Lava Cake Hershey's Kisses

It's been a few weeks now since I got anything posted. Life just gets busy I guess. Lots of visitors coming over and lots of events happening. We'll eventually get through all those stories. Let's start with this one.

Aunt Megan came to visit us! Let's do a taste test!
New for Valentine's Day are Hershey's Lava Cake Kisses!

The bag is an appropriately bright pink. The kisses themselves are covered hearts.

Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch cereal taste test

Here's one that I found before Christmas, but we're just getting a chance to try them today. The makers of Cinnamon Toast Crunch have a Holiday flavor called Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch. Cool!

And you know for something like this, we're going to make some cookies to go along with it.

Sour Patch Kids Marshmallows

Today we're in for a treat. It was about a year ago when we had a big Sour Patch Kids taste test. Then we had candy, cereal, ice cream, and ice pops that were Sour Patch Kids flavored.
At that time I knew these Sour Patch Kids marshmallows existed, but I could not find them anywhere. But then on a recent trip to Walmart I finally saw them!

And since the candies are so good, we're going to have them right along side the marshmallows.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year! January 25th is the first day of the new moon and is the first day of the Lunar calendar. Theresa hasn't been to Disneyland since the end of November! It's time to remedy that!

National Peanut Butter Day - January 24th

It's National Peanut Butter Day today! It should be no surprise that we are peanut butter fans.

Today for lunch, we made sure to include a lot of peanut butter. To start, we're having peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls.
When I said it was peanut butter day, both kids immediately thought of apples and peanut butter. Definitely having those too.
And finally, there's the delicious Trader Joe's Peanut Butter filled pretzels. There's a reason I don't keep these in the house. They would disappear way too quickly.

A Korean Snack Taste Test

Uncle Jacob went to Korea and he brought back snacks! Knowing how much we enjoy doing taste tests, he brought us some interesting treats!

There's a Crown Kicker bar, a Haitai Freetime bar, and a Nongshim Banana Kick puffs.

Reese's Puffs BIG Puffs Cereal

You might think that after that last taste test with 53 different Reese's things, we might be tired of Reese's. You'd be wrong.
I already think that Reese's Puffs are one of the best cereals out there. GM has a new one similar to it with even bigger Puffs.

And wow, look at those things. They're as big as cheese balls!

Our biggest taste test ever! 53 different Reese's Peanut Butter items!

Theresa - With all the family coming for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we should do another big taste test. Like we did with the M&Ms.
Joe - Great idea! Any thoughts on what we should do?
Theresa - What about Reese's?

Lovely! I wonder how many different kinds there are?
So starting in early September, Theresa and I started getting every different kind of Reese's product we could find. And let me tell you, there were a whole bunch of them. It was easy enough to find the regular stuff. I think one run to CVS I was able to find over 20 unique items. And you'd be surprised by the variety a local 7/11 has too.
Because we started collecting things before Halloween, there were Halloween specific Reese's items. And then as soon as the Halloween things left the shelves, Christmas items followed.

And so, here we are at 53 unique Reese's items. It's our biggest taste test ever.
Is this every Reese's item? No. I know there's a Reese's pie, Reese's brownies, baking chips, coffee creamer, and a few others that I either couldn't find or didn't think "fit".

Candy Pop Twix Popcorn taste test

On a recent trip to Sams Club, I found a giant bag of popcorn that looked perfect for a taste test. It's Twix Popcorn!

Today we'll be tasting it along side a regular Twix Bar. It's the superior Left Side Twix, which are clearly better than the stuff coming out of the Right Twix factory.

Roasted Turkey Pringles

Time for a taste test! Any time Pringles comes out with something interesting, I like to give them a taste. These Roasted Turkey Pringles have been around since Thanksgiving, and we tasted them as part of our 19 different Pringle taste test. Now it's time to taste them by themselves.

And like usual, we'll taste them with what it's supposed to represent. In this case, Hillshire Farms Naturals Oven Roasted Turkey Breast.

Daddy Disneyland Day

Happy Sunday! Theresa is busy with work and needs time by herself. I get the kids all to myself so it's time for another Daddy Disneyland Day!

My 12 year chocolate search is over - Cailler Honey Chocolate

Way way back in 2007, Theresa and I took a trip to Europe. One of the things I enjoy when we're traveling is trying different drinks and candies. While we were in a grocery store in Germany, I found a delicious chocolate bar that had little bits of honey in it, and I really enjoyed it.
After we got back from that trip, I tried to find something similar back home, but never had any success.

I couldn't even remember the brand. Thinking I remembered some wavy script, I thought it might have been something from Lindt. I checked World Market, Target, grocery stores, and even some specialty stores, but never could find it. Maybe it's a flavor they only make in Europe.
That's why, in 2013 when we were traveling to Florence Italy, I wanted to make a special stop to the Lindt Chocolate store. I even wrote about my search back then too.

But come Christmas 2019, Theresa has finally found it. The Swiss chocolate company Cailler is the company that makes it. Not Lindt. She found it and then waited until the wintertime to have it shipped. Imported all the way from Switzerland via Swissmade.direct.
Let's taste it! I hope it's good after 12 years of waiting.

Happy Birthday Theresa!

Happy Birthday Theresa!

Raspberry Créme Kit Kat - Valentines Kit Kats

As all the Christmas stuff was being taken down at the stores, all the Valentine candy started coming out. The kids were ready for another taste test, and even though it's still a month out, we're going to start tasting Valentines Candy. Time for some Raspberry Creme Kit Kats!

Now there's two ways this can go. Either it'll taste good, or it'll taste like medicine. I know that Kit Kat can make them taste good, based on when we sampled dozens of different flavors. But which one will this be?

New Years Hanging Out

It's New Years in Michigan and we've got a few days to just relax and hang out. Because of all the puzzling we've been doing for the past week, we decided to step up our puzzling game. And we've got a New Years theme to it.
It's a 2000 piece puzzle of Times Square that's 38.5" by 26.5". It's massive and certainly the biggest one that I've ever worked on. Even the sorting of the pieces is going to be a challenge. I really hope there aren't any missing pieces.

Happy New Year 2020!

Last year we were celebrating New Years in California and Aubrey put together a pretty amazing spread for it. This year we're in Michigan and again Aubrey and the kids got everyone in the party spirit.