Sometimes Foodie

Strawberry All Natural Cane Sugar - Home Goods :Moorestown, NJ

Okay, this post is going to be a little different…

I’m going to do my typical review, but I totally bought this without knowing what I should do with it, so I am going to ask all of you for suggestions.

What should I make with this?

I was drawn to this product because of the packaging. The sugar is inside a thick glass jar with metallic detailing, which gives this product an industrial look, but the typography feels a little off. The lowercase font that is used for “strawberry” looks out of place when mixed with the distressed information in all caps. I like the look of either font on it’s own, but something about mixing the two just doesn’t work.

The only ingredients listed are raw sugar, dried strawberries, beets and red cabbage (the latter two were for coloring purposes only), so this is pretty good stuff. This smells exactly like I expected. I can smell delicious cane sugar mixed with tangy, ground up, dried strawberries.

I love the smell and taste of this fruity sugar, but I have no idea on what to make with it.

PLEASE SEND ANY SUGGESTIONS MY WAY!

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

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Raspberry Vanilla Cupcake Extra Dessert Delights - Target : Moorestown, NJ

As of right now, I have had every flavor in the Dessert Delights line. (Although I’ve only posted reviews for about half of them.)

Click on the flavor for photos and a review:

Orange Creme Pop

Rainbow Sherbet

Root Beer Float

Lemon Square

Today I’ll be reviewing Raspberry Vanilla Cupcake, the newest flavor. I’ve been a fan of this gum since the beginning. Key lime pie (which is now retired) was my absolute favorite! I’m not 100% sure, but this flavor might replace Strawberry Shortcake. (They seem to be making some changes to the flavor lineup.)

The packaging follows the same guidelines as the other flavors. There are flowing stripes of color that coordinate with the flavor, and there is a photo of the real dessert the gum is based on.

When it was announced, I wasn’t too sure about this flavor. Don’t get me wrong, I love raspberries. It’s just that Raspberry flavored foods can come off as candle-y or perfume-y. With that being said, this gum definitely smells like something from Bath and Body Works. This smells like a really nice raspberry lotion, not like a yummy candy or gum.

This flavor was just released. It’s brand new, but the texture feels like this gum is old and stale.

The first flavor I could detect was a floral raspberry. The taste isn’t sweet, or jammy, it’s more like a sugar free raspberry pudding. I can slightly taste some vanilla cake notes, but it’s more like a pre-made grocery store cake than bakery-fresh.

For the most part, these newer flavors haven’t been living up the the original three. (With the only exceptions being Root Beer Float, and Lemon Square.) While this flavor isn’t terrible, I wouldn’t say it tastes like a raspberry cupcake. I’ll keep this in my purse for now, but I don’t see myself buying any more of this flavor in the future. (BRING BACK KEY LIME PIE!)

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

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Lion Soda Kids Candy - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Because this candy has 6 flavors, and such amazing packaging, I am splitting it up into multiple reviews.

Check out THIS POST on the aesthetics.

Today I’ll review 3 flavors of this soda candy:

Melon (green)

Ramune (blue)

Grape (red-violet)

Melon Soda:

I had such high hopes for this flavor. I LOVE melon flavored sweets, but this is NOT like any melon I have ever had. The hard-candy outside tastes like bubblegum. I HATE bubblegum, so I was very disappointed. Inside, the candy has a fizzy center which is tangy and flavorful, and I really liked that, but it wasn’t enough to overpower the bubblegum flavor. To me, this was like having carbonated bubblegum mouthwash in my mouth. (As a kid, I was forced to do in-school fluoride treatments with bubblegum mouthwash for YEARS and it absolutely ruined the taste of bubble gum for me. To this day it still makes me extremely nauseous.) It is my least favorite of the three.

Ramune:

The blue ramune candy has some light citrus notes, but there is a slightly bubblegum-y flavor to this one too! Thankfully, it is much more tolerable. This candy reminds me of a diet lemon seltzer. While this isn’t a favorite, it wasn’t as bad as the melon.

Grape Soda:

This flavor is wonderful! The grape notes are really jammy and rich. It’s just like drinking a glass of grape juice cocktail. When you hit the fizzy center, it makes this candy taste just carbonated grape juice. (I often serve non alcoholic carbonated grape juice at my holiday parties and events, and this tastes just like it!)

Out of these three flavors, grape is by far the best. While each candy has a wonderful fizzy center, that really adds to the soda aspect of the flavors, the ramune and melon candies were too bubblegum-y for my tastes.

If you like bubblegum, or things that are flavored like bubblegum, you might really like the melon and ramune flavors. They just aren’t for me.

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

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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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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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Botan Rice Candy - Five Below : Cherry Hill, NJ

This was a little gift from my mother. She likes to read my posts (hi mom!) and wanted to get me a little something to review. I’ve actually had this candy before, but it was so many years ago I can’t remember what it tasted like, so I feel like I am reviewing it for the first time.

The packaging features large, bold, illustrations against a neon red and a true green background. While the colors are bold, they work quite nicely with each other. The illustrations and black text give the box a vintage look and feel.

According to Wikipedia, “The candy’s name, Botan (kanji: 牡丹, hiragana: ぼたん), means “peony” in Japanese. A peony blossom is shown on the label, next to an inu-hariko, a dog-shaped traditional toy for Japanese children.”

I like this packaging, but I wish the “Botan Rice Candy” was written in white instead of black. I think the black is easily lost in the background.

The box may be tiny, but it contains 6 pieces candy, which is a decent portion. There is also has a fun sticker inside! (I got a skateboarding pink hippo!) Each piece of rice candy is wrapped in an edible rice paper, which prevents it from sticking to the clear plastic wrapper.

When I unwrapped the candy I was surprised that it was soft and chewy. For some reason I remembered them being hard candies.

The first thing you can taste is the starchy rice paper. It has a mellow, rice-y, flavor which is plesant. (It tastes the way uncooked rice smells.) That layer slowly dissolves, and when you start chewing, you get really nice, zesty, orange notes. It is like eating really good orange gumdrops, or orange slices. The texture is fantastic! It starts out a little bouncy, but it turns into a slow dissolving chew. (Kind of like an orange Starburst, but MUCH softer.)

These are really yummy! I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy these, for some reason I remember not liking them when I had them years ago, but I loved them! I definitely see myself buying more in the future.

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

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Strawberry Grapefruit Syrup -Homemade, Recipe

I’m trying to use up a lot of the things in my fridge this week, so I used a couple strawberries and a grapefruit to made this syrup. It’s really delicious over ice cream, but I bet it’d be great on waffles and pancakes too!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

8 large strawberries

Juice from 1/2 a grapefruit

In a small pot, combine the sugar and water. Place it over low heat, stirring occasionally. This will create a simple syrup to act as our sweetener and our base.

While that is heating up, hull and dice up the strawberries. Chop them into small pieces, they don’t need to be perfect because we’ll mash them later. Once all of the sugar has dissolved, add them to your pot of syrup. Then, squeeze the juice from half of a grape fruit into the pot. (You can also use lemon or lime if you have them on hand, but it will change the flavor.)

Let this cook down, stirring occasionally, until the berries have become soft. (About 15-20min on low) Once the strawberries reach the desired softness, mash the berries with a potato masher. At this point you can let your syrup cook down to your desired thickness. (Thinner syrups are great for adding to sodas or lemonades. Thicker ones are better for ice cream and cakes.)

This syrup is delicious and full of flavor. The tangy grapefruit prevents it from being overly sweet and it enhances the flavors of the berries. (This recipe makes enough to fill a half pint mason jar.)

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

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Qoo - Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

Qoo was actually a drink I learned about from my friend Matt who vlogged during his time in Japan. (Check out his youtube channel HERE.) After seeing the cute mascot, and learning about it from Matt, I wanted to give Qoo a try.

The bottle is pretty impressively detailed. The mascot’s face is at the top of the clear plastic bottle twice (1 face is seen in photo #1) with various expressions and fruits. Then, at the top, he is even on the cap making a snarky little expression. It turns out you can actually get a few different expressions on your bottle cap and a few people collect them.

(Man, that is some rough Engrish from this site, but you get the point.) The actual label on the bottle features oranges, the mascot, juice, and a little label that I think means 1/2 the calories? I’m not sure.

This drink is not carbonated, and it smells similar to an Orange Julius. There are zesty orange notes with a vitamin-like aroma.

Taking a sip, this tastes diet or low calorie. (Which is why I thing the 1/2 message on the label refers to diet or caloric information.) As first this tasted like watered down orange juice, but there is a distinct vitamin and diet aftertaste.

While I love the bottle, and the mascot, this specific flavor didn’t do it for me. Qoo also comes in grape and apple variations, so I think I’d like to give those a try and see if they taste any better.

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

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Meiji Grape Punch Tablets -Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

As a kid I hated grape flavored candies, but now I can’t get enough of them! I tossed these grape punch tablets into my cart the second I saw them.

The box is pretty small, roughly as big as a pack of cigarettes, and it features three purple cartoon-y grape mascots. (The one on the far right looks a lot like Mr. Sparkle to me. Maybe it is an intentional joke?) The color scheme is purple heavy, but the little hints of orange, red, and green prevent it from looking monochromatic and boring. The design and exaggerated expressions are playful, so I can see this appealing to kids more than adults.

Inside the box there is a silver plastic bag with three trays of tablets. Each tray is made of foil and clear plastic, which makes the candy look medicinal, and each tray holds 6 candies. If I didn’t know any better I would think these were some kind of lozenge or calcium supplement. While these look like something I would buy at a drug store, they smell sweet like a mild grape jelly.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with these tablets, because I can’t read the box. Would it fizz? Will it be sour? Sweet? Well, it turns out that these are just sweet, chalky, tablets that melt on your tongue. There isn’t any surprise or wow factor, but the flavor is very sweet and fruity. I liken it to a glass of grape juice made from concentrate.

At first I was a little disappointed by how mild these candies were, but once my first tablet dissolved I found myself wanting another. These are pretty addictive, I’ve already gone through my first sleeve of tablets already! I don’t know if I’d buy another box, but I am enjoying these quite a bit.

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

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FUN Sweets Banana Cotton Candy - ???

This semester is finally getting the better of me, so I am queuing some reviews now so that I won’t miss another update.

Today’s update is an Easter gift from my boyfriend. A little tub of banana cotton candy!

The packaging is a mixture of cute and frightening. That face is just…off. I think it’s the eyes. I can tell that the designers were going for big eyes to be cute, but these are just too big and detailed when compared to the rest of the design. As for the tub itself, it is surprisingly sturdy and pretty useful. (I clean these tubs out and use them to hold supplies for my daycare art classes.)

I was a bit worried about how this would taste because I am not a fan of banana flavored sweets. They always taste the same. (They all taste like banana runts!) I expected this cotton candy to be artificial with an obnoxious scent, but it actually smelled very mild.

Surprisingly, this stuff is pretty good! There is a slight hint of the artificial banana flavoring, but the overall taste reminds me of banana baby food. (More specifically those Gerber puffs for babies and toddlers that are shaped like little stars.)

I enjoyed this cotton candy a lot more than I thought I would, and I might even buy more of this flavor in the future.

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

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Free Signature Blended Tea– Teavana : Cherry Hill, NJ

_{I’ve written this twice and Tumblr ate it. So third time’s the charm}?

My sister needed to buy some sneakers, so to we went to the Cherry Hill Mall and used THIS COUPON to each get a free cup of tea while we were there. (The coupon expires 3/31/13.)

We have actually used that coupon twice this month and both times we received the same tea blend, the Strawberry Rose Champagne with Peach Tranquility. (I am guessing this signature blend accompanies this promotion and that all locations are using the same flavor, but I could be wrong.)

Since the cup is standard for hot beverages, I‘m going to skip the packaging review. Instead, I will say that I really like Teavana’s color scheme and brand identity. Their stores are very tranquil and their product information is always well designed. (Plus the employees at our local Teavana are always really nice.)

Teavana’s description for this tea:

“Harmony is embodied in this sophisticated oolong tea and herbal blend. Sparkling Strawberry Rose Champagne is complemented by dreamy Peach Tranquility for a fruity and floral duo, delicious in every way. A très bien relaxing treat!

My first impression was that this tea had a strong fruity aroma with a hint of rose petals. If I had to liken it to anything, I’d have to say gummy bears (more specifically the clear ones that are usually pineapple or tropical flavored). The floral scent is very mellow and it blends well with the other flavors, unlike other rose petal teas I have had that smell like potpourri.

Initially, I thought this tea tasted like peach gummy rings, but that candy-like flavor fades into a mild rose petal with a sweet strawberry finish. Normally I stay away from floral drinks because I feel like I’m drinking an air freshener, but this is really refreshing and pleasant.

I really enjoyed this blend, but I might like it even more if it was iced. I’ll have to buy some of this blend and make iced tea this summer.

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

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Jelly Belly - Belly Flops - Dollar General : Cinnaminson, NJ

This is a product I never knew existed! “Belly Flops” are irregularly shaped/colored/flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans that are packaged and sold.

I really like that the company had some fun with this packaging. On the front of the package there is a pool of misshapen jelly beans that the mascot is belly flopping into, and on the back there is a disclaimer about the irregular candy inside.

As expected, the jelly beans vary in size and shape/ Even though they look a bit off, a lot of my favorite flavors were in this bag. (Orange Creamsicle, Dr. Pepper, toasted marshmallow, and juicy pear.) The only flavors that seemed a bit off were the cinnamon and red-fruit jelly beans. It tastes like a few of them were mixed up during the panning process. (Some red jelly beans tasted like cinnamon on the outside with a fruity center and vice versa.)

Overall, these beans tasted great, they just looked a little wonky. If you’re looking for a quirky candy treat this Easter, try some Belly Flops.

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

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