I had a strong craving for these candies the other day and since the craving did not go away in 10 minutes (in fact, i waited about 3 hours), I decided to go get some. I went to CVS and beelined to the candy aisle to pick up a small bag of the mini cups. I looked at the back for nutrition info- each mini cup is about 42 calories. Ok, not bad. If you can eat one or two and call it a day. I started to walk to the cash register but then had second thoughts. Two mini cups for 80 calories? But isn’t one big (normal) sized cup around 100 calories? So 2.5 small cups makes up 1 big cup? Something didn’t seem right. But I bought the small ones anyway.

Now, looking online for nutrition info, I’m extremely confused. One cup comes in at 80 calories while 1 package (2 cups) comes in a 230 calories. Umm… where did the extra 70 calories come from? Are the individual 1 cup packages smaller than the 2 cup packages??? And then, the Hershey’s site says that 1 package is 260. We’ve got some serious discrepancies. But the numbers for the small ones seem to be the same wherever I look, so I’ll stick to those for now.

Throw on some honey mustard, spinach leaves, ham, wrap it up, and you’ve got yourself a snack with greens, protein, fiber up the wall, all under 100 calories.

I still think they’re kind of expensive but they seem to be holding up well in the fridge so as long as I don’t have to throw away half, they’re worth it.

Current novelty item: sun-dried tomatoes.

I watched Alton Brown recommend these in his pasta episode, they came in the Evelyn’s Favorite Pasta dish at the Cheesecake Factory (thats TWO pasta dishes that aren’t smothered in cream sauce!!!), and they were layered in Patrick’s chicken & eggplant sandwich at Foodheads (which I highly recommend in case I never get around to writing about it).

After asking a few employees, I finally found them on a rack with prepackaged nut and dried fruit mixes. Kind of odd, but whatever, I was just pleased HEB had enough class to stock them. I was so excited about them I decided to make my own version of Evelyn’s Favorite (less pasta, less oil). I ate a few pieces while cutting them and then decided to just shove whole ones in my mouth. They are appealing, but there is a slight bitter taste if you put a whole one in your mouth without anything else.

Basically, everyone should use this item to spruce up an ordinary dish (either sub for normal tomatoes or keep both or put it in regardless of whether there were tomatoes to begin with).

I will fall for just about anything with a “whole grain” label slapped on it. Most of the time its not any less in calorie or fat, I just figure it might keep me full for an extra…. 20 minutes? I think its more of the guilt factor when it comes to buying prepackaged crap and I’m trying to make myself feel better knowing its got some whole grains in it.

This product is easy to deal with- just pop it in the microwave (although use a plate because some cheese sauce always sneaks out), wrap it in some saran wrap, and you’re good to go. Tastes pretty good at room temp, better when hot.

The crust/bread is a little thicker than I would like, towards the end its mostly bread and a little sauce. The turkey could be more than the thin strips of deli meat that they are. And… Hotpockets brand must grow their own mutant strain of miniature broccoli.

Being I’m being unreasonable for a frozen convenience product. Overall a good pick when you get bored of the normal sandwiches.

Bought these out of sheer curiosity and they were only 50 cents so it wasn’t a great waste of my money. I knew I wasn’t really going to eat these anyway. Christie ate a few and Patrick had like 2. I had one brown one, not sure what flavor exactly because they all kind of look the same, and a yellow one that I have decided was the chocolate caramel flavor. Basically they’re glorified tootsie rolls. I’m not going to give this product much more thought. Buy them if you’re curious.

Starlite was ranked number 9 on last years Austin360 XL dining guide, although… I think maybe they should have ranked higher. Wink (old post) was ranked 5 last year but really I think Starlite was just as good. My first impressions were over the phone, calling to say we were going to be late for our 6:15 reservations. Now I always hate telling people I’m late when it comes to these things. Patrick’s mom says its because I expect a lot of my waitstaff and in return, I expect myself to uphold to those standards as well. Really I think its more than I thought a top 10 restaurant would be annoyed/pissed off/put me in the blackbook of people who they won’t be taking reservations from anymore. But instead, the man on the phone was really chill and said no problem, thanks for letting us know.

Parking was atrocious, as it is always weekend nights downtown, luckily there was a lot just next to the building. Decor was a minimum, utilizing large windows to let natural light do its thing. It is an upscale place, but not pretentious at all. I don’t feel like I have to put on a skirt heels and a sparkly shirt to come eat here, which is always a plus. But I can if I want to, which is also important.

Onto the food- I won’t try to describe everything the 3 of us ate, just highlight some of the main points.

Appetizers- wild mushroom risotto with black truffle oil and balsamic dressing (absolutely divine), and mussels (I can’t have shellfish but Patrick and his mom seemed to enjoy it)

Bread- mediocre. very plain.

Entrees- pan seared salmon with capers and napa cabbage salad, veal with some random tart cherries and breaded sweetbreads (patricks mom had no idea what these were and tried to tell me it was chicken. And then when the waiter told us it was sweetbread, she thought it meant testicles. =) , sea bass with sweet potatoes and cooked spinach. The salmon was very nicely cooked, the capers absolutely lovely (but I am so very partial to capers), and the napa salad extremely creative. The veal was so tender it could pass for slow cooked pulled- pork, the cherries were very random in that I wasn’t sure what to eat it with, if anything at all on the plate, and the sweetbreads… I passed on. I have trouble eating things off animals that aren’t skeletal muscle explicitly. I didn’t really eat off Patrick’s plate but I think he enjoyed.

Presentation was  the key component here, although I wouldn’t under appreciate the taste of the food. Besides the plain roll, everything here was very pleasant and enjoyable. The food came out on an assortment of plate- square, rectangular, clear glass, which always pleases me.

And dessert, key lime tart with homemade ice cream and blueberry compote. The crust was a little thick and I thought the custard was on the thick side, but Patrick begs to differ. I think he liked that part the best.

The decor, the service, the presentation, the food, all way better than the last few places I’ve shelled out $40+ at lately. Overall, I give this place an 8.

My roommate Christie loves Round Rock donuts, enough to drive 40 minutes there and back random Sunday mornings to get fresh, warm donuts. She was kind and thoughtful enough to bring back a box and a bag of holes to share. Prior to that day, I don’t think I’ve ever had an RR (getting lazy here) donut. People rave about them all the time but I guess it never occurred to me that all that raving would warrant a drive many miles away. And for a donut, which is definitely a no-no to those of us who are carb sensitive.

Side note: I’ve decided to start telling people that I am carb sensitive rather than saying I just avoid carbs because they’re not worth the calories but that I’m not on some Atkins or Southbeach diet but I’d just rather eat fruits and veggies most of the time. And its not a lie, I am carb sensitive. Two donuts or a bagel will put me to sleep in no more than an hour.

Back to the donuts. I started with a few glazed holes. Wasn’t extremely impressed. Christie defended the donut, stating that they are much better when they’re warm because the glaze is like butter and it just melts in your mouth. Ok fine, but even discounting the glaze, the dough itself just isn’t that great. Its not bad by any means, but I’m not sure why you’d want to drive so far to get them. Somewhere between a Krispy Kreme and a Dunkin Donut (ok I have had either one in years, but I’m try to make a comparison), the dough is not really dense but has a little more substance than a Krispy Kreme which disintegrates the moment it meets a drop of saliva.

I moved on to a couple of bits of a normal donut but there wasn’t any great change. Maybe I’m just not a big enough donut fan to appreciate?

Ok… I hate to admit this, but I think my undying love for Fresca has died out. Maybe I just need a break. I think the fake sweetness has finally got to me. My replacement has been lime Perrier; a more pricey choice, but definitely worth it, thus far at least. You just can’t beat the crisp taste of a cold glass of this bubbly stuff. Plus it makes me feel prestigious and pretentious. =)  And lately, I’ve been craving sweets and snacks less (for the first time in my life!) so maybe the whole thing about how sugar substitutes make you more hungry has some truth to it…

I’ve read quite a few articles/blogs raving about the La Tortilla Factory low carb tortillas and finally decided to shell out the 4 dollars for a pack (10). The nutrition is absurdly great: 50 calories per tortilla, 8 grams of fiber! Eight grams is ridiculously high. Ok… but these 8 grams of fiber plus whatever else is never going to make it to my stomach at this rate because theres a big brick wall blocking it…

The taste is pretty bad. Its like… the wrong texture, kind of bitter, distracting me from the fillings (I put lean taco meat and toppings).  Its got some flavor to it, although I’m not quite sure if green onion is it. Either way, its not disguising the odd, bitter aspects. So now I have 9 tortillas left… not sure what to do with them.

Once again, the HEB closest to school ran out of Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate, and I was forced to find a substitute. (I went to Walmart tonight though and stocked up on Kashi.) I chose the Curves bar because a) I was curious/skeptical b) most of the other options I had either tried and felt meh about them or were too high in calories and c) I had a coupon. I use granola bars as part of a snack because I like eating, not something to tide me over for 3 hours.

I picked the Chocolate Peanut flavor and here is some of the pertinent the nutrition info:

100 calories (good), 30 calories from fat (ok I can deal with that, but it is a little high). They boast the high fiber content, 5 grams, which is pretty good (but only 1 more gram than Kashi anyway). As for protein, a mere 2g. Lame. Kashi has 5. Ok so not having Kashi for a week has made me really appreciate how good it is.

My biggest problem is that it just doesn’t taste very good. It kind of resembles chalk in a sticky form. The peanut taste isn’t very real. I think making it peanut butter flavored might have worked better. The chocolate is ok but I definitely prefer the chips in Quaker and Kashi over whatever it is General Mills put in their bar. Its definitely not bad enough to refuse but I won’t be buying these again.