Wednesday, August 15, 2012

New Flavors (Butter Toffee & Mint Dark Chocolate) in the "Oven Roasted Almonds" lineup from Blue Diamond


Okay so I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to finding new products and testing them out...it's one of my passions and I try really hard to stay up to date on new products hitting my local store shelves.  Anyhow, this week my latest find was one that has set the bar high.  Hands down one of my new all-time favorite products.

I went to get my usual Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds (they rock!) and found they had just began stocking the shelves with a few new flavors in their Oven Roasted Almonds lineup (their Oven Roasted lineup was already awesome)…I was super excited to try the new flavors.  I purchased the Butter Toffee and the Dark Chocolate Mint.  Let me tell you what…they are both AMAZING.  Let me sum up both of these flavors…



Butter Toffee:  The perfect fix for that sweet tooth that just won’t go away (this happens to me several times a day!).  These almonds are coated in this oh-so-perfect amount of buttery sweet goodness.  They have that wonderful old-fashioned almond meets butter pecan ice-cream taste going…they’re crazy good! There’s only 160 calories in one serving (1oz) and all of this lineup from Blue Diamond, actually come in portion controlled containers (there’s a line on the back that shows the ounce marks, so you know when to stop…or when you should ;) LOL.

Here's a photo of the portion control container (brilliant idea!) ...



Mint Dark Chocolate:  These are super rich, but in a oh-so-suttle way.  Like, the cocoa and the sweet mint are there- but not overbearing like so many mint chocolate candies are…making these almonds even that much better to reach for!  The best part is that they’re made from real dark chocolate and natural chocolate mint flavoring.  There’s a hint of sweetness thanks to the stevia extract (this is great in coffee too, a must-have on hand).  These nuts are also a great sweet tooth kicker!



I’m literally obsessed with both of these (well with Blue Diamond as a whole- I love all of their products...nuts, milk, chips, and crackers!)  I am going shopping again this weekend, and will be giving the last of the new flavors- Dark Chocolate a whirl.  I can just imagine they’re awesome like the rest…but of course I have to try for myself and probably update this post if I can remember too ;)

Anyhow I suggest anyone who likes nuts, or even anyone who has a sweet tooth (even people who don't generally like nuts!)  should go and get these right away...they are amazing.  They have set the bar high, definitely. Yaaaaay for new products, and an even bigger YAAAAY for great nut flavors- I love me a good healthy snack :)


Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Totally Biased Premier on FX featuring W. Kamau Bell

I was chosen by Crowdtap to host a party in celebration of W. Kamau Bell's debut premier of his new show  "Totally Biased" on FX.  It premiered at 11pm EST/10pm CST on FX.  http://www.wkamaubell.com/. I chose to host my party with the theme of "Tea Party & Milkshakes" based off of W. Kamau Bell's skit on youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTHxZ5J962g (it's really great, I highly suggest you check it out!).  Anyhow, it was awesome- both the episode and the party ;)  I invited 15, 11 showed- which was actually an awesome turn out!!!!!!






Crowdtap sent me a few things in order to hold a great party...included was....

*a free download of "face full of flour" one of the top 10 comedy albums of 2012 via iTunes and Punchline Magazines.
*3 minute exclusive preview of his new show "totally biased"
*Kamau content exclusively for fans chosen by Crowdtap

The point of this digital party kit given to me by Crowdtap and by W. Kamau Bell was to preview, learn about, and watch/listen to content in order to get a better understanding of where W. Kamau Bell stands and where his show is trying to go with their viewers.

After watching the premier, I have found that I have a nice amount of favorite skits in just this one episode.  He seriously made fun of the most up to date headlines possible, it was awesome.

Gabby Douglas:  "a perm would have gotten her a silver, a weave would have gotten her a bronze...she won by a hair"





On NYPD in Harlem making unnecessary stops:  "Do you dress like this for your job, or so you don't get stopped and frisked?"  "What if after the 6th time they stopped you, they gave you a "get frisked eat fresh" punch card?"..."Hey, you violated my civil rights now can I get a BMT?" (I nearly snorted at this point...amazingly funny!)



Chris Rock on how you just can't make jokes about Obama...or Brad Pitt: "Brad Pitt's been making movies for 20 years & you ain't ever heard a Brad Pitt joke!  I mean what you gonna say?  Ahhhhh, you handsome bast*@#$ with your fine wife- fixin' houses in New Orleans.  I mean what you gonna say?"  "He left the baddest white girl, for the REAL baddest white girl" ~Chris Rock

Chris Rock on how he got crap for his comment via Twitter on July 4th:  "Happy White People's Independence Day, the slaves weren't free but I'm sure they enjoyed the fireworks".... I won't elaborate, but this is great.



To follow the theme "Tea Party & Milkshakes" we made strawberry milkshakes, offered tea right from my Keurig Vue, and also a few mixer adult drinks (margaritas).




In my digital party kit I was given the idea to play a game called "totally biased toss up"...it rocked.  Seriously, all of my guests wrote on scrap paper what they're biased about and each person drew a paper from my fiance's hat in order to guess who that bias belonged to...it was AWESOME.  Guessing who wrote each bias was difficult for me.  Not so much for the others though! Lol.  We learned a lot about one another!  With 12 people, things did get quite interesting.  I learned a lot of people though less of me than I had expected lol.  With every crazy bias (boys suck, republicans rule, blondes do really do it better...) they all thought I had said it!  It was insane, but insanely funny.  Made a great party even greater.







Oh, and we had pizzas for dinner.  They went well with our shakes and tea ;)


In regards to his album "face full of flour"...my sister has this to say (or show) ;)  We took turns doing this damage to the losers of the "totally biased toss up" game ;)  Winners got adult friendly swag bags, losers got floured like "Kim" ;)  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2b4qtyv5t7s3d6m/czLSVJLAyy/Face%20Full%20of%20Flower is where you can head to and check out the "face full of flour" album....AWESOME stuff right there.



I suggest checking out the writers on youtube, they explain briefly what they are biased about...it's pretty good :)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pDO2oomIj4&feature=youtu.be.

Here's the link to the epic skit on youtube performed by W. Kamau Bell...this was the reasoning behind my "Tea Party & Milkshakes" themed comedy party :)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTHxZ5J962g  This here is epic, I swear.  Great, GREAT material.  He rocks.

Now to wrap things up, W Kamaue Bell is awesome.  Seriously.  He rants about politics, pop culture, race, and religion.  You know, all of the raw and touchy topics than most don't mess with.  His show features his commentary, media, other contributors, and sketch comedy.  "Totally Biased" will be airing in 11 installments, 30 minutes each episode; Each episode is filmed in NYC.  The executive producers include Chuck Sklar, Keri Smith Esquia, W. Kamau Bell, and Chris Rock.  Punchline Magazine called him "one of our nations's most adept racial commentators with a blistering wit".  He was voted "SF's best comedian" by SF Weekly, SF Bay Guardian, and 7x7 Magazine.  His album "face of flour" was one of the "top ten best comedy albums of 2010" on both iTunes and by Punchline Magazine.

The next episode airs on Thursday August 16th, 2012 at 11pm EST/10pm CST.  I high recommend tuning in if you enjoy a good raw down-to-earth reality check & giggle.  I was literally snorting during one part of his first episode, I can just imagine what is to come.  Super excited.  

I did receive incentives via Crowdtap & Totally Biased (FX) as part of my participation for the premier party for "Totally Biased" the series premier that aired on Thursday August 9th, 2012.  I would like to thank FX, Totally Biased, and Crowdtap for allowing me this opportunity.