Trident Vitality Vigorate

On a trip to get my next gum fix I choose Trident Vitality this time. Hearing all about it I decided to give it a taste. I expected it to be great because my favorite gum is made by Trident.

I should start off by saying the package is the coolest thing ever. It has a cool flap thing that you can slip the gum package from.

The new thing about this gum is that it is fortified with vitamin C. It offers a nice 10% of your daily value. That's NOTHING. You can get much vitamin C off of half a leaf of lettuce. Eat a nice orange and get over 100% easily. But I guess it offers more than other gums. Chew the whole pack in a day and you get 90% of your daily value.

This stuff is said to be "a burst of citrus and strawberry with vitamin C", as you can read on the package.

I popped a first piece in my mouth and was amazed at the second bit. The first chew wasn't so great cause of that sugar-like coating that you find on M&M's and Skittles, but you did get an amazing burst of flavor from the second bite. It tasted heavy on the citrus and light on the strawberry. These flavors are a mixture of nature and artificial (I wonder how that works out?).

There is a refreshingly cool feeling to the gum at first but that eventually dies out off course. None of the Trident flavors seem to last as long as the Tropical Trident sticks.

Overall it is a good product, but it is over priced compared to other gums. But I might get them again for a change of scenery.

Fresh&Easy Peanut Butter Pretzels

On my trip to Fresh and Easy I decided to hit the snack aisle to find some portable snacks to take with my on the go. I saw that they had some peanut butter pretzels, knowing how much I liked Anderson's peanut butter pretzels, I picked up a bag of these. Fresh and Easy has some great products, so I figured they would taste just as good as Anderson's.

But I was wrong. For some reason the pretzel coating on top tasted a bit stale to me. I was so happy with the previous products that I bought from Fresh and Easy I really had high hopes for these because they were pretty cheap.

Their formula sucked. There wasn't even a decent amound of peanut butter filling. The only thing nice I can say about these are that they have no preservatives, artificial coloring, or flavoring. Other than that I wasn't satisfied.

Yes, I did check the expiration date and it was fine, I didn't pass it. Maybe I got an unlucky bag, but I'm not purchasing these again. I'll stick with the Honey Wheat Pretzels.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Almond Horns

There is only one Trader Joe's in my city and it's a bit far from my house, so I don't go there often. Plus the place is a bit expensive. But Trader Joe's and Whole Food's Market has some stuff that other stores don't offer, so sometimes I take my butt over there to have a look.

I take advantage of spending my gas on that trip to pick up some other things that look interesting. This time around I picked up a box of Chocolate Almond Horns. I've never seen almond horns in my life and had no idea what they were at first. But taking a look in the box they look like delicious cookies in a horse shoe form. But I have no clue why they are cold almond horns.

My body is a magnet to the bakery sections of grocery stores. So off course my visit to Trader Joe's had me over there looking at their sweet delights. They had much to offer but my eyes caught the almond horns. The top of the box said that these were "soft almond cookies dipped in dark chocolate". They sounded fantastic to me so I picked up a box.



The chocolate, only covering about a third of the cookie, was delicious, rich, and bittersweet. They really used the quality stuff. It was delicious. I loved it so much I left the rest of the chocolate part for my last bite. The cookie part was just at great. Topped with almond slivers, the outside was crispy and sort of tough, but the inside was nice and moist. Kind of like how churros are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, but not like the texture of a churro.

The flavor was amazing. It had a heavy almond extract taste to it that lingered in your mouth after you swallowed. If you don't know what that tastes like think of marzipan. In other words, it had a heavy marzipan taste. Basically, the cookie part was great, especially with the black tea I had it with.

The best part of the cookie was the chocolate covered piece which balanced well with the flavors in the cookie. Neither over powered the other. They were a match made in heaven when put together. They sort of reminded me of a cookie form of See's Dark Chocolate covered Marzipan truffles.

Definitely worth getting. They are wonderful, delicious, and will definitely not sabotage your diet, if you eat only one of course.

Fresh&Easy Egg Nog

The first time I heard of egg nog was from the movie Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. The first time I tried egg nog was in 8th grade when my teacher brought us some as a treat the last day before winter break. It turned out that I didn't like the stuff much at all. It had a taste to it that I just didn't attract my taste buds much. It wasn't vomit disgusting, but it wasn't great at all. It's been years since then, and I have never had a mug of egg nog since.



But during the holidays I took a trip to Fresh and Easy and they had egg nog for sample. I took one, thinking maybe I was wrong about egg nog all along and that it wouldn't hurt to try it again. I didn't expect to like it much, and for the first sip I didn't so much. But on the second and third sip it quickly grew on me. It was like an instant change of mind for me. I watched my life flash from anti-egg nog to pro-egg nog. I don't know about the special formula of egg nog that Fresh and Easy brewed up, but it converted me.

The egg nog was so thick and creamy; I almost wanted to eat it with a spoon. The flavor was amazing and strong, which was the best part of it. I love flavorful food. It was very sweet as well. I found that I wouldn't want to drink too much of it all at once, which is a great thing cause egg nog is high in calories. It's like chocolate cake, you love it at first, but after a few slices you get sick of it cause of all the sugar.

Another wonderful thing about this product is that it has not artificial flavoring, colors, or preservatives. It's just pure pasteurized egg nog.

I bought one container of it and enjoyed it very much. I filled it into a nice glass and sipped on it slowly while it was nice and ice cold. It was fantastic! I can't wait till they bring it back for the holiday season. If you can get your hands on some, go for it!

Anderson Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels

It was at my cousin's house that I first come across these peanut butter filled pretzels which I found in the bar that she installed in her house. I was a preteen staying at her house on occasions, with her demanding that I clean her house.

I always loved to dip pretzels in peanut butter so I decided to try them later as a snack when I got hungry. So I did get hungry and started snacking on them later while reading one of her magazines. I loved the little bite size pieces and, without realization, had eaten a significant amount of them. She laughed and said, "Yeah, that stuff is pretty dangerous."

They're the coolest invention. An easy way to make your peanut butter and pretzels snack portable. So I was at Costco and saw a nice barrel-like container of these for just under $8. I immediately grabbed it thinking they would be perfect on the go.

These stayed amazingly fresh all the way through eating them. I took a nice handful along with me everyday, eating them for lunch, since I don't like taking meals with me on the go. Usually I take a bunch of healthy snacks with me and pig out when I get home.

They are a wonderful, sweet and salty snack. They are a pretty filling snack, but no lie they are dangerous. Ten of them are 140 calories, which doesn't sound too bad but you can eat 10 in a heartbeat and eat 10 more without knowing it. Actually you could absent-mindedly eat the whole barrel once you have started. Which is why you should take these on the go so that you don't have access to the rest of the box.


The pretzel itself is amazing and there is a nice ball of creamy peanut butter hiding on the inside waiting for you.

They tastes best if you either crunchy the whole thing immediately. And if you let it sog in your mouth and then chew it in the end it taste's just as good. I love eating them with iced coffee.

They beat a lot of other snacks and they are amazing. Anderson's made it the best. I'm sure your kids would love them too.

They sell them everywhere and they come in various sized containers and bags. Not to mention their containers are very nice so if you need a container you can use it after you've eaten them all.

These are all around great so just get some before I mention how good these are again!

Dove Almond Milk Chocolate

I love chocolate. I love it in all forms. It's so wonderful and I think it is what made me chubby as a kid. My favorite is dark chocolate. The darker the better is all I have to say.

Today though I wanted some milk chocolate. Usually I prefer my chocolate without the nuts in it, but this time I picked Dove's Almond Milk Chocolate Silky Smooth Promises. Silky smooth promises don't taste any different from Dove in a bar form, they just come in smaller individually wrapped squares.

The smell was very sweet, just like most milk chocolates smell. The almonds inside were roasted, and when you bite in to them they are relatively crunchy. They just add a nice crunch to the chocolate, but you can't really taste them because the smooth creamy chocolate overpowers. This is the reason I prefer my chocolate without the nuts. Another reason is I like to let the chocolate lay on my tongue and melt on it's own so the flavor stays in my mouth for a longer period of time.

I do prefer a darker chocolate, but the milk chocolate was delicious as well. Nice and sweet with a hint of cocoa.

This is a enjoyable snack and good to have in a candy bowl for your guests.

Five of these squares are only 210 calories. Another thing that's great is that the ingredient list isn't as long as a lot of other candy products.

It's the best chocolate for a low price.

Nutella

In 2003, my mother and I went on vacation to Turkey to visit our family and friends during the summer. To add a little more context to this, my entire family from both sides of my parents were born and basically raised in Turkey. I was the first one from both sides to be born in America. We are not Turkish, we are full blood Armenians.

So now that you know that I can get back to my trip to Turkey. It was summer break, and I was out of school so we stayed there for nearly two and a half months to get the full benefit of our plane ticket.

We spent the first and last two weeks of our visit in Istanbul where my dad's side of the family is, but we traveled to Samandag, Hatay, Turkey and spent most of our summer there with my mom's side of the family.



We were eating breakfast one day and my uncle bought us Nutella. I've hadn't heard of it before but I saw that it had chocolate in it so I instantly spread it on some homemade bread, tandir ekmeği, and fell in love. Turns out that during the second World War, the creator found that he didn't have enough cocoa beans to make the spread, but he had endless fields of hazelnut. So he mixed them together and voila. An Italian Pastry maker, he had a dream to make cheap, affordable candy that was delicious, he put this Nutella blend into a candy that we love today, Ferrero Rocher.

When I got back to the land of the free, I only found Nutella exclusively in some local middle eastern markets. They were also the actual Nutella imported from Italy, which for some reason has a bolder taste than the one manufactured in the US. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the stuff. Nobody had any idea what it was. Actually, Nutella became really popular in my area two years ago. Three years ago people would look at me funny when I said that I had Nutella for breakfast.

Well now that everybody knows about it they have created National Nutella Day on February 5th. So celebrate.

The taste of Nutella is amazing. It's definitely very thick and creamy. There is a perfect balance of chocolate and hazelnut, neither overpowering the other. It's also perfectly sweetened. I enjoy eating it in many ways. My cousin liked to eat it straight out of the jar. I basically like it on anything, but my favorite way of eating it is with Honey Wheat Pretzels. I just love dipping them together and consuming them as a snack or dessert. Another way I absolutely love eating Nutella is substituting it as jelly in my peanut butter sandwiches.



One thing that everybody should realize is that this stuff is not as healthy as the Nutella comercials make it out to be. It has nearly 0 nutritional value for the calories. People all over Europe understand this, and even they eat it in moderation as a treat. This product should be regarded as a treat and eaten in small quantities. I know it's hard and feel for you, but slow down. America's obesity problem does not need to get worse with this stuff.

This is probably the longest review I have written so far. It's not because I'm in a particular writing mood, it's just that I love this product so much. It just has so much to offer. It's like the best thing that can happen to a chocolate and nut lover like me. If I could have one single complaint about it, it would be that the oil separates from the spread. This problem isn't too bad in the colder months, but during the summer I sadly give Nutella up. I don't have air conditioning in my home so my Nutella will separate like colors in a lava lamp.

Lundberg Buttery Caramel Rice Cake

The first time I heard of rice cakes was in 6th grade when my class read books from the Fudge Book Series by Judy Bloom. I remember my teacher was surprised that I had no idea what they were, thanks to the fact that my father never let me buy packaged foods.

But now that I don't have to listen to him I can make my own judgements on what to eat and what not to eat. So I was at that local health food store and I found some of these Lundberg Rice Cakes. I've tried Quaker rice cakes before and thought they were okay, but not that great. But for some reason that day I wanted a pack.

So I chose the Eco-Farmed Buttery Caramel variety. Sounds good right? Let's discuss with what that 'Eco-Farmed' part means. Lundberg makes organic and eco-farmed products.

That's the basic chart on their website outlining it all. I figured it be easiest for me and for your understanding if I just post that up there. Basically, the eco-farmed products are a bit more eco-friendly.

Lundberg makes their rice cakes with freshly milled brown rice and packing almost double the amount of rice in one rice cake than other brands do. They pop them on their farm so it's not a factory based product.

They use simple and clean ingreients:
Eco-Farmed whole grain brown rice, dried cane syrup, unsulphured molasses, natural buttery caramel flavor.



All natural, eco-friendly, organic, fresh, how about now for the taste?

Well at first I wasn't too impressed. The buttery caramel flavoring was a bit too light, but you did definitely taste more rice. They were indeed fresh and crunchy. They seemed to have less sugar than the average processed brand that you get at the store, but they were quite fantastic for having such a short ingredients list.


I liked them. I have always liked simple foods. I think the American diet has way too many ingredients in them, as well as way too much sugar. I am ashamed to say that I have fallen for the sugar fever that America has, but I can proudly say that I love the low-sugared pastriess too.

So buy a pack of these, or one of their many other flavors, and enjoy.
I love them topped with peanut butter for breakfast.
Cream cheese or laughing cow sounds good on the saltier varieties.

Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bar

One of the first cereal bars that I tried in my entire life was Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Cereal bars. They used to be so popular that everybody was eating them. They had a phase, like the Pop tarts had a phase, and cupcakes had a phase.

But now they are sadly sitting on the shelves eagerly waiting for that one in a million customer to pick one of them up. I was one of those one in a million the other day. I decided to pick up the classic strawberry flavor.

I don't know why people still don't love these. They remind me of Fig Newtons, which are a love of my life. They are simple whole grain bars covering a sugar filled fruit center.

The strawberry one was lovely, and very sweet with a slight tart flavor to it. The filling didn't even taste that artificial.

Each bar has only 120 calories, 3 grams of fat, 24 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fiber, and 2 grams of protein.

For craving a sweet snack, these are a great choice. You can get a nice box of these for less than $2 at your local supermarket.

I say go pick them up. Reminisce on some memories.

Back to Nature Honey Nut Granola

On my trip to a local health store I found these cookies by Back to Nature in the clearance isle. They were there because their expiration date was coming in two days. I got a $4.79 cookies for 99 cents. I took advantage of my deal and bought them.

I heard of Back to Nature, but I have never actually tried their products. Their business started in 1960 from Pasadena, California. They offer cereals, crackers, nuts, and cookies. They got popular for making delicious snacks with simple ingredients that don't contain any preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, or hydrogenated oils. 100% natural with wholesome goodness, what's not to love?


So what I purchased was the Honey Nut Granola cookies. I honestly expected them to be crunch due to the granola part of the description. I didn't read the back though where it says:
" Chewy granola cookies with the delicious crunch of peanuts and a touch of honey. Sweetened with cane juice and fruit juice and baked with 100% whole grain, these cookies make a great snack!"
That gives away the chewy part doesn't it?

They have 12 grams of whole grain per serving. A serving is 1 cookie, so as you can imagine, these cookies are relatively big compared to Oreos. Each cookie contains 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 18 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber, and 3 grams of protein. All the ingredients are all natural.

So I opened the cookies and they smelled wonderful, exactly like a peanut butter and honey sandwich. There were 8 of them in there and I already didn't feel like sharing. I took my first bite and fell in love. Screw Pepperidge Farm, these cookies are da bomb!

They were so moist and chewy. You can chewy on some of the grains on occasion. There was a heavy nut flavor which I love and you can easily savor the sweetness of the honey.

I'm drooling all over my keyboard right now. I must have some more!
They have tons of other varieties of cookies. I'm dying to try them all!
You have to buy these. They are mouth watering.
They bring warmth to your insides.
I can't stop raving about them
Go get 'em!

10/10 for sure!

Tuttimelon Frozen Yogurt

There used to be a frozen yogurt place near my house called Tutti Frutti. It closed down a couple months ago, most probably because it ran out of business. I heard of it from a friend who took me there. At first I thought it was the coolest place ever because you could pour yourself your own yogurt from the machines on the wall and pay for it by the ounce.

It looked cheap too, only 39 cents an ounce, but who knew how fast those ounces add up to make each trip cost nearly $5. In the end I do prefer regular ice cream to frozen yogurt, but I like to mix it up once in a while. I walked back there twice before they closed it down.

It was sort of disappointing. Fortunately, I noticed a new place called Tuttimelon at my local mall that was almost like a replica of Tutti Frutti with an addition of gelato on the menu.

They do not offer as many flavors of frozen yogurt as Tutti Frutti, but they have some of the primary stuff. I poured myself a small serving of chocolate topped with coconut and brownie chunks.



It was quite delicious. It tasted exactly like Tutti Frutti and I enjoyed it. The yogurt itself tasted like a nice cold hot chocolate in a creamy form. But the toppings easily over powered it. The brownie pieces were a bit stale for me, but the coconut flakes added a nice touch. For future reference I won't add those again.

My mom also came along on this trip and she poured herself strawberry yogurt and topped it with some coconut. Her yogurt was a little too tart for me. I remember Tutti Frutti's being a bit better. But the coconut added a nice touch to her yogurt as well.

If you haven't noticed, loving coconut runs in my family.

Like I said, it's a bit pricey for me considering I'm not in love with frozen yogurt. I would prefer a trip to Baskin Robbins for the same price cause I like the thicker ice cream stuff. I would actually prefer a Starbucks Frappuccino to this. But for frozen yogurt lovers out there, have a go at it.

I will go back for the gelato though. It sounds good.