) morning we went to Wilder Park Conservatory to look at the flowers in their spring flower show.

On the way back we stopped at a place called Fry the Coop to pick up an order of their chicken & waffles which were pretty good.

Saturday (04/23) we went to Northside Park in Wheaton to walk around. The entire day was so warm that we opened the windows and got some beautiful fresh air in the house. In fact, when we got home from grocery shopping on Sunday morning, the house smelled just like my grandparents house always did, mostly likely because they always kept their windows open too instead of using the A/C. I miss them so much.

Sunday (04/24) a friend posted on Facebook about a book she had just read – Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – and something prompted me to check it out. Libby had a digital copy available, and I immediately got sucked into the story and was unable to put it down all day. I literally spent 7 hours on the couch reading this book on my phone (I really need to get bifocals so I can read properly). By the time I went to bed Sunday night I was 80% through the book and finished it on Monday. It took me just under 9 hours total to read.

I looked up the author and he wrote The Martian. I never read the book, but I did see the movie starring Matt Damon. I hear they are making this latest book into a movie too, starring Ryan Gosling. It will be interesting to see how much the movie reflects how I pictured things. Although they’re already off to a poor start if Ryan is the lead because in my head he doesn’t fit at all.

Needless to say, I will be checking out this author’s other works since I enjoy his style of writing. I cannot tell you the last time I even got into a book. I tend to abandon them a few chapters in due to boredom.

Taco Bell Chipotle Ranch Grilled Chicken Burrito

Posted onApril 10, 2022

We had to make a Taco Bell run yesterday because rumor has it the limited time Nacho Fries are leaving this week. They added more items to their value menu, so I decided to try the new Chipotle Ranch Grilled Chicken Burrito.

I’m not a fan of their chipotle sauce, however, so I asked they omit it, which they did. It was pretty filling for a $2 item! I just wish they would take their time putting these things together. The first three-fourths of the burrito was excellent, but the last quarter sucked because there wasn’t any avocado sauce and there was a big pile of wet, soggy, unripe tomato cubes. Blech!

Next time I’m going to order a side of the avocado ranch, open up the burrito, redistribute the ingredients, and add extra sauce. That’s assuming it’s still on the menu in a few months when the craving strikes again. Without the nacho fries I’m not that tempted to eat there.

Popcorn Enhancement

Posted onMarch 15, 2022

Someone recently on the interwebs suggested mixing Sour Patch Kids and popcorn. We just so happened to have an unopened bag of SPK in the pantry, and we always have microwave popcorn on hand, so we gave it a try and wow, we were not expecting it to be as delicious as it was! Never would have expected fruit flavors to go with popcorn, but here we are.

We didn’t put the candy into the popcorn for fear it would make a sticky mess, so we just popped one in our mouth before taking some popcorn. 10/10 would do again.

Ugh, I’m 46

Posted onJanuary 11, 2022

Why does 46 feel so much older than 45?

In any case, we didn’t do much for my birthday because it was so cold outside! I believe it was around 12 degrees on my actual birthday (Friday, 01/07). Joe was at work but surprised me by coming home early with flowers and dark chocolate covered graham crackers from Starbucks.

I’ve been hinting for years I’d like some either in my Christmas stocking or my birthday and he remembered! The kicker is they don’t taste like they used to. Figures! I will eat them, because they are still ok, but I won’t be asking for them again.

We placed a curbside order for Red Robin that night so I could get my free birthday burger. Did you know you can request extra fries for free? Well, I did, and we ended up with waaaay too many fries. I have a whole container of them still in the fridge! They reheat pretty nicely in the air fryer, so I heat up a few here and there but I don’t think I will be doing that again. Not very healthy!

I opened my gifts which were the Sofi Tukker t-shirt I’ve been wanting and some Brooklyn Nine-Nine stickers Joe thought I would like (which I do).

I’m going to make some of the stickers into magnets for the fridge.

As for the t-shirt, I am pretty disappointed in the quality for the price. It’s 100% cotton so it’s not exactly soft. Reminds me of the old school concert tees from the 90’s. Nowadays the best shirts are a poly-cotton blend and are much more comfortable. Considering I recently got such a shirt with a custom print on it for $27 (which includes shipping), the $40 plus shipping SF charges is ridiculous. I wonder if there’s a way to contact them and suggest they change t-shirt providers. If a small YouTuber can do it, I’m sure they can.

Speaking of, here’s the $27 t-shirt in question:

It’s so comfy! I had to get it after becoming addicted to Little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes last year. The YouTuber I watch created the shirt for her merch shop and I’m very happy with it.

I did layer a long-sleeved white shirt under the Sofi Tukker one so I could wear it, and that helped. The only other issue is how wide the sleeves are so they look a little silly with the long sleeves underneath. *sigh*

Saturday (01/08) we did a late lunch with a pickup from a local place called Anyway’s and shared their meatloaf and pot roast along with an order of their amazing Italian Beef eggrolls. We had plenty leftover for a second lunch the following day.

Saturday night we played Sorry! Sliders and Yahtzee with A Night At The Roxbury and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back playing in the background. I forgot how fun Sorry can be, even with just two players.

Sunday (01/09) we went out briefly to get groceries from Aldi and then stopped at Dunkin so I could try their new Brown Sugar Oat Iced Latte since I had a free birthday drink in my account.

It’s actually pretty good, but I’m perplexed why they added whipped cream on top. Not only is that not what the drink looks like in the app, but it doesn’t make sense to add a dairy product on a non-dairy drink (it’s made with oatmilk). I swear, no one at Dunkin knows how to make drinks properly anymore. The drink would have been nearly $7 without my coupon so at least there’s that. I scooped off the whipped cream when I got home but damn, they really aren’t doing anything to change my mind about boycotting them. $7 is a lot to pay for a drink that isn’t made correctly.

November & December Food Stuff

Posted onDecember 26, 2021December 26, 2021

Coffee & Tea

After one too many shitty iced coffees at Dunkin, we are officially broken up. Once fall hit they started being really cheap with their flavored swirls by not adding the standard amount (I watched them being prepared and the baristas would not push the pump down fully) while simultaneously charging extra for additional swirls (even though you wouldn’t need them if they gave you the correct amount to begin with)!

I gave Starbucks a go, but their coffee was lackluster as well. Is it so hard to get a decent peppermint mocha iced coffee? Apparently so!

Fed up, I bought some ingredients to make my own drinks at home.

I could do without Starbuck’s peppermint mocha coffee because it’s just meh. The peppermint tea is better, and it’s actually good with the creamer added, which I typically do not do with teas. The peppermint mocha creamer is ok too, but honestly, it turns out a regular vanilla creamer just tastes better overall. I found one at Jewel that is lactose free:

What I love so much about it is that I don’t need to add any sugar to my drink because the creamer makes it sweet enough.

Candy

Did you know that Skittles recently announced that they are going back to their standard flavor for the green Skittle? It’s about time! Green apple just never made sense with the other flavors, but lime certainly did. I spent a lot of time trying to find a store that was carrying the new/old flavor and finally found them at Menards of all places!

I don’t know what they were thinking, or why it took them seven years to wise up, but I’m happy that now there’s only one flavor of Skittles I hate – grape.

I was excited to find this peppermint bark at Costco, but seeing as how I’m the only one who eats it, there’s just way too much and I won’t be getting it again.

Cakes & Cookies

I love Pepperidge Farm milano’s but damn, their peppermint slices are not it. Maybe I just don’t like peppermint as much as I thought I do, hmmm.

Their amaretto hot cocoa flavor rocks, however.

I was lucky enough to snag the very last bag at Target.

We also snagged a cookie tray from Costco for a pending Christmas celebration that never happened and I am not loving the flavors, which are powdered brownie walnut, lemon shortbread, iced ginger molasses, coconut almond chocolate, and holiday candy cookie.

We will not be getting those again.

I decided to try the infamous Little Debbie Christmas cakes and oh boy, they are good! Even better if you freeze them.

Other

The single greatest food item we found, however, is this cranberry jalapeno dip we came across at Costco.

The flavor combo didn’t sound good, but it only took one bite for us to realize how wrong we were. Wow, it is so good we easily ate through the entire tub in less than a month. Sadly, it’s not being stocked anymore, so it must be a seasonal item. I checked the manufacturer’s website and they have a lot of dip flavors but this one in particular is only available at Costco, so I guess I will be dreaming about it until next November.