Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Thin & Crispy Butter Crisp Cookies

Hm. Turns out a butter cookie with flavor notes of (1) butter and (2) crisp tastes... kinda boring. It is indeed buttery and a cookie, and sweet but not super sweet. It is round and honestly not very crispy. Just a normal crumbly circle of cookie. I've been having a pretty rough week, brain-wise, which made me fear that the chocolate-containing milano I ate last week was the culprit, so I went for a non-chocolatey option here. But all the non-chocolatey options are crap! I might as well just eat some butter sprinkled with sugar on my own time (but that sounds gross, is my point).

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 6/10
Degree of Butteriness: 10/10

Orange Chocolate Milano

As a creature of habit, having run out of white chocolate milanos to sample, I went for the original milk choco this week (or dark choco? I actually am not sure. Maybe dark choco). For now, no regrets. These are a top-tier cookie. They taste like a (now-may-contain-nuts) Terry's Chocolate Orange; that is to say: they taste like happiness. Like soft, unfettered innocence. Like a winter festival. Good.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 8/10

Blueberry Bran Crunch

A fun new cereal!, I thought. Wrong. It is not fun. But it is a new cereal, so here we are. It also has 'bran' in the name, which maybe should have tipped me off as to its unfunness. But I like Raisin Bran and I mildly enjoy both the frosted & complete brans (although they aren't really fun). Blueberry is a good fruit and crunch is a fine noise to make. So then, what happened here? It's just boring. The blueberry is flavoring only, and not bits like raisin bran has raisin bits (aka raisins). And the flavoring is kinda artificial, like a cheapo blueberry muffin. It's still an OK flavor, but it isn't good. The bran is soggy and typical of kelloggs. As far as I could perceive, there were no crunches. Ho hum. At least there's fiber! 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Swanson Unsalted Beef Broth

Just call me Lord of the Broths. This is a good one. I needed 5 cups and it is FOUR cups, and my store had just ONE BOX (bashed up, to boot) remaining. Must be that avian influenza. But it was a good box. I made beef stew (wine-free edition) and the broth was definitely better than the beef, and for that I thank this low-sodium base. It tastes like Beef Broth, but not in a tomatoey or itchy way, just in a warm, thin, vaguely herbal way. Thanks, Swanson! Soy-free as always.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

utz sourdough specials - original

Having exhausted the extra-dark pretzel options from utz, it was time for me to try the "original" version. Well, now I know the original version is inferior. Tastes like nothing (whereas the extra dark ones taste like Pretzel). The texture of these is good -- immanently biteable -- and the size is also good; 5 makes a satisfying serving. The ingredient statement has my heart, as ever. But these pretzels are hardly special(s).

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Frosted Flakes Glazed Donut Holes

Yooo this is a weird little cereal. Its tan orbs have seemingly nothing in common with frosted flakes or glazed donut holes (minus the shape: orb). They smell like a French Toast Crunch kinda deal and taste like a dense, mild version of same. It is not unpleasant, but it is very confusing given the branding. I guess these are more cake donut than yeast donut, right down to the little brown speckles. I'm pretty sure [edit: yep] that these are corn based, which is all the weirder since neither frosted flakes nor donut holes (nor glaze) are corn based, other than like, corn syrup. Maybe it is a societal commentary. Maybe "crunchy syrup balls" didn't test well in their focus group. People probably do like to be vexed. Why, I feel a little pleasure in it just now, myself.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Milano: Coconut White Chocolate

Milano historians know that this is not the first coconut milano, but it is the first white chocolate coconut milano. Blog historians know that the other two white chocolate flavors (lemon, strawberry) had some inadequacies, but I was compelled to get to this one eventually. But it's good that I did! This flavor has only adequacies. At minimum! The taste is overwhemingly coconut, but the white choco (which isn't perceptively funky) tempers it with mild sweetness, as does the cookie. All together it's like their coconut cake, but much smaller and therefore less one-note. It also reminds me of the Samoa girl scout cookies, or at least the Dunkin flavor swirl inspired by them. Strong coconut, but not strongly artificial, with some caramelly/choco backnotes (despite white choco only). Delightful for coconut likers, and for me. 

Overall
Cost: 4/10 [5$]
Taste: 7/10