Strawberry Watermelon 2-in-1 AirHeads - Five Below : The Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Strawberry Watermelon 2-in-1 AirHeads - Five Below : The Gallery, Philadelphia, PA  

Now that the video haul is up, I can finally dig into my Chinatown goodies! (I know, I know, I already opened the Peepsicles. I was just too excited.) I have been eying this Airhead since I saw it in the store.

There isn’t much to the packaging, it’s just a foiled plastic wrapper, but the design is fairly busy. I understand the two toned color scheme, and the logo is a must-have, but the bold yellow and red message saying, “2-in-1 Big Bar” is just over the top and obnoxious. Yellow is eye catching, but I feel like it would still stand out if the splattered background shape was white. I can’t be too critical. This is a candy that is made to appeal to children. Kids like bright colors and crazy designs, so I bet this works well with their target demographic.

IndeBlue Farm Fresh Menu - Indeblue : Collingswood, NJ

IndeBlue Farm Fresh Menu - Indeblue : Collingswood,  NJ 

Right now, several restaurants in Collingswood are celebrating local farmers by using farm fresh ingredients to create special menus. At Inde Blue, you can create a 3 course meal from the farm fresh menu for $30.00 and you’ll also receive a coupon for $10.00 off your next order.  (Not too shabby.)
I had actually made dinner reservations for Monday evening, but I had to cancel them due to my ER visit. So I re-booked a table for Friday night.

My 3 course meal consisted of: 

• Aloo Makkai Tikki     
  spiced potato & corn kernel patties / house-made apple chutney
• Twin Bombay Burgers    
  mustard & curry leaf flavored potato patties / tomato onion / green & tamarind chutney pao (indian style buns) / sweet potato pakora
• Lasooni Naan nan withfresh garlic, butter & cilantro (not included in the farm fresh meal, but I ordered it anyway.)
• Banana Nirvana

Pixel Link Cake - Homemade

Pixel Link Cake - Homemade

My boyfriend and I attended Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses tonight, so I made this cake to celebrate.

This was my first time making marshmallow fondant, and it came together very easily. I will say that working with it was almost a nightmare. It was very sticky and difficult to cut, plus the colors started to bleed into my white cake icing. It tasted much better than fondants I have used in the past, but I wouldn’t recommend it for 8-bit figures.

Although my little cake is a little wonky, it was pretty damn tasty.

Normal foodie reviews will resume tomorrow. Have a great night!

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Talenti Banana Chocolate Swirl - Target : Cherry Hill, NJ

Talenti Banana Chocolate Swirl - Target : Cherry Hill,  NJ 

Here is the other flavor of Talenti Gelato I picked up at Target.

This gelato brand has been featured on food blogs, youtube, and tumblr. Since the reviews have all been favorable, I grabbed 2 flavors to try.

• Mediterranean Mint (Review Here.)
• Banana Chocolate Swirl

The plastic containers for this brand are all the same, so check out my last Talenti post for a packaging review.

I liked the Mediterranean Mint, but it tasted a bit generic for the hefty price tag. ($5.00 for a pint is too rich for my blood.)

Limited Edition S’mores Eggo Waffles - Target : Cherry Hill, NJ

Limited Edition S’mores Eggo Waffles - Target : Cherry Hill,  NJ 

I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind messages and words regarding my ER visit the other day. Thankfully my dizzy spells are over and I can get back to my normal review and update schedule!

I’m not big fan of waffles, especially the freezer kind, but I’ll make an exception for interesting flavors. (Like the pumpkin spiced waffles released every fall.) Eggo released this smore’s variety for summer 2013, which is pretty interesting, so I grabbed a box at Target.

The box doesn’t look too special, if they hadn’t advertized these in store and put them in a special end-cap freezer I might have walked right past these. There are some chocolatey stripes at the top of box with a little “Seasons Limited Edition” blurb. Visually, I think the design is appealing and the photograph of the waffles tempting, but the box doesn’t stand out against a sea of the other frozen Eggo flavors. I wish they had a drastically different colored box or something to help these seasonal flavors stand out.

Update! I was in the hospital!

Update!

Hello, Hello. I’m at a place called… Virtua.
I woke up feeling dizzy, so I went back to bed. About an hour later the room was spinning and I couldn’t stand. I tried to sleep it off, but the feeling wouldn’t go away, so I was taken to the hospital.
Five hours later…I’m told thatI have vertigo.

It’s nothing like the movie. (Although it is a great film.) Everything spins, you feel like you can’t stop, you sweat, and you’re way too nauseous to eat anything.
I didn’t get to eat until 11pm tonight! That’s when the medicine kicked in and I was discharged.

Thankfully I have medication and I feel all better. I’ll get back to my regular updates tomorrow!

Thank you for understanding.

Peeps Freezer Pops - Five Below : The Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Peeps Freezer Pops - Five Below : The Gallery, Philadelphia, PA  

I almost didn’t buy these, but my sister insisted, and I’m really glad she did. (In case you’re wondering, the little Peep toys came from the dollar store a few years ago. They light up! Like a rave!)

Everything is inside a bright yellow cardboard box, similar to the packaging for original Peeps. Unlike the marshmallow variety, which has white polka dots, this box has cyan dots with little Peep images scattered throughout. This design fits in with the rest of the Peeps line, and I really like the colorful layout.

Fit & Active Apple Turnover Yogurt - Aldi : Moorestown, NJ

Fit & Active Apple Turnover Yogurt - Aldi : Moorestown,  NJ 

Aldi released a few dessert themed Fit and Active yogurt flavors for Summer 2013. I reviewed the Boston cream pie version a little over a week ago, and while it was yummy, it definitely did not taste anything like it’s namesake. I am hoping that the apple turnover is more accurate.

I discussed the design of this semi-no-frills brand in my last review.

"The Fit & Active product line is kind of a no-frills brand, meaning the focus is on the product and keeping costs low, but they actually do seem to spend a decent amount of time and money of the brand identity and design. The color scheme for these products is a very consistent green and burnt sienna color, and every product has a nice image related to the flavor. Is this a design I would gasp over? No, but it gets the job done.”

Talenti Mediterranean Mint - Target : Cherry Hill, NJ

Talenti Mediterranean Mint - Target : Cherry Hill,  NJ 

My sister and I needed a gift bag, so we went to Target with our friend Jared. Big mistake. We went in seeking gift wrapping items, and left with two pints of ice cream. (We have no will power or self control, although Jared did try to stop us.)

This brand has been featured on food blogs, youtube, and tumblr. Since the reviews have all been favorable, we grabbed 2 flavors to try.

• Mediterranean Mint
• Banana Chocolate Swirl

The container is pretty unique. Instead of the waxy cardboard tub most ice creams use, this is a hard, clear, plastic container with a brown twist-off cap. If you wanted, you could use this canister again. (Always handy for my art class. Plus this container is recyclable.)

As far a design, there isn’t very much going on. The label features some classic typography, and that’s it. From the container to the ingredients, everything about this gelato is minimal, and I love it.

Sparkling Ice - ???

Sparkling Ice - ???

Third time’s the charm?

Sadly I was out of grapefruit and I didn’t have any pink props for the photo session. (I am not a fan of pink, so I don’t own much pink.)

I already shared my thoughts on the aesthetics of this line, so If you want to check that out, you can click HERE.

The lemonade was better than the blueberry pomegranate, so I thought that the citrus flavoring might cover up the artificial sweetener a bit better than the other fruity options. I decided to test this hypothesis by trying the grapefruit Sparkling Ice.

Galaxie Burger - Route 66 Diner : Wildwood, NJ

Galaxie Burger -  Route 66 Diner : Wildwood, NJ

I was down the shore with some friends and we stopped by the Route 66 diner on the boardwalk for dinner.

The building has a retro Doo Wop theme, just like the rest of Wildwood, and the servers perform choreographed dances to classic hits like Rockin’ Robin. It’s a cute place, and the atmosphere is fun, but the staff are the stars of the show. They went out of their way to accommodate us, and everyone we interacted with was extremely friendly and helpful.
For my meal I ordered one of the car themed burgers, the Galaxie, which was topped with blue cheese and hot sauce. Basically this is a buffalo burger. (I asked for the cheese sauce to be on the side, also this came with totmatoes, but I gave them to my boyfriend since I can’t really eat them.)

This was a very satisfying meal. The fries were crispy, the hot sauce was tangy, and the burger was well cooked. The cheese sauce tasted a lot like blue cheese dressing, so I just left it on the side. I usually eat my wings without any blue cheese anyway. (I’m a wing purist.)  Everything down the shore is a little pricey, I got this meal for about $12.00, so the pricing at the Route 66 diner isn’t too bad.


I’d definitely eat there again, and I’d recommend it to anyone who is visiting the Jersey Shore.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Iced Honey Lemon - Homemade Recipe

Iced Honey Lemon -  Homemade Recipe

This is my version of a drink you can buy in Chinatown, PA. It is a (really) simple recipe that is great for the summer.

Iced Honey Lemon 

~ A simple and refreshing drink for summer ~

All you need is:

• 2 Tablespoons of honey
• The juice of 1 large lemon
• A little bit of boiling water (enough to dissolve your honey.)
• 5 cups of cold water

Summer Corn Chowder - Pinterest Recipe Review

Summer Corn Chowder -  Pinterest Recipe Review : The Pin The Recipe

I love Panera’s Summer Corn Chowder soup. When I worked there, I could easily feed my corn chowder cravings. Now a days my career has evolved and I moved on to teaching, so I have been looking for a recipe to make my own supply, and I may have finally found one! It isn’t 100% perfect, but this is REALLY close to Panera’s seasonal soup! 

Like always…I made a few modifications: 

Sparkling Ice - ???

Sparkling Ice - ???

I’m back with my second flavor of Sparkling Ice.

To keep these photos from being too repetitive and boring I decided to play around with some props. (It makes the photo taking process a lot more fun for me since these bottles look almost exactly the same.)

I already shared my thoughts on the aesthetics of this line, so If you want to check that out, you can click HERE.

The last flavor I reviewed was the blueberry pomegranate, which was tolerable, but I have no desire to ever drink it again. Since lemonade is such a classic drink I imagine it’s pretty hard to mess up, so I have high hopes for this one.

As I poured this into my glass I noticed that it smelled like flat diet Sprite. (It’s sweet, and tangy with lemon juice notes but very lightly carbonated.)

I took a sip, and the initial flavor was surprisingly tangy.  It was just like drinking a lightly carbonated batch of Country Time lemonade. Although this drink starts out tasting great, that artificial sweetener (sucrose) leaves a diet taste in your mouth.

I was pretty happy with this flavor, it’s better than the blueberry pomegranate, but the aftertaste has the same artificial chemical-like sweetness. So there is no way you are passing this off as anything but a diet drink.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Fit & Active Boston Cream Pie Yogurt - Aldi : Moorestown, NJ

Fit & Active Boston Cream Pie Yogurt - Aldi : Moorestown,  NJ 

I love Aldi. I can get all my basic groceries, quirky foreign food items, and even fancy kitchen appliances. It’s awesome!

During my last grocery trip I saw that they had a few new dessert flavored yogurts, so I grabbed one of each flavor to try. (If you’ve been following me for a while you might remember these pumpkin spiced yogurts from my month of pumpkin items.)

The Fit & Active product line is kind of a no-frills brand, meaning the focus is on the product and keeping costs low, but they actually do seem to spend a decent amount of time and money of the brand identity and design. The color scheme for these products is a very consistent green and burnt sienna color, and every product has a nice image related to the flavor. Is this a design I would gasp over? No, but it gets the job done.

After peeling back the foil I was a little surprised that the yogurt was an off-white, vanilla, color. I always associate chocolate with a Boston cream pie, because of the topping, but there is no hint of chocolate at all. (Or cake.)

Chinatown Haul (Video Post)

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Sparkling Ice - ???

Sparkling Ice - ???

My uncle actually brought these over, so I have no idea where these specific bottles came from. (I’m pretty sure you can buy this brand at any grocery or convenience store in America though.)

I have a lot of flavors to review, 7 to be exact, but I’ll be mixing these in with other reviews to keep things fresh and interesting. (Personally, I know I don’t want to drink this stuff for 7 days straight, and I can bet that none of you would want to read 7 of these reviews in a row. )

All of the bottles and labels are clear, so the product provides a nice pop of color. (I had way too much fun lining up the flavors/colors for the first photo. I did a few arrangements and this was my favorite. I tried to balance out all the “red” flavors.”)

As you can see in the group shot, the label design is very consistent. (The strawberry lemonade version has black text and “lemonade” on the label, but it still looks like the rest of the line.) The typography for this label is really crisp and clean, and I like the minimal imagery used at the top of each bottle to visually indicate the flavor. Design-wise, this is a really nice product, but how will it taste? I’ve been burned by good designs before. (I’m looking at you Neuro.)

Lindt Caramel with Sea Salt - Target : Moorestown, NJ

Lindt Caramel with Sea Salt - Target : Moorestown,  NJ 

This is the last of my Target chocolate haul. All of the brands and flavors I have reviewed were very satisfying, and I thought I had saved the best for last, but I was wrong.

Like my last Lindt post, I’ll skip the packaging. If you want to see my thoughts on the design you can check it out HERE with the coconut chocolate bar.

I don’t know about any of you, but when I think of salted caramel (or in this case, caramel with a touch of sea salt) I imagine soft ribbons of chewy, buttery, filling with a hint of saltiness. Makes sense right? Well I guess Lindt thought differently.

Chicken Cutlet Curry - Terakawa Ramen : Philadelphia, PA

Chicken Cutlet Curry - Terakawa Ramen : Philadelphia,  PA

Sorry I missed yesterday’s post, I was in Chinatown with some friends celebrating Sean’s Birthday. (You might remember that I made him a birthday cake POSTED HERE.)
We rode the train into the city to grab lunch at Terakawa Ramen, and then we explored Chinatown to do some shopping. (I’ll post a mini haul to show you what I bought, but photos and reviews will be coming up soon.)

Terakawa Ramen is a relatively new restaurant here in Philly, it opened last July so it is almost 1 year old and it’s already getting good reviews. (There is a location in NY too.) The restaurant is very narrow, but that is typical for the buildings in Philly’s Chinatown. Thankfully the restaurant makes great use of the limited space. There are about 12 small tables available, and the seats at each table are small square stools that allow you to store bags underneath them (great for purses or your small shopping bags). If you’re not with a group or a party of people you can grab a seat at the bar.

I guess it’s kind of silly that I didn’t order ramen, since the place is called Terakawa Ramen and all, but I was in the mood for curry. The chicken cutlet curry platter came with a small green salad, white rice, sliced chicken cutlet, and delicious curry sauce with diced veggies. It was very reasonably priced and potions were HUGE. I wasn’t able to finish everything in one sitting so I had to take the last of my curry to-go.

Update on Little Kitty

Thank you for your patience with my other updates.

For those interested, here’s an update on little kitty.

He has been taken to the Almost Home animal rescue.

If you’re in the NJ area, and looking for an awesome addition to your family, please come visit him. He is REALLY friendly and affectionate. I already have three cats and a puffy puppy, or else I would have kept him for myself.

Lindt Intense Strawberry Bar - Target : Moorestown, NJ

Lindt Intense Strawberry Bar - Target : Moorestown,  NJ 

The coconut variation had a really authentic fruity flavor, so I had high hopes for this “intense” strawberry bar. (The labels in store said these were “intense flavors” but I don’t see that phrase anywhere on the actual packaging.) 

I’ll skip my usual packaging critique since all three of the Lindt bars I picked up look so similar. If you want to see my review of the packaging check it out HERE with the coconut review.

Darrell Lea’s Strawberry Soft Eating Liquorice- Target : Moorestown, NJ

Darrell Lea’s Strawberry Soft Eating Liquorice- Target : Moorestown,  NJ 

Happy 4th of July!
To celebrate, here is a package with a lovely red, white, and blue color scheme. (Unintentionally patriotic?)

I have reviewed a few flavors of this liquorice in the past, and while they were all very yummy, the strawberry is my hands-down favorite flavor. Recently the Darrell Lea brand has been releasing new products, like this twist mix featuring peel-able shapes, and chocolate covered liquorice. (Since it was a really hot day I decided to go with the peel-able liquorice.)

The packaging looks a lot like the traditional Darrell Lea liquorice bags, except the material feels a lot more like a plastic bag than a waxy textured paper. The plus side of this new packaging is that it has a resealable zip-lock style top. (Great for keeping the liquorice fresh.) I don’t mind the changes to the packaging, in fact this resealable option really improves the functionality while maintaining the textured look.

Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ - Part 2

Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ  - Part 2 

Say hello to this sweet, nameless, baby kitty.

My sister and her friend found this stray kitten when he tried to wander into someone’s house earlier today. He’s healthy, clean, and really friendly, so he must have belonged to someone, but no owner came forward.

Baby kitty will be staying with us until the shelters reopen after the holiday.
He is super friendly and cries whenever he isn’t in someone’s lap, so I’m sure he’ll find a forever home very soon. (I wish I could keep him but I have a lot of pets already. A dog, several cats. ;_; )

In the meantime, here are a few more photos from the Asian Food Market. I’ll get back to my normal posting schedule tomorrow.

CHECK OUT TONS MORE PHOTOS BELOW!

Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ (PHOTO HEAVY)

Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

I got a brand new cellphone (with a much better camera) so now it is much easier for me to take foodie photos on the go.

These were some photos I had on my old phone’s SD card from the Asian Food Market. I’d like to do a video inside this store in the future, but for now here are some quick pics.

Lindt Intense Coconut Bar - Target : Moorestown, NJ

Lindt Intense Coconut Bar - Target : Moorestown,  NJ 

It has been a very long time since I have had any Lindt chocolate. (I don’t think I have any since I have started Sometimes Foodie.) I didn’t stop eating it for any particular reason, I think I just wanted to try other brands and flavor combinations. Since there are a few “new” flavors of Lindt I figured it was time to revisit this brand and give them a try.

The packaging is very sophisticated and uniform. All of the flavors follow the same template. White background, gold text, silky gradient colors, and an image that relates to the flavor. I like the consistent look, and I can see this design really appealing to adults, but this needs texture. The Wild Ophelia packages had some really nice embossed images in their design and I think Lindt would really benefit by adding some dimension to the chocolate square on the front of the box.

Sioux City Orange Cream Soda - Home Goods :Moorestown, NJ

Sioux City Orange Cream Soda - Home Goods :Moorestown, NJ

Another item from my Home Goods haul.

Unlike the oogave soda, which is very modern, this brand has a classic look reminiscent of Stewart’s. (Stewart’s is the older of the two sodas since Sioux City wasn’t created until 1987.) There are only two colors of ink on the label, a creamy off-white and a grassy green, so the design is a little hard to make out. In case you can’t see it, there are two rugged men inside a canoe against a mountainous background. Personally, I think the color choices and imagery are a little confusing, but the overall design isn’t bad. (The green photographs really nicely.)

Like a lot of the bottled sodas I review, you actually need a bottle opener to get the cap off. (Which I like. I think it’s fun and adds to the experience.) Once you open it there is a lovely oranges and cream scent which is very similar to the Stewart’s version.

Wakabato Arumi Kani Chips - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Wakabato Arumi Kani Chips - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

It’s always fun to try something savory, because a majority of the foods I find are sweets, so today we have some crab chips.  

I really like the taste of crab, so I think these will be really interesting. (I typically like seafood but I am picky. I won’t eat anything with tentacles.)