Ghiradelli Cookies Jubilee

I believe I've mentioned this before, but I'm not a fan of the Ghiradelli brand of products. I believe that if you want to pay double or triple the price of a Hershey's bar, you're best off buying a Milka bar, Hershey's Delights, or something from Lindt. However, call me a sucker, because I can't not buy new candy when I see it:


Who's ready for moments of timeless pleasure? Anyway, this is Ghiradelli's take on cookies & cream bars. The Hershey's Cookies & Cream is one of my favorite candy bars, and I haven't seen many other companies try out cookies & cream, so I decided I might as well try this out.


Back of the bar


A Cookies Jubilee square

As you can see, at the bottom of the square there's a layer of milk chocolate, which should add another dimension of flavor. At best, I found this bar to be good, at worst, I found it to be a bit ho-hum. The flavor is not overly sweet, but I was hoping for more richness. Texture wise it was quite smooth, and it left a smooth feeling in my mouth, but I was hoping that would also include a richer flavor. Imagine eating bread with butter, only to not have your tongue pick up any of the richness of the butter. That's how I felt about this bar.
As I mentioned at the top, if I were to spend more money on a chocolate bar that was not Hershey's, I would go for the above listed items. At around $3 - 4, I think you should buy two or three Hershey's Cookies & Cream bars instead.

Ghiradelli Cookies Jubilee: 7/10

Kanro Suppanda Ume

Sometimes spite and anger are the best motivators. When you're wronged or feel slighted, you feel as if you need to do something about it. Whether it's something reckless or focusing your energy into something, you feel much better after letting off some steam. This candy made me want to post.


Kanro Suppanda. I've never heard of Kanro before, so I bought this on a whim. The look on the panda's face implies that this is a sour candy. It looks like there's a liquid inside the candy, which is always a joy. I don't know what flavor this is, but it has a flower next to its face and the package is pink, so I concluded that it was either peach or floral smelling.

The back doesn't indicate what this candy is besides the panda running around. The English label just says, "GUMMY CANDY" as they often do, so I still have no real indication of what this candy is.

It looks pretty good

...and on my initial taste I knew exactly what flavor this was: ume. This is not my first brush with ume flavored candy, and I assume that it certainly will not be the last. Okay, ignoring my prejudice against pickled plum flavored candy, I have to say that I didn't hate this candy. The flavor was a medium sour, not quite the first taste of a warhead, but some notches below it. It had a faint sweet flavor, which is nice, seeing as how the past few ume flavored candies I've tasted were either devoid of sweetness or were overpowered by their sour and salty counterparts.
I think the thing that really gets me when it comes to ume candy though is the smell. It's a smell I'm not used to and it makes me think I'm eating something savory or vegetable-like rather than a candy. I guess it would be all and good if I were to eat real umeboshi, which I've only had once, but something about this flavor of candy just turns me off.

Kanro Suppanda Ume - 5/10, probably higher if you like ume

7-Eleven Salted Caramel Donut

Today, I found myself doing something I don't do very often: getting donuts from there. Typically, I get a soda or some snacks for my students there, but rarely do I indulge in their donuts. I guess it's because I always figured that local donut shops do things better, so why bother with convenience store donuts? However, today was a different day. 7-Eleven had thrown something at me that I had to try out.

A Salted Caramel Donut

I don't think I've seen salted caramel donuts at any of the local donut shops. I love salty and sweet combinations, so I had to try one of these. Before I took my first bite, I was expecting the worst. How could 7-Eleven make a donut as good as a donut shop can? How well could they do salted caramel? With my first bite, I was pleasantly surprised. Now, the texture was a bit, shall I say, gummier than other donuts I've had. This is probably so the donuts last longer. However, despite the texture, I found myself liking the flavor of this donut. They did the whole salty-sweet thing pretty well, and this exceeded my expectations. Here's hoping that local donut shops start making these or 7-Eleven getting the texture right.

7-Eleven Salted Caramel Donut: 8.5/10

McDonald's Strawberry & Creme Pie

I don't often go to McDonald's for food. I go there quite often for a large Diet Coke, but rarely do I go for the food. I've always meant to try things such as Chicken McBites, but I haven't had enough motivation to do so. However, I was VERY interested when one of my friends spoke very highly of McDonald's Strawberry & Creme Pie. I had never heard of these "signature" pies, as I usually just order a large Diet Coke and get out, but I guess they're a new thing.

The box for the pie was very nondescript. My friend said that this was, "probably the best McDonald's pie". These were very bold words. Usually when people say things like this, you're in for some disappointment. When someone hypes something up for you, your expectations are raised, and afterward you're left asking yourself, "Was that it?" I was hoping that this wouldn't be the case with this.

A Strawberry & Creme Pie broken in half

The first thing I noticed is that the strawberry and the cream were exposed on the top of the pie. I also noticed that there was one side that was just strawberry and the other side was just creme. The flavor was quite good as it wasn't too sweet; the cream cut the sweetness of the strawberry. The texture of the crust was also good, as I feel like it was a bit lighter than a regular McDonald's pie. Overall, I'd say that my friend's claim was correct, as I don't think this was the greatest thing ever, but it is the greatest of the McDonald's pies. One minor downside is that it costs $0.89, which is a bit more than apple pies which cost $0.50.

McDonald's Strawberry & Creme Pie: 9/10

Meiji Earl Grey Chocolate

Milk tea is something that I never really got into until college. It's a flavor combination that always seemed a bit odd to me. When people ordered milk tea I always imagined someone mixing the tea from Asian restaurants with some milk, and that didn't appeal to me at all. However, as I got older, I realized that milk is a pretty good combination. There's the scent of the tea, the richness of the milk, and a slight sweetness that goes along with it all. With that being said, how would people feel about chocolate milk tea?

The good folks at Meiji have answered that question with this candy. If there's green tea chocolate, green tea ice cream, and Earl Grey ice cream, why not Earl Grey chocolate, right?

The back of the box

A stick of Earl Grey chocolate

I definitely got a strong scent of tea when I bit into this chocolate. At first, I was a bit disappointed in the chocolate, because it wasn't very rich. However, as I tasted it a bit more, I grew to like it. It's not too rich, not too sweet, and is very aromatic. The texture is a bit brittle at first, but it will eventually melt. If you like milk tea, then you should definitely check this product out because it's basically milk tea turned into little sticks. However, be warned, this candy is a bit pricy. It costs about as much (or a little more, depending on where you buy your milk tea) as a cup of milk tea, and it doesn't last very long if friends or children are around.

Meiji Earl Grey Chocolate: 8/10

Eating Right Fiber Bran

Sometimes when you buy things, there's a part of you that thinks, "I'm only paying this much because of the brand." You might find yourself saying to yourself, "The only difference between these two shirts is the little animal that's printed on the front of this one." You might do this with food. Why buy Campbell's soup when you can buy generic? What's the difference if they've all got the same ingredients, right?

Now if there's anything I like having in my diet, it's fiber. Call me old, but I believe a healthy colon is a happy colon. That being said, Fiber One is a pretty expensive cereal. Sometimes it can cost $4 a box, depending where you're shopping. When I went to Safeway for my cereal fix, I saw that Eating Right Fiber Bran was half the price of Fiber One. I looked at the nutritional information and I found that not only did Eating Right have the same amount of fiber per serving (14 grams per 30 g serving), but it had 10 less calories! Not only does this save me money, it saves me calories!

I'm eating two servings (114% recommended daily intake of fiber) because I love me my fiber

The only thing I love more than a high fiber diet is a high protein diet! I added a shake that consisted of two scoops of protein powder mixed with water (52 g protein)

Thanks to Spotify, I've been finding a lot of songs I've never heard before. One of my latest favorite tracks is a song by Depeche Mode. The name of the song is, "Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead". Thanks to this concoction I made, I can really understand the title of the song.

Okay, I didn't find myself questioning my life after making this, but I did find myself asking, "Why did I make this?" Well, I did try this cereal with milk before and as I described to my friend, Rubab, it felt like I was eating shredded cardboard. If you don't like Fiber One, you'll hate Eating Right Fiber Bran. It's less sweet and it's texture, as mentioned above, is akin to cardboard. Just all bad.

"Eating Wrong" Rubab said to me.

What's it taste like with my protein shake? Worse. So much worse. I didn't think it could, but at some point in the making process, everything fell apart. Shambles. My taste buds are in shambles.

Eating Right Fiber Bran: 2 - 3/10

Eating Right Fiber Bran w/ watery protein shake: -1/10