Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blends - Poultry Magic

This seems fine, I used it a few times on combos of chicken & veg (peppers, tomatoes, etc). There are definitely herbs in there (parsley? oregano?) plus the usual spice mix flavors (garlic, salt). There's no MSG, not that I really care about that. I thought it tasted fine; nothing earth-shattering but surely better to have this seasoning then to have no seasoning. It went down pretty easy and wasn't too overwhelming. Plus the guy on the front randomly reminds me of a guy from Survivor, so I like that.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Starbucks Doubleshot Energy Vanilla Drink

This was a real leap for me, since I'm not an energy drink kind of girl. But I was very tired, hungry, and sad at school(/work) so I got this from a vending machine. It tasted like that gross can flavor all canned coffee drinks have to some extent. But it also did genuinely perk me up, which surprised me a bit. Also, I didn't appear to be allergic to this, so now I know guarana and ginseng are safe for me (which I honestly didn't know about before). This was also fairly sweet and milky in addition to the can flavor, so that was nice. Lots of calories though, which is good or bad depending on your circumstance.


Overall
Cost: 5/10 [2.50$ from vending]
Taste: 6/10

Prince & Spring Organic Applesauce

This unique pouch-style packaging was actually cooler than I thought it'd be. It was easy to open, and you have a clear and easy stream to suckle the applesauce right out. The applesauce had a good texture, not too chunky or too smooth, and somehow it maintained a cool temperature in a warm house. It also wasn't overly sweet at all, but it was still tasty and felt like a decent amount of product given the small size of the pouch. I'm digging this format.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Truly Hard Seltzer - Pineapple

I picked this up because I like LaCroix and the can looked very crisp and hip. It was a good pick, I think. It tasted like piña colada, I guess because I associate pineapple+alcohol with coconut. Kind of weird to experience, since it didn't taste alcoholic at all, more like coconut soda water. A little bit sweet, for sure, but not as cloying as a cider. Very drinkable. I could pound these for sure, if I see them again!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

2015 Mayu Carménère Syrah

This had a strong fruity flavor, as many reds do, but also a woodsy/musky note as well. It was decent, and of course I like the screw top.

I made lamp chops and onions with this, which came out surprisingly well. I basically cooked them for 7.5 minutes per side, and it came out medium rare and tasty. A fun experience.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Seeds of Change Quinoa & Brown Rice

I got this as a random free sample, which was very cool. It was also so so quick and easy to cook, you just microwave it for 90 seconds like those Uncle Ben's rice packets. It smells good; nice and garlicy. Plus it's filling and a good source of protein. I thought the taste was fine, it wasn't very strong but just a nice light rice&garlic flavor. The texture is pretty chewy/crunchy because of the quinoa, so that takes a little getting used to if you eat a lot of non-crunchy rice dishes like I do. But ultimately I thought it was a good snack or meal base.




Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Sbarro

I went to the one in the Charlotte airport (CLT), which is more like a weird cafeteria line than the Sbarros I'm used to in malls. Still, it has its own charm. I love love love their mushroom, they use so many and they are all great. But this airport Sbarro had no mushroom pizza, woe. I got a slice of roni/pepper pizza and a side of veg (zucchini and broccoli). I thought it was very cool that they had veg, and the slice of pizza was very big, and crispy, though nothing to write home about especially. I also had a terrible stomachache afterwards, but I chalk this up to being in a stressful airport rush and not necessarily Sbarro's bad. I still like them very much.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Salt Lick BBQ

I went to this place at the Austin airport (AUS) and it was very crowded, but the line moved pretty fast. I got the sliced brisket sandwich with potato salad, and it was good; really filling. The potato salad came on top of plain cabbage(?) and it didn't have a very strong flavor, just mayo/potato/egg. It was good, though, and a fun yellow color. The sandwich was good, and the BBQ sauce was good and not especially hot or tomatoey. It was like creamy vinegar sauce, almost. They offer extra containers of it, but you really don't need a lot of sauce. Someone spilled Mountain Dew on me in line so I think that soured me on the experience, but it was decent food and no nuts.

Overall
Cost: 3/10 (like 19$ for a basic takeout meal)
Taste: 6/10

Pop-Tarts - Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon

Ah pop tarts, you know em, you love em. The frosted brown sugar cinnamon ones have a truly classic taste, harkening back to high school, college, and (less often) beyond. Very sweet. They're OK cold, but better toasted. Yes, they're fairly nutritionally vacuous, but they're useful in a pinch (travel, vending machine at the DMV, etc). They also taste pretty good.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 6/10

Cheez-It Snack Mix - Double Cheese

I used this to eat Easy Mac when I didn't have a spoon. It held up. Thanks, Cheez-It! Otherwise, this is really salty and the ingredients list is, like, absurdly long. But it tastes good. All the components are fun: two cheez-it flavors (mostly indistinguishable), cheeto type things (good), little tiny bread pieces (salty bits) and pretzels (the healthy palate cleanser). A good hotel late night snack!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Starburst - Original

I got these at the airport, and indeed these are good for travel, because they come individually wrapped and aren't too messy. They're very sweet, though, and eating the whole bag at once is definitely too much. I think I like the red flavor best (cherry?), then pink (strawberry?), and orange/yellow are a tossup after that. Overall not bad.






Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Chex Mix Muddy Buddies - Cookes & Cream

The name Muddy Buddies makes me think "Ah! Peanut Butter!!" but this actually is totes nut-free, even though there is a peanut butter flavor of it. Chex Mix is pretty good about labelling, though. I lived. This was tasty, the chex is corn rather than rice (not my preference), but it was really sweet and covered in a nice Oreo-type dusting. Overall crunchy, sweet, and satisfying. Plus it came in this cute lil Valentine's package.





Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

In-N-Out Burger

What the heck!? An In-N-Out in Texas? I was shocked to see this, because when I was in college in LA I thought In-N-Out was a strictly California thing. I guess they randomly expanded to Texas (I wish Yoshinoya could too)! Anyway, I like this place not just because of the hype but because it's a solid burger, really tasty, and the menu is so so limited that I'll never have allergy concerns. Only burger, burger with cheese, and fries/milkshakes (Vanilla Chocolate and Strawberry) are available, which is just perfect for me. I enjoyed Cheeseburger, which had a nice crispy bun and was juicy  but not too comically huge like some burgers. A great product. The fries were fine, but I'm not much of a fry girl myself.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

Taco Cabana

There's one of these in the student center at UT Austin, so I went there for lunch while I was in town for a conference. Better this than Chick-Fil-A right? They had tacos, burritos, quesadillas, fajitas, the standard fare. No nuts, but plenty of beans. I wanted to order the Chicken Fajita Quesadilla but I think they just gave me a plain chicken Quesadilla. It was still fine though. Not amazing, basically just cheese and chicken in a tortilla with some sour cream and weird guac on top, but they have a fun salsa bar and it was quite filling, plus no beans in the 'Dilla. Also pretty cheap for Austin.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Romano's Macaroni Grill

I probably didn't have a conventional Macaroni Grill experience, because I went to the one in the Chicago airport (ORD) and I was also alone, so I felt a bit awkward and like I was taking up a seat. My only previous experience with the MG was a long, long time ago when I went with my family, and I remember you could draw on the placemat with crayons but I didn't like the food. Child me might be too hasty, though. They have an allergen menu on line, plus it's Italian, so I felt pretty good about going here during my long layover. This place definitely had a smaller menu than the online one, but they still had Corona (8$) and I got the chicken marsala, which I knew was safe. They also put bread on the table but it looked potentially seedy. Anyway, the marsala was good. It was filling for sure, but not a crazy Olive Garden massive portion either. 2 medium size chicken pieces, some angel hair pasta, and mushrooms and garlic wedges(2) in a lightish marsala sauce. Overall tasty. I think if I weren't rushed/weren't alone I would have been pretty into it. Would go back to a real one someday! But even at the airport alone I would go back, I just need to relax more about taking up space. Life lessons.

Overall
Cost: 4/10 [About 40$ for airport me but in general probably average]
Taste: 7/10

Sweet Baby Ray's Hot Sauce

This was good! Not as good as their BBQ sauce, obviously, but for a sauce not loaded with sugar, it was really nice. It went on chicken and veg nicely, and was hot but not super hot, just a standard hot-wing type sauce.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Idahoan Smokey Cheese & Bacon Mashed Potatoes

OK, the main thing to note about these potatoes for me is that the "bacon" in this flavor isn't real bacon at all, but bacon flavored soy protein. Normally I don't care about fake meat/cheese/flavoring, but I'm mildly allergic to soy protein, so this made me really anxious. I tried to eat around the bacon bits in here, but there are quite a lot of them and it still made me itchy. A scary experience. Other than that, I didn't think this tasted very different from the other cheese flavored varieties anyway. So I'd recommend you just get one of those instead, unless you really love bacon flavor. There is a light smoky bacon flavor here for sure, as well as some plain mild cheddar. Even ignoring the soy thing, I wasn't a big fan of this flavor. Easy to cook & cheap though!


Overall
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 4/10

2016 La Perdrix Costieres de Nimes Blanc

This was a little more tart than I was expecting it to be. More significantly, when I first started drinking this, it made my allergy sense tingle a lot. I had a legit itchy mouth. I don't know why exactly, maybe it was something in the cork? Because I kept drinking this (very slowly), and eventually I did finish off the bottle, and obviously didn't die. The itchy feeling went away after I got about halfway through. In the end it still turned out to be a fairly tart white wine; not bad but the weird experience at the beginning really put me off, so it wasn't great for me as an experience. I do think the bottle is very classy looking and I like all labels with birds on them, including this one.

As a food pairing, I made pork with peaches (canned ones due to availability), and that wasn't bad. Not sure if I really like pork much as a meat, but it is an affordable one and the recipe was quick and fairly easy.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Idahoan Cheddar & Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

This was fine. Standard. As always, Idahoan potatoes are super fast and easy to cook, plus they are a filling meal and fairly low-cal compared to pasta or rice. The taste of these was really nothing special, though, even with added veg. Tastes like cheesy potato, which is totally serviceable but very boring after a few spoonfuls. A monotonous eating experience. But if you like plain pizza, plain bagels, plain donuts, and sauceless meats, you might love this (I do not).

Overall
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 5/10

Deep River Snacks - Aged Cheddar Horseradish Chips

More Bryn Mawr office hour snacks! I never had a horseradish chip before, and boy, that flavor is really noticeable here! I liked it, though, it made the whole thing taste a little like a nice roast beef sandwich. The cheddar notes were comparatively super light. The chips themselves are still way too firm/thick/crispy for my preference, but I thought the taste was good and a fun novelty. Cool stuff!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

enjoy life - chocolate chip banana breakfast ovals

A new product from Enjoy Life that actually isn't full of sunflower seeds/butter! Nice! Even though it's top-8 free, this was surprisingly good; it tasted like oats and chocolate banana bread. The texture was a little weird, it was almost like slivered nuts were in it (I guess that's the oats) and was really dry and crumbly. But I thought it was filling and tasted good, and I'm happy to see this new line of products!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10