THE Dunkaccino

So the other day I was telling my friend about my food blog, I was all blah blah I started a food blog look at it blah blah. And she was like "try this dunkaccino you can write about it." I tried it and I thought it was pretty good but it was also hot outside so I didn't give it much thought. Flash forward to this morning.

It's freezing, I'm in dunkin before my class and I decide to change things up and get a hot drink. I am reminded of this testing of the dunkaccino and decide that is what I'm going to get. BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE. I don't know how I went THIS long with out one. They are so good its crazy. I started texting various friends (by this is I mean my best friend) asking if she's ever tried this gift from above. She had naturally. Clearly I'm a little late in the game with this realization but STILL I feel as though it is necessary for me to share this with you in case some of you (like me) have yet to try one.

IDK what it is exactly but I think its a mix between coffee and hot chocolate, which sounds a little bit odd but trust me when I say this IT IS AMAZING. Next time your in dunkin and you want a hot drink you NEED to get a dunkaccino, it's not even up for debate you MUST get one. Obviously go for a medium too because small cups from dunkin are weird. Also, don't look up the calories. Every one needs to lighten up and live a little when it comes to calorie intake. Yeah it's not the ideal to drink your calories away but who cares THE DRINK IS THAT GOOD.

This is the winter drink of choice for average girls, besides the classic skinny vanilla latte from starbucks for when we are feeling #thin, but that's a whole other story.

From Childhood to So Called "Adulthood" This One is Always a Fan Fav: The Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese. Two words, so simple yet SO SWEET. I'm all for trying new crazy things but two pieces of buttered bread, grilled with classic white america cheese just does it for me. My mom's grilled cheese has to be my favorite. I don't know how she does it, but nothing compares. It's weird because even when I used the same bread, butter and cheese that she uses at our house it just does not taste the same. Many of you have tried this infamous grilled cheese and I know you agree with me. Let's look outside of the home and see what the world has to offer us in the land of the grilled cheese.

Panera has some weirdo fancy grilled cheese that is probably good but i'ver personally never tried it so I can't judge. They also have a "classic grilled cheese" which is BOMB. It's so freaking good the bread is perfect, the cheese is perfect, just all around grade A.

Next up, Perkins student center at Delaware. If you go to delaware and don't try this grilled cheese you shouldn't even be allowed back. It's AMAZING. I go with the wheat bread (#thin) and american cheese and of course a side of honey mustard. I forgot to talk about their honey mustard in my previous post, its to die for. Similar to freindly's, straight heaven, just really makes the meal. A good grilled cheese with a side of honey mustard. Done. Boom.

With the good there is always a bad. Melt Down... It's new to my school and as an lover of all grilled cheese when I heard it was coming I was excited. Biggest let down of my LIFE. The bread was gross and rock hard, the cheese just was not up to par, and that was just the classic. They have all these fancy types that I haven't tried since my first experience was just disgusting I have never been back. Maybe one day i'll give them another chance but as for now I would highly recommend that you stay away.

Since most of us are currently in college, where we buy bread from wall greens (or maybe thats just me and my roommates) and it's a treat when we can get some good sliced cheese from the deli, we know a "good" grilled cheese is somewhat hard to come by. If need be theres always kraft singles... BUT make sure you buy the Kraft singles that say "made with real cheese" because if it's not that then it's cheese food product which is disgusting. I can make a pretty good wall greens bread and kraft singles grilled cheese, I have learned a few things from the best (my mom obv.)

Just to go over the basics one last time the perfect grilled cheese must have the following:
- "nice" bread, not burned
- REAL cheese, preferably american (boar's head brand if possible)
- and it MUST be melted, the cheese I repeat MUST be melted.

Average girls, have average taste buds and the grilled cheese will always be a fan favorite for us.

...side note: my roommate recently had a male guest and he asked for a grilled cheese with shredded cheese. I will say it again, shredded cheese, that we use to make nachos/omlets/other things NEVER do we make a grilled cheese with shredded cheese. We have regular cheese, he could have had a nice grilled cheese but no he ASKED for shredded. Yeah, I know, HUGE RED FLAG, he probably wont be coming back any time soon.

The Battle of the Blizzard vs. the Friend-z

Ice cream is amazing, candy is amazing, therefore ice cream and candy mixed together is just out of this world. Which is why blizzards and friend-z are the end all be all of the ice cream family. While they are basically the exact same thing there are some pretty key differences.

Lets start with the Blizzard. I've been going to Dairy Queen since I was basically a newborn. It's my dad's favorite place. Every year come March (awkward I know it opens in March) we take the annual trip to the DQ. My friends even know that my family is a DQ family. With that being said, when i'm feeling adventurous (aka when i'm deciding to be fat) I always go for the blizzard. The options are endless. Theres the classic pb cup with vanilla, the brownie batter, cake batter, oreo and even cookie dough. Not only are there so many to choose from they also have the tiny blizzard which is every #thin girls dream. You just can't go wrong with a mini pb cup blizzard. You get to enjoy a blizzard with out feeling like a whale after. While they do have variety with the size and the flavors they are also kind of missing something. Now onto the Friend-z.

The Friend-z. Friendly's is open year round to start things off. I know we have talked about Friendly's before and it is a little "trashy" but they bring a few good things to the table. Starting with the reese's friend-z. It's mouth watering. They took the blizzard and just amped it up in all aspects. They throw in some pb sauce and some hot fudge to give it that extra kick. Granted it's the only friend-z i've ever gotten, besides when I was young and got vanilla with gummy bears (weird I know), it's just a grade A mix.

Weighing the pros and the cons of both I'm going to have to give the Friend-z the title of "winner." Realistically what Friendly's needs to do is make a mini size so the #thin girls can enjoy a little treat too, but they are just doing it right over there with the mix. Who knows maybe this year DQ will throw us a curve ball and step up their blizzard game. But for now the average girl is sticking with the Friend-z.


**side note: the other day I got a McFlurry, and it was like pretty good. Sort of like a blizzard but the ice cream was pretty "plain." Since its McDonalds and they sell fish sandwiches and the McRib I felt a little weird about it. But if duty calls and all you have is a McDonalds the pb cup McFlurry is appropriate.

Honey Mustard: Makes or breaks the meal

A sandwich is not complete with out a good honey mustard. Any sandwich, french fries, chicken fingers, grilled cheese, you name it once you add honey mustard to it everything just gets BETTER. But that being said...bad honey mustard can actually ruin the entire meal. I have been a victim of multiple bad honey mustard experiences and let me tell you, it is not pretty. For example, Uncle's Deli in Darian, CT.  It is famous for it's sandwiches so naturally I'm all excited about going. We arrive, I get a sandwich, we get home, start eating and BOOM. Literally FIRE coming out of my nose thats how hot the honey mustard was. It was one of the worst experiences I've ever had. I couldn't breathe and I most certainly couldn't eat. I kept trying to eat around it because I was hungry but I just could not escape it.

I don't understand how any one can enjoy a honey mustard like that. Who likes fire to come out of their nose while eating a turkey sandwich? No one does, NO ONE. So thats why I am confused as to why restaurants continue to serve it to me with out warning. There's a place near my school that has a good turkey, brie and apple sandwich. I always add honey mustard because WHY NOT. I get back to school go to get the sandwich, sit down, take bite and THERE IT IS AGAIN fire out of my nose because the honey mustard is basically poison. Entire meal just completely ruined and now I refuse to go there and get it.

Another weird type of honey mustard I've recently experienced is honey mustard that actually tastes like jelly and has weird tiny bead-like seeds in it. At first I thought I ordered the wrong thing but then I realized oh no they just changed the honey mustard, which means they ruined the entire sandwich for me. Great. Why change something when you know it's good, they must know this honey mustard tastes like jelly. If I wanted jelly on my turkey sandwich I would tell you. I don't, I just want a regular honey mustard, is that asking too much?

While I have been ranting about these terrible experiences I need to also touch on the good. Any one who has ever had Friendly's honey mustard knows that it is basically Gods gift to the world. Everything about it is just PERFECT, which is weird because it's Friendly's but regardless its amazing. A lot of local places in MA like Maria's and Tedeschi's have a good honey mustard. The perfect mix of whatever it is thats in honey mustard, it doesn't make you breathe fire and just makes the sandwich. Some people like to put multiple condiments on their sandwiches like mayo (ew), or some sort of dressing but I personally am just your average girl looking for a nice honey mustard, thats all.

Everyone's favorite carb: Bagels

If you don't like bagels I don't like you. There is NOTHING like a good bagel. Let's start with the basics. Plain bagels are random but sometimes they can be really good. The best plain bagel I've had is from Brueggers (i'm pretty sure Brueggers is everywhere but who knows). I only got it because they were out of my favorite but it was actually really good. Awkward dunkin donuts also has a pretty good plain bagel....On to the next, everyones favorite, everything bagels. Top everything bagels I've had are from Newark Deli and Bagels (NDB located in Newark Delaware) and Towson Hot Bagels (obviously in Towson Maryland). Just an all around good bagel not out of this world but still good. If your into fancy bagels like onion, garlic, salt, chocolate chip etc. I would recommend Gunther Toothies (located on the south shore of Massachusetts). They have a good variety and their bagels are pretty good. They also have good breakfast sandwiches and good cream cheese flavors which is always a plus.

The Breakfast Sandwich. Hangover cure of the century if you ask me. I personally will always love the fake egg and cheese from Dunkin Donuts but if your looking for something "real" I would go with a place like Gunther, NDB, Towson Hot bagels, somewhere locally own where you know they are actually frying the egg in the back not sticking it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

I have come into contact with a lot of bagels in my life time and I have to say there is just noting better than a fresh cinnamon sugar bagel. Top 2 all time favorite cinn-sugar bagels have to be from Atlantic bagel (Hingham Massachusetts) and classic Brueggers. They are just TOO good. Underrated Einstein Bagels (everywhere I had it in Florida once) has a pretty decent cinn-sugar bagel too. Gunther's has a french toast bagel which is up there with my favorites but I usually get butter on that one which changes things up. But, as I said before everyone knows if your craving a good cinnamon sugar bagel, no matter where you are, Brueggers always pulls through. Unless they are out which has happened to me before...that ruins your day let me tell you.

You may not agree with me but, I'm just your average girl.