Domino's Inspired New Pizza

Friday night is pizza night in my household, and now that there’s a new SyFy show on, Caprica, it's even more important that we spend a simple family night eating pizza, and enjoying each other’s company.

This past Friday we decided to try Domino’s new pizza. They’ve changed the cheese by adding a hint of provolone. They’ve seasoned the crust with garlic, and they’ve changed the sauce with more herbs and red pepper. This was all a bad move in my opinion.

Although I really like garlic, the crust just didn’t taste right. The new dough would be better suited for their garlic bread, but that’s probably the inspiration for the pizza crust.

The cheese was good, but really it’s mozzarella with a little bit of provolone how could they screw this up? Besides, by putting provolone in there they are probably saving money.

Finally there was the sauce. How can I phrase this without being overly critical? The sauce was appallingly bad. I thought it was too salty, too spicy (in a bad way), and overall it attacked my taste buds with a murderous rampage that can only be dealt with by special forces.

Their old pizza was a good standby for those nights when I didn’t want to pay $32 for excellent pizza. Overall, to improve their old pizza would’ve been as simple as making the crust a little thicker, put a little more cheese and sauce on it, and don’t be so stingy on the toppings.

Now don’t just take my word for it. At $5.99 per pizza (minimum 2 pizzas) you should try it yourself, but I didn’t enjoy it.

Maybe Starbucks isn’t Evil

I used to hate on Starbucks like everyone else, but lately I’ve really grown to like them. Why? Recently they made a lot of corporate changes and one of them was that they now have the same coffee every day for regular drip coffee. It is called Pike’s Roast and it is really good. Does that mean that I’ve shredded my Peet’s Coffee and Tea card? No, I still prefer going to Peet’s mainly because all the employees know my wife and I. Although recently it’s become clear they only know me when I’m with my wife, but I digress.

The Starbucks across the street from where I work is a great place. The employees are incredibly friendly, they all recognize me, and one (Amanda) even knows me by my name. The added benefit that every time I order a coffee from them it will taste like the last time I ordered a coffee from them makes me wish the Starbucks closer to home were as friendly as this one.

I’m sure nobody from the Starbucks will ever read this blog, but if anyone out there wants an excellent cup of coffee and some truly great and honestly friendly service I cannot recommend the Starbucks at 701 Battery St in San Francisco enough.

Thank you all for consistently providing excellent coffee and great service.

Delmonico's Steak House

I'm in Las Vegas right now for the Mix07 Web Conference. Tonight I finally got the chance to have dinner at Delmonico's thanks to Mark's Stacy's Sister. ;-)

I had a Filet Mignon cooked medium with green beans. The filet was really good. In fact the only way it could have been better is if I'd cooked it myself. Rather than just season it with only salt and pepper, as I do, the chef used what looked like thyme and rosemary. This added a nice flavor to the party and the steak itself was masterfully cooked. Some of you out there would probably prefer your steak either more well done or more rare, but for me, medium is the perfect mix of the two. I say that because medium they sear the outside to the level that I prefer while keeping the inside a nice warm pink.

The green beans (yes mom, Dawn, and Leanne I ate them) were cooked with butter, garlic, and onions. Were very well cooked and tasty.

To drink with this excellent meal I had a 2003 Fontodi Chianti Classico. I'm sure this wouldn't be most people's first choice of wine with a fine slice of meat, but it was really tasty. The Italians really know how to put together a nice wine. You could just taste them out there picking the grapes, but maybe that was just me reminiscing about being there a little over a year ago.

In all it was an excellent meal, and if you are in Las Vegas I recommend getting a reservation, but be prepared to pay for it. I'm just glad they didn't frown on the fact that I was wearing sneakers and blue jeans.

Coke C2 -- The New New Coke!

Once-upon-a-time Coca-Cola decided it needed to be more like Pepsi and introduced New Coke. Twenty years later something similar is happening. C2 is being marketed to the low-carb dieters. I am so happy I am not on a diet like that.

dn-L The New and Inproved 7-up!

A new softdrink hit the test markets recently. Is it really worth it to upgrade form the original 7-up? Read on to find out.

dn-L the Experiment: Popsicles

I tried experimenting with the new dn-L drink and see what I came up with, a hint is my tongue didn't turn green.

Harry and David Strawberry Licorice Stix

Mmmmm. Little stick of licorice filled with a creamy center. These are very good.

Nestle Walnut Whip

This must be the most difficult candy to eat, but that's just a technical problem. The Walnut Whip is a great tasting treat for anyone.

The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle

I'm always a little hesitant about anything produced by someone named Tish, but since Gaven loaned us this book I thought that it was worth a try.

Mountain Dew Live Wire

Orange flavored and colored Mountain Dew from the same people that actually got me addicted to Code Red. How mad was I when I saw that Live Wire is for summer only?