Coco-Luxe Halloween Truffles

Some delicious truffles from Coco-Luxe, just in time for Halloween!

Now, I'm not sure what some of the flavors were, so I had to do a little guessing based on the flavor. First, I tried the bat truffle. These were really adorable with the little images on top! Quite seasonal. The bat truffle was a dark chocolate with a dark ganache inside, with serious hints of cinnamon and liquor, a much darker and spicier flavor. Perhaps a pumpkin?

7/10- SPOOKY

The next truffle was the witch truffle. It was a dense ganache, with a little bit more of a sweet hint to it, like a cherry-raspberry flavor. The flavor was still dark, but didn't carry as many of the spice flavors that the bat truffle did. The witchy witch was sweeter than she looked!

6/10- SCARY

Finally, the last truffle. This truffle said "boo!" on it. No doubt about it- this was a serious dark chocolate ganache, pure flavor with no interference! Really luxurious and silky chocolate, but also able to taste smokiness and depth to it.

7/10- BATTY

Happy Halloween!

Embrace Sweets

So I was sent some lovely brownies in the mail, from Embrace Sweets, and here they are, up for review!

The first brownie I tried was not a brownie, but a blondie, specifically, the Blondie Bombshell. It was very moist and buttery and tasted nice, with pecan undertones. I inexplicably got a smoky aftertaste, almost peppery, at the end of my bite. It was very moist and had a good flavor and texture.

7/10- GOOD

The next brownie was a caramel pecan, studded with crushed nuts. I tasted the pecan, it was unavoidable, but it was almost impossible to taste the caramel, though I'm not sure why. The ratio of nuts to caramel may have been it, combined with the chocolate flavor. This flavor may be more adept in the form of a blondie.

5/10- NICE

The next one was a peanut butter brownie. What I love about peanut butter in baked goods is that it makes everything so lovely and moist. This was no exception. It was a nice, moist brownie, very, very sweet with nice aromas and flavors of nuts and a good texture to sink your teeth into.

8/10- MMMMM!

Another good classic- the quintessential walnut brownie. The walnuts aren't sweet, but add a nice flavor component and cut out the saccharine qualities of the chocolate, making a good balance with a nice texture. I prefer walnuts to be on top of brownies, rather than mixed in, so one doesn't bite onto an errant chunk, so these were winners in my book.

7/10- LOVELY

Wrapping up the selection, we have a triple chocolate brownie. It was very sweet and very buttery, I wasn't as impressed with it as the others, like the Blondie, as it was a little too greasy and just like regular chocolate. There was a really doughy texture to it and although I often like that, I like some pieces or differences in consistency throughout so that it offsets the sameness.

5/10- ALL RIGHT

Embrace Sweets
www.embracesweets.com

D'Lischka- Petite German Pastries

Do excuse the lackluster feeling in any subsequent reviews, if you happen to detect one. I've come down with the flu and can do nothing but drift in and out of consciousness and groan.

These are, without a doubt, some of the tastiest little cookies I've ever had. They've been in my dorm for about a week and a half and I'm quite surprised they've lasted so long! They're petite german pastries in all sorts of flavors with different fillings attached to them, and they follow the trend of "things in jars," which I rather like.

The first cookie was a Harvest Moon, with cocoa pecan pastries and orange jam, with a drizzle of white and dark chocolate on them. Overall, the orange and cocoa definitely overpowered the pecan, just in flavor. There were little nutty pieces that made a really nice texture. Some of the cookies were soft and some were hard, these happened to be in the soft variety and crumbled quite nicely in my mouth. A good, solid flavor, and the shape is adorable!

7/10- NICE

The next cookie was a buttery Hazel Ace. One aspect that I didn't like about these cookies is that although they accurately follow the "ace" shape, the little ends of the ace tend to fall off and remain at the bottom. I liked crunching them up, but to be honest, that little extra bit of cookie would definitely add to a more flavorful dessert. These were of the crunchy variety, which I preferred to the softer ones, and are pecan cookie, hazelnut creme, and white or dark chocolate drizzled. The hazelnut, though delicious and tasting identically to Nutella, overpowered the butter cookie completely.

6/10- NOT BAD

Another tasty treat were the Almond Petals, with marzipan and pecan pastry, apricot jam, and white and dark chocolate. As I mentioned, the jars varied in the amount of cookies, and this one was stuffed to the brim with almond petals. These were of the softer variety of cookies, and I'm not sure how I felt about them. The apricot jam provided the sweetness to the cookies, whereas the marzipan and pecan held it together, but didn't add much flavor. The almond was more of an essence and really changed the texture, leaving an almost half-baked mouthfeel to them. They were good. I just wasn't able to eat many of them because of the texture.

5/10- ALL RIGHT

The next cookie was another crunchy selection, a Mint Bloom. These cookies are like the gourmet version of Thin Mints, without the greasiness and cheap chocolate! Kudos to these. One thing I have to say is that you guys keep throwing these flavors that I'm not much of a fan of- mint, coffee, alcohol- at me, and keep changing my mind with your delicious goodies! But these were good. I felt as though the pecan pastry got a little lost in the flavor, as it was primarily a chocolatey mint-dominated taste, but that worked in the cookie's favor. With the nuts, there may have been too much going on. This was another cookie, like the Hazel Ace, that tended to fall apart a little.

7/10- AWESOME

The fifth cookie was a Razzle Heart. It tasted like something a grandma would make, or something that you'd serve at a afternoon tea. It was a really cute little cookie, with pecan pastry, raspberry jam, and white or dark chocolate drizzled. It was a really subtle mingling of raspberry and butter cookie, of the softer variety. I really had no complaints about this cookie!

8/10- TASTY TREAT

And finally, I'm saving the best cookie for last. A flavor that I wouldn't have expected to enjoy, and certainly not put in my top favorites! Again, I was proven incorrect. This was the Dark Star. a crunchy butter pecan pastry with a black currant jam and white/dark chocolate drizzle. I loved the texture of the crunchies the best because they were really thin and offset the softness of their filling without making the overall experience gooey. This flavor was mainly butter, and I didn't detect much chocolate, but in the back of my mouth, there was a wonderful currant taste, very dark and flavorful. A real winner!

9/10- EXCELLENT

You can buy these at www.dlischka.com. I imagine they'd be fantastic as little desserts at holiday parties for people to munch on but not feel overwhelmed with.

Starbucks Moravian Sugar Cookies

Finally, a good treat from Starbucks. The only real problem is that these weren't homemade, they're just sold at the counter. These particular cookies are in festive "fall shapes". So I brought them home, because I'm always a sucker for a good cookie.

Well, took them out of the package. Not many intact "fall shapes" though my roommate swinging the bag at me might have had something to do with that. And there's really only one shape to speak of, looks like a mildly retarded Canadian might have drawn up the blueprint. Still, festive. They're packaged in this funky little folding box. I like it. So the cookies themselves are wafer thin and really, really crunchy. They remind me of Anna's Gingerbread cookies, and I could eat a thousand of those. These are just delicious.

The flavor is more buttery than sugary, and I like that. It reminds me of a nice shortbread without having the characteristically nubby, thick pieces. These are a great snack while on the go or sitting and having some tea. Which I will be doing soon. Because I am super duper sick. Don't worry, I'll post tomorrow. :)

8/10- LOVELY

SNACKDOWN: The Cider Wars

Hello, foodies! I have another snackdown for y'all today, in the spirit of the quickly chilling weather.

Ew, did I really just say y'all? I'm very sorry. Regardless, I have two contenders up for speculation today. Representing the home team is an apple cider from the dining commons, brewed fresh out of Atkins Farms, in Amherst, MA, and representing the "new and fresh-faced" section, in the opposite corner, is the new kid from Naked Juice- Chai Spiced Apple Cider. So, who will win? Will it be the rookie in the game, the Chai cider, or the reigning champion, Atkins Farms?
Atkins Farms' cider is a really well-crafted drink. It's full of spices that don't dominate the apple flavor as a whole and provides a really tasty, not-too-tart flavor. It's a little sweet, which is a complaint many might have, and if you don't shake it enough, there's a little watery flavor at first, but really, I have no complaints to speak of. It's a delicious cider.

The chai-spiced cider was really disappointing. It didn't taste like cider at all! It was really just apple juice, a really artificially-flavored apple juice, with cinnamon and some other subtle spices. There's a nutmeggy aftertaste but I couldn't taste any of the other flavors typically associated with chai, like masala spices, ginger, or cloves. And it just didn't have that "fall" (read: unpasteurized!) and raw, delicious taste that regular cider has, that implies that fall is nigh and you should drink cider all the time. I was kind of upset that this was so hyped and yet such a failure in the autumn department. Good cider, regardless of when you drink it, should transport you back to autumn, with falling and changing leaves and smoky smells.

ATKINS- 8/10
NAKED- 4/10

WINNER: ATKINS

Two for one: Pot Cookies

Another cooking adventure. Oh, joy. Okay, so I haven't fallen off the edge completely now, y'hear? However...can someone please send me a baking sheet? Oven mitts? Even a piece of jagged sheet metal from a demolished building that can fit in an oven, for Christ's sake? And a mixing bowl and spoon, maybe? It's getting sad.

Very, very, very sad.


So yeah. This post is called pot cookies because technically, I did make them in a pot, and because I'm a sellout and people will love reading about pot cookies because they'll think I'm a typical college stoner and not an atypical pretentious food critic.

Ahem.

And yes, that's a pen I mixed with. This is why we can't have nice things.

So the mixes used, this is a double-header, consisted of a chocolate chip cookie mix, gluten-free, from Doodles Cookies. All organic. And some of what Ina Garten would definitely consider "good" vanilla, in the form of Singing Dog Vanilla from Kestrel Growth brands.

I mixed the cookies, as you can see, and popped them in the oven. The girl in the background couldn't have been more annoyed that I was cooking in the kitchen while she was trying to have a phone conversation about her boyfriend, GOSH.


Sorry for being so snarky, readers, but I do what has to be done. So, out came the cookies. I had to make them really tiny because I decided to bring them to rehearsal tonight and give them to the cast. And their verdict? The cookies were gone in about twelve seconds. Everyone came up and thanked me. Some select comments...

"Like little balls of joy."
"Really chocolatey!"
"You can taste so much vanilla. It's awesome."
"I love these cookies!"
"Very squishy."

Nobody knew they were gluten-free, either. So, Kestrel Brands and Doodles Cookies, you have met the seal of approval. Then again, one could say that hungry actors eat everything. Soon, I'll make another batch of cookies and hopefully do a little foray in the world of crème brûlée. Anyone have a blowtorch I might borrow?

VANILLA- 9/10- LOVELY
COOKIES- 8/10- FANTASTIC

Moti Restaurant, Amherst, MA

Last night MM (Mangia Massachusetts) and I went to the grand opening of a new restaurant in the center of Amherst, Moti. So Moti is in what's known as a cursed place because of its location next to the big contender of fast food, Antonio's. I've always lauded them for their pizza varieties, massive slices, and excellent prices, but sometimes you just don't want pizza.

And if this doesn't jinx it right off the bat, I think Moti provides adequate sustenance for that pizza resistance.

I keep complaining about the lack of a good falafel, or rather, any falafel, in the immediate area, and although I love Amounez, I don't love traveling an hour and change to grab one. Jesus has answered my prayers. So MM and I walked in and it was moderately bustling. The waitresses were extremely attentive and friendly and made sure to omit or add all the toppings we requested.

This is the back of the restaurant. Yes, that's a massive shawarma. Yes, that man is using little to no effort because that meat falls off like warm butter. Oh my god. It was a beautiful sight.

I had to order the falafel, though, and seriously, this might become my new brand of fast food. I can easily see myself ordering this, especially at the price of $5, to take and whisk away to classes on a busy day.

The falafel itself is like an amazing and wonderful sandwich. Easily a foot long, it's the homemade and delicious rebuttal to Subway. The best thing about it is the style in which it's wrapped in. This is serious fast food. Unlike regular falafels in pitas, which are great, but messy, this one never spilled a drop, even with the extra tahini and hummus I opted to add. The lavash bread was obviously homemade and still warm, and soaked up all the sauces. The falafel was flavorsome and had a really nutty taste and was nice and hot.

Any criticisms I have are pretty weak, actually. The falafel wasn't as crunchy as some that I had, but that was because of the shape of the thing, and I'll take shape over texture. The ingredient distribution was a little awkward and eventually, one must succumb and simply eat it by shoving the entire diameter in one's mouth to get all the fillings at once. Which is fine, you know. But that was it. It was an amazing sandwich and if nobody else opts to go, I can promise you I'll be single-handedly holding up this business. Go here. It's a keeper.

9/10- FALAFELICIOUS

On a side note, I now have official business cards and am leaving them when I go places, like farmers markets and restaurants, so expect to see my calling card when I go out to eat!

Starbucks Morning Bun

I was intrigued by the neat coils of this little confection, and also by its whimsical name. A morning bun. It sounds like something that would be served by a sweet granny in a bed and breakfast, piping hot with homemade sweet cream and butter with pretty trees and horses outside, the kind of granny who calls everyone "sweetie" and makes you feel guilty about having sex in the room.

But imagine if, under that friendly, sweet exterior, that granny had a few screws loose. Maybe she grows marijuana amidst marjoram and marigolds in her garden. Or maybe she's an underground hustler and the bed and breakfast is just pretense for her granny pimping. That was what the Starbucks Morning Bun was like to me.

It started out nicely. It was flaky and tasty and a little warm. But then, things got ugly. Some mild threats. A little too dry in one spot. A flavor that mocked almonds in its essence. A greasy inside. And the flavor was friendly and wholesome, but it just tried too hard. I saw through this morning bun. It was dry and tasteless and needed a slap in the face and some whipped butter to go with it. The morning bun had seen better days at one point and had now turned to whoring, smoking, and cheap ingredients to lure in its customers.

Do yourself a favor. Cook something.

2/10- SUCKAGE

Botanical Bakery

I was sent these teeny, tiny little tea cookies as a sample for a review. They're cookies with plants in them. Was I afraid? A little. I made sure to eat them in the dark in case a swarm of bees came to attack me. I've been checking myself to see if I've pollinated or something. But all in all, these are some delicious little cookies.

I fancy combining these with a nice spot of tea, perhaps. I see them doing well at a garden party, and perhaps you'll order some for yours in the near future. The small demographic of mine that potentially has garden parties. Oh well. Onto the reviews!

The first cookie, peppermint with cacao nibs, is a new flavor for winter. All of these cookies are on tiny, buttery shortbread bases, by the way. A nice and crunchy, not soft or stale, confection, and the flavor is very subtle. The mint doesn't remind me of an artificial mint at all, more of the calming flavor one might taste in a chamomile tea. The buttery flavor works and softens the mint, making it a very fresh taste, and the cacao is in the background, adding depth but not overwhelming the palate.

7/10- GOOD

The next cookie has a little more crumble and acidity to it, the lemon thyme tea cookie. It's quite tasty, a rather acidic taste for such a tiny thing. Eating one gives a full burst of lemon, followed up by a mellow thyme flavor. I'm starting to like the idea of pairing herbs with sugary things. Sometimes it doesn't work out and ends up tasting like a pizza gone wrong, but in this case, the two flavors compliment each other really well.

7/10- NICE

I'm totally biased. This next cookie was my favorite, a cinnamon basil. Honestly, the only thing I could come up with was that it's a very fresh, popping taste. The basil, as one chews, emits a licorice-like flavor and mingles with the cinnamon, which, like the cacao, creates a very subtle taste. I find that with the butter, the flavors are accentuated in a more sweetened way, but also muted and cut with the richness to make a sweet and not bitter cookie. The small size of these is also fantastic, as I'm not sure if a larger one would suit my palate like these tiny ones did.

8/10- MMMM!

This cookie was flavored with fennel pollen. I don't know if it's my personal bias to eating pollen, but I only got a subtle fennel flavor and somehow expected pollen to taste different. The texture was a little more powdery, the butter flavor, the same. Very rich. A little strange. I can't decide whether I liked it or not. There were small flowery essences. I guess the idea of eating pollen just didn't appeal as much as I thought it might have.

5/10- OKAY

And then the last cookie, a lavender cookie. Despite having the buttery shortbread base, this one carried the strongest flavor of all and went with the butter very well. At first, the only thought that was in my head was of chewing on one of those aromatic pillows or face masks, but then my brain switched in and reminded me that it was a cookie. The soothing benefits of lavender sort of come to play in this cookie, making a really mild treat that relaxes the mouth and the flavor evokes lovely images of lavender flowers...

7/10- GREAT!

Botanical Bakery
www.botanicalbakery.com

Three Cheesecake Tuesday

Well, kind of a two cheesecake Tuesday. I ate one a few nights ago and still need to review it, so here's the last three cheesecakes in the Decadence Cheesecake lineup!

The first cheesecake I tried was the New York style cheesecake, a few nights ago. It was wonderful and creamy, but the flavor was somewhat bland. It was reminiscent of just a creamy flavor, without any of the often sour subtleties of the sour cream. The crust was also good. For some reason, this cheesecake was also slightly less firm than the normal standard of these cheesecakes. It was good, I've just had better plain cheesecakes. I tend to prefer those with a less sweet flavor than this one.

4/10- GOOD

The next cheesecake, though, the one I'm eating right now, was absolutely phenomenal. This was the cheesecake that had me sold on the Decadence Cheesecake lineup. It's a Southwestern Cactus, comprised of a blue cornbread crust with a prickly pear cactus filling and a sour cream and agave glaze. I was so excited to try this!

The texture of the cornbread crust and the creamy filling was amazing. The combination just created this moist, lovely flavor in my mouth, and there were fantastic notes of corn and salt in the middle of it. The filling is amazing. The overwhelming feeling in this is just this freshness that explodes throughout the thing, a quenching flavor. It has bits of the cactus in it for flavor, too. How cool is that? A dessert with a cactus. I'm glad it didn't come with the thorns, but it was pretty phenomenal.

9/10- EXCELLENT

The next cheesecake brought in my personal area of expertise: chocolate and peanut butter. The Outer Banks cheesecake consists of a chocolate crust, peanut butter and chocolate chip filling, with a chocolate ganache topping and crushed macadamia nuts on top.

Well, it was a damned good cheesecake. But something was missing. The entire thing wafted peanut butter smells throughout my room, there were elements and subtle notes of chocolate, pecan, coconut, licorice, macadamia, and almond...but there just wasn't enough peanut butter. Seriously. I tasted many flavors, and I did taste peanut butter, just not enough to substantiate the claim that this is a peanut butter cheesecake.

I liked it a lot, but I was confused. I'm not sure that if I'd known this was a peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake, I'd have necessarily guessed it. Still, a lovely dessert, and I can't reiterate enough that I love the idea of desserts in jars!

6/10- GREAT

Best Friends Hot Cocoa

Four different flavors on a cold, winter day. In the event that you're interested, Best Friends Cocoa is also making an appearance at the Acton-Boxborough Farmer's Market for the next two weeks and have plenty of samples to share!

Starting with the original. I was completely unimpressed with this flavor. It was chocolatey and rich, but had a strange, almost rye-like aftertaste, as though it had fermented or gotten air leaked into the bag through some contamination. It was a good cocoa, without that flavor, but that permeated the entire cup and made it taste rather off.

3/10- STRANGE

The next one, raspberry, carried this same strange aftertaste. I was rather perturbed, actually, to the point of needing a second opinion. When given a cup of this, my roommate told me it smelled like raspberries, and the raw powder tasted like raspberries, but in the mixing or heating of the cocoa, the raspberry taste went away.

3/10- ODD

This cocoa was much better. The flavor was marshmallow dream, and it tasted like that sugary, light flavor had been condensed into the cocoa without overpowering the chocolate, and still mixing. A good treat.

7/10- TASTY

And finally, the last cocoa, cinnamon twist. My roommate and I both agreed that this was much better than the others. We liked how the cinnamon mixed well, with little undertones of nutmeg permeating the cup, as well. It was a really nice autumn treat and reminded me of how my father used to put cinnamon in cocoa when I was small, so it brought back some nice memories and tasted lovely, too!

7/10- GREAT

Order Best Friends Cocoa as a post-apple picking treat or a nice beverage after a snowy sled ride.

Best Friends Cocoa
www.bestfriendscocoa.com

Island Burgers and Shakes, New York, NY

Last night I went with some friends to explore one of my other favorite passions, dogs, at an AKC sponsored event called Meet the Breeds at Javits Center. As far as I know, it's still running today, so if any of my New York readers have a hankering for furry animals, head over there.

That's my plug for today, now onto the review. I'm a big fan of little dives. Not talking the kind of stuff Guy Fieri reviews, which could have his bleached hair on a bun and he'd still eat it, but little, tiny, neon-lit places in the backs of stores, hidden away. Such was the case of Island Burgers and Shakes.
I keep wanting to type Island Burgers and Fries, but that's exactly one of the things that they don't serve. More about that later. The outside is rather unassuming, but the inside is hopping with people. Many bright colors, funky surfboards, and little candles surround the place, which can't be more than fifty feet long and ten feet wide.

So I sat with my friends and we waited, and got our menus. The menu is massive, and filled with funkily-named selections like "Tijuana" (guacamole, bacon, and sauteed onions) and "Sans Spud" (sour cream, bacon, chives, and pepper jack cheese). I opted for the churasco, which is the purportedly famous grilled chicken sandwich, in the Sans Spud flavor, and a malted black and white shake.
The shake was a decent size, not the biggest, not the smallest I've had, and had the fascinating physical property of being lukewarm and still retaining the properties of ice cream. I, personally, prefer an ice-cold, freezing shake. It was one of the thickest shakes I'd ever had. A black and white milkshake is a vanilla milkshake with drizzles of chocolate syrup on the glass, to satisfy the need for both flavors. It was quite creamy, with a very heavy malt flavor, just the way I like it, and the chocolate syrup made good appearances in most of my sips. It was just extremely thick and the temperature was not quite right.

6/10- GOOD

And then, the sandwich came.

The chicken breast was made from a mutant, giant chicken. Easily the biggest piece of boneless chicken I've ever seen, like, half the size of a regular chicken. I had to cut off the little part hanging off the edge just to make it fit on the ciabatta. The roll was decent. Extremely floury, so that was the predominant bun flavor, but the fluffiness and chewy texture kind of made up for it.
The grilled chicken was supposed to be the world-famous star of the meal, but I was just unimpressed. Its size was the only really redeeming quality, and the texture was great, moist, and tender, but it was generally flavorless. I would have expected some sort of a rub or marinade or at least a dusting of salt and pepper, and I'll tell you this, no matter how gourmet and wonderful chicken is, without flavor, it's just awful. So that was the chicken. The toppings were good, the bacon was cooked quite well, and the sour cream and chives added a bagel-like quality and creaminess to the sandwich. Didn't taste much cheese.

On the back of the menu, they explain why they don't have fries, citing the reason for a small space and no room for a deep fryer, but fries could easily redeem this restaurant. Without a size, the burgers seem impossibly small, the sandwiches kind of bland, and the meal...somewhat incomplete. Although they do serve baked potatoes and potato chips, the mealy french fry makes the meal. It's like peanut butter without jelly or fluff. Just...not right.

5/10- OKAY

Island Burgers and Shakes
766 9th Ave, 51/52nd St
New York, NY, 10019

Decadence Key Lime Cheesecake

I've hit a serious rock bottom here. This blog and these treats have become the highlight of my evenings, now. I need to go clubbing or have drunken sex or something, people. Seriously.

Anyhow, onto this little cheesecake. Again, I cannot emphasize how lovely the portions are. This particular cheesecake is quite filling because of its creaminess. I love that the cheesecakes aren't simply flavored by their key flavor, but also contain components that their non-cheesecake dessert counterparts would have, like the coconut and caramel glaze on last night's cheesecake, and the little meringue topping on this one.

The lime flavor is fresh! But not so sour that it makes the creaminess bitter and curdled. The crust is an almond biscotti crust, and there are hints of an almond-like flavor, but they tend to get lost within the intensity of the lime. The meringue goes well on top, though, and makes for a really creamy flavor.

7/10- MMMM!

Decadence Tiramisu Cheesecake

Not being a very big fan of coffee in desserts, I was somewhat dubious of this little cheesecake, but was intrigued as to how the idea and taste of savoiardi would be translated into a cheesecake.

For starters, it was fluffier than the other cheesecakes had been, had a much lighter texture due to the content of the mascarpone, which I loved, and definitely tasted more buttery than any of the others, as well. The coffee taste was really subtle, actually, and I barely tasted it. Even as a non-coffee lover, I would have preferred a little more coffee in the batter.

There was no element of Kahlua, which I enjoyed, as alcohol is not preferable in desserts, either. The crust was quite good, but with the fluffiness of the cheesecake and buttery flavor, I'm not sure how I felt about the slivers of pecans, which worked well in the German Chocolate but didn't quite translate here. Still, a tasty dessert, and preferable alternative to actual tiramisu when it's not available.

6/10- GOOD

Decadence German Chocolate Cheesecake (in a jar)

I was sent a six-pack of cheesecakes, unusual cheesecakes at that, by Decadence Cheesecakes, based out of Colorado. These are miniature, single-serving cheesecakes and they're stored in a jar. It's like pudding cups meeting cheesecake. All desserts should really be like this. You can get all sorts of flavors and there's the perfect portion, so you're not reaching for two or three slices!

This particular cheesecake is a German Chocolate flavor, and if you all watch Throwdown on the Food network, you know that German Chocolate isn't actually German, but the surname of the man who invented it. Fun fact. Anyhow, onto the cheesecake. The first thing you notice is the layer of coconut-pecan frosting on top, more of a glaze than anything else. I was surprised to find very little pecans in the glaze, but the coconut flavor was rather sublime, when tasted alone. The cheesecake part is a chocolate cheesecake, and it's delicious but tends to engulf the nutty and coconut flavor subtleties.

The crust is lovely, also chocolate, which again, tends to get overwhelmed and blend together with the chocolate, but there are wonderful slivers of pecans floating around in there, and those are just phenomenal. Overall, this is an excellent, gourmet dessert with the added bonus of being available any time one should crave cheesecake, like I did, at 10:45 at night.

8/10- AWESOME

Paddywackle's Gourmet Brittle Co.

I've had some pretty bad experiences with peanut brittle, all of them involving some sort of impaling or horrible rendering of my face. I've been stabbed quite a few times by an errant shard of brittle. It's the Captain Crunch of the candy world. But I'm an intrepid girl, and I like to try new things, so I gave this peanut brittle a whirl, and it changed my mind completely.

The first brittle that I tried was a chocolate almond brittle. It had an amazing crunch, starting off soft and then crumbling, very crispy and light texture. The chocolate tasted like a lovely wafer cookie, and the almonds added a lot to the texture. It was really delicious and the chewing kept it all very moist, so as not to make it try and tacky in one's mouth.

8/10- YUMMY

The second brittle was a little stickier and was absolutely permeated with peanut butter, and many chunks of peanuts! It stuck to my teeth but had a wonderful buttery undertone and a fresh, roasted peanut taste. What I really liked about these was the texture, they were just pristine and perfectly chewy without completely shattering in my mouth or dissolving into nothing. It was a substantial and delicious snack.

8/10- LOVELY

To buy their brittle, just go to www.paddywhackles.etsy.com.

Amanouz Cafe, Northampton, MA

So it's nine in the morning. I'm on a bus, it's pouring outside, and suddenly, I have an epiphany. I haven't eaten yet, but I only want one thing for breakfast. One thing that I've been told is a little hard to find here, and that thing is...falafel.

Where I come from, a small town located outside of New Haven, Connecticut, the most amazing falafel resides at Mamoun's Falafel, and at any number of equally delicious restaurants. So I'm used to falafel availability, and when I was told that there really weren't any places, I was grief-stricken.

I'm craving a falafel, wandering the streets, killing time before a group meeting, and then, I see it. Rather, I hear it before I see it. Beautiful, upbeat music, when all the world is quiet, emanating from the tiniest cafe. And there it is. Amanouz.

It's small, it's filled to the brim with little things and cute curios. And it's got falafel on the menu. It's 9 AM, but I ask anyway. The friendly waitress consults with the big bosses. And finally, they nod.

I just walked in and demanded falafel. And I'm getting it.

So I sit down, and I'm presented with many, many drink selections, alcohol included. I was nervous about this meeting and was highly considering it, but was swayed by the lack of Riesling on the menu, and instead decided to eschew my inner boozehound for some Turkish coffee, inspiring memories of my time in Edinburgh.

Holy crap. I'm sitting in a restaurant in the morning, listening to great music with the offering of booze, and eating my favorite food. If I choke to death, I'll be so, so happy.


Luckily, I did not. I was brought out the coffee, first, in a lovely little decanter-like pitcher with the quintessential demitasse It's damned strong, and I drink it black because there's no need to gussy up Turkish coffee. Without a doubt, this was the most complex, flavorful, and intense coffee I had with little to no bitterness. It was warm, woodsy, dark, and flavored with what I thought were undertones of cardamom, and the little sludge at the bottom. I'm not pretentious, I swear. This coffee was just incredible.


8/10- SWEET JESUS, YES.

Of course, my main prerogative was this damned falafel, and was it ever amazing. It arrived, wrapped like a baby, in tin foil on a plate. From the appearance alone, it was obvious that this was a homemade pita. So I bit into it, and my mouth exploded, in a word.

It was sheer joy, wrapped in a hot pita. I'm stretching like a gymnast for complaints, but the falafels are somewhat unwieldy, and the pita to falafel to sauce, hummus and tahini, both homemade, ratio, is not as good as I'd like, preferring it all to be even. But the falafel. Mama, these were something else. First of all, they're bright green when you bite into them. Parsley. And hot, and flavorful, and crispy. Not a single part of these is mushy, dry, like some that I've had, or bland. It's moist and delicious. The ultimate breakfast.


The sauces were great, again, could have been more appropriately partitioned, but do you see how hard I'm looking for flaws? It was amazing. I want it again, now. And you can see what I thought of it.


9/10- SPECTACULAR

And then, dessert.


That's baklavah, ladies and gentleman. I might not have bought it if not for the $10 credit card minimum, which, by the way, was the total of this lovely breakfast. This is a walnut baklavah, and it is wonderful. It is so layered, and also stands up to the ultimate of all trials- the standardized FPT, the Foodette Pocket Test. I wanted to eat this as a little treat later on in the day, so I shoved it in my pocket, wrapped, of course, and forgot about it until I sat on my jacket later and crumpled it in my backpack, and when I went to eat it, I figured it would be a sticky mess and that I'd end up leaving half of it on the tin foil and throwing it out. But no! It stood up, and it was crunchy, delicious, and a complete mystery. How can something so saturated with honey, butter, and nuts still maintain texture and not turn into goo?

9/10- AMAZING

Amanouz Cafe
44 Main Street
Northampton, MA, 01060

Marichael's Gluten-Free Snacks

Apologies for the lack of post yesterday, I had a minor altercation. So I had another chance to try gluten-free treats and I wanted to see if these, like the others I've tried, were similar to those and as good.

Lately, as you know, I've been doing meal substitutes for breakfast, eating healthier breakfast foods and putting in more whole grains and natural foods into my diet. So it was only natural that these made it to the top of my breakfast menu in the morning! Marichael's foods are gluten-free and organic.


The first selection I had was in the morning, a Sunrise Bar featuring almonds, dried cranberries, punpkin seeds, and sesame seeds, among other things. I loved the flavor of the almonds, but what really brought it together was the addition of the almond extract. It really made it taste marzipan-y and like a dessert. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to taste any cranberries, which was a shame because I felt like the flavors would have gone well together. Overall, the bar was nice and chewy, had a good toasted flavor from the sesame and pumpkin seeds and a nice texture with the bran and other ingredients.

7/10- LOVELY

They also sent over a banana nut chocolate chip muffin. I saw this and I saw the texture, and I was really pleased. It was fluffy and tasty, but the walnuts in it were massive. This, for me, really screwed up the texture and overall integrity of the muffin, because the chunks disturbed the balance of the chocolate chips and the fluffy banana batter. They were like road blocks, to the point where I just pulled apart the muffin, took them out, and ate the batter part separately.

5/10- OKAY

The last selection was a really pleasant surprise, some chocolate chip cookies. By the way, all of these were packaged in little Chinese take-out boxes, and you guys know how much I love those! The chocolate chip cookies were really light and crispy, not crunchy like some cookies, but likened to a meringue. Seriously. They really fell apart in my mouth and tasted absolutely stupendous. The semi-sweet chocolate chips were really great to encounter amidst the lightness of the cookie base.

8/10- GOOOOOD!

You can buy any of these products and more homemade goodies, like bread and cookies, at Marichael's website, www.marichaels.etsy.com.

Fudgenmore's Second Round

Hello, everyone. I got some new treats- delicious fudge and a bonus from Fudgenmore! She sent them to me in the exact type of packaging that she sells at fairs. They looked really yummy and I was too excited to try them!

The first fudge I tried was a mint chocolate fudge. Now, this rating is definitely a parable to the readers and also a preamble, stating that it is probably my fault that this happened, but DO NOT LET THIS FUDGE MELT. Unfortunately, the mint extract oozes out and separates from the mix, making some bites very intensely mint and some without mint at all. This also makes it very oily, so don't do what I did! Bad Foodette! Bad!

7/10- NICE

The next fudge was a butterscotch fudge, very rich and buttery with nutty notes. I liked the complexity of this flavor, but at times, it tended to be a little too rich for me, so I could only eat a little in one sitting. Perhaps that's not a bad thing, though, being that I'm on a diet on all. Regardless, this is delicious. I'd like to see the flavor spiced up with chocolate chips or pretzel bits, though, for a change in the texture as well as a little more flavorful oomph. Another great fudge.

6/10- TASTY

The last selection was not a fudge, but rather, one of my guiltiest pleasures- mock toffee. It's the Southern version of my mother's chocolate toffee matzah, and this particular toffee was made with Saltines, chocolate, and pecans. I love pecans. The crunchiness of the toffee and the chocolatey coating made it amazing. I love how chewy the toffee gets, and how messy and fun the treat, as a whole, can get. Definitely a must try if you've never had it before!

7/10- LOVELY

Again, fudgenmore's treats can be ordered on etsy, through her website, fudgenmore.etsy.com

Cacao Bakery

Ohhhh, man. Someone has definitely been keeping tabs on me. Anyone who knows me well knows that my favorite flavor of anything is red velvet, and today when I got some cake truffles from Candice, I knew that these would be winners when I saw the flavor listing "2 red velvet truffles."

So I'd never had a cake truffle before. Well, now that I've popped that cherry, I can tell you that they're amazing, moist, and addictive to the point of using them for weaning cocaine addicts. I figured the whole idea of a cake truffle would be a little ball of cake, scooped out from a big cake, and wrapped in chocolate, like a petit four, in ball form.

I couldn't have been more blatantly incorrect. Sweet fucking Jesus, was I wrong.

Biting into one of these, the first thing that hits my senses is the noise they make when you bite them. They go, "sssmmmmmkkk," when they pull apart because they're so moist and gooey on the inside that separating bites is a Sisyphian task. I can never go back to regular cake again.

So onto the flavors. I tried the red velvet first, and was rather impressed. The flavor is a bit sharp, potentially from the dye, and has an undertone less of chocolate than of coconut, interestingly, and the white chocolate on the outside provides a very milky flavor and creaminess to offset the gooey density of the cake. It's a beautiful truffle. It's nice and big and the cake is wet and moist and the inside is a striking red.

8/10- MMMM...

The next truffle had a different texture that I rather enjoyed. It was a caramel truffle, but to be honest, I tasted more notes of butterscotch with the brown sugary flavor than the caramel, but it was still damned good. The wet crumbs in these were bigger than the crumbs in the red velvet and thus changed the texture to something nice, like a moist shortbread. Again, I cannot fully emphasize how wet these are except to record an mp3 of me biting into these, which I will spare you the indignity of. Just...incredible.

9/10- EXQUISITE

And the last one was like taking the world's best brownies, all of them, cramming them into a centrifuge, and swirling them around until they made a magnificent conglomerate of brownie batter. And that was the triple chocolate. I'm not entirely sure what made it triple, as there was chocolate on the outside and chocolate on the inside, but no third to complete the trifecta, but it was delicious, wet, and very, very, very chocolatey.

9/10- NOM NOM

You can order any cake truffles from Candice at her website, cacaobakery.etsy.com, and she makes customized flavors, too. I'd like to see a peanut butter, personally!

Starbucks Pumpkin Scone

So I've been on a diet lately. My ultimate goal is...45 pounds, I know. It's pretty sad. I can do it, I just need vigilance, exercise, and the grace of God to keep me from selling my soul to cheese fries. Why the fuck was I put in a place with such good foods?

So for the next few months, you guys will be seeing a lot more...uuurrggghh...healthy foods. Ick. No, I'll have a good selection of my normal stuff, and of course, plenty of homemade goodies, but if you see the occasional Odwalla bar pop up every now and then, don't get worried.

Today's offering is from Starbucks. Lately I've been getting a few things here and there because my cousin keeps reloading my card, so I got a scone today and had a free cup of coffee to while away my hours before my next class.

The pumpkin scone was a pleasing and colorful fall offering, but didn't cater to my expectations by any means. It was too dry and too crumbly, and the pumpkin flavor was limited only to the orange food coloring and the orange stripes of frosting on top. Really, Starbucks. It's hard to make a dry pumpkin dessert, as pumpkin is damned moist. So what did you do to screw it up?

I even went as far as to warm it in the microwave for a few seconds, but it was the same, just scalding hot and mouth-burn inducing. In addition to this, it's 480 calories, which is a lot for crumbly bread.

3/10- INEDIBLE

Oscar Mayer Deli Creations: Honey Ham and Swiss

With my last failure at creating a deli creation, I set about doing this the right way.

With the Turkey Monterey, which I will review soon, I had ambivalence about microwaving and chose to eat the bread raw with the toppings. Big mistake. Stupid, stupid mistake. It was crumbly and gross and got crap all over my desk.

So this time, I figured I'd do it right, and took it downstairs to the kitchen to microwave. What I ended up doing took a little more work than the average slap-it-together and eat sandwich, but made the product taste better. I hope that's not cheating. I took the cheese and sandwiched it in the bread, microwaved for thirty seconds, and then flipped it over and microwaved for another twenty. Took it out, the cheese was all melty, and put a little mayo and mustard on, then the ham, and sandwiched it together and ate it.

First observation was that the bread was eons better than the last sandwich. Not crumbly, a little toasty, a little crispy, and much more buttery. The ham is always amazing. It's like delicious meat paper, as Heat Eat Review said, and there's so freaking much of it. I like to fold my slices in half and just pile them onto the sandwich. The cheese was gooey, but lost a lot of its flavor in the process. That might have been because it was less fat, but I can't tell. Either way, it could have used more sharpness.

My biggest complaint is that the mustard was completely overpowering and spicy. I only put about 1/3 of the packet on and it still managed to be the dominant flavor in the sandwich. It was bad at some parts, too. Very grainy and seedy. The sandwich is honey ham and swiss, not mustardwich. I would have liked a small packet of honey mustard or perhaps just honey to put on the sandwich. Aside from that, not bad at all.

6/10- EH.

Cookie Cutter Cafe

Back on another run from Etsy sellers, here's a selection of cookies from the Cookie Cutter Cafe, out of Nashville, Tennessee. They sent me a good sized box stuffed with all different flavors of cookies! So here they are, up for review.

The first cookie I tried was an orange chocolate cookie, a nice chocolate cookie with orange extract, sprinkles, and a chocolate dot on top. Unfortunately, this cookie was a little bland for my tastes. I love the combination of orange and chocolate, and the flavors just seemed to cancel each other out. The cookie's texture was nice and crisp, but the flavors just didn't impress me as much as I thought they would.

4/10- ALL RIGHT

The next cookie was easily one of the best cookies I have ever consumes, and that was the gingersnap. I also ought to mention that the packaging on these is lovely! They're all done individually with a CCC logo sticker on the back, in plastic covering so you can see the cookie's contents. Back to the gingersnap. The cookies in this selection very so greatly in texture, but this was the best of them all. The cookie had a snap to it but was chewy and crumbly and soft, and was really delicious, with a sweet ginger taste and a buttery flavoring. Really good cookies, and the perfect size, too!

9/10- AMAZING

One of the most unusual cookies I've ever had was in this selection, too, and that was the red velvet chili cookie. It was a dark red, like the cake, but smelled cinnamony and chili-like, and made a really fascinating flavor. I liked how they didn't just use a chocolate cookie with chili, but incorporated an eye-popping red velvet. This is a soft and chubby cake-like cookie, and I prefer how the flavors worked with a soft cookie rather than a hard one. It's definitely one of the most interesting cookies I've ever had, with the juxtaposition of the cocoa in the cookie batter and the hot chili, it was a really interesting cookie.

7/10- GREAT

One of the other cookies they packed in, I really didn't want to eat because it was so cute! That was the frosted heart sugar cookie. Sometimes when people frost cookies, it looks like it's been done with a precise machine, and other times you feel like you're eating a cookie your mom could have made, but better done and free of scrutiny for caloric intake. ;) This is that cookie. It's a delicate, fluffy, big heart-shaped sugar cookie, with red frosting on top with knife marks where it was handspread. Ladies and gentlemen, the epitome of care. I loved that. It was a really nice touch to see where someone else had put their mark on it. And the cookie was delicious! The only bit of scrutiny I might have was that the frosting tasted a little chemically from the dye, but nothing else. A good cookie!

8/10- MMMMM!

The last cookie in the selection was a lemon sugar cookie. It had a sugar cookie base, with a tart lemon icing and some powdered sugar dusting the top. The cookie was good, nice and crumbly and moist, but the lemon flavoring was a little overpowering and was just too much for me. I like tart things, but think that these could have used a little more sugar. It was just a rather overpowering flavor. The texture was nice, but I liken these to a tart lemonade than a sugar cookie.

5/10- DELIGHTFUL

Cookie Cutter Cafe is located in Nashville, Tennessee, and all of these items and more can be purchased from their website, www.cookiecuttercafe.etsy.com