Break me off a piece of that Birthday Cake!

Birthday Cake Kit-Kat Bar 

I'm a hypocrite. I rant about "birthday cake" flavoring being a scam, which I 100% stand by, and yet? I. Just. Keep. Buying. It. 

After I searched for, "birthday cake," on my blog, and saw how many results came up, I realized how intense my hypocrisy has been. Why keep buying a product that infuriates me? 

But, after looking at the results? They prove my theory to be true.  

Any cake, any flavor, can be a, "birthday cake." Some of these products are chocolate with chocolate frosting, some vanilla, with vanilla frosting, sometimes a mix of the two...the only thing that stays consistent is sprinkles. Every single one of these "birthday" items has sprinkles, either actual ones, or implied specks of rainbow colors. And I am expecting this to be more of the same. 

Rosie? or Rancid? - Vanilla Rose Cookie Thins (Lidl)

I hate flower flavored food, and I already have a ton of stuff I -should- be reviewing. But February means all thing pink, and flowery, and Valentine's Day-y. All things I would use to describe this new product from Lidl. 

I'll be the guinea pig and give this a try so you can see if this it's worthy of your valentine. (Accidental rhyme(ish)?)

Crunchy Milk? Yes, please!

I'm super sleepy, but I wanted to keep my 3-day review-streak going, so I'm here with a quickie! 

I picked these up at Hung Vuong the same day I grabbed the tiramisu and cheesecake candies. 

Peko-chan, the mascot on the packaging, is super cute, and I've had several Milky products in the past so I know the brand is consistently good. I had to get it. 

Cookie-bucha - Health-ade Holiday Cheers

Happy Almost New Year! I'm back! 

After my last post, I tested positive for COVID, and the symptoms hit me hard and fast. Much worse than when I had it before. Luckily, I had bought my cats a heating pad on Black Friday, because it came in clutch for the body aches. By day three, I lost my sense of smell and taste. (Which took all the fun out of my scented candle advent calendar.) 

It took five days for my sense of smell to return, but it was pretty weak, and my taste was definitely off. Garlic, something I cook with and eat all the time, tasted unnaturally sweet, almost like a caramel. And in every form! I tried powdered seasoning, fresh garlic, and some garlic infused olive oil just to make sure something didn't expire on me, but it was me. ("I'm the problem, it's me.") It took two and a half weeks for my body to bounce back.

So, I'm here to celebrate with some seasonal kombucha! 

When I spotted this, the gold and white made me think this was a New Years' item. So, I assumed this was like, champagne-themed or something. But, if I had bothered to read the label, this is vanilla, allspice, and cacao flavored? So, cookies? Cookie-bucha? I don't know about that...

Fall-bucha - Apple, Cinnamon, Vanilla and Clove flavored Kombucha

The blog has accidently turned into mostly-Lidl reviews. It makes sense, since I've been shopping there a lot lately, and they really went all-in with interesting fall themed products, but for the sake of variety, I promise my next review will be non-Lidl. 

Today we are still Lidl-ing it up, this time with a a seasonal kombucha: apple, cinnamon, vanilla and clove.

I love kombucha, and have tried a lot of flavors over the years, but my preferences typically lean into berry based flavors like cherry, raspberry, or cranberry. So this apple, cinnamon, vanilla, and clove option is pretty different for me. 

Will it be a good-different? I guess we'll see. 

Neapolitan vs. Neapolitan

Name Brand vs. Generic: Neapolitan Edition

This new Oreo came out, I bought it, and then I went to put it away and found this box of cookies from Aldi that were a different take on the same thing. In fact, they're an Aldi twist on a Neapolitan Trader Joe-Joe's item that's been around since at least 2018. 

I figured I'd take this opportunity to compare the two and see who did it better. Oreo? Or Aldi? 

Barbie-sized Ice Cream Cones

Senjaku Soft Ice Cream Candies - Hung Vuong

In spite of decorating my home with skulls and spooky objects year-round, I am not immune to pastel cuteness. That said, this is hella cute. (When have I ever said, "hella?" It felt right at the time, but now I'm getting early 2000's No Doubt flashbacks.) 

We have uniquely shaped packaging, pastels, stripes, confetti, and the promise of tiny ice cream cone shaped vanilla candies. I had to have it. 

As far as the candy inside, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. The descriptor says "soft ice cream shaped cute candy," so it'll be ice cream shaped, but the "soft" refers to this being based on vanilla soft serve ice cream, so I wasn't sure what form the candy inside would take. Gummy? Mellowcreme? Turns out they're actually hard candies and they're 3D!

Quickie Review: Dr. Pepper & Cream Soda, Better than the Original?

Dr. Pepper & Cream Soda

Last I heard, Dr. Pepper had a limited edition birthday cake flavor that was only available through some kind of online birthday club thing. I love Dr. Pepper, but I hate the anxiety and rush that comes from chasing down limited edition products, especially when they're limited to online releases, raffles, sign-ups, and social media contests. So, I didn't participate, but I was sad that I missed out. Then there was a 2015 Dr. Pepper themed water ice at Rita's that was only available in Texas, no where near me. Again, kinda bummed I missed out on that as well. 

That was the last I had heard about anything Dr. Pepper related. So when I saw Dr. Pepper and Cream soda at Walmart I thought, "huh, why not?" 

Bowl & Basket Shop Rite Seltzer Party! 6 different flavors!

6 Flavors of Shop Rite Bowl & Basket Seltzer

When compared to Aldi and La Croix, Bowl & Basket finds itself somewhere in the middle in terms of variety. La Croix opts for fancier, more exotic offerings, like Limoncello and Hibiscus, where Aldi sticks to citrus fruits for the most part. But what Aldi lacks in variety, they make up for in consistency. Of their main flavors, I don't think there is a dud in the bunch. I decided to grab a bottle of Bowl & Basket lemon lime, to have a better basis of comparison to my go-to Aldi seltzers, but otherwise grabbed new flavors I have yet to experience in seltzer form. I'm pretty excited to see how these taste (and to add a bit of variety to my bubbly sipping.)  

Birthday Cake Cool Whip Mix-Ins

Birthday Cake Cool Whip - Shop Rite

This has been in my freezer FOREVER. Well, not literally, but this was an impulse buy I made right around the time quarantine first began. I braved the stores to buy ice cream for my then ex and his daughter (who were obsessed with Turkey Hill vanilla bean and it was on sale), and I spotted this. My judgement wasn't the best, being in panic-mode, and I hadn't had Cool Whip in forever, so I grabbed it. 

Several months of quarantine, a cancelled wedding, 2 new hair colors, and about 5 mental health crisis later, here we are. So, is this still edible? And, if so, is it good? 

#TBT 90's Marketing was No Joke - DunkAroos

DunkAroos - 7-Eleven 

Looking back, the 90's were pretty damn indulgent. I remember eating lunchables, canned Spiderman Chef Boyardee, Pringles, DunkAroos, String-Thing, SqueezIt, Toaster Strudels, Pizza Bagels and all kinds of junk...and even if I didn't eat it very often, I can still remember the commercials vividly in my head. (Especially String Thing.)

I don't know if that's a testament to my memory, or if advertising companies in the 90's were just that intent on marketing to children. (It's evil, but it totally worked.)  

Chickpeas for Dessert: Delicious Trend? Or Disastrous Failure?

Dessert Hummus - Aldi

Dessert hummus invaded fancy grocery store shelves a while ago, and now this trend has trickled it's way down to Aldi. When I first heard of the concept my knee-jerk reaction was that this was a bad idea. Like most people I enjoy hummus, but I've only ever had it in a savory sense, mixed with garlic or roasted red pepper (my fav!), and taking that savory-familiarity and turning it towards desserts just wasn't clicking in my brain. 

Then again, plain hummus is pretty bland, maybe it could be doctored into a passable dessert?  After all, there are all those black bean brownie recipes floating around online that people swear by, but I personally haven't had the guts to ruin perfectly good brownies to find out for myself. Maybe this will be my gate-way health-food dessert? 

Against my better judgement, I grabbed one of each flavor and put them out on cheese plate night for my family to try. This is the result... 

Take it all in. (That's what she said?)

American Globs Big Gay Ice Cream - Wawa

Big Gay Ice Cream is a company that's been on my foodie-radar for years I mean, they're an ice cream brand that have a theme song written by Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's! (Also she was Joan of Arc in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, which I love.) Popculture, cool graphics, and (potentially) yummy ice cream? I had to try it! 

They have ice cream trucks, brick and mortar locations, and sell ice cream pints in a handful of locations across the nation with one being right across the bridge from Jersey...but we all know that I never go anywhere. (I don't know how you other foodies have any energy for all that traveling!)  

Being the hermit I am, I longingly watched from afar as their brand grew and grew. Guess what? They started selling pints at Wawa! So, being the multi-tasker I am, I filled up my gas tank and grabbed a few pints to finally satisfy my snacking curiosity.

Chocolate Coated Sugar Bombs - Birthday Cake 3 Musketeers

Birthday Cake 3 Musketeers  - Walmart

You know the old, "stopped in for milk left with new bedding, a blender, and seasonal guest towels that are for looking, not touching," memes that gets tossed around online? Well, I just did that. With Walmart. And junk-food. 

I went in to grab some command hooks and left with 3 different kinds of Pop-Tarts, Honey BBQ Frito Twists (the BEST), 3 different boxes of novelty cereal, Reese's Thins, and Brach's Marshmallow Easter Hunt Eggs. Oh, and Command Hooks. 

To rationalize my junk-food shopping spree, I decided to review it all, starting with the candy bars.

Paczki Fever

Paczki  - Aldi $2.89

So, seemingly out of the blue, Paczki showed up on at Aldi.

Now, if you haven't heard of Paczki, you're not alone. I hadn't heard of them until a few years ago. From what I understand they are a polish dessert that is very similar to a doughnut, but richer, and they are usually eaten before the start of Lent. As I understand it, this is a last sugary hurrah that uses up all the not-so-Lent friendly ingredients in your pantry so you can indulge now and (ideally) won't be tempted later. 

Growing up in a mostly secular household, all of this was pretty foreign to me, but you don't have to observe Lent in order to enjoy this pastry, so let's give these a try! 

I found these on an end-cap new the check-out. Visually, they're not much to look at. We have a plastic clam-shell with a plain-looking red, white, and black label. The clear plastic allows the pastries to be the center of attention, but in my opinion, they don't look any different from a classic custard-filled doughnut from Dunkin. Since Paczki are trending right now, with the upcoming holidays, I decided to buy them in-spite of their lack-luster appearance. (Was that a mistake?)   

Once opened, they smell....like a typical creme filled doughnut. These smell like fried dough, sweet custard, and vanilla. The aroma is appealing, but it's certainly not unique. The scent is classic custard-filled doughnut. Maybe it'll taste richer or more complex?  

At first bite, I was immediately underwhelmed, but then after a few more bites...I graduated to full blown disappointment. The dough base is sweet, fluffy, and fatty. It kind of melts in your mouth, so texturally it's great, but flavor-wise it was so bland. When your doughnut is more texture than flavor, something is wrong. I thought the custard filling might help, but it too was rather bland and flavorless. It has the texture of vanilla pudding, and a bit of egg-y custard flavor, but again, it was mostly bland. This tastes sweet, like sugar, but not much else and while that isn't a bad thing, it certainly wasn't great. 

In the end, I feel like this was a waste of perfectly good calories. Oddly enough, my fiance was really into these. He liked the chewy doughy texture and that moist filling. I He thought they tasted much fresher and lighter than most cream filled doughnuts you'd buy in a grocer store, and I can see that. The filling and doughnut weren't overpowering, that's for sure, and and when you compare that to the sometimes crusty sugar bomb doughnuts you can buy in grocery bakeries, it makes sense that this more bland version would be so refreshing by comparison. This wasn't the best doughnut he'd ever eaten, but for a store-bought pastry he was pleasantly surprised.  

These are pretty okay doughnuts, and would pair nicely with coffee or tea, but as a stand-alone treat, I consider these a fail. (But to be fair, my fiance would buy these again in a heartbeat, he liked eating one for breakfast with a cup of green tea.) It all depends on your personal tastes, but I'd say you should get your Paczki fix elsewhere. 

In case you missed it, I posted a few stash-busting gum reviews over on my Instagram. I'm hoping to do a few of these each weekend to make myself less of a food hoarder. Check out my NEW Quik Review section.  

Keep Up with My Adventures on Social Media!

More Ice Cream Impostors? - Neapolitan m&m's

Neapolitan m&m's - Target

It feels good to be back. 

Blah, blah, life is busy-blah. Let's eat some candy! 

Thanks to this year's Peep and m&m releases, Neapolitan got it's moment in the sun. A classic mix of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, now in candy form, what could go wrong?

If you guys follow any of my fellow foodie friends, you likely know that these are (kind of) a re-release. Prior to their USA debut, Neapolitan m&m's were available in Australia, but their execution was a bit different than what we have here. Firstly, Australia got MUCH nicer packaging. Secondly, their release used "normal" sized m&m's, and each color was a different flavor. The American variety is quite different, starting with the packaging...

Skip the scoop and have a Peep Instead?

Neapolitan Peeps - Target $1.66

The Peeps floodgates have opened! We have a ton of "new" Peep flavors hitting the shelves. Why did I put "new" in quotes? Well...most of them aren't really new. 

This season, we've got... 

• Kroger gets Pancakes & Syrup (One of last year's Mystery Flavors, unmasked & re-released) 
• All Grocery Stores are getting Sour Cherry (Another Mystery Flavor, unmasked & re-released)
• Cotton Candy Peeps (re-release, I saw them at Target, unsure if they're exclusive)
• Lemon and Orange Sherbet Peeps (Very similar to previous orange & lemon Delights)
• Walmart has the NEW trio of Mystery Peep Flavors - Actually New
• Target has filled Neapolitan and Triple Chocolate Delights - Also New 

In that sea of marshmallow chick-shaped sweets, there's a lot of old ideas being rehashed. In all honesty, I've always liked original Peeps (Especiaolly when they start to get a little stale), but a of of the fancier flavors they've released over the years just don't appeal to me. Especially the Delights line. That "fudge" dripped bottom is a waxy coating of lies. In what way is that fudge? 

Even though I am no fan of the "fudge dipped" delights, I couldn't pass up a filled peep, especially one with a Neapolitan flavor profile. All the new flavors we have seen over the years are great, but the combination of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry is timeless. If it's done right...

So, let's see if these are a real Delight, or a fake-fudge-failure.

Hot Lattes, Straight From The Toaster

Vanilla Latte Pop-Tarts - Walmart

I know these are old news, and no one cares anymore, but I'm cleaning out my pantry and I've got quite a few backlogged Pop-Tarts to review, so I'm going to do my best to knock them all out this week! First up, Dunkin' Donuts Vanilla Latte!

Mike and Ike Sundae Sweets - Jo Ann Fabric

Mike and Ike Sundae Sweets - Jo Ann Fabric

Did you know chinchillas like fleece? Neither did I!

Well, not until this June, anyway. That's when my boyfriend's daughter graduated and we got her a cuddly little chinchilla all her own. He's her baby, but seemingly overnight we've turned into crazy chinchilla people.

Segues are hard. 

So I'm at JoAnn fabrics, buying a few yards of fleece (which is on sale) to use in a chinchilla litter box (you know, totally normal food-blogger stuff) and this colorful package catches my eye. It's a cute box, and I like Mike and Ikes, but I LOVE all things banana. I figured I owed it to myself to check this out.

Flash forward to today, when I saw the very same box, a few cents cheaper, at The Dollar Tree. Kind of kicking myself, since I could have gotten it cheaper, but maybe it'll taste so good that I won't care anymore? Fingers crossed!

New Oreo Thin Flavors: Coconut & Salted Caramel

Coconut & Salted Caramel Oreo Thins- Walmart 

It's been a minute since my last post, and since then my household has gained: a chalkboard wall, an 18" deep trench around the pool, a friendly baby chinchilla, and a thriving cherry tomato plant. I've also (unfortunately) discovered and destroyed a bunch of poison ivy in the yard (after kneeling in it, oops.), and I've managed to dismantle a small chunk of my cardboard-castle-filled living room. Who knew I had so much stuff?! (And so few chinchillas.) 

So yeah, it's been quite the adventure, but it's a fun adventure, so let's celebrate some slim victories with some slim cookies!