You know it’s a party when someone whips out a bike blender. Actually, if you don’t live in the Bay Area you probably haven’t seen one before (unless you have been to Burning Man, I have a suspicion you may have seen on there). Our annual party was enhanced this year by the addition of frozen margaritas mixed up in the courtyard.Bike Blender Margaritas
You know it’s a party when someone whips out a bike blender. Actually, if you don’t live in the Bay Area you probably haven’t seen one before (unless you have been to Burning Man, I have a suspicion you may have seen on there). Our annual party was enhanced this year by the addition of frozen margaritas mixed up in the courtyard.Taste test: Cadbury Creme Egg vs. Russell Stover Creme Egg
Battle of the Creme Eggs!
I’ve been a huge Cadbury Creme Egg fan since childhood. While I have to admit I was disappointed when Hershey’s (who sells them under license in the United States) reduced the size from 40 grams to 34 grams in 2006, they are still my candy of choice. The following fast facts come from the Cadbury Sweppes Creme Egg fact sheet:
- In the UK, Cadbury Creme Egg is the most popular (unit sales) chocolate single sold between January and Easter, outselling its rival by more than 2 to 1.
- The Cadbury Creme Egg plant at Bournville can ‘lay’ 66,000 Creme Eggs every hour – more than 1.5 million eggs a day.
- Creme Egg is made all year round on the Bournville plant; even though we only sell the eggs to retailers between January and Easter.
- If you laid all the eggs made on the Creme Egg plant end to end, they would stretch all the way from the Bournville factory in Birmingham, UK to Sydney in Australia – that’s 12,000 miles!
- In the UK, over 200 million Creme Eggs are sold annually, 3 for every person in the UK.
If you get a chance, you should also check out their “Goo-ology” page, where Cadbury proudly boasts that that “Creme eggs come in to the world with a single purpose: to get their goo out.” I’m not even going to touch that one.
I was visiting Walgreen’s this evening, checking out the post-Easter sale in the candy aisle. Most of the candy had been cleared out to make room for a depressing array of summer items (now that the Christmas/Valentines/St. Patrick’s Day/Easter season is over). There were, however, a few creme eggs left- but few Cadbury ones. I noticed a box of Russell Stover Dark Chocolate Creme Eggs, so I tossed one in my basket as I am a big fan of dark chocolate. Then, behind all the other boxes of candy, I found one remaining box of Cadbury Creme Eggs. I couldn’t resist, so I tossed a few of those in my basket as well.
I poured a glass of fine merlot to accompany the creme egg tasting. I started with the Stover egg. The wrapper came off easily. The egg’s surface was dark in color, due to the dark chocolate, and yielded to the pressure of my teeth. The filling was thicker than a Cadbury Egg, and definitely more rich. It was chocolate. It had some sort of yolk in the middle, but the entire inside tasted like chocolate frosting. The flavor was actually a bit too strong, I think if it was a small bite-size candy it would be okay, but this was just too much “frosting.”
Creme Egg interiors: Russell Stover on the left, Cadbury on the right
Now it was on to my old favorite, the Cadbury Creme Egg. No surprises here, just classic Cadbury goodness. While there is definitely a place for the Stover Egg, it’s not at Easter. Maybe I could see myself eating one of those rich chocolate eggs at Chrismas, or maybe on Thanksgiving, the Cadbury Egg was designed with Easter in mind. I could see the Cadbury bunny in my head as the gooey goodness dripped down the chocolate shell and on to my hands. The intense sugar rush kicked in and I was quickly reminded of why IÂ scour the candy aisle on February 15th to see if the Easter Candy has arrived.
Snowshoeing in the shadow of the Donner Party
The Donner Party’s Stranded RV, near Truckee CA
On Saturday, Natasha and I drove to Truckee, CA to see the snow and go snowshoeing. I didn’t realize that it was going to be nearly 50 degrees outside, which is approximately the same temperature as our kitchen in the morning. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very “wintery” experience, but was fun nonetheless.
We rented snowshoes at a place called “The Backcountry” and then headed to the other side of the I-80 to Donner Memorial State Park. The park has a small museum, camping, and cross-country ski trails in the winter. It is located at the spot where most of the Donner Party spent the infamous winter of 1846-1847.
The trail takes you to the edge of Donner Lake, along the shore, and then back to the museum. I think it is about a 2.5 mile walk. It is flat, and would have been pretty easy had we not been snowshoeing through heavy slush.
After our expedition in the wilderness, we headed to Truckee where we ate some “food” at a place called “Coffee And.” If you are a vegetarian, you might want to consider other options. It’s a pretty classic small diner-style restaurant where you get eight ounces of Italian dressing on a handful of iceberg lettuce and a cup of coffee in a questionably clean mug. They did have veggie burgers though, so I have to give them some credit.
Blog Action Day: go vegetarian to save the earth!
Happy Blog Action Day! This is the day when thousands of people around the world are blogging on environmental topics. I’m going to write about a simple way you can reduce your impact on the Earth.
Everyone knows that some people become vegetarian solely because they care about animals, but how about becoming vegetarian to save the environment? While cars, power plants and industrial emissions all contribute to pollution by putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, going vegetarian is one of the single biggest things a person can do to reduce their own impact on the environment.
From PETA.org: In a groundbreaking 2006 report, the United Nations (U.N.) said that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Senior U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official Henning Steinfeld reported that the meat industry is “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems.â€
Bear in mind that PETA didn’t write this report, the United Nations did. Hardly a radical animal rights organization, it’s refreshing to see that they have recognized the startlingly effective impact of cutting meat out of our diets. The efficiency of eating lower on the food chain pays off in lower water use, less methane and carbon dioxide emissions, and less water pollution.
I’ve been vegetarian since I was 16 and I’ve never regretted it. Start small, possibly by reducing the meat in your diet and eating organic and local foods. Or, go “cold turkey” (well, “no cold turkey”) and immediately cut animals out of your diet. Even Burger King has a veggie burger on the menu, so there isn’t any excuse to put your change to a meat-free diet off any longer.
If you want to get a Vegetarian Starter Kit from PETA, click here and fill out their easy online form.