Safeway Select French Roast Whole Beans - Review

Getting up isn't easy for me, specially when it is early. This is where a good cup of coffee comes in and I am quite particular on how it is made and how it tastes.

I like to stay away from the pre-ground stuff. Doesn't matter how well you seal it in the can it will always taste off and they can't quite handle grinding it to an acceptable level. So I stick to whole ground coffee and spend the extra couple of minutes in the morning or if I really have to, the night before grinding it myself.

As a gift I received a nice big bag of Safeway Select, French Roast. The smell is a little on the heavy side as these are roasted quite dark. However I prefer a good dark roast in the morning, really wakes you up in my opinion. After they are ground the aroma is much nicer.

I brewed a pot (I have a small coffee maker so that is the equivalent to about 4 cups), and sampled the brew, and it wasn't to shabby for the local supermarket brand of coffee. Aroma was still good and the taste was a little strong but I like it that way.

So all in all I would give this a 7.5 out of 10.

Western Family Spiral Macaroni and Cheese - Review

Searching through the cupboard the other day, looking for some lunch, I stumbled across a box of Western Family Spiral Macaroni and Cheese. I decided to give it a try, specially since it was a free gift from a friend when we moved in.

To make the macaroni all that is required is to boil enough water to cover the pasta and add a little salt for taste. Cook it for 4 to 6 minutes and then drain. When it came to adding the cheese mixture I decided to leave out the butter and just add a couple tablespoons of milk. This kept it nice and creamy, as the directions suggested you make more of a cheese soup. This is often a problem with this type of boxed macaroni diner. It takes some experimentation through the years to get it just right.

So how did it taste? Well it wasn't to bad, I found the pasta noodles to be a little bit on the light side. I guess that means they were a little thin for that type of pasta. The cheese was creamy and not to artificial tasting. As I noted above you might have to adjust the amounts of butter and/or milk to get it just right. Overall it wasn't to bad for a box of relatively instant macaroni and cheese.

I rate this at a 6 out of 10.