AMC Theaters Popcorn

I eat a lot of popcorn.  Usually daily.  Sweet decadent chocolate covered drizzlecorn, savory spicy popcorn, anything in between.   Rarely plain.  Rarely butter.  Never microwave kind.

I definitely have a popcorn addiction, hence the label on my blog for it, and hence why I have an extra chest freezer full of it.  (Protip: Freeze your popcorn, and eat it direct from freezer.  It gets even crispier!).  

But movie theater popcorn?  I don't know the last time I had that.  I haven't been to the movies in years, and I'm certainly not one for paying $10 for a bucket of popcorn (and neither was my mom, we always brought our own).  It has probably been 30 years since I had movie theater popcorn, perhaps when visiting the movies with a friend's family when I was a kid?  I don't know.  I actually didn't quite know what to expect when I got one recently (as a freebie from a T-Mobile Tuesdays promo), as silly as that sounds.

Large Popcorn. $10.29.

"Of all the movie theatre companies in the world, AMC sells the most popcorn. Every day, we pop about 35 tons of kernels. That adds up to 52 million bags of popcorn sold each year."

The popcorn was already sitting ready to go in tubs under a heat lamp.  Not particularly freshly popped.  Not particularly warm.  Frighteningly yellow.

The kernels were well popped, no duds.  All were well coated in yellow.  It was salty, but not in a traditional salty way, if that makes any sense.  It was vaguely buttery, but, it didn't really taste like real butter.  

It was basically ... just a bit odd, tasted extremely unhealthy, and wasn't actually very enjoyable.  I don't feel compelling to try movie theater popcorn again.  **+.  

Update: Except I had that giant tub, and I couldn't let it go to waste right?  It sorta grew on me, but also left my stomach feeling pretty unhappy, so, in the end *** for the taste growing on me, but * for how I felt afterwards.

"Butter" Flavoring.

I was a bit sad about how meh the popcorn was, so I decided to jazz it up, which AMC theaters allows you to do yourself, with a row of butter flavoring dispensers.  Each dispenser has not one, not two, but three buttons you can push to dispense the topping, which seemed quite odd design, and actually just confused me more than it gave convenient options.  I understand maybe having one at kid level and one at adult but ... yeah, it was strange.

What came out of the dispenser?  I don't know.  Yellow oil.  It made the popcorn taste even more odd.  It didn't taste like butter.  I distinctly remember the movie theater when I was growing up boasting that they had "real butter" in the dispenser (which they controlled, but you could ask for more), and now I see why.  Real butter is not a given.  This stuff did not enhance the popcorn, but I'm sure it took the already 1000 calorie bucket up to an even unhealthier saturated fat land.

They also had a salt shaker to add more salt, which it didn't quite need as it was very salty in an odd way, in a "help I need more beverage" way, not a "oh, that was a nice pop of salt that accented the flavors" way, if that makes sense. 

Read More...

Victoria Pastry

Princess cake.  Not a very commonly found item.  But in San Francisco, there are two bakeries both very well known for their princess cake: Schubert's Bakery and Victoria Pastry.  Both have been on my radar for years, but, somehow, I didn't visit either for the first 17 years I lived in San Francisco.  I know, I have no excuse, particularly as I adore desserts and baked goods so much.  The only princess cake I think I've actually had in San Francisco before was from Miette, where it was good, but I wasn't into their marzipan. 

But in 2022, I finally sought out epic princess cake, from Victoria Pastry, located in North Beach.  Victoria Pastry is a San Francisco institution, as its been around since 1914!  It is famous for the princess cake, and well regarded for other items, although many seem to prefer Stella Bakery, just down the street (which, I reviewed last week).  

Display Case.

I'll admit, looking at the display cases, the items at Stella looked just a touch better.  But it is hard to wlak by either without being tempted (although, I somehow lived her this long before finally trying their goodies!).

This "visit" wasn't even technically a visit, as I actually ordered on DoorDash, when I saw Victoria Pastry show up as an option to DoubleDash, that is, to add on to my other order from another nearby business for no additional fee.  It was like the online version of impulse grabbing candy in the grocery store checkout line.  It caught my eye, I clicked, and next thing I knew, I had a glorious dessert headed my way.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

If you do visit in person, the first thing you'll notice is the display cases, loaded with goodies.  They make it easy to eat with your eyes, and want, well, everything. 

Princess Cake. $7.75.

"Vanilla sponge soaked in a triple sec with a layer of raspberry jam, vanilla custard, and whipped cream draped with green marzipan."

Ok, so, I'll cut right to the chase.   One forkful of the cake and I immediately understood why people rave about this cake.  Simply put, I don't think princess cake could possible get better than this.  It really was, well, perfect.

The layers of sponge cake were remarkably light and airy.  The bottom layer, soaked in triple sec, made it even more moist.  Flawless sponge, really.

And then, the whipped cream - it too was very light, fluffy, and, for lack of any better way to describe it, very, very fresh tasting.  Under the middle layer of whipped cream was a layer of thick custard, almost hard to detect, but it added a touch of richness.

The thin raspberry jam layer added a fruity and sweet element, and the marzipan a lovely almond accent, and additional sweetness.

Each element of the creation was executed perfectly, and together it combined into a dessert that ate so well - it didn't feel too heavy despite the cream layers, and it didn't trend too sweet despite the fruity jam.  All in balance, and all just as good as it can possibly get.

I truly savored and enjoyed every bite of this.  If you like princess cake, clearly, you must seek this out, but even if you don't, or think you don't, it is worth a try.  Really, stunning.

****+.

Read More...

Slurpees!

Update Review, 2022

Blue Raspberry, Banana.

I mixed two flavors, because I'm a kid at heart, and also, because I hate making decisions.

The banana was actually kinda nice, clearly fake banana flavor, but I liked it.  There was something familiar about it, sorta like banana Runts candies.  

The blue raspberry was cloying sweet, and screamed out to have a swirl of soft serve vanilla ice cream in it float style to balance it out (while I didn't have 7-Eleven growing up, we did have soft serve stands in the summer, that also had Slush Puppies, and blue raspberry soft serve floats were my thing!).

I had this in Boston, in the middle of summer, and it was far more enjoyable on a hot summer day than my usual location in SF.  I did enjoy both, but, the large size was definitely overkill, I couldn't quite handle that much sustained sweet.  ***.

Original Review, July 2012

I'm probably one of few Americans who isn't really familiar with Slurpees.  I grew up in a town without 7-Eleven, so I guess this makes sense?

I only had my first Slurpee a year ago, when I was on a liquids diet for medical reasons, and somehow a Splurpee made it on to my approved diet list.  I wasn't that impressed (although, I was so sick of only drinking things at that point, that I think I wouldn't have liked anything ...).  That was the only Slurpee I ever had, until last week.

This past week was July 11, and 7-Eleven was giving out Slurpees to celebrate "7-Eleven Day".  I was tempted to check it out, but it seemed like too much effort for something I didn't really care about.  But today, as I was walking through Union Square, the 7-Eleven cart was out with free Slurpees!  So, I got to try my 2nd and 3rd Slurpees ever.  Unfortunately, it felt like winter outside (e.g. typical "summer" in San Francisco), so a nice refreshing icy drink wasn't exactly what I wanted ... but I could imagine enjoying one of these on a hot summer day, ... if we ever got those!

Slurpee Lite™ Fanta Sugar-free Mango.

This had a good mango flavor, and wasn't fake tasting even though it was sugar free.  I really liked the fizz to it.  Carbonated sweet ice is pretty good, and was novel to me.  ***+.

Update review: I had another from the store, and I loved the icy-ness, but found the flavor seriously lacking.  **+.

Coca-Cola Classic Slurpee.

This really just was a frozen Coke.  I again found the carbonation to be pretty fun, but meh, just a Coke, which I don't normally drink. **+.

Read More...