Katz Gluten Free Glazed Chocolate Donut Holes

Man, I really love desserts and Asian food, and it's darn hard to find (non-homemade) versions of those things that are nut-free. Of course, a Gluten Free option like this is often your best bet, and of course, gluten free things are nasty. (Or maybe just: frozen donut holes are nasty). So rating these among "food", these are weirdly corny and not great. But considering my options, I'd say they're pretty solidly "OK". 19 seconds to cook 6 of 'em is about right, and that's a somewhat satisfying little treat. Somewhat. Coating is good.

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 6/10

2020 Decibel Sauvignon Blanc

Ah, 2020 edition of this wine, which I tried the 2019 version of previously, you're much better than the year from whence you came. I went into this knowing that Decibel was safe and solid, so I enjoyed it even more this time around, feeding off of that safety! It was solid warm and cold, very consistent, bright non-fruity and not super acidic white. Very enjoyable. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [19$]
Taste: 7/10

LaClare Chipotle Honey Goat Cheese

Combos of spicy and sweet rarely work for me. So, this wasn't my ideal cheese flavor. I'm not really sure how I felt about it, though. At times it was kind of gross, but at other times it was "OK". The chipotle peppers in it are good, just like pepper jack cheese peppers, and the honey flavoring would be nice on its own, but I don't think I like the combo. It reduces the goodness of two otherwise good things.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Two-Bite Vanilla Cupcakes

These were so great. Ack! They're like little bakery cakes! Adorable and delicious and oh-so-sweet. And nut free. I am glad that these are hard to find because otherwise I'd buy them every day and that'd be bad news (even though they're really only like 100 cals each).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 8/10

Stouffer's French Bread Pizza - Pepperoni

I've been on a slight frozen pizza kick, I guess because they're cheap and not over-easy to cook or over-satisfying. The rogi of frozen pizza! Anyway this flavor, also soy-free, is maybe even better than the supreme one because it ends up less burnt and more like a school pizza. Maybe better than plain cheese too because at least there's something to pick off of it and eat like a weirdo. Solid stuff, pretty similar to the other types.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Sargento Provolone Cheese Slices

These were good! I saw recently that Sargento is safe for nut allergies, so when I needed Provolone cheese, I went straight for this. I don't like the sound of "smoke flavor" (gross) but fortunately, I didn't really taste any much thing, just solid sandwich cheese. I mainly used these for melting on a burger, and it worked great. No complaints.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

two-bite Chocolate Cupcakes

These are great! OK, I'm not a huge chocolate cupcake/frosting fan -- it's probably my least favorite flavor. But it's so rare to find nut-free bakery, and this has a "made in a nut-free facility" sticker on it, which is huge. My grocery store is very sporadic with stocking these, and always just one flavor at a time, so I buys it when I sees it. Compared to the vanilla flavor, which is amazing, this is a bit less delicious -- especially the frosting. It's also way less sweet, which does have an appeal, but I'm not eating lil cupcakes for classy health reasons here. The cake part is good, moist cake, but the frosting is just kinda there for me here. Very cute though, nice small size.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

2020 Baudron Malbec

Ah, wine. I couldn't view the recommended steakum recipe pairing, but that's OK, just solo wine is enough sometimes. This was a solid red, it did make me very red-faced, but it was consistent through 3 days of temperature changes, and it made me feel pleasantly wine-drunk. Tasted mild for a malbec, not super acidic or thin or sharp or whatever bad red qualities there can be. Also not super fruity or earthy, almost the platonic neutral of reds. No allergy info. No complaints otherwise.

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

Sam's fresh salsa - Mild

I was in the market for a pico I didn't have to make myself, and this served the purpose fairly well. Surprisingly long expiry date, I guess because of all the vinegar in here. It looks the part perfectly, but the taste is a little bit off from what I'd want -- too sweet, too wet, too vinegary (like cole slaw!) obviously for perishability reasons. Still pretty solid, especially in small doses, and a nice way to add that pico-vibe to your guac/taco/etc. 

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

Freak Flag Broccoli & Cheese Mac & Freak

I always fall into this trap of thinking that organic food, being more expensive, will also be of higher quality and therefore more delicious. But that's clearly not true!! This actually wasn't that expensive, to be fair, but it also was (sadly) not very delicious. It wasn't offensive or anything, but ultimately tasted a bit like day-old reheated mac and cheese -- dry and clumpy, even though I used tonnes of milk and butter. The noodles were pretty firm compared to your Krafts, which is actually bad here I think, and the taste was somewhat garlicy(?) or horshradishy(?!) but otherwise no strong notes of either cheese or creaminess or even brocco. Alas.

Overall
Cost: 6/10 [2$ish]
Taste: 5/10

Mrs T's Sour Cream & Chive Pierogies

These, like many a rogi, are just fine! They taste a bit like sour cream dip on a potato, which is pleasant and a slight change of rogi-pace. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

2019 Baudron Sutil Cabernet Sauvignon

This was OK! I had it with my parents, since they like CabSavs, which makes me think "ech, probably gross", but it was quite smooth and therefore a decent drinking experience. I was hoping to make the Tri-Tip recipe rec, but I can't view it thru the BA paywall, so I'll just have to imagine that it'd go well. Cork and no allergy info, but no issues otherwise.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [17$]
Taste: 6/10

Briette - Creamy & Mild

As the name indicates, this is a small wheel of Brie. It's cute, seemed fresh, and is about 450cals for the full wheel. The rind is OK, not super thick but I still prefer to peel most of it off, and the inner soft cheese is good, great texture but with a little bit more "tang" than I prefer in a brie. Feels fancy, but in reality hard to not eat all of it at once (and hard to serve/partition in a sensible way). Probably good with fruit, meat, or crackers -- I just ate it on its own like a ghoul. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

2018 Mairena Ocasión Malbec

Huh, who knew I had had so many Mairenas! I guess they're all solid, even if the allergy info is a mystery. I drank this one at my parents' house, and at first I was vibing with it, feeling happy, enjoying the Malbec flavor, and then I found out I had to stay home longer than expected for car repairs and the wine tasted less good. Just goes to show how emotions infuse our preferences!!!! But I think this was basically solid, regardless. 

Now the food pairing of Fried Bologna Sandwich was another story. The recipe is now paywalled, but don't worry, you aren't missing out. I don't like bologna, but I thought "hey, maybe frying it and adding all these other ingredients will change things". It didn't change things. This was a waste of good sandwich materials. All other sandwiches are superior to bologna. 

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

2021 Mairena Extra Brut Sparkling Rosé

Bubbly! I avoided drinking this one for a while because I'm scared of popping corks, lol. But I did it! It was scary but ultimately lead to this bubbly rosé, which had a nice fizz, isn't super sweet, and was generally nice. Kind of dry for a rosé, but that's not a bad thing.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [17$]
Taste: 7/10

Frosted Cheerios

Hey, these were pretty good! Much better than normal Cheerios, which I never much liked (although the older I get, the better they are). These basically taste like Alpha-Bits cereal, without the marshmallows, and that was one of my most favorite cereals. I only bought the General Mills variety pack because Kellogg's was having strike action, but I think I actually prefer it. Good job, Cheerios.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

2018 Montsablé Chardonnay

I am sad to report that I couldn't make the suggested carbonara recipe pairing because I don't want to pay to subscribe to BA. Ah well. The wine was still okay. Tart and sour, but not SUPER tropical-fruity like some whites. Acidic but not "thin". Not my favorite, but better when cold.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Truly Grass-Fed Sharp Cheddar

This is solid sharp cheddar cheese. To be honest, I wasn't sure if this was any different from the non-sharp version when I first tried it, but now that I'm hyperaware, I do get the vibe that this tastes a bit more like a typical grocery sharp cheddar block. Which I don't LOVE. But it's OK, very strong flavor so a little goes a lot way. It was also weirdly sweaty/damp when I opened it, but that went away after a few days of fridge storage, soo maybe that's just Truly's vibe. It's OK, it's sharp, it's cheddar. Would buy again, even though it does not melt well at all!

Overall
Cost: 5/10 (5$?)
Taste: 6/10

Vegan Rob's Cheddar Puffs

Eeeeew fam. These have the exquisite flavor notes of "nail polish remover" and "light onion salt dusting". Truly much worse than any of the other VR flavors, I'm not sure what went wrong here. They do have a nice crunch, but an upsetting and weird (and not at all cheesy) flavor. Do not buy.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 4/10

SuperSeedz - Somewhat Spicy

As the name implies, these are, indeed, somewhat spicy pumpkin seeds. They have all the perks (protein, nut free, snack, lots of them) of the flavorless version, plus the added enjoyment of some flavoring (mostly hot pepper in my perception). I enjoy them a lot, although my criticism of I Would Rather Have Shells still stands, as well as the fact that I think a sweet+spicy flavor (like cinnamon sugar + cumin) would be tastier still.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10