Apr 15 2012

Can I Get an Upgrade?

I know that Extreme Makeover Home Edition is no longer on the air, but when it was on, did you ever wonder if you could get them to come and give your house an upgrade? I mean seriously – I would have loved to had them come in and just tear down my house to build me and even better one.

I could have had basement flooring that wasn’t painted concrete. I could have had those awesome counters they always installed. And I could have had one of the really awesome personalized rooms that they always did for the bedrooms.

But alas, the show ended without my home ever being the one they chose to tear down and upgrade. Of course, I would have had to have found a reason to put the house into the pool for that to happen and frankly, I never could do that. I mean, did you see the people they were helping? Those people always did so much more than I or my roommates have ever done – and a lot of them had been through a lot as well. Perhaps it’s just as well I never got my home made over by that team – the people who did deserved it far more than I do.

Apr 15 2012

Product Review: Pepsi Next

Pepsi Next

Image courtesy of Pepsi Next on Facebook

I first saw Pepsi Next in 20 oz bottles at one of our local Dollar Tree stores. I hadn’t seen it before and so I decided to pick one up and see what it was like. I was intrigued at the thought of 60% less sugar while supposedly keeping the normal Pepsi taste.

Unfortunately, while it isn’t bad, it doesn’t quite live up to the Pepsi name. To be honest, in looking at the ingredient label it has high-fructose corn syrup, aspartame (NutraSweet), and sucralose (Splenda). It doesn’t taste as good as I thought it would and frankly, I was disappointed. It also left a strange after-taste in my mouth that I just couldn’t get past.

I’ll stick to my good old Diet Pepsi – at least that doesn’t leave a weird aftertaste in my mouth.

*This is a review of an item I purchased. No compensation was received for this review.*

Apr 14 2012

Loving Pinterest

I am seriously in love with Pinterest as of late. I mean, seriously in love with Pinterest. I visit at least once, if not more, every day and I troll through the various boards looking for things I want to pin.

Usually what I am pinning are things like crafts and recipes, but there are a few other things. I’ve found a few things on there that I wasn’t quite sure why they were there or what they were for, like alpha t1, but those are few and far between. What floors me is how many DIY & Crafts posts are not DIY but are Etsy items that are being advertised either by someone who happened to like the item and pinned it from Etsy (which you can do now, right from the listing) or by the artist, who is pinning their own work (although I hear this is actually against the TOS).

I’ve pinned over 200 recipes and I have them spread over various boards – Desserts, Pasta Dishes, and Favorite Recipes are the three I can think of, but I think I might even have more than that. :) I have to say I am loving Pinterest. Do YOU Pinterest??

Apr 12 2012

Product Review: Extra Dessert Delights Apple Pie Gum

Extra Dessert Delights Apple Pie Gum

Image from Extra Gum on Facebook

I am a chewing gum person. I like to have gum around, especially for when I need to go to the grocery store but haven’t eaten anything yet. It gives my mouth something to do and helps me focus on grocery shopping.

The other day while obtaining a few items from the store, I happened to notice a flavor of Extra Dessert Delights that I had not seen before – Apple Pie. I’ve had a couple of the other Dessert Delights flavors, the Orange Creme Pop and Key Lime Pie flavors, and they were both good, so I decided to give it a try.

It tastes exactly like what apple pie should taste like – even down to a hint of vanilla ice cream. It’s sweet, but not too sweet. You have the crisp apple flavor, the spice of the cinnamon, and the subtle cooling hint of vanilla. It’s the perfect combination and it’s a great rendition of the traditional apple pie for a gum. I highly recommend this flavor if you like apple pie.

*This is a review of an item I purchased. No compensation was received for this review.*

Apr 10 2012

Product Review: Domino’s Artisan Pizza – Chicken & Bacon Carbonara

Domino's Chicken & Bacon Carbonara Artisan Pizza

Image courtesy of RestaurantNews.com

Normally we are not Domino’s pizza eaters in our house. We stick to Papa John’s or Pizza Hut with an occasional foray into Pizza Ranch. But when Domino’s decided they were going to give away 75,000 artisan pizzas between April 9 & April 13, we decided to see if we could score at least one pizza. I scored one on April 9, one of my roommates scored one April 10. We won’t be trying for any more, don’t worry. ;)

We ordered our pizzas and were surprised at how quickly they were ready. It was about 15 minutes from order to indication that they were ready for pickup, a move that surprised me, considering how long I’d waited for pizzas from this particular location before. The ordering process was quick and painless. You are not allowed to remove the sauces or cheese (not a good move for those who are lactose intolerant, just saying), but you can remove or add extra chicken, bacon, or tomatoes. We left the pizzas with the default settings. We picked them up and brought them home to get our first look at the pizzas. We were driven crazy by the scent all the way home, so it was safe to say we were ready to pounce on the pizzas as soon as we got them in the door!

They looked wonderful – almost exactly like the picture above, except they were in a box, not on a board. ;) They tasted even better than they looked. I was originally dubious of a pizza that included marinara, alfredo, cheese, bacon, chicken, and diced tomatoes on it. For one thing, I do not like tomatoes. For another, I am not a fan of marinara sauce or the heartburn it generally provides. But the combination of marinara and alfredo is actually quite tasty – something I had not really expected. I was also dubious of the alfredo sauce, as usually pizza places with alfredo sauce use a “zesty” alfredo sauce that can leave you scrambling for something to cool your mouth! Not so with Domino’s – the alfredo sauce used was the perfect creamy sauce!

The only thing I found odd was the marinara sauce. To me it had an oddly sweet flavor – almost like there was honey in the sauce. It was slightly disconcerting, but it did not detract from the wonderful flavor of the pizza. All in all I have to say this pizza is a winner! We’ll definitely order this again when we have cash on hand!

** Myself and my roommate each received a free artisan pizza as part of a special promotion being run by Domino’s Pizza on Facebook. These free pizzas were not provided in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own, honest opinions. **