Food : Reviewed & Other Things...

Starbucks has a new drink. It's called a Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. I know what you're thinking - "Ew! You eat salted things, not drink them!"

You are so right. Before Meg (my coworker) and I went on our usual Friday trek to Starbucks, the receptionist front desk coordinator was telling me all about the new Salted Caramel Hot Chocoalte and how it had changed her life. Okay, she didn't say it changed her life but she sure was excited about it. She said it tasted like a maple donut. A donut? I'm in! I wasn't convinced about the salted part but I figured that if it tasted like a donut it was probably heaven in a cup. Thankfully I didn't have to pay for (and thereby waste) this drink before I tried it. They had samples at the register so I scooped one up and took a sip.

Hmm. Salt crystals on top of the whipped cream. Need to stir those in or it will throw off my taste buds.

Stir, stir, stir.

Sip.

I had in my head that it would taste like a maple donut. I tried really hard to get past the salty flavor but it didn't really work. As a matter of fact, I'm still tasting the salty flavor and that grosses me out. I did. not. like. this. drink. Some people like it so maybe I'm crazy. That little tiny sample cup was more than enough for me...I can't imagine drinking more of it than that, and Meg agreed. So, try it and tell me what you think.

Update: My friend, who works at Starbucks, just told me that they've been telling people that this drink tastes like a chocolate covered pretzel. That's a much better description of the taste than a maple donut. Unless you're in the habit of salting your donuts.

I would also like to review Campbell's Select Harvest soup. I had to take a picture of the one I brought for lunch today since I couldn't find a photo of the "on the go" soups online. I bought these because they were on sale and I had 3 coupons. They were a great deal. On Monday, I tried the Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla soup. Sound good? Not so much.




The broth was a LOT thinner than I expected for a tortilla soup.
The chicken was extremely dry and had no flavor.
The soup, in general, was flavorless.

Needless to say, I'm not really looking forward to lunchtime. But, these have to be eaten! Maybe the Chicken with Egg Noodles variety will knock my socks off. I'll let you know.


It's Friday, finally. I literally took the above pictures about 3 minutes ago. Such will be the weather this weekend but I'm not sad about it! I'm excited to stay indoors and decorate/clean my house. I plan to have everything spic and span by tonight or (more likely) tomorrow night.

Beef & Bean Chimechangas are on the menu tonight. Maybe I'll post that recipe later. I've never actually made chimechangas before, so hopefully they turn out well. I'm looking forward to my Spanish rice more than anything, honestly. I love it. I'll definitely post that recipe.

D & I hope to attend the Issaquah Salmon Days on Sunday after church since it's just a short walk from where we attend worship. I've never been and neither has D so hopefully the weather holds out.

It's interesting working in a building where, if a heavy set person or many people walk by, the entire floor shakes and my monitor convulses. I'll never know if an actual earthquake happens.

There's a guy who sits near me who sighs incessantly. Loud, heaving sighs. This is between when he hacks loogies. The loogie-hacking has gotten better but one loogie-hack a day is too much for me! Especially since I know he doesn't spit the loogies out - there's only one thing he could be doing with them. *shudder*

I thought Palin did a great job last night. Some of my favorite lines:

"Say it ain't so, Joe!"
"Dadgumit" (or was it "doggonit"?)

I kept expecting her to mess up - mainly because I didn't want to see her mess up. I loved her bejeweled flag pin and red pumps. Yay for strong, conservative women! Did you guys see her 6-year-old daughter hauling the baby around? That poor baby gets handed off so many times but I thought the 6-year-old looked just adorable toting him around.

Okay, I've rambled far too long. Enjoy your weekend!

UPDATE
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Well, my socks are firmly in place. The soup was NOT good. Although, how can you really say something wasn't good when it didn't have flavor? I added salt and Saltines and nothing saved it. I think I've decided that I prefer thicker soups - or at least the kind with MSG. Isn't that horrible? I'm hoping that Progresso will save me. I bought some of those with a coupon, too.

I'm off to eat my sugar-free chocolate pudding and then maybe a pear or banana.

Oh, and about the approved Bailout plan...
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Read this article from 1999. It's very interesting. Now who do we blame??

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

You may have to copy and paste the article into your browser.