Pepperidge Farm Milano Slices - Peppermint

Cronch cronch cronch. These are what happen if you cut a milano in half, add extra choco on top, and sprinkle little peppermint pieces on top. Very cronchy. The overall flavor note is mint, and I do like mint, and these are tasty and refreshing. But I don't like the mint texture, so I'd rather just have a milano whole, I think! Still a good cookie product, and my dad got it for me, perhaps as an unspoken "sorry about the tragic end to your 5-year relationship" gift, so I find that very sweet. :')

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets - Chocolate-covered maraschino cherries

What a mysterious food product! They look like lil aliens. I like that. I was nervous that these would spoil, because they're all natural, but they were great! What lass doesn't love a maraschino cherry? The milk chocolate one was leagues better than the dark chocolate one, as usual, but both are still a treat. Gotta avoid eating the stems, though! Tricky!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10 (8 for milk, 6 for dark)

Butterball Boneless Frozen Savory Herb Turkey Breast Roast

Turkey ball! My dad picked this out, and I was worried it'd be nasty and itchy like the Jenny-O turkey breast was. But this was an improvement, even though it felt a little "school lunch meat product" vs actual "holiday turkey!". The texture was very Moist, which maybe is good, but was a little disconcerting. Still, cover it up with enough festive sides, and it serves its purpose. There were even tiny bits of fat, which I liked, even though I miss the dark meat. We didn't use the included gravy pack, so no comment on that. (But I bet it's gross!!!)

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce

A Thanksgiving classic! My parents always think I like this version better than the whole-berry version, which is false. But it tastes the same, really; the only difference is in the texture. It's hard to eat a lot of this, since it's very sweet and homogeneous, but it goes great with turkey et al, and it comes in a convenient can shape. I'll never not put a little bit on my plate!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Trio Fudge

One night a few weeks ago, I was sadly googling "nut free desserts", and a new to me result popped up -- Trio Fudge! I have no strong fudge feelings, as it's not a dessert I've had very often, and so I don't yearn for it the way I do truffles or candy bars or cookies (aka things I had as a kid). However, it's hard to pass up a cute nut-free dessert in a bunch of flavors, so I ordered myself a sizeable sampler. For the most part, I enjoy all the flavors, although they are really dense and sweet, so it's a very different eating experience than other candies for me -- you gotta pace yourself!

Brownie Batter: This flavor was really good; one of my favorites. It tastes like a chocolate marshmallow or something. I like the choco chips on top. 8/10

Coffee: This did have a strong coffee flavor! It helps to lessen the sweetness, but it wasn't really my favorite variety. It's kind of one-note, and the coffee grounds are just In There, so the texture is gritty. 6/10

Cookie Dough: Surprisingly, although I love cookie dough, this was not my favorite. It basically tastes like vanilla fudge, with a slight articificiality to it. Not especially "cookie dough"-y to me. 6/10

Pumpkin Pie: A strong pumpkin flavor! And it was orange! This is very rich, dense, sweet, and creamy. Not very much graham cracker bottom, and a little vanilla-y tasting. Good though. 7/10

Root Beer: Well, it sure tastes like root beer (mixed with white chocolate). I'd prefer just plain white chocolate. Not that this is BAD, but it's a little weird. Perfect for those occasions when you need a root beer flavored sweet, though? 6/10 

Candy Corn: These were cute little seasonal candy-corn shaped fudge pieces. They were good, and literally tasted like soft white choco, but they had a weird chemical/plastic taste on top of them -- I'm guessing as a result of the bag they came in, since the other flavors weren't like this? Alas. 6/10

Red Velvet: This had a "thicker" texture compared to the others, which I like (due to the cake mix in it, I think). It was also a bit less sweet, despite the chocolate sprinkles on top (which I also like). However, there's kind of a weird undernote of Bubble Gum flavor here, which I don't understand and don't really like. Alas. 6/10

Chocolate: The baseline! It's a pleasant baseline, although I do prefer the brownie batter one to this, I think. It tastes like the chocolate fudge my aunt made once, which was solid. No weird flavor notes in this one, just vaguely marshmallow chocolate. 7/10

Banana Cream Cookie: Aw, I saved this for last because I thought it'd be my favorite, but it wasn't as good as I expected. It didn't really have that strong of a banana flavor, compared to the coffee and root beer ones! Basically I got generic vanilla fudge vibes, with a tiny bit of artificial banana flavor. The oreo cookie bottom is also kind of flavorless -- I wish it were graham cracker instead. 6/10

Coconut Truffle: That's right fam, I'm back on my fudge bullshit! This was a pretty impressive coconut flavor, considering it's artificial. I wish it had actual coconut in, but I guess they're trying to appeal to a broad allergy group, so I gotta respect it. And I don't think I'd pin it as fake if I didn't know! A creamy coconut-choco vibe; truffle is pretty accurate. 8/10

Chocolate Raspberry: This is good, but I think I'd rather have just plain chocolate fudge. It's very dense, with a light raspberry (or generic berry) flavor. 7/10

Orange Creamsicle: This tastes just like orange cream savers, which of course I like (I miss those!) but isn't really what I think of what I think of fudge (choco). Very sweet, but good. 7/10

Chocolate Cherry: This has a kind of gummy texture (maybe just because I left it out the longest, though?). It tastes like a cherry flavored Hershey kiss. It's good, but not life changing. Better than the raspberry one, but I do think I still prefer plain choco flavor. 7/10

Triple Chocolate: Alas, Trio Fudge is no more! They had a big going out of business sale and this was the only flavor left, so I bought it. I'll miss these guys. The triple choco was pretty good -- chocolatey, two different layers that were quite similar but still subtly different, with a few choco chips on top. If you like chocolate fudge, look no further! Except you'll have to because you can't buy this. Woe. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Martin's Potato Rolls

Happy Thanksgiving! These are not really good for dinner rollin', but they are great for sloppy joes, BBQ pork, and other large sandwiches. A very solid product. Although, now that I've had the "slider size", I feel almost like these are too big! At least for solo single girls like myself. But Martin's rolls are just generally good.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Katz Glazed Donut Holes

I had seen these in my local grocery store's freezer case before covid, but they're gluten free (and expensive, and frozen) so I assumed they'd be pretty gross. But I was sad and desperate one day, so I got them anyhow. They were better than I expected, but definitely "weird". They have great glaze on them, and a decent texture, but unfortunately taste (and smell) exactly like a corn dog, I assume because the flour is corn flour and not wheat flour. I do love mini corn dogs, but not when I'm looking for a donut "dupe". Still, good to eat, and I would get them again.

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10

Mrs T's Classic Onion Pierogies

Oh, Mrs. T. Is there a Mr. T???? Ha ha... ha. 

This flavor was pretty standard. Really just your average rogi; not as strong of a flavor as I'd hope for. Nothing to write blogs about. 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Knorr Alfredo Broccoli Pasta

Like all noodle packets, especially the ones that don't have soy protein in them, this is a good food product. Very reliable and comforting, especially when ending a 5-year relationship and you need to cry into your dinner. :)

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Chardonnay

Another cute mini wine bottle! This one was sweet, and a little acidic. It made me slightly itchy, but tastes fine.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon

I got one of these little wine mini bottles as a wedding favor, which I thought was very cute. It equals about one (full) cup's worth, which is perfect for a solo dolo wine party. The taste is very generic (that's Robbie!), which was fine by me. A good treat.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

utz Creamy Onion Dip

Oh, boy. I was nervous about trying this because the other utz dip I tried was really, really bad. Fortunately, this was not as gross as I feared. It was a little too "thick", but the taste was overall pleasant, just onion and dairy. It was OK for cucumbers or pierogy.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Kraft macaroni & cheese - spirals

These are pretty good! They come out very soft and not liquidy (like eating a cloud of cheese!) but they are tasty, more than regular mac n cheese, and very filling too.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10

Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Bar

This is fine! It's dark chocolate, which isn't my favorite. Obviously it's still pleasant, and I'm glad it's a nut free commercially available food. I also like the thickness of it -- much more palatable, to me, than a thick dark chocolate lump is (some of which I've been getting from Dean's Sweets lately!). So, the format is good -- I like the squares, too, for portion control (lol), but the taste does nothing for me. I will say that it's very similar tasting to premium dark chocos, much more than Hershey's milk chocolate is to premium milk chocos, so that's a plus, considering the price.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Bagel Bites - Cheese, Sausage & Pepperoni

Bagel bites! What could be greater, than playing a game of golf with a baaagel? I haven't seen any bagel bites at my grocery store in forever -- I hope they're OK (and still a thing)! Miraculously, the meats in these have no soy, although the flavor doesn't add much over the cheese, in all honesty. I made this pack in the oven for once, and I will say, they were slightly better. But only just.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Dots

Gotta love Tootsie for their nut free-ness, even going so far as to put a nut-free logo on the box. This is a pretty good candy as candies go, it's quite sweet with a good soft texture. I believe my ranking is red > pink > yellow > green > orange, with the red and pink buckets above (like starburst!). 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Stouffer's French Bread Pizza - Deluxe

My biggest complaint about these is that they are oh-so-slow to good for their size, and you gotta cook 'em in the oven! Usually when I want a frozen pizza, I'm so tired and ravenous, and that ~40 minute wait is just too much for me. That said, the eating experience is good on its own, they're a good size for 1 and not too saucey. Maybe a bit heavy on the crust. Biggest plus: these have snausage and roni, but they are soy free! Nice job, Stouffers.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

2020 Marine Descombe Beaujolais-Villages

Hrmm. OK, so I tried this in its 2018(?) edition, and it was weird. I didn't expect 2 years to make an actual difference, but it really did. I guess that's wine for ya! This time around, it tasted sweet, like sweet concord grape juice. It was odd, and not what I was expecting, given the dank dirty taste of the older one! Definitely better in 2020, unlike literally everything else. 

I also made a turkey meal with this (though not an entire smoked turkey), and that was nice too. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [18$]
Taste: 5/10

Swiss Miss Marshmallow Hot Cocoa Mix

Ah, winter's coming, so hot choco is in! This mix is both very fatty and very sweet (even with water instead of milk), but it is good though. And warm! Too bad the marshmallows melt instantly, I should buy separate big ones to drop in or somethin'.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

2019 Jacqueline Delaunay Muscadet Sèvre et Maine "Sur Lie"

Another Mary T! This is truly the autumn of Mary Taylor wines for me. A comforting experience. This is a rare MT white though, which was fun. It was definitely on the tart side, but not undrinkable. I enjoyed it, though I'm not able to oyster it up as recommended.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [18$]
Taste: 6/10

Sam Adams Lawn Chair Lager

This was like a lighter version of the pink one (the IPA). It was also fine, just less intense. Still a solid, safe, nostalgic-because-beer beer!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Ilegal Malted Wine, Sauvignon Blanc

Malted wine!? What will they think of next! I must say, I do like the idea of a 50% wine 50% beer mixture, but that's mostly because I like beer (better than wine). I don't like that the company never answered my allergy Q, although it might be because I tried to send it en español and I'm highly nonfluent. Nevertheless! They do have the ingredients on the back (wine and hops, lol), so I felt OK about it, though a little nervous. When I popped this open, I was surprised by how fizzy it was! A light, fizzy wine, less sweet than a typical SB, and less alcoholic which is nice. I thought it was "fine" -- better than wine, but just because I like beer; I don't think combining them necessarily has an additive effect, yanno?


Overall
Cost: 5/10 [15$]
Taste: 6/10

Sam Adams Beach Session IPA

Please excuse the dramatic photo, it's from Sam Adams and not from me (I no longer have the bottle in my possession). I drank this a while ago actually, since it is clearly no longer summer. But this was a nice hoppy IPA! I like it mainly for its safety (nut free!) and nostalgia (IPA!). Objectively, just an average IPA, I think.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Lime & Jalapeño Ruffles

Honestly, I did not like these at all on first eat -- the lime is just so Trix cereal-y, and while these chips don't have the gross Lay's taste, they're bad in a whole new way. They do have a good little spice to 'em, which I do like if not for the lime.

Then when I was very hungry and despo, I ate these again, and I thought "hm, they're not so bad" -- rinse and repeat a few more times. But still I think the lime flavor is no good. And the Lakers stink!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 4/10

Sun-Maid Golden Raisins

I never bought Golden raisins before, but they are basically just yellow raisins. A little bit less sweet and figgy, I suppose. Good for cooking and baking, a little bit more "fun" and "posh", so I do like that. Not really sure what to do with a whole box of these, or how long they stay good (6 months?) or why I didn't get a smaller box. Alas.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Argilla Brewing Co at Pietro's Pizza

This place has a lot of good qualities: they actually answered my FB message about allergens (so rare!) and they answered that it was all basically nut-free except desserts. Hooray! The food and beer were also great, and the location is pretty close to me, with parking, and also not super crowded with undergrads since it's a driver.

The negatives: they don't take reservations, but were busy and we had to wait a while for a table (even though there were lots of empty tables -- I'm guessing they just didn't have enough workers, which is true basically everywhere these days). We also weren't told we could chill at an empty table while we waited, which seemed like a nice thing to do. So the whole check-in process was awkward. But the server at our table once we got it was perfectly fine.

I ordered a pizzo (personal size) with mushrooms and spinach, and it was a good size (I finished it and wasn't dyin') and tasty enough, although nothing earth shattering. I also got the Cherry Berry Whipped beer, which I really especially liked -- it was a milky opaque pink, not super fizzy, nice sour fruity beer.

Good times! I'm looking forward to going back either with family or boyf later.

Later: Ha, joke's on past-me, 'cause I no longer have a boyf and I hardly have any family! But I did go with my dad, and sadly, he did not like the pizza at all and they didn't have fish. So it was a bust for him. For me, I got the Kennett personal pizzo, which was solid, good cheese (ate it all) and a Pineapple Citrus Whipped beer, which I also especially liked. Their beers are great! Their pizza is good! Someone go here with me! :p

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10