Category: Food

Just Say No (To Starbucks)

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Yesterday I was browsing deal sites and saw Starbucks was having a BOGO deal from 2-7 pm if you ordered via the app. Now, you have to know something – we rarely go to Starbucks these days. And by rarely, I mean the last time we went was in January to get my free birthday drink which I let Joe have because I was too sick to give a crap. I’ve spent more time in the local Starbucks’ parking lot meeting up with buyers from Offer Up over the past two years than actually buying any drinks.

But seeing that deal made me think it would be a nice treat, which was cemented by the fact that they now have a peach green tea lemonade. Chick-fil-a got rid of their delicious peach lemonade so I’ve been trying to get my hands on a good peach drink ever since (side note: Lipton peach iced tea drink mix is great. I call it tea kool-aid). Joe wanted to try their Chai Creme Frappuccino, so we decided to place an order.

Starbucks Order

I was perplexed why our local store wasn’t listed in the app, so I had to pick one a little further away. The app claimed our drinks would take 15-18 minutes to prepare and that it would take 13 minutes to get there, so I placed the order as we pulled out of the driveway. Mistake #1.

We arrived at Starbucks to see a huge line in the drive-thru, so we decided I would run in to get our drinks, but there were a bunch of people in line inside too, and we had brought Wookie, so we opted to get in the drive-thru line so we could be together (and also because I didn’t feel comfortable standing in line for god knows how long). Mistake #2.

Starbucks DriveThru

Wookie Waiting

We watched as people pulled into the parking lot and left five minutes later with their drinks while we slowly made it to the window 45 minutes after we got in line. My drink was watered down (although not too bad since I had requested light ice) and Joe’s was melted/liquid which we didn’t notice until pulling away.

I ran inside with his drink to ask if they could re-make it since it had clearly been sitting out for awhile and they said yes but it would be a long wait because there were other people ahead of me. Say what? I dunno, I think I should have gotten priority, but I wasn’t about to cause a scene – everyone was stressed out enough. I asked them to explain to me how mobile ordering works so I don’t get an old drink again and according to the barista they usually wait until you get to the order board to start your drink but when it’s busy they just crank out the drinks. That seems like a recipe for shitty drinks and angry customers to me, but what do I know?

I didn’t want to wait any longer (our little adventure took over an hour as it was), which I explained to the barista, so she gave me a gift card for $4. Not quite enough to cover Joe’s drink, but good enough. We took it home and stuck it in the freezer and it eventually firmed up enough to enjoy a little. Also, Wookie got a puppuccino which was nice.

When I placed the order, Joe was concerned our drinks would end up sitting out, but I really believed Starbucks would have a way to prevent that. Silly me. Lesson learned! I also found out that our local Starbucks, which is on a extremely busy major road, closes at 3 pm even though all the other stores in the area don’t close until 8 pm or later. WTF?

As for the drinks – the frapp was pretty good, but chai flavored drinks taste like Christmas to me, so it seemed out of place for this time of year. My drink was ok, even though I could taste more of the mint green tea than any peach or lemonade.

Peach Tea Lemonade

To add insult to injury, even though I only drank half of my venti around 4:30 pm last night, I could not sleep for the life of me. I didn’t fall asleep until after 2 am and only after taking a Midnite, which I haven’t had to do in four months. Then today I got bad stomach issues, if you get my drift, probably from trying Joe’s milk-laden drink. Ugh! I curse thee, Starbucks!

Overall, I don’t think Starbucks is worth the price, and definitely isn’t worth the hassle when they’re having what they call Happy Hour (or the baristas on the Starbucks subreddit refer to as Horror Hour). I have about $20 left in my account that we’ll spend on snacks and the occasional vanilla latte for Joe until we run out of funds. Then it’s hasta la vista, baby.

I much prefer Dunkin Donuts anyway.

More Spring Cleaning & Home Projects

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This past Sunday (4/26) it was warm enough outside for us to get in the garage to do some decluttering. Initially it was in the hopes to make room for a deep freeze, but we’ve decided against that. It was nice to go through all the empty boxes and consolidate the boxes of things we’d like to donate once Savers is open again. Plus we cleaned out the box where we keep extra computer parts. I also went through my trunk and cleaned that up a little.

About a year and a half ago a woman I know from the local dog park gave me her old doggy stroller. It’s been sitting unused in the garage because we haven’t had an occasion to use it, until we were doing our declutter. I put Wookie in the stroller so she could hang out with us without getting in the way. I pushed her around the block afterward but she really didn’t like that because she wanted to get out and explore all the smells. She doesn’t mind sitting in it when it’s not moving, though. I had thought about getting rid of it but I think it will come in handy when we’re sitting on the patio or out in front and she wants to be with us. I ended up cleaning it real good yesterday and today she sat in it for two hours while we worked on the garage some more. We consolidated some storage totes, broke down a bunch of empty boxes for recycling, added some wood shavings to old paint we want to discard, and cleaned up our bikes.

Other things I’ve done recently:

Rearranged the hall closet again and removed some towels we rarely used. I put them in space bags under the bed in the master bedroom.

Cleaned out the workout room closet so it’s ready for future guests and threw out a torn comforter and an old yellowed pillow.

Rearranged Joe’s side of the master bathroom cabinet.

Sharpened all our knives.

Rearranged the freezer.

Filed some paperwork that was piling up.

Made homemade hummus & zucchini bread, both of which turned out delicious.

Planted some green onion bulbs.

While working on the hall closet I found a brand new throw rug which is perfect timing since the rubber backing on the one in front of the stove was crumbling. I was having a hard time finding a suitable replacement online. There are some things that are just too hard to shop for remotely. We had been in the process of changing the color scheme in the master bathroom and had already purchased new towels before the lockdown went in place. I can’t seem to find a shower curtain or bathroom rugs I like, so we’ll have to wait until this is all over before we finish that process.

Weekend Recap

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Couldn’t sleep past 5 am today so the day has seemed endless, but in a good way since the weather was so nice. I made breakfast tacos, and then baked a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. We took Wookie with us on drive around the neighborhood and accidentally made her excited driving through the parking lot of Northside Park. Apparently she recognized it and thought we were going for a walk but there were too many people out so we left. We grabbed Culvers (our second take home meal since this whole lockdown started; the first being Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza last night). After lunch we took Wookie for a walk and then I cleaned the windows while Joe put out the Malibu lights.

Mariano’s

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The highlight of our weekend was a trip to Mariano’s on Saturday. We rarely go there, but decided to check it out since ham was on sale. Their bakery section is amazing, and I couldn’t resist a strawberry rhubarb pie for only $4. It didn’t have as much filling as the Bakers Square pie, but it was tastier and a 3rd of the price. I definitely need to keep Mariano’s in mind for future parties due to all the yummy cakes, cookies, and pastries they have. Their prices are pretty reasonable too. Maybe not as much on the produce, but on a lot of other things. We ended up grabbing a deli sandwich and a cup of cream of chicken soup from their soup bar to take home for lunch. The soup in particular was really good!

Roasted Veggies & Easter Decor

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I made the mistake of decorating for Easter on Friday (03/22), when Easter is still a full month away. Two days later I was already tired of looking at the stuff, so today I ended up removing some of the decor and spreading some other stuff elsewhere so it’s more minimalist. I feel much better. I’m finding that I prefer a more minimalist look in general, like I had going for St. Patrick’s Day. This is great because I’ll save money owning less decor in general. Incidentally, I finally found something I’ve been looking for since last year – white ceramic bunnies!

They were in the Target dollar spot for $3 each and were sitting in random spots so I’m not sure whether they’re supposed to be more poses. Nothing ever seems to be organized in the dollar spot. I used to think it was laziness on the part of the employees but now I’m convinced it’s a ploy to make people spend more time in that section hunting for treasures, because you do tend to miss the best stuff if you do a quick once over.

Saturday (03/23) we took a big bag of old paperwork to a neighboring village to be shredded. I’m so relieved to have that out of my house. I’m getting ready to donate some of the stuff I have listed on Offer Up that isn’t selling as well, just to get it out of my house. I’m tired of it sitting in the spare room / office.

After the shredding event, we had lunch at BonChon in Schaumburg and it wasn’t as good as the first time. The spicy and soy garlic chicken was just as good as before, but I opted to try the pork buns… and while they weren’t terrible, they aren’t something I’d order again. Joe didn’t care for them either.

Sunday (03/24) I discovered the deliciousness that is roasted carrots. Can you believe I’ve lived 43 years not really loving carrots? I don’t mind them in soups or stews but I’d never eat them on their own. I tossed them in olive oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper before roasting them at 400 degrees for about a half hour. The best part? I added some honey to melted butter and drizzled it on the finished carrots. OH MY GOD were they good. I enjoyed them more than the main course! I have been roasting green beans for a few weeks now too, so now I need to try roasting other vegetables that I thought I didn’t like. Apparently the cooking method really does make a difference when it comes to taste.