The Couch Tomato in West Chester, PA

On Saturday afternoon, my family and I stopped by The Couch Tomato in West Chester, PA.  I don't usually spend a lot of time in West Chester but my husband does. He easily found us a decent parking spot fairly close to the restaurant. (Hint: The parking meters nearby have free parking until 5PM on Saturday!) I believe there are some parking garages in town but they aren't quite as close to the restaurant.

We arrived around 4:30PM. Strangely, the only other people in the building were the two guys that walked in before us. However, more people arrived after we sat down, closer to 5:00. 

The Couch Tomato is set up a little bit like a fast food joint. You place your order with a cashier then you find a seat until they call your name over the loudspeaker. Once you hear your name, you head back to the front area to pick up your food. You also bus your own table, separating the recyclable materials from the food waste and placing the dishware onto shelves next to the trash can. So maybe not quite like McDonald's but not like a sit-down restaurant with waiters either. 

I had a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato bisque soup. The grilled cheese was delicious. It had a mix of cheeses and arugula grilled on...well, OK, I'm not sure what kind of bread it was. But the bread was chewy and crunchy at the same time. As for the tomato soup, I'm not a huge fan of tomato soup and, since this was a bisque, it wasn't quite a creamy as the tomato soup I'm used to. It wasn't the worst soup that I've had but it wasn't something I would have usually ordered. 

While my food was delicious, it took a very long time to come out. My husband and my daughter ordered food and both of theirs arrived before mine. My daughter got a Hail Caesar salad and my husband got the Couch Club sandwich. (More on those later.) All of the sandwiches are grilled so I'm not really sure why my sandwich took 20 minutes to cook while his only took less than 10. 

This was my daughter's Caesar salad. We both really liked it. (Yes, I tried her food too!) The salad dressing was perfect; the lettuce was nice and crisp; and the hard boiled egg was well-done. My daughter didn't like the croutons too much but she doesn't usually like croutons to begin with.

My husband had the Couch Club sandwich. This is turkey, tomato, turkey bacon, cheddar, and avocado ranch on a weird sort of sesame bread. As I said, all of their sandwiches are grilled, unless otherwise requested. I think I liked his sandwich better than mine. It was a little bit bigger so it might be difficult for small mouths to bite into but I think it would be well worth trying. The bacon was crisp, the turkey was tender...I didn't even realize there was avocado ranch on it! I would probably recommend this sandwich over the others.

Finally, my husband and I both got fountain sodas. And we both chose the cola flavor. The Couch Tomato uses New Hope fountain soda, which uses cane sugar instead of HFCS. For some reason, our sodas tasted off. We have both drank our fair share of cane sugar soda and he has had New Hope soda before. None of it tasted like this. It had a weird aftertaste that none of us liked.

As a whole, we had a rather enjoyable experience at The Couch Tomato. The only downsides were the soda and the extremely long wait for my food. Otherwise, the food was delicious and very well priced. 

If you would like to see my video review of the restaurant, please click below:

I received my grilled cheese and tomato soup for free in exchange for this review. All opinions contained within are solely my own. 

Cinnamon Vanilla English Muffins?

I don't always eat Thomas' English Muffins. Actually, I rarely eat them. But when I do, it is usually the plain or the cinnamon raisin version. I really love cinnamon-flavored foods. Applesauce, bagels, oatmeal...you could probably make anything taste better with a bit of cinnamon on top. So when I saw these strange english muffins in the bread aisle, I knew I had to taste them. 

Yes, those are Cinnamon VANILLA english muffins. I like cinnamon. I like vanilla. These have got to be delicious, right?

After working up some courage to actually eat one of the muffins, I found out that they are. Despite the fact that they smell like a candle, they are quite tasty. I have read some reviews where people say they can taste a hint of vanilla. I, however, did not. It tasted like a regular cinnamon english muffin without the raisins. (Which works better for me, honestly. The raisins tend to get stuck in my toaster and that is never a good thing.) They were definitely not as scary as I thought they would be. 

So go forth, all of my cinnamon lovers. Eat your fill of the cinnamon vanilla english muffins without fear. They are only available for a limited time. Stuff your face while you can! 

Subscription Box: Graze

I actually received this box about a week ago. However, I wanted to take the time to have everyone in my family try the snacks before I gave an opinion. I know that I can be picky about my food. A second opinion is always helpful in these situations.

This is my first box from Graze, a healthy snack company. The plain brown box is designed very simply. The top just shows the company's URL and catchphrase "Snacking Reinvented." The bottom has the shipping label and helpfully tells you to turn the box over before opening it. This is a nice change from some other boxes.

When you open the box, you find a personalized welcome note. My daughter thought this was amazing. "Mom! It has your name on it!" It definitely makes the box feel like it was made just for you. The note tells you a little bit about the company but the best part is that there is a link where you can rate the food you receive. If there is something you don't like, you won't receive it again. But if there is something you love, you'll get more stuff just like it. There is also a code that you can give to your friends. If your friends join Graze, they get their 1st and 5th boxes for free and you get either $1 off your next box or you can donate that $1 to their charity, the graze school of farming. Finally, you'll find the appropriate nutrition information along with the expiration dates for all of the food in your box on the back of the note.

My box had four snacks. Fruity Mango Chutney with black pepper dippers, Billionaire's Shortbread, Key Lime Pie, and Mississippi BBQ Pistachios. They come individually packaged in sturdy plastic containers. The plastic wrapping tells you exactly what is in each package. All of it is see-through so you know exactly what you are about to put in your mouth.

The first snack we tried was the Fruity Mango Chutney. I knew from the beginning that this would not be my favorite. I don't like mango or pepper. But I still tried it. The pepper dippers had way too much black pepper on it for me. The mango chutney was sweet but not enough to offset the pepper-taste. My husband didn't like it much either.

Second up was the Key Lime Pie, which was actually like a trail mix sort of thing. It contains lime raisins, mini meringues, sponge pieces, and green raisins. Individually, each piece was quite tasty. When you put all of the elements into your mouth, it did taste a lot like key lime pie. Strange but yummy.

Everyone in my family loves pistachios so the Mississippi BBQ Pistachios were next on our list. Once again, they were strangely tasty. The flavoring wasn't like barbecue sauce. Instead, it was like barbecue cooked over a fire pit. The result is a smokey nutty taste. Everyone enjoyed it.

Last, but not least, Billionaires' Shortbread. This is another trail mix-type thing. The ingredients are Belgian milk chocolate, almonds, cranberries, and fudge. My family thought this was the most delicious of the bunch. While the food listing doesn't specifically state what type of fudge it is, it tastes like butterscotch. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory. It was just delicious.

I found the entire box very interesting. We didn't like every single snack but that is OK. It's good to try new things and this allows us to do that. I really like that you can vote on the food you try to make it a little more custom to your tastes. I'd really like to try another box to see what else they have.

Game review: Cooking Dash

Everyone's favorite waitress, Flo, is back for yet another Dash game. This time it's Cooking Dash. At Flo's order, her chef has left the restaurant to further his career, leaving Flo and her grandmother to handle the shop. Grandmother handles making the sandwiches while Flo cooks food and serves the customers. This was a ton easier than the Diner Dash: Seasonal Snack Pack. As a matter of fact, this version is a lot like the original Diner Dash game but with better graphics. However, instead of just handling customers' orders, Flo also has to handle the grill and the fryer. Adding these jobs to her waitress job doesn't make completing her tasks impossible though. It's just another trip around the kitchen. If you like the Diner Dash series, I think you'd really like Cooking Dash as well.

Game review: Supermarket Mania

In the time management game Supermarket Mania, you play Nikki, a girl about to start her first day working for TORG Corp. The Corporation is a supermarket that is run by robots. It is your job to make sure the shelves are stocked and there are no messes on the floor. Even though you don't have to deal with the customers in the game directly, you still have to cater to their needs a bit. This is accomplished by making sure all of the shelves are stocked so they can purchase whatever they want. If the shelf is not stocked, they will stand in front of it, getting impatient. You will need to fill the shelf before they get angry and leave. Since the customers will also leave messes, you will need to make sure these are cleaned up before someone falls. Neither of the jobs are difficult but it can get rather difficult to accomplish everything!

I went into this game thinking that I wouldn't enjoy it very much. Well, I was wrong. I found it fairly fun to try to make sure that each of the shelves were stocked with what I thought the customers would want. Of course, I wasn't always right so I ended up rushing around to put out what the customers DID really want but that's what makes the game fun, right? It wouldn't be any fun if we could predict everything. Supermarket Mania is definitely worth a try.

Game review: Cooking Academy

Cooking Academy, much like Family Restaurant, is a time management game similar to Cooking Mama. You are given a set of cooking instructions, such as chop the carrot or fold the pastry, to complete within the set time limit. When the recipe is finished, you are graded on how well you prepared it. As much as I don't like cooking, this was actually pretty fun. It's not as difficult as Cooking Mama since everything is controlled by the mouse yet it was more enjoyable than Family Restaurant. The instructions are very basic so anyone should be able to understand them easily. I was able to make all of the appetizers and most of the breakfast dishes with no less than a C grade. And I'm pretty bad at games like this! For some reason, I can never get the little line to stop in the green spot, which means I end up burning a lot of food.

While I didn't let my daughter play this one, I think kids might enjoy this game as well as adults. I know my daughter likes Cooking Mama on the Wii and this was definitely easier than trying to manipulate the Wiimote into doing things like stirring a pot. Unfortunately for them, their parents will find the game too fun to share!

Game review: Turbo Subs

Turbo Subs is a time management game where Rebecca and Robert from Turbo Pizza decide to open a sandwich shop. This time the shop is in New York City and is located on a train. The game plays much like every other time management restaurant game. You make food and serve it to customers. However, the restaurant is laid out a bit differently. Instead of having straight counters, these ones are in a circle. It makes it a little more difficult to click on the actual customers since now they stand sort of behind each other. Also, it's a little annoying that some of the food takes so long to make. The customers can request a toasted sandwich but then they start getting angry when the sandwich takes longer to make.

Overall, it's not a difficult game. Though it's not particularly interesting either. There isn't anything that sets it apart from any other time management restaurant game. A good game but not a great game.

Game review: Hot Dish

In my day-to-day life, I don't cook. My husband does a majority of the cooking in our household. This is mostly due to the fact that I hate to cook. For some reason, I decided to load up Hot Dish to see if I'd like that any more than real life cooking. I both liked and hated this game. On one hand, the simulated cooking is a lot like Cooking Mama on both the Nintendo DS and Wii. You choose a dish and you go through the steps to cook it. From chopping the vegetables to simmering the seafood to baking the bread, you do it all. However, Hot Dish throws you for a loop by forcing you to prepare more than one dish at a time. It starts out with one dish in the tutorial but you are quickly thrown into making three dishes at once! This means you have to keep track of when to flip your grilled chicken over so it does burn while stirring your warming milk so it doesn't curdle while flipping your sauteed shrimp. It really does get to be too much.

In my opinion, this game would have been better if it had focused on making two dishes at once instead of three. As it is, you already make an appetizer, a main course and a dessert. Do you really need to make three of each at once? The game only shows one reviewer and I doubt that she is eating that much food by herself. I think I'll stick with Cooking Mama. At least she doesn't try to drive me to drink!