Sprinkles Cupcake ATM Machine

Hello, again. Wondering where we’ve been all this time? Or why I haven’t blogged about this year’s Cannes Film Festival even once this whole month when it ends in like, four days? Well, the answer, amigos, is twofold.

Part one of the reason I’ve been away is that I’ve been working (a lot) on a couple of writing projects that actually, you know, pay. So, sadly, that leaves little time for blogging here. Sorry…

And the other reason we’ve been away for so long is that we’ve spending entirely too much time thinking about the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM Machine. Actually, we’ve been doing a lot more than “thinking about it”, we’ve cheated on our diet exactly three times to get our hands on some tasty Sprinkles Cupcakes, and every time has been better than the last.

Seriously, our last visit at 1:30AM might have been the best yet…or maybe that was the pumpkin cupcake talking. Either way, this freaking cupcake ATM is a revelation. The way it works is pretty simple, step up to the touch-screen monitor, scroll through the cupcakes pictured till you find one you like, click on the image and then swipe your credit card. And $4.00 later your selection appears in a cute little Sprinkles box. Just like a real ATM, only sweeter!

There’s always a line (even at 3:30AM!) but it moves quickly and everyone is so happy to be there that the camaraderie only adds to the whole cupcake-to-go experience. The funniest thing we noticed lately is how many straight single men are in line for this thing. Women, tourists and city-savvy gays you’d expect, but burly straight dudes on their way home from a bar or the gym? Wow…I guess cupcakes really are the great equalizer.

Anyway, back to my daydreaming about that sweet-ass pumpkin cupcake. Happy ATM-ing everyone!

Return o’ the Shamrock Shake!

I’ve never been fond of the glorious green milkshake that rears its head every year at this time, but, I know tons of avid fans. So, heads up, minty milkshake lovers, the Shamrock Shake is back at McDonald’s! I haven’t checked out our local McDonald’s yet, but, my sources have confirmed that they have, in fact, returned to the menu in several locales.

And cooler yet, you can now search online for the lucky few McDonald’s locations that are selling Shamrock Shakes right now! That’s right, some die-hard shake fan has created the tracking website: shamrockshake.com, where you can not only track down which McDonald’s sell them, but also comment on the quality of the product at each location. Cool, huh?

Actually, that’s kinda my favorite part of the site, because, as any fan can tell ya, McDonald’s locations are not all created equally. Seriously, there is one here is town that always serves old-ass fries. Every time. So, the idea of a McDonald’s rating system is totally cool in my book, even if I don’t drink green milkshakes.

And for those of you that enjoy the fabled Shake of Shamrock, drink up now, because they won’t be around for long!

The WordPress/Make.See.Eat.Do. Year in Review (2010)

Happy 2011, everyone! With all the “year in review” wrap ups going on right now, I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring with this super cool Blog Health email I got from WordPress today.

Wow…who knew that people cared that much about Denny’s and the freaking KFC Buffet? Thanks for sharing, WordPress. You guys rock! So, without further ado, I give you our blog’s  first official Year in Review. Enjoy!

__________________________________________________________________

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how your blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads: Wow!

Crunchy numbers

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 53,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 70 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 494 posts. There were 228 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 39mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was February 9th with 432 views. The most popular post that day was Free Grand Slam Day @ Denny’s!.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were designdazzle.blogspot.com, nurserymuralsandmore.com, en.wordpress.com, flickr.com, and search.aol.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for the orphanage, kfc buffet, bettie page, baby nursery, and marla singer.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Free Grand Slam Day @ Denny’s! February 2009

2

Greta’s baby nursery featured on Unique-baby-gear.com March 2009
8 comments

3

“The Orphanage” October 2007
8 comments

4

The KFC Buffet August 2007
5 comments

5

Bettie Page (1923-2008) December 2008
5 comments

Some of your most popular posts were written before 2010. Your writing has staying power! Consider writing about those topics again.

See you in 2011!

Denny’s 2010 Holiday Slam Menu

Ah, man…just when we thought we couldn’t love Denny’s any more than we already do, they go and get all deliciously-seasonal on us!

That’s right, amigos, for a limited time only, the house of Denny’s is offering a Holiday Slam Menu featuring such mouth-wateringly-good concoctions as cranberry-orange pancakes, gingerbread french toast and peppermint chocolate cocoa and milkshakes! Mmhmm, top that, IHOP!

But as tasty as all that stuff is, the crowning glory of the new Holiday Slam Menu has gotta be the Holiday Turkey Melt: turkey, stuffing and Swiss cheese served on potato bread with a healthy dollop of cranberry honey mustard and a side of gravy for dipping. I think Christine said it all when she described this heavenly sandwich as: “The best part of Thanksgiving“.

Hmmm…for me, the best part of Thanksgiving has always been the loving communion with cherished friends and family, but, if Christine says it’s all about the food, well, who am I to argue?

Either way, this spectacular sandwich tastes like the best Thanksgiving leftover sandwich you ever had. Seriously, it’s kinda magical. But, it won’t be around for long, so, check it out while you can. Yum!

Free 2 Taco Day @ Jack in the Box (November 16, 2010)

Hmmm…guess where we’ll be this afternoon at 2:00PM? Trust me on this one, amigos, the best fast food tacos on earth only taste better when they’re totally, 100% free. And this year, you don’t even need to print up a coupon!

Gotta love those tasty, deep-fried Jack in the Box tacos!

Free Cane Sweeeet Iced Tea Day @ Popeyes

When Christine told me last night that yesterday was National Iced Tea Day, I just knew we had to have some. And when we walked into Popeyes for dinner and the place was covered with flair advertising their brand-spanking-new offering, Cane Sweeeet Iced Tea, well, guess what we ordered to drink?

Actually, Greta and her sweet-tea-hating Mommy had water. And even though I am usually more of a Dr. Pepper man at Popeyes, I decided to honor this awesome holiday I knew nothing about by sampling the Cane Sweeeet Iced Tea.

And, man, was I glad I did! I haven’t had sweet tea in years, even when my Mom and sister lived in the South, we never drank it. I mean, it’s good and all, but, a little Southern sweet tea goes a long way. I’m not kidding, you get like, instant cavities…it’s freaky.

But this Popeyes deliciousness is a freaking revelation! I don’t know if it’s the cane sugar or what, but this is the best sweet iced tea I’ve ever had anywhere. And unlike most sweet tea, you can really taste the fresh-brewed tea in every sip. I actually had flecks of tea leaf in my ice when I finished! Awesome!

So, I take a bunch of pictures and am getting ready to blog about this cane sugar perfection and what do I read online? This Saturday, June 12th, in honor of National Iced Tea Day and Popeyes’ 38th anniversary, Popeyes locations nationwide are offering my favorite new drink in the world for free! That’s right, y’all, free Cane Sweeeet Tea for everyone! Yay!

Here’s hoping Popeyes has a rocking birthday and to the visionary soul who invented the best new holiday ever…we salute you. National Iced Tea Day 4eva!

Cherry Dr. Pepper rocks!

As huge fans of all things new in the world of junk food, Christine and I were thrilled to learn that Dr. Pepper — always the classiest of the soft drinks in my book, I mean, hello, the dude’s a doctor! — was improving on a classic with the introduction of Cherry Dr. Pepper.

And yes, it’s as freaking awesome as it sounds. No, I take that back, this drink is ten billion times better than it sounds. Really, truly, this is the flavored soda pop we’ve all been waiting for. Well, at least at our house.

Christine has been a “pepper” since she was a kid and you know I loves me some cherry-flavored shit, so buying a twelve pack of Cherry Dr. Pepper the moment it was released was kind of a no-brainer. And though it tastes amazing on its own, this beauty of a soft drink also makes spectacular ice cream floats.

Even Ryan and Laura (who are no fans of soda to begin with) were left breathless in the wake of this gorgeous, surprisingly subtle concoction. We had a little tasting party at their house the other night and they asked us to leave the unopened cans with them when we went home. Yep, it’s that good!

So, if you’re in the market for a tasty-ass caffeinated beverage this summer, skip the sickly-sweet Starbucks Doubleshot Coffee + Energy and pick yourself up some of this nectar of the gods. Seriously, all punning aside, it’s just what the doctor ordered…delicious!

TODAY ONLY: Free tacos at Jack in the Box!

I know I’ve been a pretty lame-ass blogger this past couple of weeks, but with the baby coming in a little less than two weeks, I’ve been trying to finish up work on other stuff lately and have been kinda swamped…sorry.

But when I head the news that Jack in the Box was offering two free tacos today to anyone who downloads the coupon at HanginthereJack.com, I knew I had to break my blog silence and tell you about it.

I don’t know if you’ve been following the wacky, “Hang in there Jack” viral advertising campaign — launched with that hilarious ad during the Super Bowl…yes, we Tivo-ed the game for the commercials — but the updates about Jack’s health on the website have been pretty funny.

And while I don’t know if Jack will live or die, I do know what Christine and I will be having for dinner. Yay! Jack in the Crack tacos have always been my favorite thing on their menu…so, getting them for free is kind of crazy awesome!

Also heard from our free food guru, “Santa Fe Sarah”, that IHOP is giving away free pancakes today as well. Our IHOP in Burbank is super ghetto and is always way too crowded, so we’ll probably skip that, but if you’re interested, you can read more about the promo here.

In the meantime, pray for Jack’s speady recovery (that is his most recent X-ray, above) and get yourself some free tacos pronto!

Southern Style Chicken Sandwich @ McDonald’s

Hooray! After weeks of longing to try the lunch and dinner counterpart to the delicious Southern Style Chicken Biscuit at McDonald’s…we finally tried the Southern Style Chicken Sandwich, and all I can say is…wow!

Though nowhere near as lip-smackingly good as the breakfast biscuit, this is a truly tasty chicken sandwich for the ages, amigos. Seriously, this shit is delicious, and could that chicken breast be any bigger? Whoa, love to see the juicy-ass chicken that came from!

Anyway, as with the Southern Style breakfast biscuit, the key to this bad boy is simplicity. There is no mayo, no special sauce, hell, there’s not even any lettuce on this thing. Just a pickle, a bun and the best damn fried chicken breast money can buy. Really, that chicken was so juicy you didn’t need mayo. Delicious!

And did I mention the size? I actually thought that our gigantic chicken sandwiches were some kind of anomaly or something, but after carefully scrutinizing the chicken breasts of our fellow diners, I am happy to report that big old chicken breasts are the norm now at McDonald’s. Yeah!

And even though the initial flood of free chicken sandwich coupons have expired — many thanks again to Tevana and Natalie for keeping us so well-supplied with those things! — the legacy of this crazy good Southern Style Chicken marvel is just starting to spread…so, watch your back Chick-fil-A!

UPDATE: Southern Style Chicken Biscuit @ McDonald’s…with honey!

After carefully considering everyone’s advice on the subject, I did finally try improving upon perfection yesterday by adding some honey to my Southern Style Chicken Biscuit @ McDonald’s. And let me tell ya, it was amazing!

Since I wasn’t sure if my local McDonald’s would have honey on hand for the experiment, I brought my own in a tiny plastic container that Christine picked up at The Container Store.

Now, I gotta admit that when Christine bought these little containers a few weeks back, I kinda gave her a hard time about them: “What could we possibly need those for?” Well, now I know what we needed them for…those little guys are the perfect vehicle for transporting my honey to McDonald’s! Yeah! So, I am happy to admit I was totally wrong about your containers, sweetie. Sorry…

Anyway, yesterday morning, while the guys at the register stared and laughed — I try to pretend I’m not a breakfast regular now, but I think they’re on to me — I whipped out my ghetto-ass container of honey and my camera and got to work.

And though it is kind of crazy messy — I had honey everywhere when I left, including the steering wheel of the car and mysteriously, my cell phone! — I gotta tell you, the addition of honey to the mix is pretty damn spectacular! I shit you not, amigos, this is heaven on a biscuit. You gotta try it…

I should also mention that they are now playing cool Stax-style Southern Soul at my McDonald’s in the morning too. Man, they are really selling the Southern experience hard right now…and I, for one, am truly loving it. Yee-haw!

Southern Style Chicken Breakfast Biscuit @ McDonald’s

Even casual readers have probably noticed that Christine and I are anything but food snobs. And while we totally enjoy eating and making high-end food stuff, we also have a deep, abiding love for some tasty low-end food fare as well.

So, when I heard the steady stream of cheesy, borderline offensive radio ads for the new Southern Style Chicken Biscuit and Sandwich at McDonald’s, I figured I had to try that shit out! Not because the ads were so Uncle Remus-offensive, but because the food those “po’ Southern folks” were shilling sounded so damn good.

And, man alive, was it ever! I have not tried the lunch version yet, but, I kid you not, the Southern Style Chicken Biscuit is the best thing to happen to McDonald’s breakfasts since the Egg McMuffin. Seriously, this thing is amazing!

Fans of the Southern fast food staple Chick-fil-A will probably say that Ronald McDonald — who I just found out was co-created by NBC’s resident hambone, Willard Scott! — simply stole their idea.

And while that might be true, I gotta say…that scary-ass clown has also greatly improved upon Chick-fil-A’s concept in the process. Sorry, Tar Heels, but it’s true…the clown has trumped your beloved Chick-fil-A again!

Deceptively simple, the breakfast biscuit is literally just a super moist, insanely flavorful wedge of fried chicken plopped onto a piping hot biscuit. When I asked the chick at the counter what else was on it, she shrugged and said: “I dunno, maybe a little butter.” Nice answer. But a quick check under the hood of my biscuit proved her to be correct.

My only complaint is that there is not enough butter on that tasty breakfast creation. I know, like I need the extra butter, right? But, in this case, you kinda do. It’s not too dry or anything, but I think more butter or perhaps a little side of dipping gravy would really jazz the whole thing up.

So, until I sample the lunch menu chicken sandwich — which, like the original one at Chick-fil-A, comes with pickles on the bun — see y’all at the drive thru.

Actually, I kinda hate the drive thru. If you really wanna find me, look for me enjoying my biscuit and morning paper with the rest of the blue-haired mall walkers and homeless people in the restaurant.

That’s right, I’m loving it…Que viva McDonald’s!

Herb Peterson (1919-2008)

I’m sure you’ve all heard the news by now, but for those who haven’t…earlier this week, Herb Peterson, inventor of the McDonald’s breakfast staple, the Egg McMuffin, passed into immortality at the age of 89.

A former McDonald’s executive and owner of a whopping six franchises in Santa Barbara alone, Peterson said he was inspired to create the McMuffin in 1972 by his deep, abiding love for another rocking breakfast classic, Eggs Benedict.

Ironically, I had the rare treat — I say rare, because I am hardly ever awake in time to buy one — of a McMuffin for breakfast two days ago and, as always, it was f-ing amazing! Although I’m not a huge fan of the classic McMuffin (sorry, Herb) I have been a devotee of the Sausage McMuffin with Egg (not to be confused with the dry-ass Sausage Biscuit with Egg, which I seriously loathe) for years.

And knowing that my favorite fast food breakfast sandwich is a direct descendant of Herb’s original McMuffin, I gotta give the dude props for making mornings a whole lot more tolerable for me. Seriously, whenever I am called upon to get up early, I actually think to myself: “Cool, I can get a #8 (two Sausage McMuffins, hashbrowns and coffee) at McDonald’s!”

I know, the breakfast of champions, right? Well, luckily for me…I don’t get up early very often. But next time I do, I’ll salute you, Herb Peterson. Before you came along, McDonald’s was strictly a lunch and dinner business…you revolutionized the way the world eats breakfast, dude.

Que viva la McMuffin revolution!