Review: Starbucks - Toffee Nut Creme

Starbucks' Toffee Nut Creme or Steamer (or Flavored Steamed Milk) is a simple drink of steamed milk with toffee nut syrup. The milk itself will cost you $2.25 for a Tall while the syrup taxes on an additional 45 cents unless you have a Starbucks Card with My Starbucks Rewards, in which case the syrup is complimentary.

Review: Crumbs - Signature Cupcakes

Crumbs Bake Shop is a cake shop chain known mostly for their premium cupcakes. Their cupcakes are a might bit bigger than your typical cupcakes and will run about $3 to $4 depending on the selection (some are available in smaller sizes but I didn't see any). Currently, Crumbs has locations in five states (CA, CT, DC, NJ, and NY) with locations set to open in IL and VA. They ship anywhere in the continental U.S. though.

I visited a Crumbs for the first time very recently and ordered two of their "signature" cupcakes: a Christmas Good Guy and a Squiggle which cost me $3.75 each ($4.50 if you order online).

Frozen Friday: Marie Callender's - Beef Pot Pie

Marie Callender's frozen Beef Pot Pie weighs over a pound and features a golden flaky crust filled with a beef stew with potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions. The regular price on one is $3.99 but it's not uncommon to find them around $2 on sale.

News: Krispy Kreme - Seasonal Holiday Menu 2010

Krispy Kreme has some pretty festive donuts this holiday season: they've got a Snowman Donut, a Chocolate Iced Donut with holiday sprinkles, and a Chocolate Peppermint Bark Donut. In addition, they have an obligatory peppermint-flavored drink in the new Peppermint Krispy Kreme Chiller.

The Snowman Donut comes with white icing and red icing scarf.

There's also a Wreath Donut with red-iced holly berries and a bow.

The new Chocolate Peppermint Bark Donut is a chocolate cake donut made with Hershey’s Cocoa, hand dipped in chocolate, and topped with crunchy peppermint bark.

Review: Chick-fil-A - Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake

Chick-fil-A's holiday themed shake, the Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake, takes the chain's Icedream soft serve and blends it with peppermint syrup and red & white dark chocolate pieces before topping it with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

It carries a suggested retail of $2.55 for a small, but it costs $3.09 here in Southern California.

News: Carl's Jr. - Chicken Tenders Now Available in Boxes

Carl's Jr.'s Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders are now available in boxes of 10, 15, or 20 pieces as promoted by the Green Hornet-themed commercial below. Cue the explosions!

There's also a movie-themed Kickin' Asian Sweet & Spicy Dipping Sauce because you know, Kato is Asian and he kicks... I guess it's not as obvious as a Stinging Green Hornet sauce; though it wouldn't be confused with a sauce from Panda Express.

Cheap Gift Idea: McDonald's Sanrio Watches

"Q, want to go to McDonald's?" The Sister asked as I arrived home from work.

"Why?" I asked, somewhat suspicious.

"I want to get a Sanrio watch."

"Huh?"

Around the World: Quick - Fast Food Foie Gras Burger for $6.50!

The French are fancy! Apparently, even their fast food is fancy. French fast food burger chain Quick is, later this month, offering a very limited-time premium burger called the Supreme Foie Gras, the first fast food burger to be served with foie gras anywhere.

The Supreme Foie Gras burger features diced foie gras sourced from France, a 150g (a bit more than a quarter pound) grilled beef patty, caramelized onions, and arugula and will be served in a fancy-looking black paper clamshell.

News: Panera Bread - Holiday Seasonal Items 2010

Panera Bread has a pretty extensive line up of seasonal holiday items this year ranging from baked goods to chili:

New All Natural Steak Chili with Cornbread: "A hearty blend of slow-cooked tender brisket slices and ground beef with onions, green bell peppers, and kidney beans flavored with garlic, ancho chili powder, and red jalapenos in a rich tomato-based broth, topped with freshly baked sweet cornbread."

Review: Sonic - Ched 'R' Peppers

Sonic's Ched 'R' Peppers are Sonic's version of the jalapeno popper breaded and filled with melted Cheddar cheese. An order of four Ched 'R' Peppers sells for $2.99 and is served with a side of ranch dressing.

News: Pizza Hut - Big Mondays - Two Medium Pizzas for $6 Each

Looks like Pizza Hut is well on their way to having a different day for every day of the week. Starting today, Pizza hut introduces Big Monday, a Monday only deal where you can buy two Medium Pizzas with up to 3 Toppings for $6 each (i.e. $12 total).

If the deal looks familiar to you, Pizza Hut ran the same promotion for a period of 10 days earlier this month. Big Monday joins Tuscani Tuesday and Wing Wednesday as Pizza Hut's promo specific days.

The promo pricing represents a savings of $4 off normal Pizza Hut prices.

Review: Wendy's - Natural-Cut Fries with Sea Salt

Wendy's recently replaced their French Fries with a newer, fancier version dubbed the "Natural-Cut Fries with Sea Salt." New features of the fries include a skin-on cut which is more aesthetics than anything, a new blend of frying oil, and most significantly, the addition of sea salt.

Pricing remains the same and I bought an order of value-sized Natural-Cut Fries with Sea Salt (a rather unwieldy name but I guess it plays up the sea salt aspect) for 99 cents.

Review: Hostess - Ding Dongs

"Ding dong ding go the bells..." Okay, not really. Ding Dongs are the classic hockey puck shaped cake from Hostess that has adorned many a kids lunchbox. A box of 12 foil-wrapped chocolate cakes are regularly priced at about $4.49 but it's not unusual to see them on sale around $3.

Review: Pepperidge Farm - Holiday Homestyle Cookie Collection

Since it's officially the holiday shopping season now, I thought it'd be appropriate to review the Holiday Homestyle Cookie Collection from Pepperidge Farm which is only available this time of the year for about $8 or $9 regular price but about $5 or $6 on sale.

Feature: 2010 Holiday Gift Card Bonuses

Since the holiday shopping season has now officially begun, here's a list of popular restaurants (in alphabetical) dangling incentives (along with their limitations) for customers to buy their gift cards to giveaway (or stock up) this Christmas:

Applebee's - At any participating Applebee's, buy $50 in gift cards and get a $10 bonus gift card. Valid through 2/28/11.

Arby's (participation varies) - get a free combo with purchase of $20 gift card.

Benihana - Free $10 Promotional Card with the purchase of $50 in gift cards. Offer valid 11/15/10 through 12/31/10. Promotional Card valid 1/2/11 through 3/31/11.

Ben & Jerry's - Visit any participating Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop and get a free scoop when you spend $10 or more on Ben & Jerry's gift cards.

Review: Burger King - Rodeo Cheeseburger

Burger King's Rodeo Cheeseburger used to be available nationally, but is now only available in some regions as part of the BK Value menu. Similar but smaller than Carl's Jr's Western Cheeseburger, the Rodeo Cheeseburger takes your basic junior-sized cheeseburger and uses barbecue sauce (used to be Bull's-Eye but is now Sweet Baby Ray's) and onion rings instead of the normal pickles, ketchup, and mustard.

In my area, it costs $1.49.

Review: McDonald's - Holiday Pie

McDonald's Holiday Pie is a limited-time holiday item that is carried by some McDonald's restaurants around this time of year at the franchisee's election. McDonald's Holiday Pie comes in the same form at their other baked pies but is filled with custard surrounded by what appears to be a confetti-cake-like sugar cookie crust.

Like their normal pies, a Holiday Pie will only cost you 50 cents (2 for $1; individual pies prices vary from restaurant to restaurant).

Review: Pizza Hut - Cheesy Bites Pizza

Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites Pizza recently made its limited-time return to the Pizza Hut menu and having never tried it before, I decided to remedy that oversight and purchased one large with pepperonis for $11.99 this time around.

The Cheesy Bite Pizza is an odd-looking pizza that takes the standard Pizza Hut Hand-Tossed Pizza and through some nifty folding and cutting, transforms the crust into 28 bite-sized, mozzarella-cheese-filled bread rolls and is served with two plastic cups of marinara sauce i.e. (pizza sauce) for dipping.

News: Quiznos - Black Friday $2.99 Combo

Apparently, retailers aren't the only ones trying to vie for your attention on this Black Friday. Quiznos is offering a $2.99 combo with any half/small sub, chips, and regular fountain drink.

The deal is only good Black Friday weekend only i.e. from Friday, 11/26/10 to Sunday, 11/28/10 and you'll need this coupon.

The deal excludes Toasty Torpedos and Toasty Bullets. And, if you live in Hawaii or Alaska, it's going to run you a dollar more.

News: Papa John's - New Double Bacon Six Cheese Pizza

Papa John's latest limited-time new pizza is the Double Bacon Six Cheese Pizza, topped with a six-cheese blend of Mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, Provolone and Fontina plus both hickory-smoked bacon and Canadian bacon.

It arrives just in time for Thanksgiving Eve where many a household declines to cook since there is often plenty of cooking to be done the next day.

The Double Bacon Six Cheese Pizza is available at Papa John's through December 26, 2010 (i.e. the day after Christmas) and the price on a large is $11.

Now that I think about it, pizza bacon usually tastes better than the typical fast food bacon. I wonder why that it? Is it the bacon (I mean baking. As you can see I have bacon on the brain) process?