The Cake Diaries

Last night was amazing! I'm going to talk about that before I get to the ice cream of tonight. Last night Matt and I stayed on the Queen Mary, the supposedly haunted ship, with Rebecca and Ken. It was so much fun. We all got dressed up, drank delicious drinks at the bar and wandered the ship. Then we all watched Poseidon's Adventure, all of which was shot on the Queen Mary. Then today, when we woke up, we wandered a little bit more. Did the Ghost and Legends tour, which was not historic but a cool kind of haunted house that took us to some pretty cool areas in the ship. Then we hunted ghosts in the engine room before heading home. Matt was feeling sick again so I tried to make sure I got him home as soon as possible. By the time we got home I wasn't feeling great either, because I hadn't eaten much that day. Matt had soup while the only thing I could wrangle together, without having to do much work, was english muffins with butter and honey. After getting some food in my stomach I was feeling much better. Which would explain why I decided to finally try this ice cream. I couldn't resist an ice cream called Candy Bar Pie especially when its peanut butter ice cream with fudge flakes, chocolate nougat and sweet and salty pretzel swirls. I had high hopes for this one, I'm a big fan of Ben & Jerrys but this one wasn't what I was expecting. I'm not even quite sure how to describe this one. First off, it's delicious, as Ben and Jerrys always is. It's mainly about the peanut butter ice cream and the pretzel. The peanut butter ice cream has a light peanut flavor but deliciously present. It has a grainy texture due to the pretzel. I originally thought that it was going to have crispy chucks of pretzel but instead its a ground up spread swirled throughout. Its an odd consistency and took me a little bit to get used to but tasty. I didn't really get much chocolate. It was like a faint ghost of chocolate. Which I didn't mind but being the chocoholic that I am, I wish there had been more. It wasn't at all what I was expected but it was tasty none the less. 

After those chocolate chip cookies I decide to try another variation. They Chips Ahoy filled with Oreo creme. I seriously look at these cookies and think "only in America". Matt picked them up for me awhile ago and I'm just now getting around to trying them. Like the Birthday Frosting ones that came before these ones were a lot smaller than I expected. I like the texture of them a lot because it's that soft chewiness that I love in cookies. But the flavor, not so much. It has an odd, kind of artificial chocolate chip cookie flavor to the cookie and then the oreo filling was weird as well. Although I never much liked the normal Oreos, it's not surprising that I didn't really like the filling that much. It's a weird combination tonight. First, tasty cookies that I don't love the texture of, and then cookies that I love the texture but dislike the flavor. 

I always need to try anything that claims to be the best of something. It takes a lot of balls to claim to be the best. And most of the time they fall flat. I believe that if something is the best, there is no need for the person making it to proclaim it. So I was doubtful when I tried these. To be honest they are actually pretty good. Little cookies with a good butter, slightly sweet flavor and tiny chocolate chips. They are definitely tasty but are they the best? I'm not sure if I would give them that. We all have our preferences when it comes to cookie texture and I like mine to be soft and slightly chewy. These cookies were a little more crispy and crumbly, still good but not the best in my opinion. 

This was my second treat tonight. I was really excited about this one. A waffle shaped wafer filled with hazelnut cream. That sounds amazing. I love filled wafers, they are so light and tasty, you can't go wrong. Well this one did, kind of. The wafer was amazing, light and crispy and kind of sweet it was a really delicious But it didn't have very much filling by which I mean I couldn't taste it at all. I would see it sometimes but just couldn't taste it. That aspect was really disappointing. But the wafer was so good. I have mixed feelings about it. 

Today I'm feeling in the mood for some lighter treats. So I decided to start my night out with these Rich Matcha Biscuits. I originally thought they were going to be more like cookies but apparently not. The chocolate biscuits were light in flavor and texture. I was kind of disappointed because the biscuits didn't have much chocolate flavor and I wish they had a lighter, crisper texture. The matcha cream had a nice flavor, rich and a little bitter and a little sweet. But any flavor it had kind of got lost in the nothingness of the chocolate biscuits. It could have been really good but it just wasn't. 

This is my last treat of the night. By the time I got to this one, its almost two in the morning and I'm okay with that. I'm very much a night person. I have a tendency to be a little lazy during the day if I'm at home, and then as soon as it starts getting dark I'm suddenly really active. One time I stayed up until 4 in the morning rearranging toys because I could. Anyhoo, back to the candy. I decided to end my secret eating on these Star Wars themed Jelly Bellys. I have one issue with these and that's why are they sparkly? I get that they are a Galaxy Mix, but seriously. They are really pretty though....The  flavors that come in this set are Sparkling Berry Blue, Sparkling Blueberry (the first being a lighter flavor, the second tasting darker and vaguely like blueberry), Sparkling Grape Soda, Sparkling Green Apple, Sparkling Island Punch, Sparkling Sour Apple and Sparkling Wild Blackberry. I like most of them except the apple ones, but then I always dislike apple candy. They are incredibly sweet and sugary tasting with vague artificial fruity flavors. There is a lot of sugar in this so they might have been a bad idea to end on. I might be up for awhile longer...

I decided after some chocolate I should have something light, like marshmallows! And why not Despicable Me Minions Peeps? The Despicable Me movies are adorable but the minions definitely steal the show. I guess thats why they are getting their own movie. And admittedly they lend themselves well to Peeps. It's a simple shape but so adorable. Flavor wise, they are Peeps, I feel like that is an explanation within itself. Soft, fluffy marshmallow coated in sugar. Not the greatest, I think I've kind of outgrown Peeps, but adorable. 

So its a little after midnight and I'm craving a lot of sugar. Matt is already asleep so I'm cute to take photos before I turn off the light and eat all my candy in the dark like a crazy person. But before that, I made a new friend! I meet a lot of people through my friend Rebecca but most of the time I just regard them as her friends. And while I like them, the likelihood of me seeing them without her almost never happens. But she has been pushing me to get to know her friends Erica and Matt, since we share similar interests. I have met them for short periods of time at various Rebecca events and have liked them. So tonight Erica and I got together for dinner to get to know each other. We ended up having a three hour dinner because we just kept talking. I think we only ended up leaving because the restaurant was shutting down. It was a lot of fun and I'm really excited to not only have a new friend but also a girl who shares some of my interests. So I was fairly hyper when I got home which explains my need for massive sugar. I deiced to start my midnight secret eatings with the second Seattles Chocolate, Devil's Delight. This was a peanut butter and pretzel chocolate bar. I liked this one better than the orange one. The flavors were still kind of on the light side, but the peanut butter was pretty tasty and creamy and I liked the inclusion of the big pretzel chunks. Its really hard to knock the combination of chocolate, peanut butter and pretzel. 

Our crazy October is over. We ended our October festivities with the Comikaze convention this past weekend. Matt was sick so we didn't do much. But we did get to wear our costumes, we were Freddy vs Jason and I was Jason, which was a lot of fun. We got to see John Barrowman and his sister Carole in a panel which was amazing. The two of them just telling stories and making fun of each other was amazing. John has his own panel on Sunday that we missed, but honestly speaking I think this one might have been more fun. Between the two days we went I got to meet Gwendoline Christie, who plays Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones and who has to be the nicest person I've ever met at one of these things. Jewel Straite, who plays Kaylee on Firefly, and took a picture with John Barrowman. It was a really fun weekend, its just too bad that Matt was sick. Today is the day after all of that and Matt and I are relaxing. I'm making a couple of sandwiches for us for lunch. I decided it was finally time for my to try this. I found this Speculoos and Cocoa swirl spread at Trader Joe's awhile ago. I made it into a sandwich with raspberry jam and sliced bananas. The spread was good but the chocolate kind of overpowered the cookie flavor which was too bad. My sandwich was delicious, if a little messy. 

So this is my last Halloween treat today. I didn't intend it to be. I was convinced that this Caramel Apple Laffy Taffy was going to be terrible and I was going to need something good to eat after it. I was expecting that weird sour candy apple flavor that I hate. Surprisingly that apple flavor was almost nonexistent. It was all about the caramel. Its sweet and chewy, not great but pleasant. It was a nice chewy, sweet pleasant thing to end on. Not really caramel apple, at least to me, but I can't knock something that gives me chewy caramel. It was a nice end to my Halloween. 

I decided it was time to have some chocolate. I found this Seattle Chocolate bar, as well a second one that will show up eventually, at World Market and the packaging was just too cute. The last time I had Seattle Chocolates was on my flight out to Los Angeles when I moved here. They have pretty decent chocolate base. It's smooth and sweet with a slight waxiness to it. The orange flavor was fairly artificial which surprised me. As much as I wanted to like this bar, it just wasn't quite there for me. The texture was just a little bit off as was the flavor. It wasn't bad but it could have been better. 

The next treats to eat on this Halloween day are these two different flavors of Jet-Puffed marshmallows. The top ones are Candy Corn flavored. I liked these ones but they didn't really taste like candy corn. To me they just tasted like normal marshmallows. Which of course I didn't mind, I love marshmallows. Plus the shape is so cute. The bottom marshmallows are Pumpkin Spice Mallows. It wouldn't be fall in there wasn't pumpkin spiced everything. These ones were okay but I didn't love them. The marshmallows had a decently strong pumpkin spice flavor. But it was kind of weird to have the pumpkin spice flavor with the soft squishy-ness of the marshmallows. I have discovered this fall that I don't like the pumpkin spice that much. When it's in the approbate vessel its good, pumpkin pie, lightly mixed in with chocolate, and I'm sure the coffee is good. But as a flavoring all on its own, it's too strong. No one eats just the spice it's always slightly diluted by something to make it more palatable and that's what all of these candy variations seem to be missing. 

For my next Halloween treat I decided to go with something I knew was going to make me happy, more Koala's March! This time the chocolate version. They are just so cute that I giggle to myself the entire time I'm setting up the photo. I love the fact that the Halloween theme extends even to the designs on the treats. The chocolate is tasty but it's been awhile since I've had the strawberry and chocolate flavors near the same time. I have to say, I think I prefer the strawberry flavor a bit. I like that bright sweet strawberry flavor. The chocolate flavor is good but there just isn't enough chocolate in the center for me. 

It's Halloween! This is my favorite holiday of the year, and I know a lot of people say that and with good reason. It's the day where I get to dress up and pretend to be someone else and eat as much candy as my system can handle without being judged. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this but I'm a costumer by trade. I love costumes, I love getting dressed up in a style so different from my own. I have a list of costumes that I want to eventually make. But I've gotten off track. Originally the plan for the day was go to Comikaze for most of the day and then head to West Hollywood for the parade. But Matt is sick again. Almost every year since we have been together Matt gets sick on Halloween. I feel bad for him because it's his favorite holiday as well and it's not fun to feel miserable on your favorite holiday. So we're not going out. Instead we're staying in and watching movies, which is still fun, albeit disappointing. I can't wear my Halloween costume today, Matt and I are suppose to Freddy vs Jason and I'm Jason. I'm pretty happy with how my costume turned out but it is pretty dirty and I don't really want to wear it round the apartment. So instead I'm wearing my Rilakkuma (the bear character of San-X, Hello Kitty's sister company) Kigurumi. A kigurumi is kind of like character footie pajamas but without the footie part. Look them up, they are pretty cute, super comfortable and warm. It wasn't my ideal costume but it at least made me feel like I was celebrating a little bit. That and the candy. I have a brown paper bag that I have been putting all of my Halloween candy in and today I'm going to dig into it. I decided it was only appropriate to start the day off on a type of candy corn. This S'mores candy corn have been around for awhile but this is the first time I'm getting to try it. Matt got it for me in my Halloween basket and I was very excited to try it. I didn't expect it to taste like s'mores but I do like candy corn and trying a new flavor is always fun. As I expected, these didn't really have a s'more flavor to them. They mainly tasted like a normal candy corn, that kind of sweet honey flavor, but with a light chocolate and artificial marshmallow flavor. There wasn't much graham cracker to it. It was interesting but it wasn't a s'more. Still, it was nice starting off on candy corn. 

I finally tracked these sons of bitches down! When I was working this summer I saw these at a Wal-Mart that is probably a good hour away from my apartment. I was in the middle of my work day with several more stops to make afterward. There was no time to pick them up or way to keep them from melting. I vowed to find them again. But my summers are crazy and the only time I would remember to look was when I was at my local Ralphs and they never had them. I accepted that I would probably never get to try them. And then I found them in my local Target. I also discovered that apparently Target has Ben and Jerry flavors just for them. I think thats crazy. They might appear here if I remember the next time I'm on a candy binge at Target. This morning when I woke up I decided it was finally time to try theseCrunch Dipped Drumsticks. I intended to have a light breakfast and then almost immediately follow it up with one of these. I thought about this as I did grocery shopping and I was so ready, when I got back, to eat one of these. But after breakfast. Well, I get back from grocery shopping and the boys, Matt's friend Jim is living with us again, want to go to Denny's for breakfast/lunch. Well I couldn't say no to that. But I couldn't give up on my ice cream. I'm stubborn and have a hard time letting go of a plan once I've made one. So the first thing I ate this morning was this Crunch Dipped Drumstick that I have fantasized about all summer. I ate it in a rush, Matt was teasing me about eating as we were on our way to Denny's. I was disappointed to discover that this is my least favorite variation of the chocolate coating. The rice puffs in the chocolate are good but they just don't carry. There is so much ice cream, and so little chocolate that I think it's better to have a chocolate that carries a lot of its own flavor. That's why the peanuts are fantastic and why the cooke one is amazing. They add their own flavor to the vanilla ice cream. The Crunch bar coating just doesn't have that same flavor. It's not a great ice cream treat but it is my childhood. These were the only ice cream treats I really ate growing up, these and Klondike bars. So eating one of these is like going back to my childhood, if only for a second. And I think we all know that the best part of a Drumstick is always the same, no matter what the coating is. Its that tip of the cone where there is no ice cream. Its just chocolate and waffle cone and childhood decadence. I might have made myself a tad sick starting the day by wolfing down ice cream for breakfast but it was worth it. Despite this being my third favorite outside (the plain chocolate being my least favorite), a Drumstick will always be worth it. 

My second cookie of the day are these Cookie Chips that I found awhile ago. These sounded like an interesting concept. Normally I like a more soft, chewy cookie so trying a crispy one would be an interesting concept. I actually didn't mind this one too much. It wasn't my ideal cookie but I liked it. They were very thin and crispy but they had a lot of flavor. There was a slightly saltiness to them, but mainly they were a nice light dark chocolate. Plus they were studded with tiny chocolate chips. They were quite addictive. 

More movie marathons and more treats! Today I decided to have a cookie trying day. I have so many different kinds of cookies that it seemed like a good idea to make a whole day of it. Today is also our official horror marathon. We started watching movies at like ten and we're switching off who gets to pick the movies out. We've actually watched a surprising amount of foreign horror movies today. I started out my cookie rampage with these Pumpkin Cheesecake cookies. Matt picked these up for me awhile ago. They were pretty tasty. There has been so much pumpkin spice shit during the fall season and it's all so strong normally. These cookies had a really nice light pumpkin flavor. It was lovely, and not overpowering. And the white chocolate actually added to the cookies. They were a really great cookie to start on.