Bacon Runner - Musings of a Meat-Fueled Athlete

May 02

David’s Tea Sweet Indulgences Review

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May 2, 2013

There’s been quite a hype around the internets about David’s Tea as of late. I had seen some mentions on Reddit’s /r/tea subforum, which I frequent, and vowed to give it a try if I was near a retail location. Unfortunately, Montreal-based David’s Tea does not currently have an abundance of locations in the US. Their main US retail stores are located in the San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City areas. Granted, I’m close to NYC, but it’s a pricy day trip. David’s has a host of locations in Canada, one of which I had the opportunity to check out last week in Vancouver.

Upon being greeted by a bright, modern storefront with many colorful cans of tea on the wall, I was quickly overwhelmed by the variety available. So many flavors, so little time. I’ve been on the lookout for dessert and flavored teas as of late, and heard David’s has a lovely selection of these. They sure did. Too many to choose from, in fact. I decided to play it safe and buy a sampler pack – the Sweet Indulgences sampler pack – to try a couple cups of each flavor. The pack includes 12 miniature tins of tea, each enough for 1-3 cups brewed.

I’ve spent 2 days trying all 12 teas. The majority of the cups were brewed in a ForLife mug with stainless infuser basket. The others couple were brewed in my mini French press or with the tea bird infuser basket (below). I have possibly gotten sick of washing soggy tea out of my infuser basket. I may have also broke down and purchased a variable-temp kettle from Adagio because green and white tea tastes dodgy when you steep it at too hot a temperature. So uh, yeah, I like this tea a bit.

Here are my thoughts and ratings:

Buttered Rum – “Toasted coconut and vanilla beans mingle with black tea for a caramelized caress of flavours – add some dark rum to indulge your inner pirate.” Upon brewing this one, you’re greeted with a soft scent of coconut. At first taste, it’s smooth, strong coconut with a hint of buttery vanilla. I was hoping for a hint of rum, similar to Island Rose’s Rum Vanilla tea, but this is nice and smooth, sans rum. I should probably make the 2^nd cup with a bit of Gosling’s, eh? Rating 6/10

Coffee Pu’erh – “This blend combines pu’erh with two coffee bean extracts, chocolate, caramel, and almond flavor. Even your coffee addict friends will go crazy for it.” The appearance of this one is your standard pu’erh – dark, mysterious, and comes with a bonus few coffee beans thrown in. Not long after the hot water hit it, immediately a strong, sweet scent of coffee and a bit of chocolate hit my nose. I think the store smelled like this when we first walked in. Maybe. Upon first taste, I was expecting something bitter like coffee, but was greeted with a hints of sweet, dark chocolate, a bit of caramel, and a mild taste of the pu’erh. I think I expected the pu’erh to be a bit more smoky and bitter, and was pleasantly surprised. This makes a nice substitute for coffee on an afternoon tea break. I enjoyed this one, would buy again. 8/10.

Coco Chai Rooibos – “An incredible bestselling chai made of rooibos, coconut, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and red peppercorns.” Mmm, mmm spicy. I think every tea company and their mother has come out with some variety of chai tea in the last few years. The last few I’ve purchased at Wegmans were kind of watery and disappointing. This one was actually spicy. At first sip, it’s smooth and then the individual spices appear. The red peppercorns give a nice punch at the end of a sip and a little tickle of spicy flavor remains. Nice with our without cream, definitely add a bit of sweetener, though. This one is solid. Lovely, red brew, too. It’s also a caffeine-free rooibos blend that’s good for evening drinking. 7/10.

Cranberry Pear – “This is a sweet and rich fruit tea. With black tea, tart cranberries and crisp pear, it makes for a uniquely satisfying cup.” I opened the tin and was a little confused – it was nearly all fruit pieces. There were very few tea leaves present. Because of this, I used the entire sample tin for one cup. This turned out to be a good idea as this one wasn’t very strong. I like my black teas to have some strength. This had a unique pear flavor (due to it being nearly all pear pieces in the sample) but was sort of … meh. I wouldn’t buy this one again. 4/10

Forever Nuts – “It looks all normal when it’s loose. But steep it and you’ll see that it’s nuts – a hint of beetroot turns it a crazy shade of pink.” Dry, this tea smells like fruity granola with nuts. Upon brewing, the smell is more that of an un-spiced cider – bits of orange, apple, berry, with an undertone of almond scent. The pink hue described? It’s not all that crazy. The tea (for me) brewed to a medium orange-rose. The taste is best described as fruity oatmeal. I’m not sure if it’s the blend of apple and almonds that does this, but it’s pleasant. It’s light, warming, and would make a nice, relaxing cup before bed. I would like the fruitiness to be a bit more tart, though. It was a bit mild for my taste. Rating 5/10.

Goji Pop – “Legend has it that Li-Ching Yung lived for 256 years. His secret? Goji berries. Your secret? This sweet pink tea.” I’ll just get it out of the way that by the time I sampled this one I was getting a little tired of the super fruity blends in this sampler. This one brewed to a color similar to the Forever Nuts herbal blend – pinkish/orange. The smell was pleasant, the taste was sweet. The fruit flavor was strong and somewhat tart, which I appreciated. I like it, but probably wouldn’t buy it on its own. 5/10.

Green Seduction – “Give in to this tempting green tea blend bursting with pomegranates. It’s truly seductive.” i’m not sure about seductive, but this was a light, refreshing green tea with a hint of pomegranate. I made sure to use my variable temp kettle to get the water to the recommended lower green brewing temp (about 84C). I had this one unsweetened. It’s delicate, slightly earthy, with just a hint of tart fruit. I’m thinking this one would go nicely with a sushi dinner. This has a nice scent both dry and brewed, and brews to a perfect light green, assuming the water temp is just right. I’m curious to try David’s other green varieties now. 7/10

Jessie’s Tea – “This is one heartfelt combo of rooibos, coconut, and lavender – no wonder it’s country singer Jessie Farrell’s favorite.” I had to google who Jessie Farrell was, I admit. I’m not into country music. I’m also not very into this blend, unfortunately. As the rooibos blend was brewing in my French press pot, it had a pleasant scent of lavender with hints of a sweet coconut smell. The tea had a lovely red hue when brewed, but wasn’t overpowering red as some rooibos blends are. The taste was not as lovely as the scent or the color, though. The taste was like sweet, overpowering soap. Something about the coconut and lavender simply does not work together on this one. 2/10

Life Long Oolong – “In China, peach-scented oolongs have been popular for centuries. One taste of this blend and you’ll understand why.” I like a good oolong. This was a nice oolong blend. The peach was tart, but in no way obnoxious or overpowering. After having a cup hot, I’d really love to try this one iced – I have a feeling it would be refreshing on a summer day. 7/10

Mango Madness – “It’s fruity. It’s refreshing. It tastes just like a ripe piece of mango. In short, it’s total madness.” I had high hopes for this one. I heated up a kettle of water at the recommended temperature for white tea. I set a timer for 6 minutes for brewing time (recommended was 5-7 minutes). I strained the leaves from my tea bird infuser (pictured above), and tried a sip of the tea unsweetened. I was met with an acrid fruit taste. I tried again after adding a bit of sweetener. There was no difference. This reminded me a lot of Adagio’s Citron Green – high hopes, but left with a really bad taste in my mouth. I dumped the cup and brewed another from the box. 1/10.

Read My Lips – “Okay, this is probably the world’s best chocolate tea. Honestly. Better than dessert. It’s the definition of irresistible.” Claiming anything as the world’s best has my attention. Opening the tin, I was met with a rich, chocolate aroma. Like most everyone else, I love chocolate. To date, I haven’t had a chocolate tea that really did it for me. This blend combines black tea, peppermint, tiny chocolate chips, and little, red smooch-shaped sprinkles. There was also what appeared to be a rogue peppercorn in it, as well, maybe not intentionally. In contact with water, the strong chocolate aroma dissipates quickly, and an earthy, minty aroma rises. The taste first produces the mint notes, then notes of sweet cocoa and light black tea. This is a lovely and smooth after dinner tea which would go quite well paired with chocolate cookies. It’s not overpowering with chocolate, which is good. Upon first sniff I wasn’t sure. Is it the world’s best? I’m not sure about that, but after having 2 cups of it, it’s pretty damn good. 8/10.

Birthday Cake – “The best part about birthdays? The cake, of course. And this sweet and festive rooibos blend brings the taste of birthday cake to your cup any day of the year – sprinkles and all.” I have tried some bagged herbal blends which claim to taste like red velvet and birthday cake. They fail. This one wins. This is a great dessert tea with lovely notes of vanilla (and sprinkles), honeybush, and maple sugar. I’m not sure that the maple was intentional, but it adds a nice note. To be fair, I also love maple syrup. I’d buy this one again. Certainly beats eating Funfetti cake every night, or at least the effects of eating Funfetti cake every night. You get what I’m saying. 7/10.

After trying the teas, I’m getting a good idea of what to expect from various flavors David’s offers. Upon my next visit to the Great White North (or NYC), I’m hoping to pick up a few 25g packets of a variety of flavors. I’ve also found a tea rating website, Steepster, to check ratings and reviews before buying. I never would have believed a flavored tea would be good enough to have as dessert, but David’s has certainly proved me wrong. It’s also reignited my love of looseleaf teas. Hooray for tea!

Tags: Canada, DAVIDsTEA, tea

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Apr 27

Five Things Friday – Canadian Edition

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5 Things Friday

by admin

April 27, 2013

I spent the better part of this week in Canada for work. Which part of Canada, you ask? Vancouver, British Columbia, also known as “a really kick-ass city”. So, here’s 5 things from my trip there:

1. Tea. I was able to pick up some gifts for my mom at Murchie’s of Vancouver. I was also able to make a stop at David’s Tea to pick up a sampler to try. I’ve heard good things about the place.

After sampling a few of these tonight while typing this, confirmed, they are excellent. I also had a cup of David’s Tea in the Toronto airport after landing and finding out my flight was cancelled. I didn’t exactly get to enjoy it as I had to chug it while walking through customs. Which brings me to my next thing…

2. Budget furloughs. Sure, the house approved legislation to help air traffic control avoid the furloughs, but I was flying home yesterday while everything was still a mess. I’m sure it’s still a mess at the present, but considering the speed of our usually cumbersome government to remedy this, I’m hopeful the delays will be fewer. My connecting flight into Newark from Toronto was outright cancelled on Thursday and my re-booked flight ended up being 1-1/2 hours late taking off, all due to backed-up ATC at Newark Liberty. So, I sat in the airport and had some Tim Hortons and waited it all out.

3. Vancouver’s weather. Look at my smiling face here enjoying the weather after the conclusion of the morning’s meetings. The locals said it wasn’t normally like this.

4. Simon Pegg. I’m pretty sure this guy was in Vancouver while I was there, and no, I didn’t see him in person, unfortunately. Pretty sure he was also in Vancouver when I was there in June last year. You’d think the odds of me seeing him at some point would be good…

5. Housing cost. I’m not complaining about the cost of housing in the Lehigh Valley anymore. You Canadians have some expensive housing costs, especially so in the Vancouver area. While I love the area, I don’t think we’ll be moving there anytime soon. But I will be back there again for work in May.

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Apr 21

The Worst Time to Quit

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Random running musings

by admin

April 21, 2013

I feel pretty awful thinking of all that’s happened this past week. The bombings at the marathon. The explosion that rocked a small Texas town. The manhunt of the bombing suspects. A deadly quake in China. Sadly, some of these things occur with much more frequency in other parts of the world. Bombings rock cities on a daily basis. Streets aren’t safe. Countries are ripped apart by war, hunger, and corrupt leadership. When it hits close to home, it’s terrible, but we unite and move forward.

I’ve been pleased to see the running community rally together in the midst of this tragedy. My Twitter feed has been aflutter with tweets about running for Boston, organizing races for Boston, and wearing blue and yellow in support.

And I didn’t run.

My last run was April 9th. I was on a work trip to a small town in Eastern Oregon. After returning from a day of work, I put on my running gear and had a slow run around the town. I had just run a race the weekend before in Kutztown (PA), the popular 10-mile “Kutztown Fool’s Run”. The Oregon town was beautiful. My run was not. I’m not going to blame the elevation, the wind, or whatever else. I felt terrible after the race Sunday and I didn’t feel much better after my run in Oregon.

Running hasn’t felt great since last fall. I used to look forward to the time spent running. In the past few months I’ve dreaded it. Running has been more painful, I’ve felt sick to my stomach more often, and have just felt “blah” while running. I’ve gained weight, have had some crazy hunger swings, and issues with digestion. Honestly, it’s a big reason I haven’t really posted here or commented much on races. I’ve only done 2 in 2013 and both were pretty lackluster experiences.

I think back to my consult in late 2011 with a physical therapist after recovering from a bout with plantar fasciitis. He warned me that my right side was not entirely balanced and I may have problems in the future. I remember the phrase “hitting a breaking point” but didn’t think much of it at the time. After running 30-odd races in 2012, I’m going to venture a guess that I hit my breaking point around the time of running Steamtown and stubbornly ignored it.

I’ve continued to half-ass run seeing all the positive influence in my social networks from other runners. I, too, would like to be awesome like them and run a lot of races, train properly, enjoy running, what have you. Unfortunately, I’d also like to be healthy and not wincing in pain while walking up and down the stairs. A year of running has left me feeling pretty beat down. I admire all of those who continue to get up everyday, lace their running shoes, and enjoy the sport. Good for you guys. I admire everything I’ve seen this past week about runners rallying for Boston. I feel selfish for not lacing up my own shoes and going out for a run. As I’ve titled this post, this is the worst time to quit. However, running is certainly not the only way to show support.

Instead of running the Lehigh Valley half next weekend, I’m going to volunteer. It’s a great event and I’d like to support it in some way. I was moved by the Boston volunteers rushing in to help the victims. That really speaks volumes about humanity. Sometimes we’re all frustrated with one another and the state of our world, but last week has shown there’s still good people out there.

While I may not be out running for Boston, I certainly want to try being a better person for Boston.

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Mar 21

One Better Habit – Old School To-Do Lists

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One Better Habit

by admin

March 21, 2013

I am prone to procrastination. I often leave a few things unattended the night before saying “Yeah, yeah, I’ll do that tomorrow.” Then the next day rolls around and I’m frazzled because I left too many things to do. It’s frustrating, but I have developed better habits over time to combat my procrastinating tendency. I’d like to discuss some of the small habits I’ve developed that have helped me balance life at home and work, get an edge on my finances, get fit, and stay generally sane. Keep in mind, like many others, I’m a work in process, too. No perfection here, just sharing tidbits that have worked for me as I learn, grow, and improve.

Much of procrastination can be linked to anxiety about the tasks at hand. Now, I’m not anxious about my ability to wash a load of laundry. I may, however, be anxious about folding the laundry once it’s out of the dryer as I absolutely suck at folding shirts. More than likely I get home and I’m overwhelmed by the amount of “stuff” that needs to be done. I sometimes also feel overwhelmed if there’s a lot of “stuff’ laying around.

So…what to do?

I write an old school to-do list. Pen and paper, 5-10 items, place the list in the middle of your work area. Seems very “duh” to accomplish tasks in this manner, but there are a few rules I like to apply:

1. Small, direct tasks. Example: Clean downstairs bathroom sink/toilet. Not: Clean downstairs. We are more likely to easily tackle tasks that we know are accomplished in a matter of a few minutes.

2. Reduce digital distractions. I don’t put tasks into my iPad for this reason. I try to turn off or stay away from the television as it usually sucks me in and then I’m screwed.

3. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Yeah, it would be nice to do EVERYTHING in an evening, but that’s just not possible. Trying to do too much just leaves me anxious. Leave time for a break and finish in time to sit down and enjoy some quality time, TV, or reading once the list is complete.

4. Work in small zones. This is something I am getting better at. When I have time in the evening, I like to clean a small area in the house instead of waiting for the weekend to spend far more time cleaning the whole house. This is still a work in progress, though. Remember that procrastinating about unpleasant tasks…yep. Very true for cleaning. It sucks. Those people that look all happy in cleaning product commercials – lies. All lies.

5. Headphones. I tend to be more productive in the evenings when I put on some music. Helps me power through the tasks at hand. (Also makes me entirely antisocial for a couple hours, so there’s that.)

This works, of course, only when you get home and mindfully make a to-do list. Last night, I got home from running after work, made dinner, and didn’t work off a to-do list. As a result, I didn’t get as much accomplished for the evening. Today, however, is a new day and I have the tablet and pen ready!

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Mar 16

Five Things Friday (a little late)

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5 Things Friday

by admin

March 16, 2013

Apologies. I started typing this last night and was too tired to finish and publish. I was a little tired yesterday because…

1. We painted a zoo! The Community Outreach program at my workplace organized a volunteer day at the Lehigh Valley Zoo. A group of around 35 (I think) of us painted, landscaped, and cleaned up the zoo grounds. I worked with a group that spent the morning mulching the playground where we had these two fluffy turkeys heckling us all morning:

Then in the afternoon we painted some of the animal enclosures and had a curious camel named “Baby” supervising our work. It was a fun day. Hopefully we’ll be able to help at the zoo again in the future.

2. If a banana stand pops up in the Vatican, my suspicions are confirmed:

3. The Bethlehem Police Torch Run has announced its course and changed to a 10K route. A Flame of Hope will be carried around the city along the route to benefit the local chapter of the Special Olympics. If you haven’t signed up yet, follow the link above to get more information and register. Here’s the new route:

4. On the topic of the Bethlehem Police, the Robert Lasso Memorial 5K has been announced for 2013. The race will take place on April 20th. More information and a mail-in registration form is available here.

5. It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend, so I hope everyone is celebrating with some irish fare! I’m making a corned beef brisket tonight with a side of colcannon and boiled cabbage. I’m also walking in the parade (today) with the other Bethlehem Mounted Police volunteers. It would appear the start of the parade route is near Abe’s Six Pack, and I’m hoping they have a Victory Donnybrook stout in stock

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Mar 14

Review: Menu Genie

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Life in the LV

by admin

March 14, 2013

While running one day in downtown Bethlehem along Union Boulevard, an advertisement along the sidewalk caught my eye. The ad featured a cartoon genie holding a handful of menus and read “MenuGenie.com – what dish do you wish?” Hmm, sounds interesting, I’ll file that in the memory bank of things to research when I’m at home.

Of course, our memories are not always efficient, and I forgot about the ad when I got home. About one month later, someone from Menu Genie contacted me via email about doing a review for their website. I then remembered the ad and agreed to check them out. For disclosure, Menu Genie provided a discount code to me to use for a meal for review purposes.

Menu Genie, in a simple description, is a website offering convenient online ordering and checkout for a variety of restaurants in the Lehigh Valley (Pennsylvania) for take out and/or delivery service. Menu Genie features approximately 70 restaurant choices in the Lehigh Valley (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, and some neighboring towns), with about half offering takeout and delivery options. A quick search of available restaurants yielded 16 results within our home city of Bethlehem:

The website’s design and layout is clean, efficient, and simple to use. Registration was a breeze, and I was quickly set up to use the service. You can start by searching for the cuisine you’re seeking along with your home address, or simply leave the field blank to see all restaurants in proximity. On Tuesday night, my boyfriend and I were craving some Greek food. A quick search of “Greek” and our home address in Bethlehem yielded:

We’ve been to The Gyro Company in the past and enjoyed the food, so why not? The menu that appeared for The Gyro Company was short, concise, and simple. From here, you simply click on the items you wish to order, specify the quantity, list any special instructions – no sauce, for example, and add the item(s) to your bag. As you can see, we also were able to easily click on our gyro toppings – tomato, lettuce, and onions. You can also choose sides and drinks. For us, grape leaves and pitas with hummus. When you’re ready to check out, click on the bag icon in the upper right hand corner to complete your checkout. You’ll have to provide a credit or debit card at this time to complete the order. You can also provide a tip at this time. As a first time user of the site, I had to enter billing information for my order. You’re able to save billing and delivery information for faster checkout on future orders. After checkout, a confirmation email is sent to your registered email address with a time estimate on your order:

I left for The Gyro Company, arrived, and walked out with my order. Dinner, quick and simple.

Now that I’ve given a walk-through of the order process, I’ll get into some pros and cons about the Menu Genie Service. The biggest pro of the Menu Genie service, to me, is not having to order over the phone. I don’t say this as an introvert – I have no problem speaking to another person on the phone. I say this because I’ve had a generally poor experience with ordering take-out or delivery over the phone. Often, the restaurant phone is located in the middle of a noisy kitchen, there may be language/communication barriers, or the business might be busy or short staffed and unable to answer the phone. You may also not have a menu available to order over the phone in the first place. I don’t often order over the phone and as a result, don’t order take out or delivery food often. Some could say that’s better for one’s health, but sometimes pizza is a must!

Another thing I enjoy about the site is having restaurant menus available in a simple, concise format. Ever checked out a restaurant menu online only to find it’s a huge PDF file that was poorly scanned and barely legible? That’s if the menu is available online in the first place, of course. Others are not. With having the Menu Genie, I can now recycle a few old paper menus I’ve had sitting on my desk at work collecting dust.

I can’t, however, throw all my menus out, because the availability of participating restaurants on Menu Genie in Bethlehem is still relatively small. I’m not sure what the approval process for Menu Genie involves with restaurants, but I would love to see some of our (and others’) local favorites: Mi Chong’s (Schoenersville), Cali Burrito, Prince Palace Dumpling House, Lehigh Pizza, Sal’s Pizza, Mexico Lindo, Primo Hoagies (Catty Rd), Firehouse Subs, Anatolian Kitchen (Linden St), and Westgate Pizza. I’d also throw in Black Forest Deli, but that’s one restaurant I’d rather dine in! Luckily, Menu Genie has a convenient form for users to request new restaurants. I sent in a couple suggestions from the above.

One other improvement that came to mind is adding the ability to order catering or group meals with ease. Many offices, mine included, fall into the “order from Panera” trap as Panera has a convenient catering menu online. I’d rather see a local restaurant get the business, instead.

On the topic of staying local, the Menu Genie service offers non-profit organizaitons the ability to sign up and earn a portion of the bill. This is at no additional cost to the user. At checkout, the user can specify if they would like to support a local organization. The organization then receives a payout at the end of the calendar year. Interested organizations are able to sign up here.

Overall, the website has a lot of promise. I’ll be excited to see new restaurants added and try out more of the existing menus available – especially Alando Kenyan and Jenny’s Kuali. Kudos to the creators for bringing an easy way to order take out to the Valley!

Tags: food, Lehigh Valley, Menu Genie, take out

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Mar 13

Pinterest is Annoying

Categories:

Rants

by admin

March 13, 2013

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There, I said it. Even as a part-time user of the social photo and idea sharing application, I browse through the “popular” posts and get annoyed. Or at least I get annoyed with the general themes I see.

Theme 1: OMG GET A THIGH GAP!

Oh, screw off with the thigh gap thinspiration crap. Not all of us have or will EVER have thin legs nor should we want to. I’m going to start a Pinterest revolution called “STRONG LIKE BULL” for women with large, strong thighs capable of cracking walnuts and strangling an attacker. And admit it, you just read the phrase “Strong like bull” in a Russian accent in your head.

Theme 2: Every wedding must be absolutely perfect and incorporate elaborate crafts and decorations. And bonus points if you brag about how frugal you were and how little money you spent but secretly you ripped your hair out and shouted at your friends because your spray painted bicycle photo prop wasn’t placed in the right place.

No. Just…no. If you want to spend like bonkers on a wedding , knock yourself out. It’s your money! If you want to go through the stress of plan, plan, plan, look at all these crafts, I don’t care. I’m at your wedding to have a good time, drink, and be merry. Give me an open bar, a nice meal, and some homemade cookies and we’re cool. The more I see of all the crafty stuff, the more I think it’s a contest to see who can have the most eye candy for their overpriced photographer to eventually share on Pinterest versus an actual FUN event for their guests to attend and join them in celebration. If you can manage to have a beautiful event that is enjoyable AND awesome for your guests, then okay, you win at event planning and I bow down to your greatness.

Theme 3: OMG, hee hee, this is soooo cute for me and the hubs!

This must be the super planner bunch above in the honeymoon phase of their Pinteresty, crafty weddings. I saw a “couples” tub pinned by someone with “OMG ADORABLE I NEED THIS” and a bunch of those tacky lovey-dovey quotes with backgrounds of a nice sky and roses. Must…do…everything…together! Shut the hell up. You know what that reminds me of? This:

Know what’s awesome? Having separate bathrooms to retreat to. Have these people lived together for any length of time? I guess not.

Theme 4: Home design eye candy

This doesn’t so much as annoy me but makes me feel like a poor schlub who will never be able to afford the elaborate kitchen designs and modern architecture as depicted on Pinterest that make me drool on my keyboard. Look at this damn kitchen. I just got a little hot:

Image courtesy of houzz.com.

Theme 5: Your kids are going to have a complex if they don’t have an elaborately themed and executed 5^th birthday party.

Image courtesy of Venspaperie etsy shop.

Has anyone seen some of the sweet-ass homemade party decorations and theme parties for kids on Pinterest? Are these the children of a royal family? A “little man” mustache party? WTF IS THAT? I am, apparently, an uneducated rube who was used to having board games, favors from Oriental Trading, pizza, and DQ ice cream cake growing up. But who cares? We all had a good time with our friends and enjoyed the hell out of some cheap, tiny toys made in China which may or may not have contained lead paint. I am afraid my future children are going to see these parties, start speaking with a upper-class British accent, and demand a backyard fete complete with top hats, mustaches, cricket, and organic Shirley Temples in a glass with a bow tie garnished with a blood orange.

Sorry kid, how’s about Fudgie the Whale, some pirate hats, chinese finger traps, and a few rounds of Chutes and Ladders?

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Mar 11

Review: TaDah! Wraps and EVA Gourmet Hummus

Categories:

Product Reviews

by admin

March 11, 2013

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After running a few errands Friday evening, I decided to stop at Wegmans and rent some Redbox movies. Rob was working the night shift, so I decided to hole up on the couch with dinner and a few good movies: Flight, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Here Comes the Boom.

It was around 6:30PM when I arrived at Wegmans and I was hungry for dinner. I didn’t want to get anything too pricy, and wanted to keep my options healthy. I didn’t want anything from the food bar and opted to browse around the store, instead. I decided to browse around the frozen organic food section and see if anything stood out. I saw the word “falafel” on a small red box and my interest was piqued. The box belonged to TaDah! Brand falafel wraps. Curious, I decided to purchase one of each flavor:

- Sweet and Spicy Harissa

- Lemony Roasted Garlic Hummus

- Feta Salsa

Having now eaten each of the 3 varieties I purchased (not in one night – one per day), I vote the spicy Harissa as my favorite. The wraps are made from minimal ingredients, and can be heated in the microwave for a quick meal or can also be baked in the oven for a crisper texture. The falafel is lovely – fresh, non-greasy, and moist – not dry or overcooked (unless, that is, you bake one too long). One thing I’ve noticed about some restaurant falafel is that it seems too grainy and rather lacking in flavor. This is not. It’s also a festive green color, which is a little odd at first, but it’s still delicious, looks aside. You can see if TaDah! Wraps are available near you at the company’s website. If you act fast, they’re on sale for $2.99 each at Wegmans this month.

On the side of my TaDah! Wrap I had another new product I discovered in the same trip to Wegmans: EVA Gourmet hummus. Yes, I realize it’s more economical to make your own hummus. However, I was looking for a faster option on Friday. A quick glance at the refrigerated case revealed the usual hummus suspects – Sabra, Wegmans store brand, and Tribe. The last time I purchased Sabra hummus I was disappointed. It seemed to leave an aftertaste that wasn’t pleasant. Looking to the left I spotted a new variety – EVA Gourmet. Wegmans had three flavors available – East Indian, Thai, and Italian Mediterranean. Intrigued, I picked up the Thai and read the description: “Creamy garbanzo bean hummus gets “thai’d up” with ginger, coconut milk, red curry, garlic, and lemongrass.” Curry? Sold.

The EVA hummus was a great choice. I paired it with carrots to accompany my falafel wrap. The flavors of red curry, ginger, and garlic stand out but do not overpower the overall flavor. There’s a hint of coconut, but it adds more to the creamy texture than acting as a stand-out flavor. I’m excited to try the other flavors available. A 10 ounce tub was priced at $2.99 at Wegmans. It’s in line with the price of Wegmans house brand hummus.

Legal B/S: Please note the above opinions are all my own and this post is not sponsored by the aforementioned brands.

Tags: falafel, food review, healthy food, hummus, wraps

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Mar 10

Sunday Savings: Allergies, Toothbrushes, and Housedresses

Categories:

Sunday Savings

by admin

March 10, 2013

Anyone ever notice how the “fashions” section of the Sunday coupon insert hasn’t changed since 1985? You, too, can get a lovely house dress for only 14.99! Just 14.99, folks!

I think the pink one would go nicely with my cat slippers (and the 20 cats I keep here as pets). Kidding, we only have two cats. But, someday, crazy cat lady domination will be mine!

So as you can gather, yes, I clip coupons. I have at one point in my life pulled some deals similar to those pictured on Extreme Couponing. I did this for all of about two weeks before feeling like a massive annoyance at the local CVS checkout. I laid low with coupon clipping last year as I felt I was wasting my time. Around November or December I took a glance at my grocery budget in Mint finance and realized I had to crack down on wasteful spending.

Luckily I was once a coupon ninja and understand the basics of couponing. If you’re new to the topic, this guide is pretty good. There are a host of sites and blogs that do a fine job of matching up coupons to store deals each week. My favorite for Southeast PA is forthemommas.com. I also enjoy iheartcvs.com and iheartwags.com for drugstore deals. Wags = Walgreens (or if you’re into old Dane Cook references, “The Wall”). With so many resources available to find the best deals, it doesn’t take a lot of time to figure out where to go for the best prices.

That’s only part of the equation, though. You need the actual coupons before finding deals. I have a few methods of obtaining coupons:

Weekend subscription (Saturday & Sunday) to the local paper, the Morning Call
Online coupons
Coupon clipping services – I use Coupon Dede.
Visiting a particular brand’s website or subscribing to their email newsletter
Family & friends – swap coupons with others

Once you know the deals and have the coupons, time for shopping.

There are a couple high-value items on our shopping list – allergy medicine (cetirizine) and replacement toothbrush heads for our Sonicare toothbrush. I have looked for deals on Zyrtec and Sonicare-brand heads only to find their name-brand prices to be too high and not enough coupon savings to justify the price. Onto savings option B, buy generic.

Let’s look at Zyrtec as an example. Last week at CVS, a 70-count bottle of Zyrtec 24 hour tabs was on sale for 34.99. There was also a $10 coupon available online for Zyrtec 70+ count bottles. This takes the price to $24.99. I also had a $4 coupon for CVS (ExtraCare rewards), taking the price to $20.99. This isn’t a bad price, but seemed high to me for a 2 month’s supply of Zyrtec. A quick look at Amazon.com revealed another option: Simply Right (formerly Member’s Mark brand) 400 count bottle available for $23.99 with prime shipment. That’s 6 cents per tablet. Even with the sale price and coupons at CVS I would be paying nearly 30 cents per tablet. Generic wins, hands down.

I did the same exercise a while ago with the brush heads. Target released their own Up & Up brand brush heads to fit the E-series Sonicare toothbrushes. They’re (and I’m quoting from memory here) about 40% of the price of the brand name heads. We have been using them for over a year now with no fit issues. Generic wins again.

Coupons, buying off brand, I’m only scraping the surface of the many ways you can save on your household bills.

Next up, how to find savings on healthy foods.

Tags: budgeting, coupons, frugal, generics, groceries

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Mar 04