Product Reviews

28 posts

Blue Apron Review, If You Must

Because I live in a small town that lacks a wide variety of restaurants that will bring food directly to my home so I decided to try Blue Apron, some assembly required, meal delivery service. It’s not that I’m one of those people who stares blankly in the produce section, at a loss over what tastes go with what tastes. I have game in the kitchen. But I prefer simple food (and delivery) because I’m lazy and it takes zero effort to turn damn near anything into a taco. Continue reading

Kono Pizza: I Tried It For Science

Kono Pizza marketing imageI usually ignore fast food advertising, but I recently got a flier in the mail that grabbed my attention. A new place has opened nearby called Kono Pizza that serves pizza in a cone. Pizza. In a cone. 

New Jersey has some of the country’s best Italian fast food. There’s a mom-and-pop pizzeria in just about every strip mall. You can buy a $2.50 slice or a $14 pie as big as a manhole cover: delicious with a fragrant, firm, yeasty crust that stands up to generous amounts of delicately seasoned marinara and gobs of salty mozzarella, plus whatever toppings you please (unless you’re into freaky things like sweet corn and shrimp. If that’s the case, you can just get on the Turnpike, get off at Newark Airport and fly back to wherever they think that kind of thing is okay). But fast food chains are also ubiquitous, and we have Domino’s and Little Caesars, which has never made any sense to me. So it’s Kono Pizza’s turn to pitch up and give it a try. Okay, why not? Continue reading

Valentine’s Day Candy Review: Russell Stover Heart-Shaped Assortment

Perhaps there are Valentine’s Day candies that are more predictably tasty: for example, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Heart, whose pliant chocolate and dense, salty interior excite your taste buds just as pleasurably as they did at Christmas, when they came in the shape of a tree; at Halloween, as a pumpkin; and Easter, an egg.

There are V-Day candies that are perhaps more unidentifiable with any other day: candy conversation hearts, for example. But those marry the flavors and mouthfeel of an Edwardian spinster’s tooth powder collection with the kind of creepy suggestions you’d find in a collection of crazy and creative ways to ask someone to prom.

But the very best Valentine’s Day candy is an assortment of chocolates, each morsel an adventure, just like romantic love. And to me, the quintessential V-Day assortment is Russell Stover’s Assorted Fine Chocolates, you know, the one in the red heart-shaped box with the cellophane. Nothing says “I cherish you” like waxy American chocolate crammed with corn syrup. Continue reading

A Non-Techy Girl Reviews iOS 7

The new iOS home screen is brighter, more open and more ... neon?
The new iOS home screen is brighter, more open and more … neon?

I feel I need to preface this post with the following: I am not a technologically savvy person. I love my iPhone for the reasons most of us love our smart phones: in addition to making calls and sending texts, I can check Facebook and Twitter and email and the Internet wherever I am. It gives me directions when I’m hopelessly lost (sometimes — ask me about the time I wound up in the middle of a field. The phone said turn right!) It means I’m never without somewhere to eat. It is a portable computer I can fit in the palm of my hand. What’s not to love? Continue reading

Run Less, Run Faster Book Review

run-less-run-fasterI have established elsewhere I am not a very fast runner. However, I am obsessed with reading about running and trying out new training programs. I purchased this book about a month and a half ago, and so far I am very impressed with the methodology.

First of all, the authors of “Run Less, Run Faster: Become a Faster, Stronger Runner with the Revolutionary 3-Run-a-Week Training Program” are bona-fide scientists with the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST). Their focus is on injury prevention due to over-training. The premise of the book is that each run should have a purpose: to make you faster.

This methodology is not about jogging for the sake of jogging but focusing your training on three runs: Continue reading

iRobot Roomba Cleaning Robot for Pets and Allergies Review

Roomba770The idea of having a robot do anything in my home is instantly appealing thanks to the many robots who have appeared on my television and given me a grand dream of what robots might someday become. Is the Roomba an evolutionary step toward Rosie from The Jetsons?

The Roomba roaming around seemingly randomly through my house is officially the iRobot Roomba 770 Vacuum Cleaning Robot for Pets and Allergies. We have one large dog and primarily hard wood floors, with rugs in the master bedroom and livingroom. Roomba (iRobot likes to drop any ‘a’ or ‘the’ when referring to Roomba so as to make it more personal) took very little setup before being operational. Just some un-boxing and removing of packing material from the innards of the robot. Continue reading

A Week With An Electric Car

windshieldThe 2008 to 2012 Tesla Roadster was one of the first “mainstream” electric cars sold. The car itself was based on a Toyota-powered Lotus Elise sports car. The cars were built by Lotus in Britain without the engine and transmission and then shipped to California, where they were mated with an electric motor, a control unit, and thousands of little batteries. They were not cheap, as they started at $109,000. And even with a gasoline engine, the tiny car was not practical.

These are my impressions of driving my friend’s 35,000-mile Tesla Roadster for a week:  Continue reading

Booze Review: Corner Creek Reserve Bourbon Whiskey

Corner-Creek-ReserveSo by now, you all know that I love booze. I’ll really drink most liquor. I’ll draw the line at the flavored shit though.

My first love is bourbon. It was introduced to me during my days of bartending at of all places TGIFridays. So yeah, I went there. I got fired from my quirky, small town bar because the owner was a freaking coke-head maniac (he ended up firing me 5 times) and I needed work. Part of my flaired fueled conditional employment was having a liquor salesmen come in before our shifts and educate us on types of liquor so we could better sell their brands. So okay, I’ll sport Flair for a 10 am Bourbon tasting. Continue reading

Booze Review: Espolón Tequila Reposado

tequilaTo say I feel strongly about Tequila is an understatement. What does Tequila mean to me? Special occasions. It means sipping a very expensive Don Julio, Reposado of course, listening to great tunes, eating local guac and ceviche on vacation. Expensive and rare.

I’ll admit something to you all. I’m a “Woo-Hoo” girl. And cheap Tequila makes me “Woo-Hoo.” It also “makes my clothes come off.” In fact, Baltimore has seen more than one of my raggedy, so called cute bras on many dumb occasions. Stop it, don’t judge, you’ve done it…right? And good lord did I need to stop hugging all the new best friends I met while enjoying the dirtiest nectar of all the gods. Continue reading