"two or three little things make one big thing"

4 month, so much has happened.

Covid: Yes, we got vaccinated, pretty much as soon as we could. One of us Pfizer, one Moderna. (I got the better one) 😉
I also got a nice pin.

Mostly things are opening, or fully open again. Masks are still required for medical environments, and a few other exceptions.  At least in the US. In some parts of the world things are still very bad, and the new Delta Plus variant looks concerning. Here too.

Job: Last October I was hired as a consultant by NLB to work for Cognizant, doing (mostly) Salesforce work for Allergan (B2B), whew.
Anyway, last month, I was hired by Cognizant directly, to do the same work.  So that's good.

Games: A few new ones, some more on their way. The soonest expected is TM:Ares Expedition.  After 448 days we finally got back to weekly meetups.  I gave some door prizes I had wanted to do for my birthday - everyone that came that week got an appropriately named "Player Appreciation" Ohio lottery scratch card. We had 2 winners. And from the extra ones I won $100  Woot Woot.

Indoor excitement: There was a tornado alert (on our phones) a week ago. "Should we go down to the basement?"  Then the sirens came on. We went down for a while until the warning expired for our area.

Outdoor excitement 1: Brood X (ie "brood ten") of the 17 year cicadas.  None seen here in Lebanon, but plenty seen and heard all over the Dayton area. Here are some empty shells (exuviae):

   

Outdoor excitement 2: After a few years of just missing the bikers, I finally got some photos of folks competing in Race Across America (RAAM) which starts in Oceanside, CA, comes by less than 700 feet from our house and on to Annapolis, MD!

 

And maybe the biggest news, we're buying a house.  After (it seems) giving our realtor a hard time by not being able to really narrow down our tastes to some specific styles.  Long story short:I found a place Lisa and I both liked for assorted reasons.  Even though it is in Vandalia, somewhat further from family than we wanted.  How much am I joking when I say the reason is the street name ... ?

 

 

Ç'est plus Bonne

As foretold - the conclusion. Not really that much to say, mostly photos.

Surprisingly, day 21 was the "Christmas Spice" one, so I saved it unopened for the last day, and had two flavors on pancakes.  Overall we tried them on toast, toast with butter (my favorite), ritz crackers, saltines, cookies, pancakes, waffles, and I think some cheese blintzes.

We liked them all. My favorites were perhaps, in no particular ranking order, seedless raspberry, mandarin, and lemon-yuzu. But I don't know if I would buy a full size jar of any of them. We'll see how I feel after I finish the 2 jars of mango-peach.

Any questions?

day 18

day 19

day 20

day 21

day 22

day 23

anticipation

day 24

Pancakes!

Jam, Not Jam (Sorry, Not Sorry)

 or "My Second Advent Calendar, (Part I)"

I really like Bonne Maman jams, especially, recently, Mango-Peach, though I usually buy cheaper (store) brands.
So, when I was researching variety advent calendars, I saw there was one by Bonne Maman, but naturally I thought it to pricey, and where would I even get it?  Then on a visit to Jungle Jim's International Market (the Eastgate one), I saw a marked down BMAC, and without too much thought, I added it to the cart.

Officially it is "24 Limited-Edition Mini Fruit Spreads and Honey".  And if you search their site, the word "jam" has no results. So what's the difference?  Maybe legally, or whatever, it does have to do with pectin, how much fruit, how much sugar.  But I won't be picky. If it walks like a jam, and quacks like a jam ...

Wikipedia has a lot to say on the subject, but does say: Although the FDA has Requirements for Specific Standardized Fruit Butters, Jellies, Preserves, and Related Products, there is no specification of the meaning of the term fruit spread.


Anyway, Review:  
First of all, I am very glad I got it.  Lots of nice anticipation.
I did have a hard time opening it at first. It looked like there was a "sleeve", but I missed where it said "Open Here" just under the roof (as it were).  So I ended up opening the box and taking out the two trays, so there's a 50% chance I put them back swapped, and I am not eating the jams in the intended order.  Whatever.

Basically all (so far) were nice. Some were too mild and just tasted sugary, with some je ne sais quoi jamminess. They do seem to have a looser consistency (less pectin) than jams I'm used to?  
Some specific comments, in the order I tried them...
"Seedless Raspberry" was very nice, obviously nicer than I expected.
"Rhubarb Strawberry" was disappointingly un-rhubarby.
I'm not sure what the difference between Wild vs non-wild Strawberry, but the combo jam was good.
Honey, tasted like a good wild flower honey.  What can I say?
"Fig Cardamom" had a cardamom after-taste I didn't care for. 

and again, most were good, none were bad.

7 more to go.  So there will probably be a Part II

now photos

the sleeve
list of flavors
ingredients
other side
day 1
day 2
the empties
day 3
3 open
3 out
some Spot UV
day 4
day 5
day 6
day 7
day 8
regular size for comparison
day 9
9 open
day 10
day 11
day 12
day 13, you can see
the 2nd tray underneath
day 14 Honey
so I opened day 15 as well
day 16
day 17

My First Advent Calendar

This should have been the last post of 2020, but here we are.

FYI the reason for this post is actually the next post.

Not being Christian, I don't know if I was even aware of the concept of Advent Calendars as a child.
Then, as an adult, I figured: chocolate for kids? probably not worth my time. (and the "good" ones? too pricey!)

Long story short, I bought an "O'Donnels 12 days of Irish Creams" calendar at Aldi.

TLDR: over-all it was good, but probably just as a one-time thing.  Better to find flavors you like and buy them.

The main question, "O'Donnels?? But how does it compare to ...?"
As you can see in the pictures, I eventually bought a bottle of Baileys. So, tasting side by side "O" seems to have a very slightly thinner (watery) texture, but the flavors are very close.

Next Q, How are the different flavors?  Day after day a number of them tasted very similar, and we couldn't really tell them apart (mostly).
In our opinion one flavor stood head and shoulders above the rest: Cappuccino. I would buy a bottle of that!
However tiramisu was (surprisingly) not so interesting.
Atlantic Sea Salted Caramel was also in the top tier.

Better than expected: I'm not fond of raspberry, so I had low expectations for Raspberry Cheesecake, but it was actually nice.

Worst Flavors. Relatively speaking, that is. None were "Yuck, spit it out", but some were "meh, not my thing"
Lisa and I didn't 100% agree, but White Chocolate, and Hazelnut were my least favorites

Also, not so good: (as I recall) Creme Brulee, and Mint Chocolate.

and in the middle "what flavor is this? oh, it's irish cream flavor" (YMMV)
Caramel Cream, Strawberry, Country Cream, Vanilla Cinnamon


Would I do it again? This one or a similar product?
This one? No. It was fun. I would say it is worth trying once (if you like that kind of thing), but I think I learned enough from this specific experience, even if next time it would be a different mix of flavors, once was enough.
A similar one? I don't know, maybe.
In general there are also calendars with Beer (I don't drink it), Whiskeys (not for me), Wine (I'm too picky to buy that many flavors at once, but there might be a collection I'd like), etc.
Something else? turns out yes. ... see next post.

Photos

The box

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

oops, I'm opening day 6, but day 5 is in the corner below it. Oh well, we do get around to drinking them all eventually.

the more famous cousin