“Today is going down as a huge turning point in my life,” my mother told me recently.

“Oh, why?” I asked hesitantly, trying to remember if today was her wedding anniversary, divorce anniversary or some other anniversary.

“They’ve discontinued my General Foods International Orange Cappuccino!” She wailed.

I cannot remember a time in my life when my mother did not drink the General Foods International Orange Cappuccino. There was always one or two of the small rectangular tins on our kitchen counter, one full of the instant coffee mix and one containing drained grease. The tins were metal and wouldn’t melt when hot liquid grease was poured into them after cooking.

But now, just like my lamented Strawberry Shredded Wheat, the Orange Cappuccino is missing from the shelves of Target, Kroger and Meijer. When I visited the General Foods web site, they have a listing for Orange Spice Latte in the place of the the old Orange Cappuccino page. According to comments on this page, the Orange Spice Latte flavor does not taste the same.

I wish they would warn [...]

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Those of you who follow me on Twitter might have wondered why I was conducting top secret oatmeal experiments last month. Wonder no more! As a part of the Quaker Oats Living Proof weekend I attended, Quaker challenged the attendees to come up with a new oatmeal recipe that met certain nutritional guidelines. The prize was an all-expense paid trip to Lafayette, Colorado for the 12th Annual Quaker Oatmeal Festival. That was great, but the part about free ski passes sounded more enticing. I love me some oatmeal, but the idea of the world’s largest topping bar isn’t quite enough motivation for me to conduct oatmeal experiments in my kitchen top secret lab. I decided 1 in 16 odds were pretty damn good for winning anything, so I started doing unholy things to instant oats.

I remembered that Quaker Oats is owned by the same company that makes Diet Pepsi as well as other products like Tropicana and Lays Potato Chips, as illustrated in this photo of the lobby above. (This photo also makes me think [...]

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Congrats to Dyan and Karen in Tally who were the winners of the Starbucks Gold Card giveaway! I am going to hold you to your promise, so Karen’s husband and that guy in line behind Dyan at the unemployment office had better get their 10% off a coffee. Or else…um, you’ll feel really bad for lying, won’t you?

Also, thanks to everyone who left feedback on yesterday’s entry. It was…interesting (just as I predicted). Looks like I drove off some people who probably shouldn’t have been hanging around here anyway. It’s good to shake down the blog every once in a while. It keeps the site minty fresh. And everyone who said “Oh, no, just say whatever you want to! It’s your blog!” after my defensive blogging post might now have a little insight as to why I laughed my ass off after reading that advice.

BTW, I also wanted to thank everyone who has clicked through on my Amazon links. I meant to thank you on Saturday in my “Elsewhere” entry, but I was too tired [...]

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Since the last Starbucks giveaway was so popular, I decided to do another one in December to spread holiday cheer (via Gingersnap Lattes).

This time I’m giving away two Starbucks Gold cards, a special card that gives you 10% off most purchases, among other things. It’s also black and shiny gold and can make you feel fancy (almost like having a rare black American Express card).

One of the features of the Starbucks Gold card is that you can share your 10% discount with a friend. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this entry telling me who you would share your discount with by 11:59pm on Sunday, December 7th. A winner will be chosen randomly. Anyone in any country can enter, but I don’t know if the card will work everywhere in the world.

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If I ever look back and wonder exactly when I became a coffee addict, let it be known that it wasn’t when I worked at place that had a Starbucks on campus, nor was it when I worked at a place where they made a fresh pot every morning. No, it was the day I discovered that coffee has essentially no calories. It was yesterday. I wasn’t born then, but I sure do feel like it.

I’ve been feeling a bit sleepy during the day lately. I’m not really sure why. I’ve been getting enough sleep and I’ve been eating normally. The paranoid part of my brain suspects that this is the first sign of a horrible, painful, terminal illness and months from now I will look back and wonder why I ignored the subtle warning signs and didn’t get treatment early. In reality, I’ve probably just been working too hard. Sleepy as I may be, I don’t normally drink coffee. It took me two months to spend the $10 Starbucks card I got for Christmas. [...]

• Continue reading "Why didn’t you tell me coffee is low-calorie?!"