thursday things – ben and jerry’s core ice cream, kiwi berries, and more

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NEWS FLASH! IT RAINED IN PHOENIX! FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 60+ DAYS! Everyone went crazy updating their Facebook accounts and crashing their cars, even our local news was standing outside “waiting for the rain” to come.

It was big news, people. Big news. Can you imagine having a committed newscaster every time water fell from the sky? Because that’s a thing here.

Big. News.

The weeds in our yard are very happy now that they received some water. Our lemon tree grew some flowers, too!

Have you heard about this guy who pretended to be a chef and ended up on multiple news programs making disgusting meals?  Who knew it was that easy to get on the news?

Surely you’ve heard that Ben & Jerry’s released a new series of ice creams, which I quickly tracked down so I could give them a try…

And after all the hype of the OMG AMAZING CORE… this is what I found in my chocolate-peanut butter ice cream. I believe the “core” is located in the upper-left quadrant somewhere, as you can see there is a slight change in texture there.

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I wish I had taken a picture when I FIRST opened it because it looked like they had forgotten the core altogether.

I will, however, still pick up a second flavor and give them another chance to impress me (I did see salty caramel was on the list, and that jam one looks enticing, too). I will update you with the results.

For now, though, my verdict is: Not life-changing. Save your money unless, like me, you are just excited about having two flavors in the same container. Although, this particular container’s flavors were kinda meh. At least I could pick out the mini peanut butter cups, though.

Oddly enough, in other ice-cream-related-news, FH opened up a frozen Drumstick ice cream cone only to find that IT HAD NO CONE.

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Apparently we are just magnets for food oddities… I’ve even received Reese’s with no peanut butter before… HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?

Anyway, while I was buying my Ben & Jerry’s ice cream at Target I also stumbled across two of the coolest shirts ever. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make in awhile as it involved two of my favorite things: owls & kittens.

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In the end, I went with the kitten shirt (because, kittens!). And I know everyone at work was super jealous when I wore it last Friday (even if they didn’t say anything).

In other news, I discovered that Donald Trump was on Twitter while I was watching the Oscars, and live-tweeting about how horrible they were. Naturally, I found this hilarious and wanted to ask if he was watching the same Oscars as the rest of us, but I tweeted this instead, which he then retweeted, which caused my twitter to explode with Trump haters and lovers alike… some berating me for “pal-ing up to the Don” while others “agreed” with me…. Meanwhile, one person got the joke (although they did call me a “he”).

Lesson learned: Sarcasm does not translate well to Twitter.

Meanwhile I discovered kiwi berries at our local Trader Joe’s. They resemble what would happen if a kiwi and a grape had a baby.

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A delicious, delicious baby. They taste like kiwi but are bite-sized and no peeling (or shaving) needed!

In other food news, FH told me that Phoenix is finally getting its very first Panera Bread! While I’m sure it seems like no big deal to anyone who already HAS a Panera Bread, there’s a decent bit of nostalgia (and a mild soup-and-baguettte addiction) that is fueling this excitement.

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 We currently have something called “Paradise Bakery” which was technically bought by Panera several years ago but is a lackluster Panera-wanna-be that doesn’t serve half of what Panera does and gives you a side of cookie with your soup or sandwich.

A COOKIE!!!

I mean, it’s no secret that I love cookies (who doesn’t?) but NO I DON’T WANT TO DIP A COOKIE INTO MY SOUP, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

Long story short, I can’t wait to drown myself in Panera’s chicken noodle soup (or creamy tomato soup) and baguettes. I’m just going to buy gallons of it and take it home and pour it over myself…

Can’t. Wait.

I want to buy this squirrel feeder in hopes that it will lure squirrels into my yard… and then take silly pictures of them.

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While I’m at it I might as well get this pillow for the cats that I have already lured into our home – even though cats are jerks so I know they will never ever use it (except for when I force them into it against their will).

“GET INTO THE BURGER, CAT! GAWD!”

That kitten is unrelated to anything. I just thought he was super cute. HI KITTY!

I woke up this morning with an intense craving for zucchini bread for NO REASON (I don’t think I’ve even had zucchini bread since, like, high school… so, basically, a bajillion years ago.)

And this loaf of zucchini bread [from I am Baker] looks like the perfect cure.

Does that not just make your stomach growl for zucchini bread? Plus, zucchini and banana, so it’s like, good for you and stuff. 

On the other end of the spectrum we have the craziest pancakes I’ve ever seen on Noble Pig.

…which are transformed into pizzas.

Pizzas, people! Out of pancakes! Give this girl a goddamn medal! And I happen to have extremely teeny tiny pepperonis in our fridge RIGHT NOW so it’s basically in my fate that I make these.

Fate.

Then you know I made some darn tasty irish soda bread earlier in the week, and the real reason behind why I made it (besides that I like it) is because I saw this on Foodness Gracious:

Irish. Soda Bread. Pudding.

I die.

And finally, I just realized that my birthday is coming up fast. Like really fast. So I will probably need to bake my cake this weekend.

This cake. [from Life Tastes Good]

Full of peanut butter and marshmallowy goodness.

I need it.