Spike Your Juice? My adventure in home wine making...

So I was reading twitter, as I often do in my free time, and I came across an interesting product. I enjoy a spikey drink once in a while, so I purchased it! "Spike Your Juice" is a kit to make your own homemade campaign-like drink using bottled juice.

I hate most bottled juices, at least the ones I can get at the normal grocery (Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are about 40 mins away) so I made lemonade, breaking one of the rules of the product. The rules for juice selection are as follows:

• minimum sugar content of 20g/serving
• no refrigerated juices
• no artificially sweetened juices
• no unfiltered juices

I juiced about 10 lemons, poured the juice into a 1 gallon container (hence breaking the no unfiltered juices rule), then filled with water and lots of raw sugar.  Then I took one of the yeast packs out of the kit and poured it into the gallon of lemonade, put the airlock stopper in, and sat it on the counter for 2 days as directed.

Today I opened the bottle, and I could see the yeast had created this foamy substance on top of the lemonade, so I poured it through a fine strainer and gave it a taste...It was good, but not very alcoholly tasting. In the product's defense, I could let it ferment for a couple more days and it would get stronger, but I don't want to alter the flavor any further. If I had to guess it might have 4 percent alcohol in it, so less than a beer.

Since that turned out ok, I'm trying again on a bottle of Cran-pom juice my mother bought, and has since decided she doesn't want to drink (she switched from the full sugar version to the "diet" type). I'll let you know how it turns out!

Review - Red Robin (Nationwide)

I've been thinking about a bacon bleu cheese burger for days, so I finally broke down and went to Red Robin and got one, and some other stuff.

I don't usually go to Red Robin. I prefer the hole in the wall kind of burger joints, but today I was out running errands and there was a Red Robin along the way. I like Red Robin just fine, I don't avoid the place, but it's usually not my first thought when it comes to eating out. There are usually a ton of kids, and it's really loud, and the decor is busy, and I get a little agitated there. But I got take out so it wasn't so bad.

I ordered the Gourmet Cheeseburger which comes with a laundry list of items. On mine I selected bleu cheese, bacon, lettuce, pickles, red onions, and yellow mustard. Of course the burger came with a heap of fries (when you eat in the restaurant the fries are bottomless). And I also ordered a Freckled Lemonade (Strawberry Lemonade) and a chocolate cupcake! I drank the Freckled Lemonade while I was there and they were kind enough to top off my to go cup before I left.

I got the food home (about 1/2 hour drive), and it was packaged in cardboard boxes. I prefer this method to styrofoam not only because the cardboard is biodegradable, but because the bun and fries don't get soggy due to condensation, double win! The food was still hot, and the burger was amazing! I recently discovered that I like bleu cheese and really can't get enough of it! The sharpness of the cheese the saltiness of the bacon, the savory sweetness of the onion and the sour of the pickle all came together and sang in perfect harmony! Each bite had a little bit of every flavor, and by the end of the burger I was almost sad to see it end! Red Robin is one of the few establishments that has steak fries that are perfectly crispy! Most places under cook the steak fries, but not Red Robin! The outsides are nice and crisp, while the insides are almost buttery smooth. These fries need only a dash of salt to draw out the flavor of the potato, no ketchup needed! In the take out container there were a mountain of fries. I have enough to snack on through the evening.

The Freckled Lemonade is a favorite of mine, my only desire with it is that instead of using Minute Maid Lemonade, that they use fresh squeezed, but I guess with the quantity of lemonade they sell, that would be unreasonable.

New to the menu (at least new since the last time I'd been to RR) are cupcakes! They aren't even listed on the website yet. I ordered a chocolate cupcake and it was fantastic! Lots of places make chocolate cakes and cupcakes that are dry, but not Red Robin. The cake was so moist I thought it was going to drip! The cake was soft, and it practically melted in my mouth. I don't like frosting, but the chocolate frosting didn't taste like a mouthful of brown colored sugar, it actually tasted like real chocolate fudge!

The food at Red Robin is excellent, and if you have kids it's kid friendly. If you can tolerate the chaos of the restaurant, it's worth the trip. Otherwise get a takeout, it's just as good as eating there, but without the insanity!

Review - Penn Station Subs (several states)

Today for lunch I had lunch with a friend and we met at Penn Station Subs. All I can say is YUM! We both ordered the Philly Cheesesteak (mine had 100% U.S.D.A. Choice steak, provolone, sauteed onions, banana peppers, and pizza sauce), fries (salt and vinegar), and their fresh squeezed lemonade.

Everything was so tasty! The fries were fresh cut and quickly fried to perfection so they retained the flavor of the potato without absorbing too much of the grease. The sandwich bread had a nice crisp crust and a soft inside. The meat, veggies and sauces all kept their individual flavors, but all blended amazingly well to create a symphony in my mouth. The best part was that each bite of the sandwich had all of the various flavors! Soooooo good! My only complaint is that the lemonade was a little sweet for my liking, it needed more lemon, but that's a minor problem IMO. Oh yeah, I had a cookie too, but that wasn't anything exciting (i.e. don't waste the calories on the cookies).

If you have a Penn Station Subs near you, you should go! You won't be disappointed in the subs or fries! I'd go more often, but the closest one is about 20 miles away!