Showing posts with label Food review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food review. Show all posts
Granted it had been a few months since we were last at Olive Garden but I figure: I've never actually expressed my love for Olive Garden on this blog before!
I guess long background short is I use to take myself in lunch dates here when I lived in Cali and wanted time to be alone. It's always been my comfort place and my comfort food. So OG holds a bit of meaning for me.
I love Boba/Bubble Tea.
It took me a few years to figure out which ones were "safe" and a few more years for me to be brave enough to venture into new flavors and combinations.
And through out the almost 2 years Bubba and I have been together we've tried a number of new places in our area, I think this is the 6th one. And now I haven't written about all of them --- though I probably should.
Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the menu but I came across this place while looking for Boba in a lightbulb, like the kinds you see all over Instagram from LA. And it turns out this place has a selection of Snow Ice and Eggette Sundae's as well! I've never tried an Eggette but have always wanted to and I've tried Snow Ice about 3 times when I lived in NorCal but I don't really remember much of it. Just that it was soft and refreshing.
I saw this place had a special Boba flavor and special heart shaped as well as pink colored Boba and Jellies for Valentine's Day. The special flavor was a type of Rose and last time I tried that it turned out to taste more like perfume so I skipped it; instead I opted for the Strawberry Mango Lime Refresher with the heart shaped Jelly.
Bubba got his usual go to --- Coconut Smoothie which is always so freakin refreshing no matter where we get it from. I just wish there was a jelly or something that would go well with it.
It's hard to see, but there really were heart shaped Jellies in my drink! They didn't have any particular flavor and after the drink was almost finished they were harder to suck up through the straw. I ended up having to rip open the top part and scoop them out.
This place also had a number of snacks that I'm really looking forward to trying! I got the Coconut Shrimp this time and it was amaaaazing! I don't remember how much these were but they were much less than what you'd pay at a steakhouse, that's for sure! And they were just as, if not better.
Looking forward to the next time we get to pop by here to try more of their snacks and drinks!
There's also a cute Ramen shop it's attached to though I don't remember the name now, but I'm also looking forward to trying that place out as well!
Royal Tea4654 S Cooper St
It took me a few years to figure out which ones were "safe" and a few more years for me to be brave enough to venture into new flavors and combinations.
And through out the almost 2 years Bubba and I have been together we've tried a number of new places in our area, I think this is the 6th one. And now I haven't written about all of them --- though I probably should.
Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the menu but I came across this place while looking for Boba in a lightbulb, like the kinds you see all over Instagram from LA. And it turns out this place has a selection of Snow Ice and Eggette Sundae's as well! I've never tried an Eggette but have always wanted to and I've tried Snow Ice about 3 times when I lived in NorCal but I don't really remember much of it. Just that it was soft and refreshing.
I saw this place had a special Boba flavor and special heart shaped as well as pink colored Boba and Jellies for Valentine's Day. The special flavor was a type of Rose and last time I tried that it turned out to taste more like perfume so I skipped it; instead I opted for the Strawberry Mango Lime Refresher with the heart shaped Jelly.
Bubba got his usual go to --- Coconut Smoothie which is always so freakin refreshing no matter where we get it from. I just wish there was a jelly or something that would go well with it.
It's hard to see, but there really were heart shaped Jellies in my drink! They didn't have any particular flavor and after the drink was almost finished they were harder to suck up through the straw. I ended up having to rip open the top part and scoop them out.
This place also had a number of snacks that I'm really looking forward to trying! I got the Coconut Shrimp this time and it was amaaaazing! I don't remember how much these were but they were much less than what you'd pay at a steakhouse, that's for sure! And they were just as, if not better.
Looking forward to the next time we get to pop by here to try more of their snacks and drinks!
There's also a cute Ramen shop it's attached to though I don't remember the name now, but I'm also looking forward to trying that place out as well!
Royal Tea4654 S Cooper St
Ste 340
Arlington, TX 76017
Instagram; @royaltea_usa
It's been a really long time since I've had a See's Candies near me, first of all.
There wasn't any actually in Florida unless you count the pop up shops/kiosks that would come around but just during the holiday season. And as someone who grew up in California well it was kinda depressing. See's has always kinda been my chocolate of choice. I mean I like Godiva but I've GROWN UP with See's. So when they release their holiday truffles it was kinda sad I wasn't able to try them, though sometimes I'd ask my mom to get me some and ship them to me.
This year they came out with 3 truffles... well 2 1/2 is more like it I guess.
I literally thought both the white and dark chocolate were strawberry filled, I guess I got too excited and misread... whoops. They also came out with the Black Forest truffle. I ended up grabbing all 3.
After realizing that the dark chocolate was indeed NOT strawberry filled I decided to just pop the whole thing in my mouth, sorry. But the chocolate was fluffy and creamy. It wasn't overly sweet and the dark chocolate wasn't at all bitter, it was perfect and comforting!
The strawberry white chocolate was pretty good; it was smooth and creamy and the strawberry flavor was definitely there. It paired so nicely with the white chocolate too! The only thing is I felt there was too much white chocolate, if you know what I mean. While the flavors both worked nicely together I could had used a bit more strawberry filling!
The Black Forest truffle was MY FAVORITE (I'm not sure seeing the inside really does anything but it makes for nice photos, right?)! It's described as dark chocolate with tart cherries and that's EXACTLY what it was! If you're a fan of dark chocolate and cherries I would HIGHLY recommend this!
I'm so tempted to go back and get a whole box of these. They kind of remind me of those holiday cherry chocolates you know with the cream or the clear liquid in the middle BUT BETTER.
I'm obviously really excited about this truffle.
I'm also really excited to try the Easter truffles they come out with every year, there's usually a lemon one that's really good.
What's your favorite chocolate shop between Godiva and See's or is there another one you prefer?
I don't remember where I came across Dragon's Breath from --- but I'm gonna assume Instagram as that's where I come across 90% of my food discoveries. As far as I know though there were only primarily places in SoCal to get this (as it seems like that's suddenly the hub for getting the newest types of snacks, lucky them!) so when I saw a kiosk at the mall here selling them on Black Friday I didn't waste much time picking one up.
It was actually really hard to snap a photo of the smoke coming off of it! And sadly that effect didn't last too long.
They're dumped into I believe Nitrogen and flash frozen. So touching one is like touching a frozen pole, stuff like that freaks me out so I used the pokey stick. My boyfriend however didn't care too much and just started popping them in his mouth.
The crunch to them was kinda painful in that "tooth freeze" kind of way but you did blow out smoke as you bit down on it. It was a cool effect even if you couldn't yourself see yourself do it. And even if it was just for a short time.
The taste overall for this snack however I didn't care too much for... I thought they were cereal balls and my boyfriend said they were Cheetos. I think I read somewhere they ARE Cheetos of some sort... despite the bright colors?
Strange.
(Also strange, I'm listening to relaxing sounds on YouTube right now that claim to rid you of headaches and anxiety and my headache is slowly fading, uhm has this practice always been a thing?!)
It was a pretty fun experience but not something I'd make a habit of doing. But glad I could cross it off my foodie bucket list!
Have you ever or ever wanted to try Dragon's Breath?
Scrolling through Instagram foodie's feeds can really make you hungry (I have one too @herloveforfood, I need to revive that blog) and can help you stumble on some really cool places.
The idea of liquid nitrogen ice cream making in front of your face has been on floating around and typically I see places like this in LA or Vegas... somewhere along the West Coast so I was surprised to find this (along with other LA like eats) in Texas!
At Sub Zero Ice Cream (can we just take a moment to appreciate the name) you start by picking a base, then a flavor and any additional toppings you want in it. I wish I had taken a pic of the menu because there were a lot of options to choose from!
I went with a non dairy base. Strawberry flavored. Mixed in with Marshmallows, Sprinkles and Gummie Bears.
They also had premade flavors they made up themselves you can choose from or you can make your own. The boyfriend got some kind of Tropical one with Gummie Bears mixed in.
Then the magic happens!
The whole process took less time than I thought so I wasn't really able to catch too many pics. But next time I'll be ready!
I also got a Strawberry on top :)
I wasn't able to catch a pic of my boyfriend's cause he pretty much ate half of his by the time I was done taking pictures of mine. I couldn't help it, mine just looked so... pretty!
The texture was somewhere between frozen yogurt and custard. The Marshmallows were frozen and so so good. I love frozen mallows!
I'm definitely coming back here again and trying something out of my comfort zone next time!
I'm just gonna put this out there --- I'm not a huge fan of Oreo's. The only Oreo's I'll eat are the Lemon ones; I don't care much for the original. Something about the cookie just makes my mouth feel icky.
But I am a sucker for Limited Edition anything and when it comes to food, I'M THERE! So when I heard that Oreo's was coming out with a Peeps flavored cookie I figured... why not. I'm more likely to eat/try the golden cookies over the chocolate ones and I like marshmallows... haven't decided if I like PEEPS themselves just yet. Working on it!
I'm a sucker for pretty packaging. Pretty packaging + Spring? Utter weakness. I love all things Spring and Easter so just the packaging on this thing alone was enough to catch my attention from like 3 isles over.
I had a bit of expectations going into this --- I was hoping that the creme filling would either taste or have the consistency of Marshmallow. I mean, it can't be hard right? Lots of cool things are done with Marshmallow's these days! I went into this hearing mixed reviews --- some people loved it and others really really hated it.
The size is that of your average cookie, obviously.
Biting into it, I didn't taste anything. Like, I literally tasted nothing. The consistency of the creme filling has that same sort of gritty texture the original cookies have except this layer felt a lot more thin. Maybe it's just the food coloring or maybe something in it cause it to change but the creme filling as far as I could tell didn't really exist. With that said there wasn't a taste to this at all either. It felt like the creme was being over powered by the cookie and the cookie didn't have a strong taste to begin with.
So while everyone is there YAY Or NEY about this I'm kinda just BLAH. I can't form a real opinion on something I don't feel had a taste. I mean I guess I could say it sucks but that's a little unfair since besides saying "I didn't taste anything" I have no other opinion on the matter.
Either way; I'm glad I tried these and gave these a shot but maybe next time I'll just stuff my own PEEPS into the cookie and enjoy it that way instead.
Have any of you tried it? What are your thoughts?
I need to do more foodie reviews so I thought why not start with last weekend?
I wish I had taken more pictures of the shops and things but hey there's always room for improvement, right?!
Normally before I head to Texas (or anywhere actually) I make a list of places I want to try and we try and squeeze in most of what's on that list. Sometimes we get to all of them, sometimes we don't. But foodie adventures are always my favorite.
1102 Bubble Tea and Bites was pretty high up on my list.
I've been seeing Instagram posts of Bubble Tea places in SoCal being served in light bulbs! I thought this idea was so freakin cool. Then I find a place in Arlington, TX that does this! I scooped out their Instagram hashtag and their Yelp page.
We got there on a Saturday night and it was kinda raining but not too bad. Walking in was such a nice experience on its own. The shop is brightly lit and they have low tables for you to sit at with friends or family members and play games. There's also normal tables where people with laptops were getting some work done and everything about this place was just cute.
We started with a Coffee type of Cheesecake (left) and a Greet Tea Matcha Yogurt (right). The Cheesecake was obviously a lot thicker and richer than the Green Tea, we liked them both. Also, can we talk about how cute the packaging for these jars are? I know it's just twine but the extra effort makes the difference!
Also Bubba set up this shot for me.
It turns out the light bulb tea only came in like 4 basic flavors, none of which sounded interesting to me at the time. I opted for something else and the girl behind the counter was nice enough to give me a sample of the Black Tea base versus the Oolong Tea base to choose from. Both were good and sweet and I'm not a big Black Tea or Oolong Tea fan but these were perfection. I loved them both! She also let Bubba try two different "toppings" to put into his own drink. It was nice of her to let us try before we decided what to get!
I ended up with the Tiramisu Milk Tea with Flan (which I've never tried but always wanted to in a drink) with the Black Tea Base and Bubba got the Blue Ocean Italian Soda with Mochi.
THESE. WERE. SO. GOOD.
The Italian Soda tasted better if you mixed it up with the whipped cream but I love how pretty his drink was. I'm tempted to try the other Italian Soda's at some point! Maybe I'll make a blog series out of it!
The Tiramisu Milk Tea was amazing and the Flan added an extra bit of flavor to it as well. I really enjoyed this drink! And in case you were wondering, I got it with the Black Tea base. I may try it with the Oolong next time and see how it differs from each other.
I am definitely coming back here again!
*Sadly you're not able to keep the cups
It's hard to believe this may be my last trip to Dallas/Fort Worth because the next time I'm in the state I'll be a resident there \o/ I'm happy I was able to get the things I needed to get done in the short amount of time I had this this last time so whew on that. So relieved! And so excited! I'm sad to be leaving Florida; it's been my home for the last 5 years and it's the first place I made a place my home on my own. I've had so many good memories and good times and just usual's here but like I did with Cali as well, all things must come to an end. It's not like I'll never be back, I'll only be a 2 hour flight away! Plus I can't deny that I'm super stoked to start a new adventure... somewhere that's more foodie/Asian food friendly at that!
This is so out of order lol! But the first day I was there; the flight went great. I slept through most of it thankfully. Bubba took me to get Ihop after he picked me up (it wasn't awkward at all seeing each other again, I went straight into constantly hugging him and poking him) and we had breakfast. Then we stopped by a Target to find the TsumTsum Pastel Parade's which weren't at that one we were at but we ended up picking up various other things instead lol! We're such kids it's kind of ridiculous. Also introduced him to my Strawberry Refresher drink that he liked, yay! Went into PetSmart to find Sophie a house and we found some fuzzy ones that we might be able to pull the bottom pillow out of and replace with a scratching pad since she prefers/massively uses those. I'll have to see if I can find a circle one or something. But at least we found something! It might not be seasonally like the box house she had before but it's okay!
A closer look at the snacks I picked for this week's Graze choices.
>> Pizza Margherita
Cheese flavored cashews, basil crunchini and mini tomato breadsticks.You can find more info on it here.
My rating: 4/5
I loved the flavors that was going on in this one especially with the basil crunchini (think croutons but so much more savory) and the mini tomato breadsticks. I'm a sucker for anything tomato as it is so I already knew I would love this part of the snack but I wasn't prepared for how much! The cheese cashews were my least favorite as it was good but I didn't feel that the cheese + cashews mix really worked well together. This was overall a great snack to hold me over the afternoon!
>> Snickerdoodle Dip
Snickerdoodle dip with cinnamon pretzel sticks.You can find more info on it here.
My rating; 3/5
The Snickerdoodle dip had a thicker Nutella consistency. It had a Cookie Butter taste to it. The cinnamon pretzel sticks were really good. They weren't covered in a cinnamon powder but the pretzel's themselves were flavored cinnamon which was nice. I liked this but I wasn't blown away.
>> Cocoa & Vanilla Protein Flapjack
Rustic rolled oat cocoa flapjack with mixed seeds and soy proteinYou can find more info on it here.
My rating; 3/5
I haven't tried any of their flapjacks yet so I didn't know what to expect besides a gronola bar, since that's what they closely resemble. And I was kinda right. This snack was actually kind of filling. It had a good amount of cocoa in it to satisfy a chocolate craving. However the vanilla flavor was pretty much not there at all. It had a creamy after taste which I assume was the vanilla kicking in. I wasn't a fan of these just because I didn't really like the texture too much and I'm not a huge fan of a lot of chocolate.
>> Strawberries and Cream Protein Granola Topper
Oat and barley granola, yogurt coated strawberry pieces, soy protein crispies and freeze dried strawberry pieces.You can find more info on it here.
My rating; 5/5
I freaking LOVED this! I had put it on top of lemon yogurt but I found myself using the spoon to just eat this from it's container instead. The yogurt coated strawberry pieces were like a nice burst of fruit surprise and the freeze dried pieces? I'm still dreaming about them! They were flavorful and tart, just how I like them! This was so good I slightly regret not ordering more when I made my order last week! Ah well there's always next time!
If you know me, you'll know I am OBSESSED with Cadbury chocolates. I feel like here in the U.S. they only really come out to play during Easter. Cadbury Mini Eggs have been the highlight of my year since 2002 and I refuse to eat them any other time than Easter time (I mean it just makes it more special that way, don't you think?)!
I was browsing through World Market one day --- focusing on food/candy like I usually do --- when I stumbled on these!
Cadbury Creme Eggs Cookies?! Wait wait wait... who's the troubled genius who thought of this?! While doing some product shots I tagged a friend of mine who is obsessed with the actual eggs and he had not seen these yet. Oh I hope he tries them soon! I'd love to know what he thinks!
Okay, I'll admit, I don't know what I was expecting. But opening up the package (can I just note how beautiful the wrapper, packaging and presentation is for this? Anyone else pay attention to things like that?) I for some reason didn't expect a sleeve of cookies. So I slid them out carefully. Not wanting to ruin the prettyness of the first box (for filming purposes if I ended up loving or hating them) I went straight for the second. I noticed the cookie was sort of dripping Cadbury Creme Egg guts.
Biting into it, I wasn't expecting much. But OMG. So it's basically a flat Cadbury Creme Egg on top of a crispy chocolate biscuit that was then dipped in heavenly chocolate. So if you were to break the middle of the top of the cookie you would be breaking into the egg.
And as you can see, they kept the whites/yolk look going on. I'm definitely impressed.
I also may have stuffed two more in my mouth after snapping these photos.
I may be on my way right now to get more.
I had so much fun experiencing this! I love how snacks and candies are taking this really new turn lately and I'm thinking of making this a mini series on this blog.
So if you enjoyed this and want to see what other Easter candy reviews I'll be posting make sure to bookmark this link right here --- /easter candy review for more!
*This is not a sponsored post. I bought this product with my own money. Just thought I should mention that!
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