Finally, the end of June

Well, my friends, June is over and it's time to move on from this month's challenge. I have to say, I'm thrilled. Finding something scary to eat every day became more a chore than a challenge and most of the time it meant subjecting myself to disgusting flavors and textures. I did find a few good things that I can eat again that I would not have, so I guess it's a win.

Because I am so tired of the "every day" challenge, July's challenge will be different. I will only read classics during July. No Twilight, Harry Potter, or Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (side note- AAR is getting married in 4 days and I'm super excited for her!). I'm hoping to try to get through Jane Eyre and Great Expectations. We'll see how it goes. July is a busy month, what with my birthday and taking the CAM test and all.

I hope you enjoyed my food blogs and I hope you like July's challenge too!

Steamfresh

I know it's been a few days since my last entry. Having a challenge every day is a lot more difficult than I really thought it would be. Next month's challenge is going to be something I don't have to do every day. Today I had a bag of Steamfresh chicken flavored rice with vegetables. I don't normally eat stuff that's different from what I normally go for, so I decided to pick up this weird concoction. I microwaved it for the specified amount of time. I think it needed a little longer, the rice was chewier than I really like. It smelled absolutely awful, but I dutifully took that bite. It wasn't very good. I didn't eat more than that. The veggies were so tiny it seemed like there were barely any there. Definately not worth purchasing, let alone trying again. I'll just stick to RiceaRoni when I want chicken flavored rice.

Ben and Jerry's

Ben and Jerry's makes my favorite ice cream. Yes, most women can say the same thing. My favorite is Half Baked, a combination of Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I would never pay the high price for a pint of Ben and Jerry's that I didn't already know I loved, so I never considered their ice cream an option for my June challenge. Until I remembered their mini cups. Mini cups cost a dollar (still an insane price for the amount of ice cream inside) so they are easier to try and discard. Of course, Ben and Jerry's only makes 3 varieties of mini cups: Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I'm guessing you can figure out which one I purchased for today's challenge. The first thing about Cherry Garcia that surprised me was the color. I was expecting cherry ice cream to be pink. It was not. It was white. Makes sense, I suppose. No artificial colors. The combination of cherry and chocolate threw me off. Who wants cherry and chocolate in the same bite? Very strange. I did not care for the ice cream, though I did find that I appreciated the high quality of the ingredients. There are actual pieces of cherry in Cherry Garcia! Cherries are one of my favorite fruits, though I can't eat them often. It's a shame I didn't like this ice cream.

Panera Bread

Today, while waiting for my father, I spent an hour and a half at Panera Bread. Dad bought me lunch, but I got my favorites (chicken noodle soup and mac and cheese). I also bought myself the delicious black cherry smoothie. Amazing! As my scary food, I opted for the brownie. Okay, no, a brownie is not that scary. I am running out of courage for this challenge though. The brownie was not ideal, so I got it. Afterwards, I drifted past the free samples table. "This is perfect!" I thought. "Bite size pieces of something I don't want to eat!" Sure enough, there it was. Cinnamon chip scone. I have been wanting to try the cinnamon chip scone, but I was afraid to spend money on it and hate it. I'm not really a scone person. I like cinnamon and sugar though, so now's the perfect time to try the scary scone. It was really good. The scone texture was a bit irritating around the edges, but not enough to keep me from eating it again. I loved the flavor and I really liked that there was nothing chewy in it, like raisins or currants. A definate win for Panera Bread!

4Rivers and then some

If you read this blog, you know that a few days ago I enjoyed some barbeque from 4Rivers. Well, we have continued to enjoy it for dinner ever since. My mother, trying to spice things up a bit, took the barbeque and turned it into the fixings for taco night. Mexican food is on my permanent list of "Food I Will Not Consume". Since I'm trying scary things though, I figured I had to try some. My mother added some kind of mild taco sauce to the chicken, so I put some on my plate. I was expecting it to be spicy and it wasn't really. She was right, it was very mild. Spicier than I prefer, but then ketchup is spicier than I prefer most of the time. The taste of it, however, was disgusting. I don't know why anyone would want to consume that flavor combination on a regular basis. Ew.

Pretzel M&Ms

Do you like chocolate covered pretzels? As a woman, I have been told many times that they are the PMS food of the Gods and that I'm crazy for disliking them. Salt and sweet together = YUCK. Nevertheless, I shelved my prejudice and picked them off the shelf of candy at Publix today. I brought them home, unpacked my groceries, and told my mom she'd have to wait until I had one before she could eat them. I opened the bag, popped one in my mouth, chewed... and promptly gagged and spit it out. That's right, the first food in this month's challenge that I have actually refused to swallow. Had it been an unsalted pretzel, I would have liked it. The texture of crunchy pretzel with crunchy candy coating was pleasant. The combined taste of pretzel and chocolate was pleasant. The salt tang with the sweet ahhh was incredibly unpleasant. Ew.

4Rivers

4Rivers is a barbeque joint in Orlando. My sister works there. In order to make today a little easier on my mom and to let my family try some of their food, my sister brought food from work today for Father's Day. (Happy Father's Day!) My mom, knowing my weird food aversion, offered to make me something different, but I chose to eat what everyone else was eating. Well, except for the shrimp with crab stuffing. I don't like shrimp. Melissa brought three different kinds of meat, cole slaw, and cheese grits. I didn't eat the cole slaw, but I did try everything else she brought. If you are anywhere near the Orlando area, you should check out 4Rivers. The meat is SOOO tender. I wasn't terribly fond of the beef brisket or the chicken (it was fine, just not slendiforous). I really liked the pulled pork though. I even had seconds! I put it on a roll, but I probably would have eaten by itself.

The cheese grits were another story. Mel was so excited about them that I knew I had to try them. The texture was AMAZING. Smooth, but not creamy. The cheese flavor was too intense for me though. I like mild cheese (American, Muenster, provolone) and this was CHEDDAR. Like wham! kind of cheddar. If you're into that, eat these. Probably not too much of it though because I'm guessing it has a lot of calories.

I hope you had a great Father's Day if you're a father and, if you're not, I hope you told your dad that you love him. Most of all, I hope you do love your dad. It's a sad life without a dad you can love and respect.