A few weeks back I bought some Diet Shasta as an alternate to Diet Coke. I was blown away. I know, I know I’m late to the game on this one seeing that Shasta is the ultimate cheep guy, living on your own, first apartment thing… but damm this stuff is good. It has a nice light cola taste and goes down silky smooth.

Since the first Shasta encounter my fridge has been fully stocked with “black gold” aka Shasta Diet Cola. I just cant get enough of it.

As some of you know Baskin-Robbins can do no wrong in my eyes (previous post). B-R are as famous for their flavors reflecting current trends for the past 40 or so years as much as they are for their tasty treats. So of course they have created two distinct new flavors representing both political parties and have asked their fellow Americans to vote for their favorite!

Straight Talk Crunch: Caramel ribbon, chocolate pieces, candy red states and crunchy mixed nuts swirled into White Chocolate ice cream.

This past weekend the wife was out of town with the girls. That really means one thing: I eat like total shit. Usually I eat fruit, some chicken, vegetables, soda, some crackers, more fruit and some more soda. Somewhere there’s some cheese in the mix too.
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I’m not quite sure how I have never noticed, seen or known about Mes Amis before, especially because if you follow my street until it ends at Vermont you end up on it’s patio, but it is amazing and delicious.

Basically, they bisected the old Hollywood Hills Café (sad that it’s gone) into two restaurants, Mes Amis and Cuba Libre (at least I think that’s what it’s called – wasn’t paying attention). (Damn, I’m a fan of Parentheticals, even when used inappropriately). Atmospherically, it is a Francophiles dream, complete with a patio lit with little lights and an interior that can play host to large parties (rare in Los Feliz).

The menu sports a lot of French classics that I would never touch… Frogs Legs, Escargot, Pate… but surprisingly had a large variety of Vegetarian and Vegan options and probably some of the best Freedom Fries I have ever had. EVER. I had:

Polenta Napoleon
Grilled Polenta Cakes with Layered Goat Cheese
mixed with Tomatoes, Olives, Garlic, Basil, Roasted
Peppers, Balsamic Reduction & Frisée

Holy shit kids, this was amazing. Really fantastically delectable. Anne Lee had the Asperagus Benedict minus the Prosciutto (which of course :

Brioche Toast, White Asparagus, Poached Egg,

Prosciutto Crisp and Truffled Hollandaise

Also equally delicious. There are a bunch of other things I want to try… so I see visits in the future.

As an added bonus… and probably my favorite part… On Thursday Paris Loves L.A’s Adele Jacques and her pianist friend sing classic French Pop songs ala Serge Gainsbourg and France Gall – so if you’re gonna go – go on a Thursday. It’s worth it.

Oh and rumor has it that the Cuban place next door has happy hour, 7 days a week, featuring $3 Mojitos.

Damn you, internet. I am just sitting here eating my lunch, about to head out for the weekend, and here you have me writing about some foolish story of a town getting flooded with ranch dressing. Can’t you leave me alone today? Isn’t it enough that I cuddle close to you in times of loneliness and depression? I look to you when I am scared, curious, angry, amarous and in need of the name of the girl who played Jason Bateman’s sister on “Its Your Move” (Tricia Cast), can’t you just let me go home? I promise that I will check my iPhone a multitude of times on the way back to the house, where the 3 Macs that live there are all connected to your life giving teet at a blazing 15mpbs, but for now just let me go enjoy these potato chips and a quiet afternoon with this new issue of Jet magazine I just mistakenly recived in my mailbox.

If your not hip to Fresh & Easy yet, you need to be. The place is the most well planned out grocery shopping experience. They got all types of things to satisfy the single people and small family’s alike. Their store brand products are pretty good, but hot damn, I picked up some Blue Corn and Chili Lime Crackers for a camping trip I’m going on, and I really wanted to taste ‘em and now they are gone. They are so good. The saltyness from a ritz cracker, the excitement of blue corn in your snack food and the fire from a Mexican hooker. They are really good, check ‘em out when you visit your local Fresh & Easy.

I hate to say it but some of the dishes on Coolio’s new internet cooking show actually look pretty good.

We have a few traditions in my family at Christmas time. I always put the angel on the top of the tree, Grandpa always gets a sweater and then says “oh, just what I needed” and I always get Jelly Belly jelly beans in my stocking (yes, we still stuff stockings). However, this year the typical bag of Jelly Belly’s were replaced with a bag of Soda Pop Shoppe jelly beans.

Six soft drink flavors have been turned in to jelly bean flavors and surprisingly they are really accurate. Flavors include: 7UP®, Dr. Pepper®, Orange Crush®, Grape Crush®, A&W® Root Beer and A&W® Cream Soda.

You have to try these Jesus Beans, they are really good and highly addictive. I have only found them at a few stores. I would suggest buying the assorted bags (shown above) they have a good variety. Or you can be like me and order them online straight from Jelly Belly.

I’ve been meaning to put this up on whateves for a while now. But I have been lazy.

This shit is the best thing poured in a cup ever. I like to mix it half and half with the  Hershey’s Chocolate.  It is at 7-11 for a limited time, so go get it today. It is amazing.

Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Joe Joe’s

Every once in a while I come across something I ate that is so delicious I feel the need to post about it, and categorizing it under “Something I Ate” doesn’t feel like I’m giving it enough credit. So, I created a new sub-category called “Delicious Alert“.

Trader Joe’s has been making there version of Nabisco’s Oreo® cookies called “Joe Joe’s” for a while now. This holiday I (just) found Trader Joe’s holiday version of Joe Joe’s called… Candy Cane Joe Joe’s! This scrumtrulescent cookie is simply two chocolate cookie disks with a creamy center (just like an Oreo® or Joe Joe’s) however the twist is there are bits of real candy cane in the cream!

I have been finding myself snacking on them all day. The peppermint bits of candy cane really complement the chocolate and cream. They are only here for a limited time and will be gone after the holiday season. I plan on stocking up and rationing them for the year.

Read More Delicious Alerts

The other day on a cold Long Beach night I wanted to warm up with a bowl of soup. My wife and I choose to go to Corner Bakery. They serve a really good tomato basil soup, it’s totally yumm-o. After I ordered they told me they were out of bread bowls, but made a suggestion. The girl behind the counter told me they could cut a hold in a bread loaf and put the soup inside it. Well, my eyes lit up in the anticipation of the carb overload. Above is the master piece I call Loaf Bowl

Don’t confuse the can with an MGD Tall Boy… However, the image does look a little bit like a confused George Bush. This can of Arnold Palmer (jeasus juice) is the perfect combo of sweet ice tea and tart lemonade. This is the light version with 1/3 less calories (perfect for diet challenge participants) and made by Arizona Ice Teas. I like to drink it then give a thumbs up to Arnold (on the can). So far I’m up to almost a can a day.

I give it 5 Madex’s out of 5

Other stuff we ate

On accidental terms Patbenetard and I have found that XXX VITAMIN WATER and MEXICAN COKE are extremely delicious when consumed at the same time.

XXX Vitamin water is blueberries and pomegranate and Mexican Coke is made from real sugar cane and is 100% better then coke that we know here in America.

We discovered this while both drinking opposite drinks and switching, to which both our eyes had lit up like xmas morning.
While I know that both of these products are brought to you by the Coca Cola Company® (EVIL) at large. But, I beg you to rinse your mouth with both these products and tell me they aren’t the best thing to rot your teeth since snow cones. Which brings me to the next level of Delicious. continue reading this story —>

I’m a total coffee elitist. I usually only order 1 of two things when I get coffee, and it has to be from Peets. Either a Dry Cappuccino or an Americano depending on my mood or what I have going on that day.

The other day I didn’t have time to stop at Peets so I figured I would walk to the Starbucks across the street from work and use the gift card I have been holding on to. I saw a sign as I walked in announcing a Pumpkin Spice Latte (I have been calling it the Thanksgiving Pie Latte all weekend by mistake when I was raving about it to friends).

It has a spicy, sweet flavor of nutmeg, cinnamon and pumpkin with espresso and milk. They will usually top it with some whip also but that is optional. I order mine “extra hot” the milk seems to cool this fall concoction down to much for me.

Be careful though, this is defentally not on the Diet Challenge and highly addictive. Think of this drink as liquid crack rock sprinkled with nutmeg. Since its only here for a limited time I find myself getting one every chance I get… “me want food“

$2.99

5g Fat

11g sugar

PER BAR!!!!!!!!!!
Once they hit your lips, its so good.

Share the guilt with someone, and split a bar.