the waffle cone

August 3, 2011 Comments: 2

Emack & Bolio's waffle cone with chocolate addiction and peanut butter Oreo ice cream

Four of Tim’s family members flew into town today, so obviously we had to walk to Emack & Bolio’s for a cold treat. E&B’s slogan is “ice cream for the connoisseur,” and I would say that’s accurate. I usually get the chocolate addiction shake, which is chocolate moose ice cream (chocolate liqueur, cocoa, and imported chocolate blended) with fudge chunks and chocolate flakes mixed in. It can’t be beat. But I spotted a dollar item on the menu — the waffle cone — so I had to change my order. Tim and I split a big cone with a scoop of peanut butter Oreo and a scoop of chocolate addiction. Divine. Maybe next time I’ll splurge for one of these fancy cones.

Emack & Bolio's waffle cones

the skewers

August 2, 2011 1 comment

grilling in Virginia — mushrooms, asparagus, squash, zucchini, hamburgers, hot dogs, and buns

I suppose this dollar “deal” is a bit of a stretch. You can technically only buy one skewer at Crate & Barrel Outlet for $1. We needed eight, so I bought eight. But I’m still counting one skewer as my dollar spent for the day. I don’t have any photographic evidence of these skewers, and I figure a better visual would be the grilling we did a few weeks ago in Virginia — skewered mushrooms, squash, and zucchini, plus asparagus, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and buns. Tim gets serious grill envy when we go to my parents’ house.

Tim grilling in Virginia

the airheads

August 1, 2011 Comments: 2

$1 six pack of Airheads from Ocean State Job Lot

I can’t remember the last time I had Airheads. But Ocean State Job Lot was selling $1 packs of this tangy treat, so I snatched one up to add to my stash of work/school desserts. Six different flavors come in the package, including classics like watermelon, cherry, blue raspberry, and pink lemonade. There is one flavor I don’t recall from my childhood, however — white mystery. Any clues as to what that might be?

the butterscotch sauce

July 30, 2011 No comments

Rancatore's ice cream and yogurt shop in Belmont, Massachusetts

I never knew what butterscotch could taste like until tonight. Rancatore’s homemade sauce shifted my butterscotch paradigm in a huge way. I’d been hearing great things about Rancatore’s for awhile, so we gave the Belmont location a try tonight since we were already in the neighborhood (there’s also a shop in Lexington). The menu was similar to other local ice cream shops — all the basic ice cream flavors, plus a few unique ones, then a nice variety of sorbets and yogurts.

ice cream and yogurt menu at Rancatore's in Belmont

I don’t normally need add-ons if the ice cream is amazing on its own, but the homemade melted toppings came highly recommended — and they cost about a $1 apiece — so we opted for the butterscotch sauce to complement our combined scoops of bittersweet chocolate and Hydrox. That first taste was life changing. I can’t imagine a better combination of butter, brown sugar, and cream than that sauce. In fact, I got so overwhelmed with the whole situation that I failed to take a photo of the goods until we were almost finished eating.

Rancatore's bittersweet chocolate and Hydrox ice creams with homemade butterscotch sauce

Fun fact 1: I kind of wish I had been born into the Rancatore family. The owner of the ice cream shop is the brother of the owner of Toscanini’s in Cambridge.

Fun fact 2: Though many people view Hydrox cookies as an Oreo knockoff, Hydrox actually came first — and is viewed as a superior cookie by many. Its filling is a little more tangy than the sometimes-too-sweet Oreo filling, and the cookies are crunchier. But here’s the mystery… Hydrox cookies disappeared from the market a few years ago. So how is Rancatore’s still using them in its ice cream? (P.S. Though I knew what Hydroxes were before tonight, I didn’t know the full history on the cookie. A 2008 WSJ article enlightened me.)

the ciabatta roll

July 29, 2011 1 comment

Noodles & Company ciabatta roll

This attempt at spending a dollar was actually a failure, but not for lack of trying. Noodles & Company has a strange promotion going on right now called the Ten Degrees of Salad, where you can enjoy one of their summertime salads for free if you have in your possession one of their special pass-it-on T-shirts. They distributed a certain number of T-shirts a month or so ago, and the idea is that you use it once, then pass it on to someone else who can then take it in to Noodles and try a salad. My deal-savvy mother received a T-shirt the first day of the pay-it-forward salad movement, and she kindly passed it on to me. So, free lunch! (Don’t worry, Tim got one too — there were a few shirts floating around my house since my sister and her kids had capitalized on the deal as well.)

I went for the very berry spinach salad, which was a little light on the berries, but totally loaded up with crumbled bacon and blue cheese. We felt the need to add some carbs to the meal, so Tim returned to the counter to order a $0.75 ciabatta roll (close enough to a dollar, in my opinion). He attempted to pay with a credit card, but the cashier told him cash would be required for a purchase that tiny. He was cashless, so he returned to our table to swipe a dollar from my wallet. But when he returned to the counter to hand over the money, the cashier told him not to worry about it since she’d already closed out the order. So, free salad and free bread!

Noodles & Company free very berry spinach salad

the toothpicks

July 28, 2011 1 comment

pink lady apples wrapped in prosciutto and held together with toothpicks from Shaw's

It’s been a looong week at work, so attending my church’s gourmet dinner club tonight was a special treat. The theme for the night was red, white, and blue, and since I had no spare moments this week to think about or prepare anything truly gourmet, I threw together a cop-out appetizer — apples (white) wrapped with prosciutto (red) held together with toothpicks (blue). (The package of toothpicks was $1 at Shaw’s, in case you were wondering.) We had a full eight-course meal tonight, including steamed custard with blue crab and roasted red peppers, crostini with roasted cherry tomatoes and herbed feta, and panna cotta parfaits with blueberries and raspberries. Next month is my turn to host! Any suggestions for the theme?

the marshmallows

July 27, 2011 Comments: 2

Kraft jet-puffed marshmallows featuring Disney/Pixar's Cars

Though there are rarely any treasures on the secret clearance shelf at Target, I always have high hopes right before I look. A few weeks ago, I found these cute marshmallows — they’re shaped like little cars and construction cones in honor of Disney/Pixar’s Cars movie. I don’t eat marshmallows, but the big Kraft bag was marked down to $1 and I knew the colorful jet-puffed wonders would make great bribes for my nieces in Virginia. When my oldest niece was barely old enough to talk, I taught her that she would always be rewarded with sweets if she would shower me with compliments (such as, “you are my favorite aunt” or “you are so beautiful”). I just can’t help being the treat-giving auntie.

In other niece news, Adriel is now learning to ride a two-wheeler (not sure why she opted for an 80s-style leotard), and the twins have apparently become cowgirls.

Adriel learning to ride a bike

Brooklee riding a bike with cowboy boots

Dallyn riding a bike with cowboy boots

the peaches

July 26, 2011 No comments

Harris Teeter sweet peaches for $0.99 a pound

I can’t really explain why I have such an affinity for Harris Teeter. Whenever I’m at home in Virginia, I volunteer to do the grocery shopping and end up going to either HT, Wegman’s, or Costco about every other day. In most ways, HT is like any other grocery store. But in a few ways, it goes above and beyond the others. For example, free sugar cookies from the bakery! Also, complimentary tastes are usually available of various fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and deli meats. They also have pretty tasty artisan breads, which are conveniently available for sampling, along with delicious spreads, dips, and butters. Last week, we snagged a pound of soft, sweet peaches for $0.99. I thought about using them for a cobbler or pie, but ate them all before I realized what was happening. Luckily, Market Basket in Boston has juicy peaches for $0.79 a pound this week… unfortunately they’re just not as good as Harris Teeter’s…

Harris Teeter grocery store in Ashburn, Virginia

the custard topping

July 25, 2011 1 comment

Chocolate custard with Heath toffee topping from Milwaukee Frozen Custard in Ashburn, Virginia

One night a few weeks ago, my sister Page treated us to milkshakes at Milwaukee Frozen Custard using her husband’s per diem money. Frozen custard is one of the best treats I can imagine (I might like it even more than ice cream), and it’s even better when it’s free. But let me tell you what’s even better than free frozen custard. The night we were there, the employees were handing out vouchers for free scoops! So Tim and I returned to Milwaukee’s last week to redeem our coupons. More free custard! I decided to splurge on a $1 topping for my chocolate scoop — Heath toffee bits. Since my custard was in a cone, they loaded the toffee into a cup, which I then spooned on to every bite of the frozen chocolate goodness. I can’t think of a more decadent dessert.

the enchilada-style burrito

July 23, 2011 Comments: 3

Cafe Rio in Manassas, Virginia

Though I will be an east coast snob until the day I die, I do look back fondly on the eight years I spent in Utah. On my top five list of things I miss about the Beehive State is Cafe Rio‘s pork barbacoa. I know it’s a major cliche, but I still salivate at the thought of a pork salad. And that creamy tomatillo dressing — I could drink that stuff for every meal and never get tired of it. So you can imagine my delight when I learned that Cafe Rio recently opened a couple of restaurants in Virginia! The Manassas location is only 30 minutes from my parents’ house, so Tim and I lunched there while we were in town earlier this week.

pork barbacoa salad from Cafe Rio in Manassas, Virginia

My salad was even better than I remembered, and Tim’s pork burrito (enchilada style for $0.95 — how’s that for a dollar deal?) was as good as ever. Now I’ll just wait patiently until Cafe Rio makes its way up to Boston.

« Previous Entries
Next entries »