Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

(Edit: Be sure to read the comments. Somehow I misremembered the price being $5/box, which basically means this post is pointless. A 49 cent increase isn't unreasonable! Two increases to a $5 price would have been.)

I know a few folks on my friends list use Graze, so just a quick heads up.

I have no idea when they changed their price from $5/box to $6/box. I just realized it a couple weeks ago. I got no emails or other notification that the price went up.

While visiting the site to get another year of it for my mother's birthday, I noticed the price went up again. It's now $6.50/box. Again I got no notification of this. (Shouldn't they have to? Since they're charging your credit card more? Maybe there's something in the membership agreement that covers that.)

To me, the site has reached the tipping point. $6.50 (or, to be exact, $6.49)/box makes it not worth it. Plus it seems the quality is going down, too. I've been getting stale things lately -- seems like one snack every box will have stale items in it.

I suspect Graze knows they've reached a price that people will be unhappy with. Why go from even numbers, $5 and $6, to $6.49?

After Phil Robertson, star of Duck Dynasty, said awful things about homosexual people (saying they're the same as terrorists and other such hate-filled things, see my post about it here), A&E rightfully kicked him off the show.

But now they've changed their minds.

They're going to let him back on the show because: “While Phil's comments made in the (GQ) interview reflect his personal views based on his own beliefs, and his own personal journey, he and his family have publicly stated they regret the ‘coarse language’ he used and the misinterpretation of his core beliefs based only on the article. He also made it clear he would ‘never incite or encourage hate.’"

"Coarse language" makes it sound like a 'damn' slipped out in front of small children. And he'd never incite or encourage hate? Isn't it just a bit too late to make that claim?

Sigh.

---

Also, since I'm posting, a totally unrelated topic. I got my latest Graze box!

salsa fresca: "tomato salsa fresca with cheesy sombreros" I really worried I wouldn't like this one, but once again I discover that I actually like salsa! Thanks, Graze, I found a new food I like!

cherries & berries: "cherries, lingonberries, cranberries and jumbo raisins". Not just a yummy mix of dried fruit, but it seemed like I got a lot more food in this packet than I get in most of the others. Overpacked by mistake?

banoffee pie: "fudge pieces, almond slices, pecan nuts and banana coins" Never heard of such a thing, apparently it's an English snack. The "fudge" pieces tasted more like butterscotch (maybe butterscotch fudge?). Surprisingly, it was too sweet for me -- a really rare thing.

fruit and seed flapjack: "rustic rolled oat flapjack with mixed seeds and dried fruits" The only one that I haven't tried yet. It's got these really big green seeds in it that scare me. Pumpkin seeds maybe? But those are usually white, right? I love flapjacks, but it has so many of those big green seeds in it...

Don't forget, you can click here to join Graze. $6 per box of four snacks, shipping included, first and fifth boxes free.

Edit: Bonus WTF. Esquire Magazine has named the Pope as the best dressed man of 2013. c.c

Three reviews, from least review-y to most:

#1: I got my third Graze box, yay! I haven't tried any of the four snacks yet. (Still no dippers! Arg!)

For new people on my friends list, Graze is a healthy "snack of the month" company. Once every two weeks or four weeks (your choice) they send you out a box of four snacks to try. $6 per box total (shipping included). Unfortunately I'm out of friends codes for it at the moment.

My box:
1) Summer berry flapjack (rustic rolled oat flapjack with berry-infused cranberries) -- the only repeat so far, but I loved it so yay! Will likely save it to eat last.
2) Raspberry and coconut muffin (amaretti drops, raspberry infused cranberries, almond slices and coconut flakes) -- I don't like coconut (or at least I didn't as a kid and haven't tried it since), but I'll give it a chance this time.
3) Hot cross yum (sponge pieces, cinnamon and honey almonds and orange infused raisins) -- Mmmm sounds really good!
4) Herby bread basket (garlic crostini, mini basil breadsticks and oregano rice crackers) -- I suspect I might like this one the least, but looking forward to trying it.

#2: Someone on a food comm mentioned jerky bacon. He said it tasted just like regular bacon, only not hot. How could I not want to try that? When I went to Target today, I saw a bag. It's sitting here next to me right now. I'm going to open it up and try it real time!


(Not my picture, I'm lazy tonight.)

Disclaimer: I've only had jerky once before. I didn't like it, but I know there are tons of different kinds out there, I just never got around to trying another one.

Opening the bag, it smells like bacon (good sign). Not really strongly, but maybe half as strong as I would expect from real, just-cooked bacon. Also has a bit of a chemical smell.

It's rubbery and floppy, sort of like real bacon. Trying it... It tastes like it smells. Like bacon, but really, really weak flavor. Also, I don't think this could be called jerky at all, it's like the pre-cooked bacon you get in the store. (Though I'm no expert on jerky, as I said. But I thought it would have to be thicker and take a while to chew to be jerky. Maybe it's just the drying process?)

This little bag (2.5 ounces) cost $5. The flavor is okay (even bad bacon is still bacon). The calories aren't bad (130 for about half the package), so I'll probably finish the bag, but I won't buy it again. (On second thought, I'm going to toss it in the fridge. Maybe I can microwave it a bit to heat it, then use it in sandwiches.)

#3) Book #46 of 2013: Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking book 3) by Patrick Ness.

Oh what can I say about this book. The first book of the trilogy (The Knife of Never Letting Go, my review) was easily the best book I've read this year. It's one of the best books I've ever read, period. The second and third books were a little less to my taste, through no fault of the books. (Edit: I should note that that's going from "OMG BEST BOOK EVER WONDERFUL LOVED-LOVED EVERY PAGE OF IT BEST THING I EVER READ" to "OMG BEST BOOK EVER WONDERFUL LOVED EVERY PAGE OF IT BEST THING I EVER READ". The sentence before the edit does not properly convey how much I still loved the books.) I enjoy world building, learning new things about a new world slowly, piece by piece, character by character a lot more than I enjoy the plotty parts. In a trilogy, most of the first book is often world building, then the plot kicks in in the last third and through the next two books. I like that first part best, when you know so little and everything is new.

While this book is marketed as a YA book, there is no way in hell that I would describe it that way. Such serious, violent, dark (sort of -- the kind of dark normal humans in bad situations might do), human things happened! I loved morals/theme of the book: That people have a hard time changing. If you live a violent life, you'll likely die a violent death. That the older you get, the harder change is. That anyone, adults included, can make bad decisions. (I almost didn't want to mention the moral of the story, because it wasn't in your face at all, it's just impossible for me not to think about it now as I look back on the story.)

I wish I could describe the plot. I wish I could describe even just the setting! But everything is a spoiler. (I'd highly suggest you don't even read the summary on Amazon. Going into it totally blind is the best way to experience this book!)

I'm so depressed I'm done with it. Even the aliens were so human! I swear, I've never met such realistically human characters in a book before. So perfectly flawed. So grey (non-black/white). When a "good" character did a bad act, his resulting behavior was so painful and believable.

I'm dying to see how they'll make it into a movie. If the Hunger Games books weren't being handled so well, I'd be afraid of how they'd ruin this trilogy. I really, really hope it gets a similar treatment!

If you buy one book based on my reviews, I'd suggest it be this one (er, the first one of this series). I know it's hard to buy a book without knowing anything about it, but I bet you'll love it. :) And if you do pick it up? Please let me know what you think!

Coughing: A number of people on my friends list are sick, and (unfortunately) that number will likely increase as winter progresses, so I'm going to toss this little piece of advice out there. It's straight from my doctor (I got it too late to use it, but others I've told it to report that it works). You can crack a rib from coughing (or pull the tendons in between them, which feels the same as a broken rib and is treated the same way). If you have bad pain in your side whenever you cough, tuck a pillow between your side and your arm. It will help absorb the movement and keep your rib from being jarred.

Dreams: I don't know what the heck is up with my brain. I used to have nice, logical dreams: A reasonable storyline with a couple wacky elements tossed in. There was always a plot -- things went from Point A to Point B just as they would in a story or movie. The last week or two? Random mishmash of wacky elements, no overriding plot.

Last night I had a dream that I went to see the Avengers movie (first one) in a theater with tersa, who owned a pet goat. Not even a mini one, a full-sized goat. She brought it with her and hugged it to her chest through the whole movie. Darned thing kept eating my popcorn. Plus side: A large popcorn cost under $2. The movie had commercial breaks, too. (Which, apparently, had been a movie thing for years, but since I never see movies in the theater anymore, I hadn't known.)

One of the actors from Married with Children was in Avengers, and his movie-wife was giving birth on the screen. She gave birth to a full grown woman (covered in blood and other birthing fluid stuff). "Baby" was dressed in flannel. Instead of saying "It's a girl!" they said "It's a Republican!".

I want my plotty dreams back. I wonder if I stopped having them because I'm RPing again so my need to tell stories is being expressed that way?

Graze: There's so much I love about Graze. Who knew I'd look forward to trying new foods? Never in my life have I wanted to do that! In my box was texan corn salsa (corn chips, salsa almonds and roasted corn). I would have bet money on me not liking that. I've never eaten salsa before but thought I didn't like it (yeah, I know...), and roasted corn? Not served hot? On their own, each element was only meh. The corn chips were strange ("homemade", not like the kinds that come in a bag from the grocery store), the roasted corn was just really strange (dry, hard, and bland), the almonds were okay. But together? When eaten together, it was amazing! (And now I'm going to try real salsa to see if I like that.)

The only other snack of this box I tried so far was the sour cream and onion cashews. I thought I would love that one (cashews are my favorite nuts and I like sour cream and onion flavor), but somehow it didn't work. I didn't hate it, but it took me all afternoon and evening to finish the packet.

Left to try: scandinavian forest (dried fruit mix: blueberries, lingonberries, cherry infused raisins, and apple) and white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake (raspberry infused cranberries, white chocolate buttons, and hazelnuts). I don't think I've ever eaten a hazelnut alone (not as part of something else).

I still haven't gotten a dipper (a little pot of chocolate or something savory, with something to dip in it). I've thought about putting one on my Love list so I'll have a better chance of getting it, but I'm enjoying having it be random and just taking what I get.

I set my mother up with a Graze account as part of her Christmas gift. There seems to be no way to pre-pay, so I just used my own credit card. Alas she can't eat seeds or nuts, which cuts about two-thirds of the possible snacks off her list. I really had no idea how many things had nuts until I went though and struck them all.

Europa Report: I had no RP last night, for the first night in a while. I had no idea what to do with myself! I went to Netflix and was looking for something to watch. I clicked on Europa Report by mistake and the movie started, so I figured I'd see how it was. I liked it a lot! I loved the nonlinear storyline and Bear McCreary's score was beautiful. If you enjoy scifi movies, you really should check it out.

( Spoiler for end of the movie. )

The movie made me a bit sad, since I'll be dead before man gets even that far into space. I wish this country valued space travel (and science in general) more. At least there are other countries out there who are doing better.

(Way to end this post on a down note, self!)