yummy discoveries

Yesterday morning was errand time. I went to the ATM, to the vet to pick up more fluids for my sickly cat, and then walked over to Starbucks. One thing I love about Starbucks -- other than the Chai tea lattes (of course!) and the awesome staffs at both the Starbucks across the street from my office and the one near my house -- is how the arrival of "the red cups" in late November signals the start of the holiday season. Well, now Starbucks is celebrating Valentine's Day via their cups too! Check out the photo at left -- it's so cute and cheerful, with words completing phrases that include "love" shooting into the heart via little arrows. It made me smile when the cashier handed it to me. :)

From Starbucks I went into the grocery store and was in the cheese aisle when I remembered that I've been meaning to post about some yummy foods I've discovered I "love" recently. (I love it when a blog post comes together ;)

The first is smoked gouda cheese (which I bought yesterday while in said cheese aisle ;). I have never been very adventurous with cheese. It's expensive, so if you buy a new kind and it's gross, that's a waste of dinero. But I was introduced to smoked gouda at a focus group facility last year (the awesome one in Costa Mesa that also makes us fresh, warm-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies) and I loved it! It's a hard cheese, yet also creamy and -- as its name suggests -- a bit smokey. It's a definite new fave that will be a Hollywood Bowl picnic basket staple this summer.

Another new discovery is English Breakfast tea. For many, many years I have been strictly a chai tea gal. But in the tea shop in fake England at EPCOT last October I decided to try something new and bought a box of English Breakfast. Granted, it's also a black tea, so it was a fairly safe experiment. But it was still a nice discovery. It's less spicy, more smooth and is super-relaxing in both the morning and evening.

The last food I now like -- that I previously thought I hated -- is almonds. I've been anti-almond for I don't know how long, or why really. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because of its association with disgusting coconut in Almond Joy candy bars. But last summer, as part of my diet and attempt to stock my kitchen with healthier snacks, I bought the Costco bucket-o-mixed nuts, which contains delish pecans, cashews, macadamia nuts... and almonds. I couldn't just leave the almonds to settle to the bottom of the container until all the other nuts were gone, so I tried one... and I liked it. I really liked it! (But I'm still not eating an Almond Joy. My hatred of coconut is non-negotiable... we'll get into that some other time.)