Hello, everyone! The weekend is almost here! How are you holding up?
Now, I don't know if any of you remember, but originally--okay, maybe not originally*, but many, many months ago, Atlus USA promised us that Persona 5 would be stealing our hearts on Valentine's Day, 2017. I admit that the symbolism was beautiful, and I hope whoever thought of that was at least given a hearty pat on the shoulder, or maybe a cookie. But alas, it was not meant to be.
* = Originally, Persona 5 was supposed to be released "Winter 2014," but we all know how that turned out.
What's the next best thing? Persona 5 anime!
Monday, February 27, 2017
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Dunkin Donuts: Vanilla Cupcake Swirl and Heart-Shaped Donuts
Hi, everyone! Hope your week is going well!
This is a little bit late, but I present to you the follow-up to my earlier Starbucks Valentine's Day snack review. But this time, we're focusing on Dunkin Donuts.
Now, some people say that you can't be a fan of both Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. To these people I say, why the discrimination? I have enough love for all the coffee and coffee-enhancing treats in the world. I feel that both places fill crucial roles in my psyche. The 'Bucks is for those times when I want to feel like a classy and rich lady, delicately sipping on a drink that I can't pronounce and noshing on an artisanal baked treat. The DD is for those times when you just want to get down on some serious snacking.
I have to admit that I haven't been paying too much attention to Dunkin's promos as of late, but I remembered that every year, they offer heart-shaped donuts on Valentine's Day. So what better way to celebrate than gratuitously sugary pastries?
This is a little bit late, but I present to you the follow-up to my earlier Starbucks Valentine's Day snack review. But this time, we're focusing on Dunkin Donuts.
Now, some people say that you can't be a fan of both Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. To these people I say, why the discrimination? I have enough love for all the coffee and coffee-enhancing treats in the world. I feel that both places fill crucial roles in my psyche. The 'Bucks is for those times when I want to feel like a classy and rich lady, delicately sipping on a drink that I can't pronounce and noshing on an artisanal baked treat. The DD is for those times when you just want to get down on some serious snacking.
I have to admit that I haven't been paying too much attention to Dunkin's promos as of late, but I remembered that every year, they offer heart-shaped donuts on Valentine's Day. So what better way to celebrate than gratuitously sugary pastries?
Monday, February 13, 2017
Starbucks Valentine's Treats: Molten Chocolate Latte and Double Chocolate Loaf Cake
Hey there, everyone! It's gloomy and grey outside, but you know what fixes that? Chocolate.
Today, I had a free drink reward burning a hole in my Starbucks card, so I decided to take one for the team and drink a delicious chocolaty beverage. The things I suffer through for you guys--but hey, I'm willing to step up and do it.
The limited-time flavor for this particular time of the year is "Molten Chocolate," which evokes all kind of images without actually saying anything. I think of volcanoes fashioned from bundt cakes, spewing forth chocolate lava, and wow now I am hungry.
According to the Starbucks website, the Molten Chocolate beverages come in three speeds: latte, hot chocolate, and Frappuccino. I have no idea who would make a Frappuccino in sub-freezing weather, and the hot chocolate version sounded like diabetes in a cup, so I opted for Door #1.
The drink itself doesn't look that special, but it's topped with "mocha-espresso" whipped cream and sauce, so it looks pretty snazzy. I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot that when you order a drink like this and don't get around to drinking it until 15 minutes later, the pretty whipped cream melts into the drink. So next time, I've gotta be that one jerk who plops their drink down on a random Starbucks table and starts taking photos of a beverage.
The taste, though, is pretty good. Starbucks describes the secret recipe used to craft this as "rich chocolatey chips melted with espresso" and blended with "mocha-infused milk," so you would think you're getting a Super Mocha. But the taste is a lot smoother than that, and surprisingly the espresso isn't overpowering. It's more balanced than one would think.
But enough about the drink; let's talk about this Double Chocolate loaf cake. Because I think I've found my Kryptonite. This sucker lays on its little plate in the display case, all unassuming. But once you pick it up, BAM. It's a choco-palooza, a veritable cornucopia of sugary goodness. To begin with, this is iced on top with chocolate ganache. WIN. FOREVER.
It doesn't stop there. The cake itself is a dense and rich chocolate cake; the flavor matches pretty much every "double chocolate" flavored cake I've had, so if you were hoping for something fudgy, you're out of luck. But Starbucks tosses in chocolate chunks, which I'm kind of undecided about. I get wanting to toss in lots of chocolate...and the cake is dense enough to support the chocolate chunks...but it almost breaks up the mouthfeel of eating the cake, if you get what I mean. I suppose it probably comes down to what your personal preferences are.
In any case, the flavor is out of this world and the icing is fantastic, so I'm giving this cake as many thumbs up as I can, even though I have long given up on trying to assign point values and ratings to food unless they're terrible.
Miss Scarlett, signing out!
Today, I had a free drink reward burning a hole in my Starbucks card, so I decided to take one for the team and drink a delicious chocolaty beverage. The things I suffer through for you guys--but hey, I'm willing to step up and do it.
The limited-time flavor for this particular time of the year is "Molten Chocolate," which evokes all kind of images without actually saying anything. I think of volcanoes fashioned from bundt cakes, spewing forth chocolate lava, and wow now I am hungry.
According to the Starbucks website, the Molten Chocolate beverages come in three speeds: latte, hot chocolate, and Frappuccino. I have no idea who would make a Frappuccino in sub-freezing weather, and the hot chocolate version sounded like diabetes in a cup, so I opted for Door #1.
The drink itself doesn't look that special, but it's topped with "mocha-espresso" whipped cream and sauce, so it looks pretty snazzy. I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot that when you order a drink like this and don't get around to drinking it until 15 minutes later, the pretty whipped cream melts into the drink. So next time, I've gotta be that one jerk who plops their drink down on a random Starbucks table and starts taking photos of a beverage.
The taste, though, is pretty good. Starbucks describes the secret recipe used to craft this as "rich chocolatey chips melted with espresso" and blended with "mocha-infused milk," so you would think you're getting a Super Mocha. But the taste is a lot smoother than that, and surprisingly the espresso isn't overpowering. It's more balanced than one would think.
But enough about the drink; let's talk about this Double Chocolate loaf cake. Because I think I've found my Kryptonite. This sucker lays on its little plate in the display case, all unassuming. But once you pick it up, BAM. It's a choco-palooza, a veritable cornucopia of sugary goodness. To begin with, this is iced on top with chocolate ganache. WIN. FOREVER.
It doesn't stop there. The cake itself is a dense and rich chocolate cake; the flavor matches pretty much every "double chocolate" flavored cake I've had, so if you were hoping for something fudgy, you're out of luck. But Starbucks tosses in chocolate chunks, which I'm kind of undecided about. I get wanting to toss in lots of chocolate...and the cake is dense enough to support the chocolate chunks...but it almost breaks up the mouthfeel of eating the cake, if you get what I mean. I suppose it probably comes down to what your personal preferences are.
In any case, the flavor is out of this world and the icing is fantastic, so I'm giving this cake as many thumbs up as I can, even though I have long given up on trying to assign point values and ratings to food unless they're terrible.
Miss Scarlett, signing out!
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Miss Scarlett is Inspired! Plus, Starbucks Cake Pops!
Good evening, everyone!
During the sick days I took last month, I spent some time browsing other blogs; mostly out of curiosity to see if anybody else has taken the approach of having a catch-all blog for all the offbeat and varied things one is in to. And I hit the motherlode, I present to you my new favorite blog: Dinosaur Dracula. Just the name alone tells you that you're in for a good time. Matt, the blog's author, describes it as "Dino Drac is a never-ending series of tributes to things I like. (Note: I like ridiculous things.)" which I kind of feel is what I also try to go for with the Hobby Haven. Granted, he is far better at it than I am, and has a wonderfully humorous writing style that just draws you in. We both have a lot of nostalgia for 1980s and early 1990s pop culture, although he's way more passionate about it than I am. Frankly, Matt is kind of my blog idol right now.
One of the things that I've realized after reading through what feels like millions of pages on that blog is that I don't do are food reviews. And not because I'm averse to the idea of doing it; it frankly never occurred to me. Trying out new snacks and restaurants is an activity that I share with my closest friends, and I'm a self-admitted sucker for limited-time promotional food.
So what the heck, guys: I'll give it a shot every now and then, huh? But there's no time like the present, so I'll just stick one here under a cut...
During the sick days I took last month, I spent some time browsing other blogs; mostly out of curiosity to see if anybody else has taken the approach of having a catch-all blog for all the offbeat and varied things one is in to. And I hit the motherlode, I present to you my new favorite blog: Dinosaur Dracula. Just the name alone tells you that you're in for a good time. Matt, the blog's author, describes it as "Dino Drac is a never-ending series of tributes to things I like. (Note: I like ridiculous things.)" which I kind of feel is what I also try to go for with the Hobby Haven. Granted, he is far better at it than I am, and has a wonderfully humorous writing style that just draws you in. We both have a lot of nostalgia for 1980s and early 1990s pop culture, although he's way more passionate about it than I am. Frankly, Matt is kind of my blog idol right now.
One of the things that I've realized after reading through what feels like millions of pages on that blog is that I don't do are food reviews. And not because I'm averse to the idea of doing it; it frankly never occurred to me. Trying out new snacks and restaurants is an activity that I share with my closest friends, and I'm a self-admitted sucker for limited-time promotional food.
So what the heck, guys: I'll give it a shot every now and then, huh? But there's no time like the present, so I'll just stick one here under a cut...
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Friday, February 3, 2017
Miss Scarlett Cooks! Lemon Squares
Welcome to the Hobby Haven, everyone! How's your week going?
Does anybody else crave summery-flavored things in the dead of winter, or is it just me? I mean, sometimes you just need a bit of something bright to cheer up a heavy, snowy day. So at that times, I make lemon desserts!
Today, I've got a recipe for one of my favorite usually-summery-but-delicious-year-round treats, lemon squares! They only sound complicated, and are really super-easy to make. Eating one is like eating a ray of sunshine! ...Okay, well, maybe only to me.
Everything you need to know is after the jump!
Does anybody else crave summery-flavored things in the dead of winter, or is it just me? I mean, sometimes you just need a bit of something bright to cheer up a heavy, snowy day. So at that times, I make lemon desserts!
Today, I've got a recipe for one of my favorite usually-summery-but-delicious-year-round treats, lemon squares! They only sound complicated, and are really super-easy to make. Eating one is like eating a ray of sunshine! ...Okay, well, maybe only to me.
Everything you need to know is after the jump!
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