Valentine's Day Is Coming - Are you Fresh & Easy (& cheap)?

OK, more Fresh & Easy! Since I was so freakin‘ slow getting my post about the holiday treats up, I wanted to get my Valentine’s Day treat post up right away. Why? Because I love Fresh & Easy and I’m pretty sure I can convert you too.

F&E just sent me two boxes of their special V-Day nosh and wines and once again they have some really great treats available for you at amazing prices! Check out these products and the other great stuff they have and you won’t even have to tell your sweetheart you didn’t spend a fortune.

Here’s the loot in order from L-R:

As much as I hate to admit it, these snickerdooodles are almost as good as mine and I’m a damn good baker. Because of my status as Damn Good Baker, I usually can’t stand store bought cookies. The kind that come from the grocery store bakery are usually the worst – dry and flavorless – but these are really really good! They are chewy and just the right amount of buttery/cinnamony/sugary/sweet. Buy them.

I haven’t opened either of these bottles yet, but trust me, I will. This is a rose sparkling wine that was a recent Double Gold winner at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Get it while it’s only 5 bucks before it goes to it’s outrageous regular price of 7 bucks. Bwahahaha!

This is an Australian wine that is described as going well with red meats or strong cheeses. I haven’t met a strong cheese I didn’t like, so I have plans for this bottle.

This seems to be a milk and dark chocolate copy cat of the amazing Lindt Lindor Truffles and the good news is they are almost as delicious and for about half the price. My ball split in half when I bit into it, but the chocolate was nice and smooth and tasty.

OK, this one is pretty self explanatory and how can you NOT buy something chocolate named “One Huge Hunk”? Go for it.

You really should stop in to your local F&E if you live in Cali, Arizona or Nevada. You’ll be glad you did. And if I haven’t raved enough, here’s something else, non-food, that I love about F&E… click here to read about their green building initiatives. Helping the environment and saving you money – ahhhh. Refreshing!

We GOT CHOCOLATE MILK and More!

Monkey and Mommy safe from the rain in the Got Chocolate Milk tent!

On October 13, little Aubrey and I had the great pleasure of attending the Got CHOCOLATE Milk Halloween Party to announce Angie Harmon as the newest Got Milk campaign spokesperson at the Los Angeles Paramount Studios. Got Milk is the campaign of the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) and they did a real knock out job throwing a killer Halloween party (pardon the cheesy pun).

October 13, 2009 was one of the rare Los Angeles days where it was monsoon raining so I had to run my 24 pound monkey (my 2 yr old was actually dressed like a monkey – I don’t actually have a monkey) the equivalent of a couple city blocks to the safety of the tented party area, but the soak was worth it.

There was trick-or-treating on the brownstone NYC street set (we missed it because of my daughter’s late nap time), chocolate milk, LOTS of yummy milk based treats like chocolate pudding in cute Halloween mugs, brownie bites dipped in milk chocolate, cookies and more. It was a sweet tooth’s dream come true.

I will admit that I was a little taken aback by all the sweets at the party since it was geared towards families with young children, but I did learn that an 8 oz serving of chocolate milk has 300 mg of calcium which is a third of the recommended daily allowance. Also, studies show that children who drink chocolate or other flavored milks have a higher calcium intake than children who don’t drink milk and they also tend to avoid sodas and other higher sugar/chemical based beverages. So, it’s not all bad and I think I’ll be a little more likely to allow chocolate milk as a special treat now. I would LOVE for her to dislike soda pop, PLEASE!

On that note, yes, that is my monkey child gnawing down on a white milk chocolate covered ghost decorated brownie bite above. I rarely let her have sweets, but this was a special day – her first Halloween party! AND proud mama is happy to report she only ate one bite. I think it was too sweet for her. She also only wanted to eat the pretzel stick in the pudding cup. What a little freak, huh? I LOVE it!

In addition to the edible treats, there was also a photo booth that took chocolate milk mustache pics (bummed we missed that too), a magician and a face painter (Aubrey still talks about the banana she got painted on her cheek), games and the swag bags were awesome with matching adult and kid “got chocolate milk” t-shirts and Ultra Flip Video cameras – an item I’ve always wanted but was too cheap to buy. Thanks CA Milk Processor Board! We LOVE it!

I am really REALLY wet & happy

The decorations were to die for (more cheesy puns), the staff was friendly and it really was an awesome Halloween bash. The rain was the only downer (more stupid puns – I swear I’m not trying) but this lactose intolerant mama says it was all worth it. We had a blast and milk is already my daughter’s favorite beverage – this may be only because she’s half caucasian and hasn’t tried a Bahama Mama yet – but 2% is great for now.