Caramel Apple Pop-Tarts - Walmart #tbt

Caramel Apple Pop-Tarts - Walmart #tbt 

I know it's not Thursday but...I GOT THE HOUSE! 

I have been working with lawyers, realtors, and banks since the beginning of October to seal this deal and my short sale journey is finally at it's end. We start the closing proceedings next week and then I have to start tackling repairs and cleaning before I can move in, but still...I'll have a HOUSE!

This also means I need to bust through as much of my food-hoarding-stash as I can to lighten my future moving-load, so expect a lot of off-season throwbacks! 

Let's kick off the throwback frenzy with these Pop-Tarts!

Kung Pao Chicken Mini Egg Rolls - Aldi

When I come home from work I'm HUNGRY, teetering on hangry. I normally start dinner the second I take off my coat, but thanks to being sick with the flu I'm completely out of my go-to quick-dinner staples, so it's time to see what's hiding out in the freezer!

Egg rolls sound good, and even though I feel like I should make something else to go along with them, I'm not. Let's hope they're good!

Dragon Ball Heroes Cheesy Snacks - Asian Food Market

Dragon Ball Heroes Cheesy Snacks - Asian Food Market

Last time on food-blogger-Z: Sometimes Foodie was overcome by the earthly flu-virus. Weak, and incapacitated, she retreated to her lair and lay dormant in a healing tank to regain her strength while the other food blogging warriors picked up the slack. Today, she reemerges from the rejuvenation chamber to reclaim her foodie-throne!

I hope you read that in the rough and scratchy voice of the English-dubbed DBZ narrator. If not, click the link to hear a little piece of my childhood. Also, being trapped in my bedroom for nearly a week has made me even more socially awkward, so bear with me.

When I was a little girl I would wake up at, what seemed like, the crack of dawn on Saturday mornings to watch Dragon Ball Z on some basic cable channel. I honestly can't remember which one, but I think they also had the rights to Sailor Moon at the time. I'd crawl out of bed, wake up my sister, and we'd go downstairs to gaze at the TV screen and sing the Americanized theme song which had, like, six words in it. "Dragon, Dragon, Rock the Dragon, Dragon Ball Z!"

DBZ and Sailormoon will always have a very special place in my anime-loving-trash heart, so when I saw these snacks at the Asian Food Market, it was an insta-buy.

Papa John's Wisconsin Cheese Stuffed Cheesesticks (Quickie Review)

Wisconsin Cheese Stuffed Cheesesticks - Papa John's $6.00

I have (somewhat) rejoined the land of the living! Time to celebrate with some cheesy bread sticks and pizza. (Because I had a 50% off coupon code. #frugalfoodie)

My family's go-to bread-stick option is the finger-like garlic Parmesan sticks. When I went to place my order I saw an ad on the main page for these "new" cheesysticks that were released at the very end of December, and the photos looked really appealing. I decided to throw caution to the wind and give these a try. (Against my family's wishes, so I ended up ordering both bread sticks along with a large pizza. So many carbs!) 

Should've Got That Flu Shot...

Just  little update, I have the flu. It's been years since I've had it so it hit me REALLY hard. I've been sick since Saturday morning. It sucks, but I'm FINALLY getting well enough to taste food again, so reviews will be back as soon as my sense of taste is!

I'll be hibernating in my cocoon made of Hall's wrappers and Vicks Vaporub for the next day or so, but when I emerge I will be a beautiful non-mouth-breathing butterfly!

Here's what I've been watching on Netflix as I slip in and out of NyQuil Naptime:

• Moonrise Kingdom (5/5 stars! But I am a Wes Anderson-film-lover) 
• Little Sister (3.5/5 Pink haired former goth nuns?) 
• The Other Woman  (4.5/5 kinda like The Step-Mom, but a little darker, deals with loss)
• Heaven Knows What (4.5/5 realistic look at a drug addiction and love, dark, sad and gritty) 
• Philomena (4/5 so much crying)
• Hannibal (3.5/5, I miss Jodie Foster. Not as good as Silence of the Lambs.)
• The Money Pit (3/5 Not the best thing for a new home owner to subject themselves to...)
• Girl Asleep (2/5 normally I like fun foreign indie films, but this was too disjointed for me)
• Lost in Space (0/5 awful, made me feel bad for Matthew LeBlanc's post-Friends career)
• Antibirth (3.5/5 interesting body-horror film with a lot of actresses I like)
• About Scout (3/5, it's cute, but not all that memorable) 

Got any Netflix recommendations for me? 

Maryland and Boardwalk Style Crab Cakes - Aldi $4.99 each

Maryland and Boardwalk Style Crab Cakes - Aldi $4.99 each

I never knew Boardwalk style crab cakes were a thing. For 29 years I have gone down to the Jersey shore and walked the boardwalk, and not once have I ever seen an ad for crab cakes. Live crabs? Sure! But boardwalk style crab cakes? Never. (Then again, Wildwood is a special, pizza-filled, Doo-Wop snowflake.) I mean, I knew Maryland style was a thing, so it makes sense that there are other varieties, but not once have I ever heard of board walk style crab cakes. Am I alone in my noob-ish-ness? (I get the feeling that I am.) Welp, time to get educated!

FYI: I think I just set a new record for most amount of musical reference links used in a single paragraph on this blog. Click them and enjoy some tunes!

Quickie Review: Hershey Snack Mix -BJ's

Hershey Snack Mix -BJ's

Back in June of 2016 I reviewed the Reese's version of this snack Mix and now, EIGHT months later, I've finally gotten around to the Hershey's version. (At this rate I'll review the other candy-bar-themed mixes within the next 5 years.) Anyway, when I reviewed the Reese's version I wasn't sure if I'd ever buy it again and nearly a year later, and I haven't!

Maybe the Hershey's version will be a better flavor for me. Let's hope so, because I foolishly bought a big ol' box of this from BJ's because I had a coupon. (And I'm a sucker for a bargain.)

Brazilian Orange Pocky - H-Mart

Brazilian Orange Pocky - H-Mart

Unlike my recent posts, this isn't a food-hoard item, it's actually brand new (well, new to me), and I picked it up at H-mart the other day. To combat further food hoarding, I am going to try and review new products as I get them, while simultaneously digging through my food stash to finish hidden treasures. (I consider them gifts from past-me. I'm so thoughtful.) 

Orange Pocky has been around for a while, and it's come in a few variations, like chocolate sticks, fruit pulp mixed into the chocolate coating, or fancy chocolate swirls,  but they never really piqued my interest. I'll eat orange flavors sweets when they're mixed in with other fruity flavors, like Skittles, Starbursts, and Sour Patch Kids, but I would never buy a bag of just orange flavored candy completely on it's own. That just sounded...boring. 

It seems like orange sweets are much more popular overseas in the UK and Europe, but here in the states, it's rarely the main attraction. Maybe we're missing out on something, and that's a pretty awesome looking Toucan... That's all it took. Into my cart it went!

Grape Fettuccine Gummi - Asian Food Markets

Grape Fettuccine Gummi - Asian Food Markets

Check it out! The blog got a (very slight) facelift! I don't have enough time to dissect all the coding and give this place the complete update it deserves, but hey, it's a start!

One of my goals for 2017 was to update the blog, and another was to be less of a food hoarder. I've been cleaning through my stash (slowly) and honestly, it's pretty bad. I completely forgot what I had already purchased, so I've found a few repeats, along with a bunch of products I never knew I had, like these Grape Fettuccine gummies.

When did I buy these? I don't know! But they look yummy, so I'm going to quickly review them before they disappear into the pantry-void, never to be seen again.

Rainbow Twizzlers - Dollar Tree $1.00

Rainbow Twizzlers - Dollar Tree $1.00

It goes against my frugal nature to spend money on an obviously bad product, but when it's only $1.00, and the product is rainbow-colored, I can let it slide. 

Look at these saturated colors! They're so intense and solid they're practically neon! Can something so vibrantly colored actually taste good? I doubt it, but who knows, maybe I'm wrong!

Apple Butter Syrup - Aldi

Apple Butter Syrup - Aldi 

Winter sucks, but big hearty breakfasts make leaving the comfort of a warm bed a little easier. Our weekend go-tos are usually pancakes, french toast, and waffles. To keep things interesting, while also pleasing even the pickiest of eaters, I usually don't mess with the batter recipe, instead, I change things up with different toppings and syrups, like this Apple Butter syrup from Aldi. 

It's been ages since I've had apple butter. My maternal grandfather (who is Hungarian) always had jars of this on hand and we used to eat it on everything. It's great on toast, it adds a ton of flavor to oatmeal or cream of wheat, and it makes a really lovely glaze for pork roasts and other cured meats, and I bet it'd taste AMAZING on breakfast foods, but it's a little too thick to be used as a syrup-replacement. Until now!

Bacon Cheeseburger Queso - Qdoba Restaurant Review

Bacon Cheeseburger Queso - Qdoba Restaurant Review

I have risen from the candy-wrapper-ashes! What a week.  

In short-sale-home-buying-hell news, (which I'm sure you're all sick of, and believe me, I am too) I had 5 different inspections this week and only 1 went well/passed. So, that was really awesome. (She said, sarcastically.) I'm waiting to get all the estimates back before I renegotiate, so I'm in for another month's worth of all this legal-goodness before I can say with confidence that I'll be moving in to a new place. BLAH.

In other, cheesier, news someone from Qdoba contacted me asking if I knew about their new queso of the month menu, and since I'd never eaten at their restaurant before, they sent me a $30 giftcard to try them out. (And an awesome cheese hat.) Last weekend my little family spent hours shopping for a new (used) car, so we were cold, cranky, and I really didn't feel up to making dinner, so I took Qdoba up on their offer.