Sunny D Peeps

Easter candy is surely the best and worst thing about Easter. There is so much candy about it. Peeps are nut free and cute. And since they're just sugar, they can't make my internal agonies worse (we hope). These do taste like sunny D (bad sweetened orange "drink"), but they aren't sunny D, they are candy. So they are better than Sunny D. Also very cute. But a serving is 4 and they come in sleeves of 5. Peeps got a (Sunny) D in math I guess. I got a fresh batch so they're pretty decent, all told.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 6/10 

Life Savers Swirled Lollipops

Surely X will fix me... today, x=candy. I got these because the picture kind of looked like Cream Savers on a stick, which are a great nostalgia item. However, the white swirl is not at all cream, it's some sort of vanilla flavor (or really, neutral flavor). These aren't even made by Life Savers, actually, they're contracted out to Spanglers, who make some allergy friendly things (like Dum Dums) but also some dangerous ones (like Neccos and Bit-O-Honey). The bag reads as safe, though. 

Orange & Vanilla:  I guess the flavor is pretty true to form. Tastes like orange soda mixed with a little cream soda, but as a lollipop. It's fine, big and flat, but it didn't fix me. 6/10

Blueberry & Vanilla:  This one might be fixing me. It's better, like a nice blueberry flavored dessert (a Dunkin' Blueberry even). Kind of weird notes for a lollipop. But I like it. 7/10

Strawberry & Vanilla:  Ehh. Not fixing me. The worst flavor, I think, although it is fine. Tastes like a low-quality strawberry candy (which, lo and behold, it is!). 6/10

Cherry & Vanilla:  Maybe a fixer. I always like cherry lollipops. Nice bright flavor. Also some weird notes. This vanilla part really isn't adding much. Ah well. Easter, what can you do, right? 7/10

Overall
Cost: 7/10 (I don't actually remember, which means it was probably cheap)
Taste: 6/10

2020 Ravelston Cabernet

Insane day. I found out during a routine meeting that my bosses are planning to close down the department I work in. So, I've unironically turned to the bottle. Was that wise? Surely not. But I don't regret it.... I love you, the bottle. Or at least, this bottle.

Actually, on first sip, this tasted rotten - as if it'd gone off. Not as good as their '22 cab, or so I thought. But if you let it sit! Oh! It improves so quickly. Pretty thick, not too tanniny, pleasant fruity/plummy notes. It's a grower. A breather. A good omen, perhaps. Breathe with me, blog fans.....................

 

Overall 
Cost: 6/10 [9$!]
Taste: 7/10
 

Pop Tarts - Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

She's back, and more disgusting than ever~! No, not me, these pop tarts. One of my greatest struggles is pounding ~1000 calos in the 12-16 frantic hours I spend out of the house away from Any Buyable Safe Food on school days, and pumpkin seeds and pretzels haven't been cutting it lately. Pop Tarts are a great portable calorie bomb, but they are far from great. Especially this flavor, back for the war. It's particularly sweet, even among pop tarts, which is really saying something. There's also a strange little artificial flavor - although not as egregious as some (the cinnamon ones and girl scout ones, mainly), more like "foot" than "chemical spill". I feel it is worse than the first time this flavor existed. Less cookie dough, more "odd sweet wheat mush (sweaty)". Ew. But in the moment it did serve its purpose of filling the void in my awkward 2 minutes of eating while people watch me eating. Thanks for that, pop tart. And no allergens! Woo! Although this box is a lil bit Reese's coded...

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10 

Fiji Water

One of my favorite college sports cheers: over-rated 👏👏👏👏👏

Fiji is where Survivor is now, and that's overrated too. The bottle is cute. Fiji seems beautiful. I read a long article recently about the inability to deal with pollution on Fiji, mainly from cans and bottles, so that's not helping matters (but Fiji water is also a huge part of their economy, so, ehhhh). Anyway this tastes like water. It's a little basic (like, not acidic), which I guess is better tasting than the opposite. Very thick. Very soft. You wouldn't want to shower in Fiji water. I guess I'm used to being pelted with firm, tangy metals, both in my mouth and shower. It tastes fine and I like water, the reason it's overrated is that it's like 3 bucks for a 1 liter bottle of water, and there is free water in my place of employment. 

Overall
Cost: 4/10 [2$, I rounded up OK?]
Taste: 6/10 

McCormick Garlic Powder

Out of actual food to review... back to the spice cabinet!

This is garlic powder. It is in a lot of (savory) recipes, like pasta and meat. It is more convenient than garlic, but not as delicious. A little goes a lot way. My store was out of the normal size so I got this giant size instead. The holes are way bigger so I will probably use it equally fast because of repeated "oh no that's way too much" instances. (In terms of taste it's not too much, but in terms of heartburn, you bet your bippy it is!) 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10 

Undercover Chocolate Quinoa Crisps - Dark Chocolate + Blueberries

And with this, I've finally finished my "trendy nut free snack" excursion (for the time being)! These are pretty different from the cherry ones in that you can't perceive the blueberries at all. They are texturally indistinguishable from the plain dark choco ones (a plus), but without the sea salt (a minus, it turns out). I guess there is a mild blueberry flavor, but if I weren't looking for it, I'd probably just think it's the fruity notes of the choco. So perhaps my ranking is: milk > salt > blueb > cherry. (Whereas my non-Undercover ranking is probably the exact opposite!!) 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10