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Posts Tagged ‘food’

Treatsie September 2014 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, caramels, cookies, food, pictures, preserves, products, reviews, snacks, subscriptions, treats, treatsie

25 September 2014

A great variety this time around and all tasty stuff in this Treatsie box! The items had a more fall feel, just in time for the cooling season.

Treatsie is $15 per box + $4.95 shipping and comes with artisan candy from 3-4 brands (I am grandfathered in for $15 for 2-3 brands and fewer items). That means about 6 or 7 different flavors of treats (or 4 or 5 for me). Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral link program to earn store credit. Use my referral link to get your first box FREE!

Quince & Apple Tart Cherry and White Tea Preserves: Hmm, this is an interesting flavor I wouldn’t be able to describe! It’s lightly tart and not overly sweet like many preserves. I like that it’s a more subtle flavor and I’ll have to find something to spread these on. It’s so cool that it’s made with tea and jasmine flowers.

J&M Triple Chocolate Cookies: Wow, they cooked these perfectly. The chocolate flavor, the crunchy texture, and the soft bits of chocolate chips is a wonderful combination. It’s a rich flavor and not the dry crunchy cookie, but perfectly made for enjoyment. I shared these with my coworkers and we couldn’t get enough of them.

Béquet Confections Classic Soft, Celtic Sea Salt, and Salted Mocha Caramels: We received these at the office last holiday season, so imagine my surprise when they showed up in this box! I love these caramels and was totally addicted to the bags we got last year. I sure hope we get more of these at the end of the year. They’re tasty and there are a ton of great flavors.

I’m happy with the selection and I look forward to getting more of those cookies. What do you like best from this month’s box? To get Treatsie, sign up with my link and get your first box free!

[This post contains affiliate links. Signing up through them helps support my subscription and I’d be ever so grateful. 🙂 All opinions are my own and I received no compensation for this review. I just purchased this box and wanted to share what I got!]

Love With Food Smile, Your Snacks Have Arrived September 2014 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, chips, food, love with food, pictures, reviews, snacks, subscriptions

19 September 2014

I haven’t been super impressed with LWF so I actually cancelled my subscription, but since I bought the 6-month one, I’ll still be getting a few more boxes through the end of the year. Three of the items were exact repeats from a previous box! Definitely not what I want to see.

Love With Food is $12 per box (or as discounted as $120 for an entire year, with an option in between) and comes with 8 or more snack products. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral program that earns you points towards products or boxes.

(click to enlarge and read messaging)

It took me awhile to get that the theme was about smiling. I guess they couldn’t come up with a fall theme. The repeat items were the Skeeter Nut Free Cinnamon Grahams (great crunch and taste), the YumEarth fruit snacks (tasty, but small sample), and the 180 Degrees Nutty Rice Bites with Blueberries (not my thing).

The Desert Gardens Spinach Dip Mix should make a nice. I’m really looking forward to brewing the Revolution Tea Southern Derby Sample Pack at work. There are three flavors included: Honeybush Caramel Herbal Tea (whoa, intriguing), Tropical Green Tea, and Southern Mint Herbal Tea. I certainly love drinking tea and I love their bags.

I tried the Vintage Italia Marinara Pasta Chips and loved their strong taste! Panda complained about the garlic smell, but I’m all about that tomato flavor. These taste a bit grainy, like they’re made with whole wheat (they’re actually made with semolina flour – no idea what that is). As for the Terre Di Puglia Tarallino Snack, it was not as tasty as I had hoped. I found it to be rather bland, though the cookie shape is cute.

I’m pretty pleased with the non-repeat products here, so I really wish I’d been introduced to more snacks. I’m most excited about the tea! What did you like in this box? Any favorites?

Escape Monthly August: Paris Box review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, candy, condiments, cookies, food, france, hand creams, mints, paris, pictures, products, reviews, snacks, subscriptions, travel

05 September 2014

Ah, Paris… of course we’d some gourmet items here and leave it to one of these items to have some delays coming through customs! I was also intrigued by the very different guide book included this time around.

Escape Monthly is just under $40 per box (with code for 20% off your subscription – see end of post) and comes with a variety of food, home, skincare items themed around a city. Each box comes with a Moon Handbooks guide for that region. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a lovely recurring referral commission program.

(click to enlarge and read full messaging)

The items this time around didn’t take up much room, which made me feel like there wasn’t much there, but the value of the items is certainly higher than usual.

Here’s what came in the box:

Rick Steves’ Pocket Paris – This is a nice little guide full of colorful pictures! You might not even have to go to Paris anymore after seeing all the sights from its pages. I certainly plan on visiting Paris time and time again, so this will be a great way to help me discover all that the city (and surrounds) has to offer.

Nuxe Body Scrub & Shower Gel – Well, I didn’t get the scrub and that’s really sad for me since that’s one of my favorite skincare items. Instead, I got two shower gels, so I’ve emailed them to get the scrub sent to me. I didn’t even notice the seal on it when I first tried to open it for a whiff. I’m not a huge fan of almond, but the combination with orange flowers is really great! It smells fantastic and I can’t wait to lather up to the scent in the shower. I’ll be even happier to scrub to this scent!

Institut Karite Paris Perfume Almond and Honey Precious Hand Cream – I’m guessing that this was the product holding things up in customs. It looks luxurious and definitely fancy and Parisian. I’ve certainly enjoyed shea butter hand creams like the ones from L’Occitane, so I’m sure I’ll love this for the winter months. It’s so thick! I love that I got a scent that is rather unique and I hope the almond scent doesn’t get too strong for me after awhile. So far so good – it appears to be a nicely mild and sweet scent.

Edmond Fallot dijon mustard – There’s quite the history behind this little jar. I don’t really eat many items I’d put mustard on, so I’m thinking I might take this to work to put in the communal fridge.

Pierre Biscuiterie French butter cookies – I like that they have two plastic packs in this box, so I don’t have to worry about having to each all of them quickly. These little butter cookies are crisp and rich in flavor. The dried fruit bits offer a bit of a tangy, fragrant kick to the cookies. I’ll be finishing these off with my next pot of tea, which I think will be just fabulous.

les Anis de Flavigny French mints – The light lemon flavor of these mints is lovely. There is a bit of an aftertaste that I can’t quite place – perhaps that’s the anise (no idea what that is). It’s a bit bitter, but not outright so. I think of these more as candies though, since I don’t think they’re really freshening the breath much. Whoa! I just bit into it and definitely got the anise taste – I think they have small bits of it in the center. Now I know these must be related to those star anise dried things you cook with.

Bonne Maman strawberry preserves – I love the little jar this comes in. This was the bonus item for this box. Perfect for traveling with and a 1-2 person portion. I actually got this in another box once upon a time and have yet to open that one. I just don’t get around to eating jams, so perhaps it’s time to consider buying bread or English muffins. I’d also want to get into the habit of eating breakfast, I suppose.

I could have gone for more items, but the hand cream really elevated the feel of this box. Which item do you think is the coolest from this Paris Escape Monthly box? If you want to sign up, try one of these codes (not sure which ones are still active): PARISESCAPE or RICOESCAPE for 20% off the lifetime of your subscription or GIFTESCAPE for 25% off.

For September it’s time to go to Puerto Rico! Fantastic. I’m really excited about that one since I could certainly learn more about that country.

Treatsie August 2014 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, candy, chocolates, crackers, food, pictures, products, reviews, snacks, subscriptions, toffee, treats, treatsie

01 September 2014

This month offered a choco-rific selection. They arrived in perfect condition, no melting at all! It looks like last month I just didn’t get the info card, because this time it was back. For the first time, I might have felt compelled to upgrade to the current Treatsie box with the extra items. If this continues I might up my subscription before my grandfathered plan expires.

Kika’s Treats Caramelized Graham Crackers in Pure Dark Chocolate: Caramelized is always a win in my book. These crackers are nice and crunchy, yet not super crumbly like the non-caramelized versions would be. They make a pretty fab snack and it’s almost toffee-like inside. They remind me of another snack that I can’t quite put my finger on. I can see these being a great accompaniment to a hot drink in the coming fall and winter.

Lambrecht Gourmet Karma Toffee: I was a bit concerned about the chocolate having a mocha flavor, since I’m not into that, but it’s not too strong. Still, I’d opt for a different flavor for future toffee needs. The toffee is not too sweet and the almond bits are a great way to offset the taste. I could use a little more chocolate to toffee ratio – the chocolate melts in your mouth and then there’s a huge chunk of toffee. I’d like more chocolate to linger.

chuao chocolatier potato chip, sweet & salty, salted chocolate crunch, and pop corn pop ChocoPods: At first I thought all their flavors incorporated potato chips, because that was the first flavor I saw. What an intriguing idea! I totally expected a chip dipped in chocolate, but it was more of little crunchy bits mixed evenly throughout the chocolate. I’m a fan of all of these! The minis are especially adorable because of their leaf shape. I really want to order more of these right away, but the Labor Day code isn’t working for them.

All off these treats were delicious, even if they weren’t my most preferred flavor. Just think how much I would have loved it with flavors matched to my palette! Which snack here do you like most? To get Treatsie, sign up with my link and get your first box free!

Love With Food Fun at the County Fair August 2014 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, candy, chips, cookies, crackers, food, lollipops, love with food, nuts, pictures, reviews, salt water taffy, snacks, subscriptions

24 August 2014

This time around the info card became a pamphlet so they could add a bunch of extra content. There’s even a recipe in there and background info about the company. I’ve yet to read it all, but will get around to learning more as I eat everything.

(click to enlarge and read messaging)

Alright, summer fair! It’s been ages since I’ve been to one and I probably won’t get around to it this year. So far I only tried the Skeeter Nut Free Cinnamon Grahams that are crisp and have a fantastic cinnamon taste and the Salty Road Salty Peanut salt water taffy that has a nice peanut flavor (even though I don’t like peanuts much) and is a bit sticky. The shapes of the Skeeter cookies are adorable squirrels! I’ve tried YumEarth lollipops before and they’re nice enough. Lately I haven’t been into lollipops though.

I handed off the Love With Food Kettle Sweet Peanuts to Panda since he’ll enjoy nuts far more than me. I will try one when he eats them but I’d never buy nuts. He also got the 180 Degrees Nutty Rice Bites with Blueberries because of the nuts and health bar-like snacks these are. Also snacks that I’m not into, but will be great for him as an afternoon snack or even breakfast item. I’ve put the Smooze Fruit Ice in the freezer to enjoy later. Pineapple and coconut are not flavors I’ve tried together before, so it’ll be interesting which flavor stands out more.

Finally the Covered Bridge Montreal Steak Spice Seasoning Chips and Back to Nature Crispy Cheddar Crackers have made it into my work bag for snacking on this week. I’m looking forward to trying both and I hope they don’t disappoint! I’ve never tried chips with such a unique flavor so that will be exciting and we’ll see if it’s too strong for me. Meanwhile, the cheddar crackers should be good since that’s a snack I’ve had a variety of and generally enjoy.

Taste-wise I think this box is very promising. I’d eat more of the items if it weren’t for my aversion to nuts and bars. I’m all about sweet snacks or crackers/chips. What do you think of this box? Which item would you like to try most?

Tea time

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: cake, desserts, drinks, family, food, panda, pictures, snacks, tea, teapot

17 August 2014

Panda’s mom gave us this adorable tea set when we were visiting and I finally unpacked it today for us to use. After rinsing it all out, we got some of the loose leaf tea I’d bought from the Tea & Spice Exchange and brewed a pot. There’s something about brewing tea in a pot and then pouring it into tiny little cups that is such a fun experience for me. There’s a certain ceremony about it and it exudes gracefulness as you pour. The delicate little cups make me feel all fancy. I’ve been coveting those cast iron pots at Teavana for years and I’m still trying to justify the cost to myself. In the mean time, this set makes a perfect starter set for us to use at home. Paired with a slice of Chinese-style cake, this spread made the perfect way to wind down at night. I’ll be having mini tea parties nightly!

Din Tai Fung meal review

laelene Posted in reviews，Tags: din tai fung, dinner, eating, food, juicy pork dumplings, meals, pictures, restaurants, taiwanese, xiao long bao

15 August 2014

While we were in Los Angeles, I wanted to take advantage of the many food options that I love out there. Panda and I agreed to go get dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, which up until just a few years ago only had two locations in the US, both of which were in Arcadia. Last time we’d discovered the brand new location in Glendale, so we decided to head there again. It was much more crowded this time around. I guess people have started to discover this newer location. We waited around 25 minutes for our table and ended up requesting to sit in a different one with a booth seat.

noodles topped with minced pork and cucumber at din tai fung

I was surprised to get this dish first. The minced pork made for a fine topping for the noodles. A really tasty dish, though smaller than I imagined.

vegetable and pork wontons in spicy sauce at din tai fung

This was a new dish for us. Good if you like spicy! It kind of overpowered any meat or veggie flavor though.

hot and sour soup in large bowl for six people at din tai fung

Every time we order this, the waiter informs us it’s meant for 6 people. No biggie, we drank it all.

juicy pork dumplings aka xiao long bao at din tai fung

Erm, we devoured all but one xiao long bao (juicy pork dumplings) before I remembered to get a picture. These are amazing – delicate skin, savory juice, and excellent taste all around.

cucumber appetizer with spicy oil vinagrette at din tai fung

These should have come first, but got forgotten. When I finally got them I could only eat about three pieces. One of my favorite appetizers is some nice cucumber in a tart sauce.

I forgot to get a picture of the pork fried rice that Panda ordered after much of the food arrived. I didn’t have any of it this time, so I don’t know how it tasted anyway.

Service was rather slow and our waitress was a bit absentminded. Not the best experience on that front, but boy is the food wonderful. One of my favorite things about this place is how delicate and fine the ingredients are, especially in the soup! I’ve never seen such thinly-sliced tofu, wood ear, and bamboo shoots. Just the way I love them. I took the leftovers home with me and my mom practically inhaled everything in 10 minutes. It was an awesome meal and I wish there was a DTF somewhere in the DC area so I could enjoy it more.

A fun day at work

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: competition, coworkers, experiences, food, fruit, fun, happy hour, office, pictures, shark tank, snacks, work

31 July 2014

Recently, Canvas decided to do a Shark Tank initiative to gather ideas from across the company for what we can do to increase the trial subscriber volume. Everyone was invited to partner up and present an idea to five Sharks – a panel of decision-makers at Canvas. I was interested in participating, but didn’t really have any good ideas. One of my coworkers had reached out to me to partner up and just as we were about to get together, he found out that another guy one our team had already signed them up as a team. I kept an eye out, wondering who else I could team up with, but nothing really presented itself.

Today rolled around, with pitches scheduled throughout the afternoon. Right before lunch, a colleague who is a good friend started talking about it because she’d just learned about our Shark Tank (she didn’t get the emails). She needed someone to work with, so I offered to join her. After lunch, we met up with our coworker with the idea – he had to leave early and didn’t want to present anyway, so we took the idea and ran with it. He acted as our adviser and really helped make sure we had a ton of great information, so we were well-prepared. We took all that content and broke it into a bunch of slides, then started practicing. We even rehearsed walking in and greeting the Sharks. It was hilarious and so much fun!

I signed us up for the first time slot at 3:30 under our chosen team name: Double Trouble. After about an hour, we were pretty confident in our presentation. We had the entrance, presentation flow, and even synchronized moves all ready. We did a practice run in front of the idea man before he had to run and he loved it! Just as we were looking forward to going first, the Sharks came over to ask us to move to 4:10, the second slot. They had to postpone the start to 4. While it was sad we wouldn’t be first up, it did give us extra time to rehearse! I then booked a meeting room so we could practice clicking through the slides.

When it finally came time to pitch, we went through our presentation nearly flawlessly. Our high energy and funny moments really captured the Sharks and they had a great time with us. We certainly had the most memorable and entertaining presentation! The idea was a hit too, and we finished off on a fabulous note. I think the Sharks were not only impressed with how prepared we were (especially considering we’d only prepared for about an hour and a half), but how enthusiastic we were! I think some of them know us both to be more quiet, and not nearly as goofy as we turned out to be. Wins all around for team Double Trouble!!

We were still high from the rush of joy after that fun experience when we were told about the free food in the kitchen for a “Christmas in July” Happy Hour. Check out the awesome spread, including some super cool Australian dessert – pavlova – and an assortment of fruit as well as cocktail shrimp. We had a fabulous time enjoying the food before I decided to get back to work. I’d lost about half a day due to all this Shark Tank and Happy Hour fun, so it was time to get crackin’ again.

australian pavlova desserts, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, and other fruit for office happy hour

Homemade and oh so delicious!!

Treatsie July 2014 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: candies, candy, caramels, chocolates, food, hard candy, pictures, raley's confectionary, seattle chocolates, shotwell candy co, snacks, treats, treatsie

27 July 2014

Now this is just the kind of candy mix I love! A little bit of caramels, a little bit of candy, and some chocolate. I was much more impressed by this month’s Treatsie box. I didn’t even notice until now, but I didn’t get an info card. Not sure if that’s just me or if they decided to stop including them?

Seattle Chocolates bars in Total Toffee and Dark Chocolate: Oooooo these made this box for me. I loved both flavors and will definitely keep a lookout for them in stores. The toffee had wonderful bits of crunchy toffee AND some fine grains of salt, which made for a really interesting texture. I’ve never had a bar like that before. The dark chocolate was smooth and very solid – a nice luxurious-feeling piece.

Shotwell Candy Co. Old Fashioned Cocktail Caramels: I thought these tasted a little strange to me and no wonder, they’re made with whiskey. Since I don’t drink, I have no idea what whiskey tastes like and whether someone who likes drinking would enjoy this flavoring in their caramel candy. I guess I’ll take the leftover pieces to work and see what others think. It’s not to my liking though, much as I enjoy a nice caramel.

Raley’s Confectionary Treatsie Variety Mix hard candy: How freakin’ adorable that a special Treatsie mix was put together! This is a grab bag of assorted flavors, mostly fruit ones, but then there’s root beer too. The designs are just fantastic and I love the fun pieces. I’m quite impressed with their designs! I’ve got to say, this is the cutest candy I’ve ever seen.

I was excited about these products and for the most part they did not disappoint. What do you think of these candies? If you want to try Treatsie, sign up and get your first box free.

Love With Food Happy Camper July 2014 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, food, love with food, pictures, products, reviews, snacks, subscriptions

22 July 2014

I was pretty pleased with the snacks from my first Love With Food box last month so I decided to continue my subscription. While I don’t really feel like the value is great, I really like discovering and sampling all these types of snacks. I even just upgraded to the 6-month plan that saves me $1 a month. Maybe I just need to go grocery shopping more. 😛 There’s still 8+ more days for the Love With Food free trial box (just pay $2 for shipping) – try it out yourself!

I like the cute little themes they come up with I can certainly see these snacks coming in handy while out camping. I really enjoyed the ginnyminis butter crisp love cookies that were wonderfully crunchy and so much like butter cookies, but without the greasiness. Then Madyson’s marshmallow was such a cool, unique treat. I really enjoyed the handmade aspect and the chunks of chocolate chips were a perfect contrast to the soft marshmallow.

I appreciated having the ZOUQ Curry Crunch sweet and sour trail mix for when I was starving, but it was sweeter than I’d prefer so I couldn’t finish the bag. I certainly prefer it to normal trail mix though. The Mediterranean Snacks Lentil Crackers turned out to be less tasty than I hoped. Pretty good for a light snack and satisfyingly crunchy, but I like my crackers saltier. The Honey Stinger Kids’ Organic Chews were decent and I’m glad their red flavor is strawberry rather than cherry. I will actually eat all the flavors! They aren’t the sticky kind of chewy that I actually prefer, but that might be a good thing for you.

I was really looking forward to the Beanitos white cheddar puffs because it reminded me of Cheetos and I like white cheddar crackers, but it was kind of sour and dry. Maybe the bean base was just not to my liking. I’m not huge on beans to begin with. I’ve had Somersaults dutch cocoa in other boxes before and something about the flavor just doesn’t do it for me. I like how solid and crisp they are though. Finally, the 2 Degrees apple pecan bar is quite chunky and chewy, which is ok for me but I don’t really enjoy bars like that. I didn’t really get a pecan flavor from it, but it has a nice sweet fragrance from the apple.

While some of the snacks looked better than I ended up liking, I do like having snacks to sample. 6 more months, let’s do this! Which of these snacks do you want the most? Are any already favorites?

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((little fat notebook))

Posts Tagged ‘food’

Treatsie September 2014 review

Love With Food Smile, Your Snacks Have Arrived September 2014 review

Escape Monthly August: Paris Box review

Treatsie August 2014 review

Love With Food Fun at the County Fair August 2014 review

Tea time

Din Tai Fung meal review

A fun day at work

Treatsie July 2014 review

Love With Food Happy Camper July 2014 review

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laelene

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