Life without a basket

I went on an epic vacation not too long ago. And by epic, I mean I took a 5-day cruise, got home for 20 minutes, and left again for New York to attend Electric Zoo. That was pretty stressful, having to prepare for a second trip in 20 minutes, and I forgot to bring several things with me. But that was nothing compared to what I forgot to bring back with me when I returned home.

My bike basket!!

My boyfriend and I stayed at the house of some of his relatives in New Jersey. They gamely carried both our bicycles from the bus stop to their house in the middle seat of their minivan, a feat which I never thought possible. In order to fit my bike in the very cramped space, I had to remove the basket from the handlebars. I kept it in the room that I stayed in, and, in the chaos of trying to get everyone and everything situated for the trip back (this time, the whole family came along, necessitating that the bikes be tied onto the roof), I left my basket in their house.

Oh, the woe!

Since I use my bike to commute to the office every day, carrying such essentials as lunch and shoes and any items I happen to purchase at Rugged Wearhouse after work—and since I hate wearing a backpack while biking because it turns my back into a swamp of sweat—I had to find another cargo solution—for the entire month or so that I will be basketless until the relatives come into town for a visit!

On the plus side, this motivated me to finally attach the rear rack that I've been putting off for almost a year now. On the minus side, the new basket that I found to fulfill the task has proven wholly annoying (though popular with passers-by).

I chose to use the wicker animal carrier that I bought for my rabbit but never used for anything but storing his bags of litter. What makes this item so annoying is, well, just about everything.

It opens via a door on the side, meaning I have to bend over and feed all my possessions into it sideways. It's bigger than my old basket, but because it's fully enclosed, I have no option for an oversized load. It keeps coming open when I ride, although I have not yet had the misfortune of my stuff spilling out of it while in transit. It makes mounting the bike more challenging, and it keeps touching my butt while I'm riding, which is disconcerting.

I'm still looking for other alternatives. Stay tuned as the saga continues!

Macaroni and cheese from Hill Country

Those are our Mason jars full of beverages in the background. How southern!

I've had so many sub-par macaronis in the past months—some so bad I didn't even feel like reviewing them. It was a relief to finally have a macaroni that wasn't tasteless or mushy. In fact, it was pleasantly chewy. And rated just the right amount of salty. And with gooey lumps of cheese that stretch when you lift them with your fork. And tempting burnt patches! Of all the macaronis that I've tried since beginning my MacaroniQuest, this is the one that reminds me the most of my grandmother's.

It was just unfortunate that I had to go to a place swarming with meat to eat it.

The first time I went to Hill Country, (once I got over the pervasive odor of barbecued animals), I was pleasantly surprised by the macaroni and cheese, but I lost the photo I took of it, so I never did blog about it.

The second time I went there, I took one bite and actually said, "I love this macaroni and cheese!" It was then that I knew that Hill Country is my new favorite source for macaroni. I also remembered, miraculously, to take the photo and keep it.

I rate this macaroni 2 happy noodles for taste and chewiness. Then I'll give it another happy noodle for so thoroughly trumping all macaronis thus far. And I'll refrain from giving it a sad noodle, since it's not the macaroni's fault it came from a barbecue establishment.

Why do you do what you Doritos?

It is no secret that I am in love with Doritos. My house feels empty when I don't have  a bag or two stockpiled. I have been known to make them my entree for dinner and lunch.

But there is a secret I haven't been so keen to let on: Doritos don't love me back.

Now I can just imagine the peanut gallery out there going, "Yeah, I bet, when you eat Doritos, they must give you the runs so bad..." Get your minds out of the gutter, peanut gallery! My innards are blissfully unaffected by any amount of Mexican food, no matter how fake and heavily processed.

But what is not so unaffected? My lips.

Sadly, after almost any Dorito binge, I can pretty much expect all the skin to flake off my lips within a few days. This is annoying and inexplicable. Do I have some kind of weird allergy? Are the dry, salty chips just desiccating my flesh? Whenever I eat Doritos, I make a conscious effort to wipe with a napkin frequently and guzzle more water than I think I need, but it never seems to help.

Why, Doritos, when I love you so much do you treat me so bad!? Oh, well, no matter. My love for you is unconditional. I will continue to eat you, even if you change your recipe for the worse.

Oh, wait, you already did that.

Remember when I blogged about Doritos' impending design change and promise of a bolder flavor?  Apparently when they said bolder, they only meant more painful, because the only difference I could detect between the Doritos of the New Bag and the Doritos of old was that the new ones were spicier and made my mouth hurt (but fortunately, did not make the lip-flaking any worse than usual). And the Cool Ranch still doesn't have enough flavor.

And because I promised I would make package redesigns part of my blogging repertoire, here are the old bag and the new bag side by side.

A Passel of Panera Reviews

Panera macaroni and cheese

 A few mornings ago, I went for breakfast so late that I felt more like eating lunch. I was at Panera, one of my favorite restaurants on account of all the things on their menu my picky self can actually eat! So I decided to partake of the macaroni and cheese.

I ordered a small, because a small is usually big enough. This one, however, wasn't. They filled my little 12-oz container (it could have been 8 ounces, I'm a terrible judge of size) half full of macaroni, charged me five dollars for it, and left me out to dry. Ugh. It was tasty, for sure, but if you're ever at Panera pondering the pasta, do yourself a favor and order an entree. The macaroni side dish is possibly the world's biggest smallest rip-off.

I rate this macaroni 2 sad noodles for the outrageous price, and one happy noodle for the taste.

Panera Chocolate Duet Cookie 

 After my utter failure to get a decent-sized lunch for a decent price, I was still hungry for cookies. Actually that's not true—I assuaged my hunger with a carrot cake muffin and saved the cookie for later.

That cookie was the Chocolate Duet. Chocolate cookie, chocolate chips, and a smattering of walnuts on top. I think it had white chocolate too, but I actually didn't notice any when I was eating it.

The walnuts really took this cookie to a whole new level, as they were crunchy. Deliciously crunchy in a deliciously soft cookie (some of that softness may be due to the extremely warm ambient temperature at which I ate it—the chocolate chips were also melted at the time of eating, which I never enjoy).

I found this cookie a surprising delight, since I'm usually lukewarm about chocolate cookies. Maybe it just takes an extreme ambient temperature to warm me up to them...

I'm assuming this cookie was 100 grams on the dot, like all Panera cookies, although its price was a little higher than the last ones I bought, at 2.09. That means they are even less of a two-star value than their Ohio counterparts.

The Bottom Line:
Taste: 5 stars
Texture: 5 stars
Price: 2 stars

Chocolate chip cookie from Uptowner Cafe in Georgetown

All chocolate chip cookies are beginning to taste the same to me. I found the chocolate chips too soft and almost too sweet. Perhaps my tastes are running to the more-sophisticated dark chocolate.

Nothing about this cookie really stands out as superb.

The price was average at 1.59¢ per gram.

The best feature of this cookie was the texture, which passed the crumble test with flying colors. I carried it around in my purse for a whole evening, once, even bending it almost in half, and it still didn't drop a crumb.

The Bottom Line
Taste:3 stars
Price: 3 stars
Texture: 4 stars

AU Cookie

Ashland University is famous, in part, for its AU cookies, which are shamelessly used to lure prospective students to its gates. It worked on me. AU cookies were one of the first, if not the very first, kinds of Giant Cookie I ever consumed. Strangely, it took me over 2 years of Giant Cookie reviewing before I finally got my hands on one of the cookies that started me down this path.

I attended an alumni event earlier in the summer, where I was pleased to see the cookies that had been on my To-Review list ever since I started this blog.

Unfortunately, after all the build-up, I was a little disappointed. It was overflowing with chocolate and crunchy nuts, but the taste of the cookie itself wasn't that impressive. It was also thinner than I remembered, making it less satisfying to bite into than I'd prefer.

The bottom line
Taste: 3 stars
Texture: 3 stars

Prairie City Cookies

Prairie City cookies can be found at the Union Shop on the University of Maryland campus. Surprisingly, I'd been working here for 2 and a half years before I finally decided to give one a try.

Prairie City White Macadamia Nut cookie

The white chocolate macadamia nut cookie was my first choice. It was not exactly crispy, but still too crunchy for my taste (it mostly passed the crumble test, but snapped in the process). Its main issue was a kind of sour taste that I associate with cheap packaged cookies. And the kicker was it wasn't even cheap, costing around 1.75¢ per gram.
I also thought the white chocolate was too soft.

The Bottom Line:
Taste: 1 star
Texture: 2 stars
Price: 3 stars

Prairie City Candy cookie

Later on, to be fair, and also because I didn't pay attention to the price when I bought the first cookie, I tried a different variety—this time it was Mmmm...Candy, with pieces of candy that bore a striking similarity to M&Ms.

This cookie was much better than the first. It tasted sweet and buttery, and its texture was fairly chewy (good) but also somewhat crumbly (less good).

The Bottom Line
Taste: 4 stars
Texture: 3 stars
Price: 3 stars

Bernadette's Peanut Butter Cookie

 
Recently, I went on a vacation to the Midwest.

After days of suffering the meat-centric cuisine of Kansas City and its environs, I went to get my boyfriend change from the cashier at some heinous barbecue joint, and I returned from the cashier's stand with two delicious-looking giant cookies. This cookie arrived in my life just when I was beginning to lose hope of ever enjoying my food.

And enjoy it I did! It was one of the best cookies I've eaten in my history of giant cookie reviewing.
It was just cooked enough to hold it together, but still soft and almost raw on the inside. The coarse sugar on top added just the right amount of textural variety.

I loved this cookie with my whole heart. I wish I could have reviewed its sister chocolate chip cookie, but alas, I accidentally left it in my brother's fridge when I left Kansas.

But if you're ever in Kansas City, have a gander at Best of Bernadette's Cakes and Catering, because at least one cookie will be worth your effort.

The Bottom Line
Taste: 5 stars
Texture: 5 stars
Price: 4 stars

Cosi Chocolate Chunk Cookie

 
Ever since Cosi changed the recipe for their white chocolate chip cookies, to contain walnuts instead of macadamia nuts, I just haven't felt the same love for them. And now, only 2 years and a month after my very first Giant Cookie review, in which I contemplated reviewing one of Cosi's chocolate chunk cookies, I finally took the plunge.

The price is $1.99 for 100 g. At 1.9¢ a gram, the chocolate chunk cookies aren't any better value than the white chocolate cookies were when I first reviewed them.

The texture is chewy enough, but it lacks the gooey goodness that distinguishes a good cookie from a great one. It almost borders on tough.

The flavor is also bland and unexciting, though I will give them a little credit for using dark chocolate instead of everyday milk or semisweet.

The Bottom Line:
Taste: 3 stars
Texture: 3 stars
Price: 2 stars

Chocolate chip cookie from Le Pain Quotidien

Stopping in at a restaurant just to use the bathroom usually means you buy something out of guilt. For me, it's obviously going to be Giant Cookies!

This one came from Le Pain Quotidien.

And quite appropriately, since eating this cookie was one of the most "pain"ful experiences I've had in my history of Giant Cookie reviewing.

Even though it was still soft in a lot of spots, it was pretty dark brown for a chocolate chip cookie. Like it was overcooked. It was also sort of sour around the edges. Like it was overcooked.

And it was dry. It also had a piece of paper cooked into it.

And it had an almost sticky surface that I found unappetizing.

I'd be willing to give this bakery another chance, because it seems like this cookie was a result of an off day, but as of now, I will have to review it unfavorably.

As is common lately, I ate this cookie away from access to a scale, so I can't judge its value too accurately, but it cost over three dollars, and couldn't have weighed more than around 150 grams, putting it at around 2¢ a gram, or, not cheap.

The Bottom Line:
Taste: 1 star
Texture: 2 stars

The ABC's of Me

Not too long ago, my fellow blogger Geoff hit the world with an epic alphabetical list of all the traits that make him him, and he said it sounded like something I would do, so I said I'd do it. Well, it took me 2 weeks to think of an adjective that began with Z, but finally it is here! One word for every letter of the alphabet, each describing something about me!

A is for Awesome. That's right. Let's start this already narcissistic post off with a bang!

B is for Bouncy. And I mean that quite literally. My favorite thing to do instead of standing still is to bounce on my toes. My favorite thing to do instead of sitting still is to bounce my legs up and down.

C is for Colorful. The brighter the better. Why do something in beige when you can do it in rainbow instead?

D is for Deliberate. As in the exact opposite of impulsive.  I look before I look before I look before I leap, and think about every decision for at least a few days. Unless I am crossing the road, and then I usually just step out blindly.

E is for Eco-conscious. People call me a hippie because I compost, reuse everything, go out of my way to recycle, never buy things new when I can buy them used, choose walking or biking or public transportation over driving almost all the time, carry mountains of groceries in my arms rather than use a disposable bag, and carry a weight of guilt that is approximately equal to the number of pounds of carbon I release into the atmosphere with all my wasteful activities.

F is for Forgetful. I can't remember what else I was going to say about that.

G is for Gullible. I believe everything I'm told, which means my boss has lots of fun telling me I'm getting fired all the time. Gee, thanks, Boss.

H is for Honest. I don't steal, I don't cheat, and sometimes I think I disappoint people by telling the truth when they ask me my opinion.

I is for Introverted. I am the shyest person I know. And I don't know many.

J is for Jumpy. Just watch me when someone pokes me from behind. Or I almost step on a worm. Or drop a cockroach that I'm trying to carry out of the building on piece of paper. This goes hand in hand with screamy, but that's not a word.

K is for Klutzy. If you looked at my legs, which are covered in scratches, scrapes, and bruises, that would be all you would need to know. But you could look at my left elbow if you weren't sure. I slammed that into a chair 2 weeks ago, and I'm still bitter about it.

L is for Logical. I am swell at following scenarios to their logical conclusions, and one of my favorite phrases is, "That doesn't make sense!"

M is for Moody. When I'm happy, I'm on top of the world. When I'm sad, I'm despondent. And when I'm mad, I'm hysterical. I can switch from one to the other of these moods in as much time as it takes me to open a cupboard door into my skull.

N is for Nice. That's what all the kids in elementary school said when asked to describe themselves, and I'm sticking to it. Besides, I think it's true, if not very sophisticated in the literary sense.

O is for Obsessive-compulsive. Not in the crazy way, just in the way that everything has to be neat and tidy and spelled correctly.

P is for Perfectionistic. Oh, and everything has to be perfect. That too.

Q is for Quick. If I have to move slowly for some reason, I slowly go insane.

R is for Risk-averse. I would rather never try something than take the chance of failing at it.

S is for Smiley. When people who don't know my name are trying to call me by name, they usually choose "Smiley." That or "Blondie," but since right now my hair is aqua, it would have to be "bluey" and that just doesn't have the same ring.

T is for Thrifty. Nothing feels better to me than saving a few bucks.

U is for Unhealthy. When I don't have some minor malady ruining my life, I'm worrying that I do.

V is for Vegetarian. You would not believe what a hot topic of discussion this is among everyone who meets me. Let's not discuss it right here.

W is for Wordy. I love to write, and I love to elaborate. Why say something in a sentence if you can say it in a paragraph?

X is for Xerodermic. Every so often, my lips turn into a mini-Mojave, and then I can think of nothing else.

Y is for Yeller. That's right, I'm skeert of pretty much everything.

Z is for Zany. This is basically a second-rate synonym for "goofy," which I was going to use for G because people have on several occasions called me a goofball and meant it in a complimentary way. But I really wanted to get that "gullible" in there, and how many other words start with a Z?

So what about you? Can you alphabetize your existence? If you're a blogger, too, why not have at it? Or if not, just post the whole thing on Myspace, like old times!

Chocolate Walnut Espresso Cookie from Firehook Bakery

Firehook Bakery used to be my main source of 7-layer bars, meaning when I was there, I rarely sampled their wide variety of Giant Cookies, but since I learned I could make 7-layer bars myself, suddenly the game had changed. The last time I was at Firehook, I dove in, and requested a type of cookie I rarely choose: the all-chocolate one. Turns out it was chocolate walnut espresso, but it was too late to back out so I bought in.

Not having a very good sense of smell, I could just barely detect the espresso, but that's fine with me, since I don't much like coffee flavors anyway.

What I did detect was a sharp, almost painful coldness to the cookie, like what you feel when you're eating mint. Which was odd, because I'm pretty sure there was no mint in it. Altogether, I was not too impressed with the flavor.

The texture was nice. It crunched on the outside (causing it to fail the crumble test) but was soft on the inside, which I liked. I would have preferred more soft to crunchy, though.



And as far as price goes, here are the numbers:135 g., 1.87$ = 1.38¢ per g.

The Bottom Line:
Taste: 3 stars
Texture: 4 stars
Price: 3 stars

3 Chocolate chip cookies from Dawson's Market

These cookies just barely squeaked by the 10-cm diameter minimum to qualify as a Giant Cookie.

I ate them away from access to a scale, so I can not speak as to their value, but I don't really think they're worth it. The 3-pack cost me $3.99, which is fairly good as far as Giant Cookies go in general, but they seemed to lack in flavor and wow factor.

The texture was decent, but nothing to write home about either.

The Bottom Line:
Taste: 2 stars
Texture: 3 stars

Spending Spree

When I start buying a lot of things, I sometimes like to catalog them, just so (1) I can keep track of what I got, (2) so I can keep track of the great deals I snagged, and (3) so I have a reminder of how frivolous I'm being, to encourage me to stop it!

Last week, I made three big purchases on eBay, adding up to almost 50 dollars:

A lot of green clothing (6 pieces),
A lot of 5 dresses, and
A skirt set.

Then I bought a yoga mat on Amazon. In order to get free shipping, I added on an 11-dollar pair of shoes, for a grand total of 30 dollars.

A few days later, a pile of discounts combined in such a way that I was able to order a 54-dollar pair of shoes for just 10 dollars. It is an absolutely awesome pair of shoes, by the way. I really hope it fits and the color is right!

Yesterday, an ad directed me to NoMoreRack.com, where I found a hairbrush that promises to detangle my hair gently. I've been having a lot of trouble with my brush lately, so I had to spend the 14 dollars.

Today, purchased a bundle pack of 10 yoga classes for 29 dollars and unexpectedly got an additional 10-dollar discount. That's really cheap, but when you factor in the cost of riding the Metro to get there, it is not quite so appealing. But I'm doing it anyway, because my boyfriend has 900 dollars on his Metro card and offered to let me help him use it up.

Tomorrow, while said boyfriend is drinking it up at a beer and bourbon festival (we're mostly inseparable, but for beer and bourbon, I'll make an exception), I have every intention of using the 20%-off coupon for Shoppers World that comes in the mail every 2 weeks without fail. I might spend up to 10 dollars! Mama needs some new black shorts!

However, I'm still not the high-roller I might appear to be, because tonight I'm going to trade up my broken sofa for a coworker's cat-scratched one. For free! Now, I just need to do something about that non-functioning TV...Or is it the VCR and the DVD player simultaneously? Or is it the cables?

No No, Nose

Right before I lost my prescription drug coverage at the end of 2011, I stocked up on nasal steroid spray, pretty much the only product I used at the time that required a prescription.

And then, in typical bring-an-umbrella fashion,* being prepared for the worst made the worst not happen. 2012 was a glorious year in which (except for a few times when I had a cold) I did not suffer from a single blocked nose. 2013 is not. Since January, I've had three upper respiratory infections, each of which have resulted in at least a few days of complete nasal blockage. Today marks the third day in a row that my nose has been extremely congested (but mostly on one side) for no apparent reason.

Earlier in the month, I visited a new doctor, who reinstated my prescription for nasal steroids, even though I told him I didn't really need any just yet. But since CVS kept calling to let me know my prescription was ready, I decided to at least go pick it up for later use. But then I found out it would cost 60 dollars for a 1-month supply.

Curses. Once my fears that I wouldn't be able to afford my prescription any more were confirmed, my nose immediately went into overdrive, hitting me with the worst flare-up of idiopathic rhinitis (I only call it that because I haven't found the cause yet, not because all possible causes have been conclusively ruled out—for example, I have not had an allergy test) in I-don't-know-how-long (but my last blog post on the topic was in 2010).

I've been holding back, but I think I'm finally going to have to start using my steroid spray again. I have one reserved bottle from the Before Times, and then I'll have to suck it up and pay the pharmacist.

In the meantime, though, there is one good thing about this congestion--it keeps me moving. Every hour or so, I try to get up and do a little exercise. With a stuffy nose, I have extra motivation to keep up this routine, since when my heart rate's up is about the only time that I can breathe without chemical assistance.

*You can pretty much guarantee a beautiful sunny day if you just carry an umbrella around with you, because nature is perverse like that. If it can't make you uncomfortable in the rain, it'll make sure you're uncomfortably lugging around more gear than you need. I call this phenomenon "Bring an umbrella syndrome".

Beauty Sleeping

Anyone who knows me knows that I sleep a lot. You might not think so at first. I fool you by rising early – even on the weekends – and avidly avoiding naps, but you start to catch on once you hear my bedtime. "When is it?" Oh, like 10:30. "[Skeptical look] Really? [Pregnant pause for raising of eyebrows] What time do you get up?" Seven o'clock.

So that's like 8 and a half hours a night...and when I get to set my own schedule, I rarely settle for less than 9. Then again, that's from bedtime to wake-up, and it doesn't include the long long minutes I spend trying to fall asleep—I estimate those average out to about a half-hour every night.

I have a love/hate relationship with sleep. On the one hand, sleep is like your body's magical reset button. Frustrated? Confused? Take one night to sleep on it, and you will have an entirely new perspective. I've spent all day grappling with some problem, only to wake up the next day and solve it immediately.

On the other hand, I hate how much I depend on it. If I don't get at least 7 hours, I'm brain-dead the entire next day. No amount of caffeine can counteract my grogginess. I live in seething jealousy of ... well, almost everyone else in the world.

I had a coworker once who consistently got by on 5 hours. I would tell him how sleep is good for you. He would tell me, "We'll sleep when we're dead." I would not tell him, but I would think, "if I don't sleep, I feel dead." I was jealous of him.

It's been hard lately, because my newfound social life requires me to stay up late, but my job still requires me to get up early. My boyfriend manages it easily. He can fall asleep any time, anywhere, and seems unfazed by getting up to face the day after only 5 hours of sleep. I, on the other hand, become a feeble zombie with just enough consciousness to feel jealous of him.

Sometimes I think about all the things I could accomplish if I could just sleep one fewer hour a night. Or if I could just fall asleep immediately instead of burning up the hours tossing and turning. And then I wither in despair.

I am forever doomed, like a certain fairy tale princess, to spend years of my life sleeping. I can only hope that, like her as well, it keeps me looking young.

Lots of cookies from West of the Rockies

Vacation is defined as that place you go where you buy a lot of Giant Cookies but never have time to review them. After vacation is the time when you sit and weep, look for all your receipts, most of which you already gave away to your employer for reimbursement, and then write oodles of reviews and cram them all into one blog post. This is going to be a tour de cookie force, I'm just warning you in advance.

Peanut Butter Cookie from Peet's Coffee

Peet's Coffee Shop (which  may or may not be it's precise name) sat pretty in Portland, and one rainy morning, I skipped the keynote speech for my conference and went cookie shopping there and several other places. This cookie, in brief, was nothing really special. It had barely any flavor, wasn't too crunchy, but not too deliciously soft, and did not pass the crumble test. I can't begin to speculate at its value because of the missing receipt issue already mentioned, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy this cookie again.

WOW Peanut butter cookie

This was the first cookie I picked up while on this vacation. After carrying it around with me from city to city in a suitcase, it was somewhat the worse for wear when I finally ate it upon my return. It had a better flavor than the last peanut butter cookie, but still wasn't anything to shout about, and its crumbliness was phenomenal.

Flower cookie

Another place at which I stopped on my infamous morning cookie run in Portland was Helen Bernhard Bakery. There was a tempting array of cookies in her case, and I purchased several of them, but only this flower was big enough to qualify for a Giant Cookie review. It was nice and soft, but the frosting was crunchy, for the perfect contrast. It also boasted a delightful buttery flavor that reminded me of cookie dough—and if you know how much I like cookie dough, you'll know that means it was good! If I had a complaint, I would say it was a  little too  crumbly.

Vanilla frosted cookie from Starlight Bakery

 At Pizza Schmizza (a popular Portland place), I saw a rack of cookies in tantalizing rainbow-colored wrappers, sitting on the takeout counter. I added two of them to my bill. One of them I gave away. The other one, I ate upon my arrival at home. This vanilla frosted cookie was it. It reminded me of nothing so much as those puffy frosted Lofthouse cookies that come in a 10-pack and are always getting brought to cookouts. The cookie itself was very soft, which I liked, and the frosting was sweet, but, like the Lofthouse cookies, it was nothing to get all excited over.

Cow Chip cookies

Spoiler alert: Of all the cookies I acquired in my travels, these were my favorites. And that's after I bought them on discount at a day old, and then didn't eat them til a week and a day later! These cookies were more crunchy than I'd usually like, but at the same time, they weren't a brittle kind of crunchy, but quite substantial. If I were to ever call a cookie "muscular," it would be this cookie. The flavor was superb, and the abundance of walnuts sprinkled liberally on top was perfect if you like walnuts, which I do. If ever you are in Seattle, I strongly encourage you to seek out this cookie establishment.

Smoothie King Chocolate Chip cookie

The chocolate chip cookie I purchased at Smoothie King had a decently soft and chewy texture, but it also had a weird sour aftertaste. In other words, it tasted like a health food. I guess I should have expected that of a cookie that I purchased at a health food venue. The label proudly proclaimed that this cookie lacked trans fat, cholesterol, dairy, or animal products of any kind. Show me a healthy cookie that I love more than a junky cookie, and I'll show you myself lying on the floor in shock. But for what it was, it was edible. If I were on a diet and all I could eat were Smoothie King cookies, I probably wouldn't complain.


I might complain about the price, though.  It cost something like 2.2¢ per gram, making it not the most affordable diet staple.

The Bottom Line:
Taste: 2 stars
Texture: 4 stars
Price: 2 stars

The Status Update

In case you were wondering, my last post about falling in love the natural way wasn't just wishful thinking. It was actually happening. And now it is done happening and I am officially a girlfriend again.

Phew. It only took 3 months this time. And while I pretty much broke with all personal tradition and actually enjoyed being single for those 3 months, I enjoy being attached much more.

I enjoy it so much, in fact, that I would rather see him than eat cookies! That's how you know it's serious.

That's also my explanation for why my blogging has been a little sparse as of late—but I do have at least one Giant Cookie Review coming up for you soon.

Macaroni and Cheese from the Maryland Smokehouse

When your coworkers all want to go to get barbecue for lunch one day, and you're a picky vegetarian, you groan and hope they serve macaroni and cheese.

Fortunately, the Maryland Smokehouse (a new independent restaurant, which always warrants special consideration) does (I might add, though, that their only veggie side dish is roasted zucchini and squash, which is gross).

I ordered it. It was soft and gooey, and had real cheese shreds on top, which is always a plus!

On the minus side, there was pepper in it, and you all know how I feel about pepper. This time it was black pepper, which is less offensive.

On the whole, I was not disappointed by this less-bland-than-my-usual-fare macaroni and cheese, though I probably will not go out of my way to order it again. I rate it one happy noodle.