Starbucks should pay me

I know I talk about Starbucks a lot. Like, so much, that you’re probably wondering if they pay me. They don’t. But they probably should.

Anyway, here’s my Starbucks money saving tip of the day: Take your own to-go cup. I found out this morning that taking your own cup knocks 10 cents off the final price. Not a lot, but if you go a lot it adds up. There’s also the feel-good factor of not creating more waste with a disposable cup. This is how it works: you order your drink and when they ask what size hand them your cup. The clerk (I refuse to say barista-I think its a stupid title) then looks at the oz size of your cup and charges/makes your drink according to that.

It’s simple and it saves money. What’s not to like?

Oh, if you’re wondering what ever happened to me giving up caffeine, that’s still a go. I’ve cut back pretty dramatically and all the drinks I get at Starbucks are half-caff.

 

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What is happening in Kentucky?!?

What a crazy day it’s been here in KY. Severe Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, woman getting stomped. Well that last one was actually last night, but it’s blown up today.

In case you didn’t hear, at a senatorial debate last night some volunteer from moveon.org tried to give Rand Paul some fake award. Rand Paul’s supporters pulled her away and held her on the ground. And then, one of them STOMPED on her head/neck area.

Crazy right? And I mean that on the part of everyone involved–the woman shouldn’t have tried to force her way to the candidate (I can see why there would be legitimate concern about that)–but it’s mostly directed at Stompy McStomperson.  Who does that? There was no need for any force; if this lady was a threat, she had already been neutralized. She was being held on the ground and police were being called.

The worst part of the whole situation is that there are some nut jobs out there saying that she deserved to be treated like that. People are using this to spread animosity between liberals and conservatives, as if there wasn’t enough already. The whole situation makes me sick. Literally, I was actually nauseated after I watched the video. You should watch the video if you haven’t, by the way. Click here.

Please note while I don’t like Rand Paul’s politics even a little, I don’t think this inicident should be used against him in any way. I mean, unless some evidence comes out that connects him to the incident there’s no reason to blame him.

Anyway, the weather has been crazy here too. The temperature dropped 20 degrees in about, 15 minutes and I thought my front door was going to blow in a few minutes ago. Oh, and, to the local weather guy, calling your daughter’s school while on air to tell them to take shelter immediately isn’t a good way to keep viewers close to that school calm. Just a bit of advice.

 

Cooking with Nutella

I heart Nutella. Not as much as R. who would lick the jar if she could fit her tongue in it but settles for scraping the jar clean. That being said, I hear Nutella but don’t buy it very often. I usually don’t see it at the grocery (I don’t think this means its not there, I think I just don’t see), so I don’t buy it normally. But not long ago, I happened across Nutella on sale!

So, last weekend, I started looking for recipes that use Nutella. Let me tell you, there are a lot. A lot, a lot. After browsing approximately 13 million recipes, I decided to limit the search to nutella plus my favorite food, banana. 12,057 recipes later, I found this one: Banana. Nutella. Bread. Each word of the recipe is a thing I love.  I had to make it.

I made it yesterday. It took almost a week for me to make it because I love bananas so much I kept eating them before they were ripe enough. But I with some self-control, I had two very ripe bananas yesterday and made it.  It was everything I hoped. Amazing.

 

Look at that Nutella swirl… yum!

I made the recipe almost exactly as it was at this link, but I’ll reproduce it here so you don’t have to make the jump.

1 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 3 small)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup low fat sour cream (I used plain non-fat yogurt)
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup Nutella (I think more would have been better)

• Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat at medium speed of an electric mixer until well blended. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; Add flour mixture to banana mixture, stirring just until moistened.
• Spoon 1/2 batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3-inch loaf pan coated with baking spray with flour. Add 1/4 cup Nutella in dollops. Swirl a bit then top again with remaining batter. Add another 1/4 cup Nutella in dollops on top. Swirl again.
• Bake at 350º for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack. Bake mini loaves for 35 minutes or muffins for 18 minutes.

The only thing that could make this better would be more Nutella. Which I will use next time I decide to make this.

P.S. I might not have to wait that long next time around. When I went back to the site, I found this: Pumpkin Nutella Swirl Bread.

 

Welcome!

Thanks to everyone who followed me over (or got redirected against their will) from fallingindeadlevel.blogspot.com!

Take a look around and let me know if there’s something you want me to add to the page. Or if there’s some topic that you know I have an opinion about that you want me to talk about!

Have a great day!

Fall at the Dog Park.

My new obsession

Tickle my francy by OPI. It’s the most perfect nail polish color of all time (or at least for the fall).

I’m not a paid Starbucks spokesperson. Yet.

It continues. 

I am now a starbucks gold card member. If you don’t know what that mean, congratulations! You’re not a huge douche! …Also this probably means that you don’t have a massive caffeine addiction and a need to take walks on a semi-regular basis throughout the day.

Anyway, the Starbucks Gold Card (p.s. Starbucks should totally be paying me for this free-advertising) is what you get when you have 30 star rewards points in one year. Star Rewards are really easy to get; all you have to do is get a starbucks gift card and register it online. Incidentally, this is a really good way to budget yourself; set an amount to spend at starbucks every month and put it on the card. Every time you make a purchase using your gift card, you get a star. 

Et, violia! Eventually, you make 30 purchases and get a gold card. And then, your level of douche-baggery goes even higher than you thought it could ever be. Even higher than looking for fair-trade, organic, shade grown coffee made it.

Thanks everyone!

Zucchini and Chocolate?

It’s delicious. Trust me.

I made these yesterday

There’s zucchini chocolate chip muffins. I got the recipe from the Smitten Kitten. When you click through the link (and you should because they are delicious and you need to make them ASAP), you should know this: I used fat-free plain yogurt instead of oil or butter. I think it’s what makes them so amazing 🙂 

Enjoy!

Thanks everyone!