Thursday, October 27, 2016

Universal Yums Favorites - August '16 (Brazil) through January '17 (Ukraine)

This isn't a review of the Internation Yums boxes.  Those are a dime a dozen on YouTube.  This is just my way of remembering my favorites for future reference.


Brazil 

August 2016

Torcida Pimenta Mexicana



  • These are like jalapeno flavored goldfish with a thinner shell and more air in the middle.  Crunchy, savory, and adddicting.






Thailand

September 2016

Fashion Food Tomato Flavored Cracker



  • I was surprised that I liked these.  They look like chips but have a styrofoam-like texture similar to some crackers, and they taste like ketchup.  Seriously amazing.




Sanghai Strawberry Cream Wafers



  • Just like the strawberry wafer cookies here in the states, but better somehow.





Hanami Shrimp Crackers Hot Chili Flavor



  • Less of a cracker, and more like Andy Capp fries.  Spicy and not really all that shrimpy.



Russia

October 2016

Skazochniy Strawberry Mini Sponge Cake



  • Cakey outside, slightly tart strawberry filling inside.  More like a muffin than a sponge cake.







Indonesia

November 2016

TicTac Spicy Crackers



  • Not at all spicy, and super hard (therefore loud to eat) but tastes almost like an Asian version of BBQ and gets tastier the more you eat.....



Chiki Cheese Balls

  • Like cheesy poofs, but with a corn base (or so it tasted) and in weird colors!






Germany

December 2016


Fritt Karamell Toffee



  • Such a weird flavor, but strangely delicious.  It's like caramel and toffee flavors at the same time, but then in a taffy consistency.  So weird.




















Ukraine

January 2017

Flint Bread Sticks/Bread Snacks
Sour Cream with Herb flavor and Red Caviar flavor



  • Kind of like hard Gardetto's breadsticks.  Flavoring isn't consistent on each breadstick (some are stronger than others) so it's best to eat it by the handful.  The left tastes like sour cream & onion and the left only tastes slightly like roe, mostly like salt.





Svitoch Peach Yogurt Milk Chocolate Bar

  • Like orange chocolate, but peach.  VERY peach.









Fizzy Boom Hard Candies



  • Normal, pleasant hard candy outside, surprisingly sour inside that shoots out like a soda bottle that someone shook up.


















Non Universal Yums International Favorites

Nestle Toffe Crisp

  • Even though these are Nestle, I only ever found them in the UK.  My favorite international chocolate bar yet.



Island Bakery Lemon Melts

  • I had these on a couple of British Airways flights, and I loved them so much that the air hostess gave me 8 or so bags!





Tao Kae Noi Tom Yum Goong Flavor



  • Like a potato chip, but made from toasted seaweed.  


Saturday, October 1, 2016

This Curse I Suffer

My precious....
Fucking Panera.

I've known for a long time that I'm cursed.  The curse of disappearing food favorites.  Baked Lays had the best chip ever to be made.  Southwestern ranchflavor.  These chips were out of this world, and I freaking loved them.  They were doomed to meet the fate my curse brings.  You won't find southwestern ranch Baked Lays anymore.  THEY DISCONTINUED THEM.
 

You wiley corn chowder, you!
So, Panera.  They're pros at this.  Their best soup is by far the most elusive: the amazing corn chowder.  How about replacing that broccoli cheese soup that tastes like baby food with the corn chowder of my dreams?

RIP asiago roast beef
At least the soup makes a rare appearance.  The worst, though, are their sandwiches.  My first love was the asiago roast beef sandwich.  First, they did away with roast beef altogether and replaced it with steak.  I should have seen this as the first sign.  It wasn't long after the steak switcheroo that the sandwich vanished completely.  I mourned and moved on... to the sierra turkey sandwich.  We went to Panera yesterday, and guess what is no longer on the menu.  Yup.  My beloved sierra turkey.  Fuckers.
You'll be missed, sierra turkey

I have tales of my curse occurring in other restaurants, as well.  It's a dismal culinary fate.  I will never understand why anyone remakes good movies and why anyone discontinues the best menu items.... but it will continue.

Friday, February 5, 2016

7 year ABC's

I have a ton of "surveys" (remember those?) in the notes section of my Facebook.  I've made most of them viewable by me only, because they're fun to look back on but not necessary for the general public's viewing.  

For one, I can't believe 2009 was SEVEN YEARS AGO.  That's when hubby and I got together, and when I moved back home from college.  It blows my mind.  So I've scrounged up one of these surveys from almost exactly seven years ago.  I've kept the original answers and added updated answers to accompany them.  Here we go.....


ABC's

February 20, 2009 at 3:29pm
Give it a try, but you have to do it right. Copy this whole thing, go to your profile/notes/new note, right click and paste, put the subject back in the title line.

Then comes the hard part. Replace my answers with your own! Then over to the right you can tag as many of your friends as you'd like…include me too, please, so I can see.

A
- Age: 21
          -NOW: 28
- Annoyance: I have quite a few pet peeves...
          -NOW: still true
- Animal favorite: Kitties. Second to kitties are ferrets, guinea pigs, and mice.
          -NOW: Kitties and penguins.  Looks like I was going through a rodent phase....

B
- Beer: No thanks.
          -NOW: Ditto.
- Birthday: August 7th.
          -NOW: Well that's not changing.
- Best feeling in the world: I'd rather not say here.
          -NOW: Making someone else laugh.
- Blind or Deaf: Blind. I already am, to a great extent.
          -NOW: Yeah, still holds.
- Best weather: Partly sunny, 70 degrees, slight breeze.
          -NOW: Mostly cloudy, high 60's.
- Been in Love: That I have.
          -NOW: And I still am.
- Been on stage?: Yes... when I was very young.
          -NOW: And at my bachelorette party at a piano bar.  Ugh.
- Believe in Magic: I'm not sure.
          -NOW: Anything is possible.
- Believe in Santa: No.
          -NOW: Nope.
- Best friend(s): Jessica.
          -NOW: My mom.

C
- Candy: I <3 almost all candies.
          -NOW: Still maintaining this love affair.
- Color: Purple
          -NOW: Black.
- Chocolate/Vanilla: White chocolate.
          -NOW: Chocolate.
- Chinese/Mexican Food: Chinese.
          -NOW: Always, always, ALWAYS Chinese food.
- Cake or pie: Cake. I dislike pie.
          -NOW: Still true.
- Country to visit: That I have been to - Costa Rica. That I want to go to - Spain.
          -NOW: Been to: Scotland.  To go: Iceland.

D
- Day or Night: Are both just fine.
          -NOW: Still not much of a preference.
- Dancing in the rain: I used to enjoy rolling and dancing in the rain some years back.
          -NOW: I just strongly dislike rain.
- Dress or sweats: I don't really own any sweats...
          -NOW: Sweats.  But I still don't own actual sweatpants.

E
- Eyes (color): Brown.
          -NOW: Also not likely to change.
- Everyone's got: a nose. ?
          -NOW: problems.
- Ever failed a class?: Yes, I have.
          -NOW: Unfortunately unchanged.
- Embarrassing fact: Oh boy. Um... I'm terrified by any kind of bug. Even ladybugs. Does that work?
          -NOW: Still true, but no longer embarrassing, really.

F
- First thoughts waking up: What time is it?
          -NOW: I wanna be asleep.
- Food: Yes? I enjoy it...
          -NOW: We're now frienemies.

G
- Greatest Fear: Any kind of bug, ever. And being eaten alive.
          -NOW: Bugs.  All of the bugs.
- Goals: To find a job that I love, a man that I love to marry someday... and to be happy.
          -NOW: To be a good mama and live a happy life.
- Gum: Spearmint is the best.
          -NOW: It sure is.
- Get along with your parents?: Most of the time.
          -NOW: I do.
- Game: Mafia Wars. I'm addicted.
          -NOW: Covet Fashion.  Though I'm on haitus....
- Go out or stay in: I do both... Doesn't everyone?
          -NOW: Yes, everyone does both, but I'd rather stay in.

H
- Hair Color: Brown for quite some time now.
          -NOW: Still brown, but I'm an aspiring ginger.
- Height: 5'3"
          -NOW: I haven't grown.
- Happy: Is a good thing to be.
          -NOW: And I am, mostly.
- Holiday: Any that involves getting presents and/or candy. :-)
          -NOW: I like Christmas.
- How do you want to die: Peacefully.
          -NOW: Peacefully, old, and loved.

I
- Ice Cream: Coldstone Creamery's cake batter ice cream. Ohhh yeah.
          -NOW: Yes, please! (still the same)
- Instrument: Piano.
          -NOW: I still like piano, I suppose.

J
- Jewelry: I usually always wear my two spinner rings on my thumbs. One is a Celtic design and the other is Roman numerals.
          -NOW: Earrings.  I feel naked without all seven earrings.  And my wedding ring.
- Job: I should be starting after the 23rd.
          -NOW: Housewife and soon-to-be SAHM.

K
- Kids: Are great most of the time...
          -NOW: One on the way ;-)
- Kickboxing or karate: I'm okay without either.
          -NOW: Yeah, I'm still good without.
- Keep a journal?: Online, but I don't update very often.
          -NOW:  Only if blogging counts!

L
- Love: Is complicated.
          -NOW: Is essential.
- Letter: L. ?
          -NOW: I don't know...?
- Laughed so hard you cried: Not in a very very long time
          -NOW: Also comes with not being able to breathe.  Hilarious turns scary.  lol

M
- Milk flavor: Flavor? Um... chocolate?
          -NOW: Ditto.
- Movies: I watch them all of the time. Last one I watched was Hellboy 2.
          -NOW: are everything!  Just to follow suit, the last one (I think) was Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Motion sickness?: Only in cars/buses when on them for an extended period of time.
          -NOW: Ditto.
- McD's or BK: McDonald's, definitely.
          -NOW: Ditto.
- Major: I graduated already. No more of that for me.
          -NOW: Still out of school, but my majors were psych and education.

N
- Number: 7
          -NOW: 4

O
- One wish: To have all the money I could ever need.
          -NOW: More wishes?  ;-)

P
- Paris or Tokyo: Tokyo!!
          -NOW: Still Tokyo.  What a dream that would be!
- Pepsi/Coke: Pepsi.
          -NOW: Pepsi and I have an intense relationship.  It might be love.
- Perfect Pizza: Ham, bacon, onion.
          -NOW: Hand tossed, very light sauce, lots and lots of onion, some really nice sausage.
- Piercings: Anymore, all I have is my ears and my nose.
          -NOW: I put my tongue ring back in and took out the nose.  Seven in the ears.

Q
- Quail: Quailman!
          -NOW: I can't believe that this is the only thing under "Q."

R
- Reality T.V.: I like the shows on Bravo....
          -NOW: Hubby and I watch the chef shows.  I also like Project Runway (<3 Tim Gun! <3) and that one interior design show from Bravo, but I haven't been able to find the latter on any streaming service.
- Radio Station: 107.7 fm... I'm so mainstream.
          -NOW: NPR or The Arch.
- Ring size: 6.25
          -NOW: Probably something similar.
- Run or walk: Walk.
          -NOW: Always walk.

S
- School: Graduated from SIUC... going for a second degree at SIUE in fall.
          -NOW: Yeah, that's not how it happened.  BA from SIUC, and MAED from McKendree.
- Sport: Bleh.
          -NOW: UK Wildcats in the NCAA is all I've really ever paid attention to.
- Song: Too many.
          -NOW: I like them mellow.
- Shoe size: 8ish.
          -NOW: 8.
- Salad Dressing: Caesar.
          -NOW: Caesar, or those flavored ranch dressings (like Garlic Rnch)
- Sushi: Spider rolls are the best. And sushi restaurants in general rock my world.
          -NOW: Philly rolls, or Vegas rolls without the fried.  I like them with cream cheese, wrapped in seaweed, and garnished with tons of spicy mayo.
- Strawberries/Blueberries: Strawberries. Blueberries are only acceptable in muffin form.
          -NOW: Exactly!

T
- Tattoos?: I've got just the one. But I love it. :-)
          -NOW: I have 5 now, and I'm not stopping there.
- Time for bed?: Lately my on-the-dot bedtime is 4 am. No earlier, no later.
          -NOW: Those were the days.  If it make it to 11 pm, it's a miracle.
- Thunderstorms: I like lightning, but I don't like rain.
          -NOW: Ditto.
- TV show: Heroes! And Scrubs!
          -NOW: Ooh, no.  Current obsessions are Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries.
- Unknown fact: I'm very superstitious.
          -NOW: I'm color deficient (it's a step down from color blind).

V
- Vacation spot(s): Costa Rica. Colorado. Alaska. Florida.
          -NOW: Alaska, Scotland, China....and I'm still dreaming of a million others.

W
- Weakness: I'm a pushover with those close to me.
          -NOW: I can have a bit of a temper.
- Which one of your friends acts the most like you: None of them, really.
          -NOW: Hubby.  That's the consequence of knowing each other for 14 years.
- When do you cry?: Under the same circumstances that normal people cry....
          -NOW: Well, I'm currently pregnant, so... at the drop of a hat.  lol
- Worst feeling: Unreciprocated feelings towards someone.
          -NOW: Being way too hot.
- Wanted to be a model: Haha. I'm short and chubby - you kidding?
          -NOW: I've watched a ton of ANTM and I'm going with no.
- Worst Weather?: Wretchedly hot weather. 90+ degrees with humidity. I can't stand that shit.
          -NOW: Super hot and super humid.

X
- X-Rays: I've had a few.
          -NOW: Yeah.

Y
-Year it is now: 2009
          -NOW: 2016
-Yellow: is an annoyingly happy color.
          -NOW: Still not a fave.

Z
- Zoo: I was supposed to go on Valentine's Day, but didn't. So I wanna go. Someone take me!
          -NOW: One of my favorite places in STL, especially the penguin house!

Monday, January 11, 2016

Nerd Hatchery Debut

There is a really exciting reason as to why I haven't posted here in so long.  I've been working hard on one of my other blogs.  One that has been secret - until now!

The hubby and I are going to have a baby!!  Before even getting pregnant, I started a blog to chronicle the adventure.  Here it is!

The Nerd Hatchery