Sometimes Foodie

Jumbo Yubari Melon Pocky - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

To make up for missing yesterday’s post, here is some JUMBO Yubari Melon Pocky!

The packaging is like any other box of Pocky, just bigger. Since Yubari melon is a variation of cantaloupe, the design features split melons and fruity colors. The green and orange gradient mimics the rind of a cantaloupe, and the individual wrappers have a crosshatched pattern just like the melon’s skin. While the packaging is bright and eye catching, it’s not the best Pocky design I have ever seen.

Inside the box, there are 18 sticks of individually wrapped Giant Pocky. Each stick is about 20cm tall and 1 cm wide. (Pretty big.)

Once I opened the wrapper, I could smell sweet, artificial, melon. The scent is very similar to a lipgloss or Chapstick, and while the scent is obviously artificial, it isn’t necessarily unpleasant.

The first thing I was able to taste was the orange, melon-flavored, coating. It tastes like artificial cantaloupe, but in a good way. I really like melon and melon-flavored things, so this was right up my alley. As for the biscuit, it tastes just like it’s tiny counterpart, there’s just more of it.

Overall, this Pocky tastes like it smells. (Which is pretty similar to these melon cookies I reviewed last year.) If you like melon and melon flavored things, you’ll love Jumbo Yubari Melon Pocky. This was actually my first time trying a Jumbo Pocky, and I am pretty happy with it. I definitely want to find more fun flavors to try.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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White Castle Burgers

Sorry I missed today’s update! I’ll make up for it by posting something awesome tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are some photos from my last trip to White Castle in Tom’s River NJ. It’s over an hour away, so I go all out and buy a LOT of burgers. Everything in that first photo was just for me. (The freezer kind just aren’t the same.)

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Limonata - Wegman’s: Cherry Hill, NJ

Limonata is a lemonade flavored Italian mineral water. Sanpellegrino makes several citrus flavors: orange, lemon, grapefruit, blood orange, and chinò. (I’ve never seen or heard of chinò, so I had to look it up on Wikipedia.) So far I have only had the orange and lemon flavors, but I’d like to try them all.

The glass bottle is small, textured, and slightly tinted. It has a unique teardrop shape, which fits really nicely in hand, and the bottom is textured like a lemon peel. I think the bottles are adorable, but the label design is quite sophisticated. The stickers have a complex, curvy, shape which is quite impressive from a design standpoint, and the label-design is very complex.

The caps for these bottles are not twist-offs, so you need a bottle opener. This may be a little inconvenient for some people, but I like it. (I rarely get to use my bottle opener.) Once open,this beverage smells like carbonated lemonade.

Limonata is pretty tart. The label says that each bottle contains 18% lemon juice, so if you like sour or tangy beverages, you’ll love this. (I do.) The lemony flavor is more like bottled lemon juice that is made from concentrate, than freshly squeezed lemons, but the flavor is very nice with the carbonated mineral water. If I had to liken this to anything, it’d be like the canned Country Time Lemonade, but with a lot less sugar. (It has that concentrated, not quite real lemon taste.)

Although it doesn’t taste like freshly squeezed lemon, I really love this drink. It’s tangy, bubbly, and refreshing. I think this is perfect for a spring/summer day. (I’m going to try and find the other citrus flavors to review.)

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Yoo-hoo -Target : Cherry Hill, NJ

Time for one of my childhood favorites, Yoo-hoo!

This beverage became popular in the 40’s and 50’s, so the packaging has changed over the years. (Check out some vintage bottles HERE.) The bottle pictured above is actually pretty close to the ones I remember in the 80’s and 90’s. The label is a bright, sunny, yellow with brown, red, and blue accents. It might be my nostalgic love of Yoo-hoo, but I think the packaging is charming.

If you didn’t know already, Yoo-hoo is not a chocolate milk. It is marketed as a “chocolate drink.” (Pretty sneaky Yoo-hoo.) Quite a few people have though Yoo-hoo was a milk-based beverage, but there is little to no dairy in it!

Because of this, Yoo-hoo has a bit of an odd smell. It’s sweet and chocolatey, but there i something else to it. I can’t quite place the odor, but it reminds me of a chocolate lotion or candle. You can tell it is supposed to be chocolate, or that chocolate is in it, but it’s a little off. Thankfully, it tastes a lot better than it smells.

To me, Yoo-hoo tastes like an un-carbonated chocolate soda. There are sweet chocolatey notes, but there is a crisp finish. Similar to drinking a glass of water.

If you’ve been following me, you might remember THIS POST where I reviewed the Yoo-hoo singles. If you haven’t, it’s worth reading. I honestly have no idea what they put in those instant packets, but it tasted like a chemical burn.

Yoo-hoo may not be a chocolate milk, but I love it anyway. (Just not the instant packets. I will NEVER buy those again.)

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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UHA High Concentrated Milk Candy -Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

Today I have some concentrated milk candy to review.

The packaging caught my eye right away because it was so plain. In a sea of bright colors, happy mascots, and pop stars, this pale pink box stood out. The packaging is made of cardboard, and it’s about the same size and shape as a pack of Starbursts. (Just a few inches shorter.) The design is very minimal, and the colors are quirky. The text is navy blue, the box is white, and there are green, pink, and red accents. This design doesn’t wow me, but it did draw my eye on the candy shelf because it looks so different from everything else.

Opening the candy, I was pleasantly surprised by the little sliding tray! Inside the cardboard tray, there are tiny puck-shaped candies wrapped in silver foil. Everything is really conveniently packaged and well put together. The candy wrapper designs are surprisingly playful. They have cute little cows doing human things. ( I seem to have a businessman-cow on this wrapper.)

The candy itself doesn’t seem to have any smell, but the foil wrapper does. It smells really metallic, which was a little off putting.

When I bought this candy I wasn’t sure what it would taste like. I have had milk candies from the Asian Food Market before, and I hated them. They sat around forever and no one wanted to eat them. I was thinking that these would be some sort of sweetened condensed milk candy, because “high concentrated milk” was written on the packaging…and I was right!

These little pucks are sweet, buttery, milky, goodness. They remind me of the salty milk flavored Chelsea I reviewed last year.

These candies are really delicious. I’m glad this tiny plain little box caught my eye.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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sparkle-fluff reblogged your photoset: Darrell Lea’s Green Apple Soft Eating Licorice -…

this is my absolute favorite candy like you don’t understand how much i love it I would eat it all the time if I could

This stuff really is yummy. It has converted friends of mine that don’t even like licorice!

Key Lime Cake Doughnut -Krispy Kreme : Collingswood, NJ

The key lime cheesecake doughnut I reviewed yesterday was pretty yummy, even though there wasn’t much filling, but how will this cake doughnut taste?

This time, the doughnut has a cake base with the same key lime icing, but the whole thing is topped with cream.

Right off the bat, this doughnut is a mess! It is a typical doughnut with a hole in the middle, that hole is topped/filled with cream. When I opened the package cream was everywhere!

Taking a bite, the doughnut was light and fluffy like most Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, and the icing was tangy. The key lime icing stands out more with this doughnut since there aren’t any graham cracker bits to overpower it, and I really like the flavor payoff. As for the cream topping, it is my least favorite part. Not only does it get everywhere, but it also has an artificial vanilla taste.

I think this doughnut would be much better without the cream on top. I had cream all over my hands, the plate, the other doughnut…just everywhere. I think the simple key lime icing is all this doughnut needs.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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lionesslindsey replied to your photoset: Key Lime Cheesecake Doughnut -Krispy Kreme :…

That doughnut sounds delicious.

It was pretty yummy, but I wish I got a doughnut with more filling. I’m sure the ones with the proper amount of filling are even better.

fromonesurvivortoanother reblogged your photoset: Darrell Lea’s Green Apple Soft Eating Licorice -…

god i fucking love this stuff i finally got a bag today and it’s glorious fsadfdsfdsfsx

It really is delicious! If you can, try the other flavors. While I do have favorites, I haven’t been disappointed by any flavor yet.

Key Lime Cheesecake Doughnut -Krispy Kreme : Collingswood, NJ

The original, glazed, Krispy Kreme doughnuts are amazing, but their seasonal flavors have always been a bit of a let down. Right now the company is promoting 2 different key lime donuts: Key Lime Cake and Key Lime Cheesecake. Since key lime is one of my favorite flavors, I am giving these a shot.

This cheesecake-doughnut is topped with graham cracker pieces and a tangy lime icing. Inside, there is supposed to be a creamy key-lime-cheesecake filling.

Now, when I took a bite I could taste the toppings and the cake doughnut, but there was no filling. The dough is fluffy and sweet, like a traditional Krispy Kreme, and the toppings add a nice graham cracker texture and flavor, but there was barely any lime. It took several bites before I managed to find anything inside. Once I did find some filling, there was only about a tablespoon’s worth. It was surprisingly tangy and delicious, but there wasn’t enough to give me a real ‘key lime’ flavor. This ended up tasting like a graham cracker doughnut.

I got a bum doughnut. I’m not happy with the filling to doughnut ratio, but I could see this being really yummy with the proper amount of filling.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Homemade Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks

Okay, I fell in love with the pizza dough recipe I reviewed yesterday, so I made another batch. It was just so delicious AND easy! I may have a pizza addiction. (And by “may,” I mean I totally do. And by “problem,” I mean don’t judge me.)

I used the same pizza dough recipe to make the base of these garlic sticks. Lauren, the original recipe writer, also has a cheesy garlic stick recipe, but I kind of made my own so I could use up more stuff I had in the fridge.

For my garlic sticks I used:

2 containers of Papa John’s garlic dip (I had several stockpiled away)

Shredded/Grated Cheeses: Fresh water mozzarella, Parmesan, shredded Italian blend, and white queso

Garlic salt

Romano cheese (like the kind you’d find in a shaker)

I had a LOT of leftover shredded cheeses from various recipes in the fridge, so this was a great way to use them up!

The base was made by following Lauren’s instructions.

Once the dough was finished, I stretched it out on a pizza pan and used a fork to poke uniform lines of holes into the dough. I then took two containers of Papa John’s garlic dip, the kind that comes with pizza, and spread them onto the pie. I let that soak into the dough for a few minutes, and then I began adding the shredded/grated cheeses. (I just eyeballed it and started adding them one by one until I reached desired cheesy-levels.) Once all the cheese was on, I sprinkled everything with a bit of garlic salt and popped it into the oven. (I baked at 425 F for 15-20 minutes.) After I pulled the finished pie out of the oven, I shook a little Romano on top and they were done!

These were fantastic! (Hey Lay’s! THIS is what cheesy garlic bread is supposed to taste like!) I am definitely going to make these again when I have friends and family over.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Homemade Pizza - Pinterest Recipe Review : The Pin

Here are some photos of the pizzas I made for dinner tonight!

I used THIS pizza dough recipe, that I found on Pinterest.

The recipe was VERY easy to put together, and the finished crust was crispy and delicious. What I really liked was that the finished product was sturdy enough to hold all the toppings I added.

I made 2 pizzas tonight, each one used ingredients I already had in my fridge.

Sausage + Veggie: Fresh mozzarella and Parmesan cheese with red, orange, yellow, and green bell peppers, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, sausage, and banana peppers.

Cheese: Fresh mozzarella and Parmesan cheese with garlic butter basted on the crust.

Both pizzas turned out fantastic and I plan on making another one tomorrow. (Possibly Buffalo Chicken or BBQ chicken.)

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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