Home Talkers

An Honest Review of The New Domino’s Pizza Recipe

Csara — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:20:06 +0000

Again, I’ll start off by saying nobody is paying me to post this and my Domino’s order was paid out of my own pocket. I just got intrigued by the new concept and by the bold marketing approach Domino’s is taking enough to place an order tonight.

My order:

1 Medium(12″) Hand Tossed Pizza
Whole: Cheese, Original Marinara
Left: Pepperoni, Mushrooms $8.99

1 Medium(12″) Hand Tossed Pizza
Whole: Cheese, Original Marinara, Shredded Parmesan
Left: Onions $9.99

1 8-piece Cheesy Bread
Marinara $4.99

1 2-Liter Diet Coke® $2.49

It took slightly longer to arrive.

The Old Dominos Flavor

In the old days, Dominos pizza really didn’t have much of an aroma when it arrived. It was a very flat smell, and very flat taste. However, I grew up on the pizza as it was the defacto sleep over a friend’s house dinner or day camp lunch. Not to mention there wasn’t much of a mom and pop pizza shop infrastructure back in the day where everyone lived. There wasn’t a desire for great taste back in the 80′s. Now we have the Food Network and other shows where people care about what they eat and expect some modicum of quality.

Dominos has launched a revolutionary ad campaign by being extremely honest. Having studied advertising in college, I was very intrigued and impressed with this ad campaign and I know advertising classes will study this ad campaign for years.

The Dominos Pizza Commercial “The Turnaround”

Dominos Giving Their Harshest Critics The New Pizza

I have to agree with the critics. I haven’t ordered Dominos in maybe 10 years+. Since the campaign and since this first taste, I’ve ordered Dominos 3 times.

My Pizza Knowledge

I’ve eaten pizza all over the world (have not been to Chicago though, but have in Italy) and some of my favorite is still from Lombardi’s in New York. However, I do enjoy the fast food type pizza once in blue moon. Domino’s has certainly elevated its quality considerably.

Omaha Steaks Review

Jester — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:14:04 +0000

First I’d like to say that I’m not getting paid to do this review. I’ve seen the Omaha Steaks banners online and I’ve passed by the stores for years, but never tasted anything. I’ve heard from friends for years that their stuff is good and I just had a craving. So for Father’s Day I decided to order one of their special packages.

Visit Omaha Steaks and see what specials they have running today..

What I Ordered From Omaha Steaks

The Fire Up The Grill package 1 $59.99 $59.99
It included:
(1 pkg.) Boneless Pork Chop 4/4 Oz
(1 pkg.) Cake Chocolate Lovers 6 Inch
(1 pkg.) Filet Mignon 2/6 Oz
(1 pkg.) Top Sirloin Steaks 2/6 Oz
(1 pkg.) Omaha Steaks Burgers 4/4 Oz
(1 pkg.) Chicken Breast, Bnl 1 Lb
(1 pkg.) Potatoes Stfd Baked 4/5.75 Oz
Free Omaha Steaks Burgers 12/4 Oz

While my Omaha Steaks were en route to my house I had an opportunity to ask a friend soon after my order if she ever had Omaha Steaks. She exclaimed, “OMG they are the best.” Nuff said, I was pumped and ready for arrival.

Home Talkers Forums merged

Csara — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:26:20 +0000

Just a heads up that the Home Talkers Forums have been merged with the forums from Baby Talkers and they are now all together over at Mama Meetup. You should be able to log in with your HT user name and password.

40% Off Holiday Photo Cards

Csara — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:50:05 +0000

It’s not too late to order your holiday cards this year! Custom printed Christmas Cards and Boxed Christmas Cards are available. You can enter your own text and preview your cards before ordering them.� From Eco-Friendly to Modern to Whimsical, there is a huge variety of choices. You can even get 40% off photo cards.

Home Value Expectations Drop To Lowest Level In Survey’s History

Jester — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:41:25 +0000

I was watching CNBC and they said the latest survey of people who expect their Home Value to increase are at a 2 year low. Are people accepting the current situation or are they denying it?

I know C and I have accepted this fact and have continued to improve our home, not for value so much anymore, but more for personal enjoyment. We are probably going to be in our house for at least a few more years and hopefully by that time home values will be normal again.

How are you handling the way the housing market is right now? What stories have you heard?

Do you think your house will be worth more or less a year from now?

South Beach Diet Phase 1 Menu

Csara — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:10:57 +0000

I tried doing the South Beach Diet last week and by Friday night I bailed. I had a fun, splurgey weekend and thought I’d try again this morning. No such luck. I love my fruits, whole grains, cereal, and snacks way too much. I did, however, make a great dinner menu for the week and still plan on following it. I know that I was always looking for ideas and menus so I thought I’d post this in case anyone was searching.

Sunday: (turkey)sausage with onions and peppers, mashed cauliflower, salad

Monday: steak, mashed cauliflower with cilantro and cheddar cheese, caesar salad

Tuesday: shrimp, black beans, avocado and tomato salad

Wednesday: turkey chili, salad

Thursday: tilapia, caesar salad, broccoli

Friday: steak, zucchini and yellow squash saute, tomato and mozzarella salad

Saturday: salmon, edamame salad, mashed cauliflower

Oh and a fabulous Phase 1 dessert idea:

Take one “no sugar added” fudgsicle and scrape it all off the stick into a bowl. Add some peanut butter. Mix together and eat like ice cream. It is ridiculously delicious. Tastes like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup!!

Menu of the Week: August 4

Csara — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:07:45 +0000

This week my goal is to double up on at least three of my meals and freeze half of each one, in preparation for my new baby. I don’t want to have to worry about feeding the rest of my family those first couple of weeks.� It’s definitely a bit hot here for such warm, hearty meals, but hey – we have air conditioning and I need to plan ahead so it is what it is.

Tonight (Monday) – White Chicken Chili

Tuesday – Eggplant Parmesan

Wednesday – Shepard’s Pie

Thursday – Grilled Shrimp and Salad (gotta go light after all those heavy meals)

Friday – Pizza

What’s cooking at your house this week?

Big Brother 10 – episode 2

Csara — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:04:41 +0000

I didn’t get a chance to watch BB10 last night, but I am watching the second episode now and will watch tonight’s episode (3) after.

What the heck is up with Brian being so cocky already?? Isn’t it way too early for this?

Renny, the New Orleans lady, is so crazy. I can’t believe she didn’t realize how annoying she was in the middle of the night. I thought Jessie handled it fine. He was very calm and just told her that he was sleeping and she woke him up. Big deal – she was going on and on and on and on and kept saying how immature he was. Huh?!?!

April is a freak. Crying over Ollie. It’s like the first day. Oy! I can tell this is going to be a dramatic season.

The veto competition was so disgusting, but I am glad Jessie won. I can’t wait to see who Jerry nominates and who goes home.

It would be so cool if Brian was put up……

Menu of the Week: July 14

Csara — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:48:33 +0000

Just made my meal plan for the week and went food shopping.

Here’s what our week looks like:

Monday: Angel hair pasta with mushrooms, onions, & broccoli

Tuesday: Cheese pizza, broccoli and cauliflower, salad

Wednesday: Pesto chicken, stuffed portobella mushrooms, grilled zucchini

Thursday: Sausage w/ peppers and onions, salad

Friday: Pasta with shrimp and broccoli

————

What’s cooking at your house this week?

Kitchen Remodel Is Finished

Jester — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:18:35 +0000

Just wanted to start out with a before picture as a reminder of what the space looked like before. I’m currently in the process of remodeling that built in wall unit on the left. I had to remove lots of drywall and metal. We are putting in 3 big pantry sized cabinets (like the ones we have in the kitchen and will include pull out drawers and shelves for the kids shoes, games, toys, and other junk. Even some stuff like luggage that we keep in closets upstairs. I’ll post pictures of that remodel soon.

We went with the Korel tiles from Costco. Measured the area and ordered them online. We couldn’t decide on our glass tiles, plus the granite is busy enough. If you see one section shiny and another not shiny its just light reflecting from that section. All the tiles are not facing the exact same direction and it gives off that half matte half shiny look, but when you stand in front of it its all shiny. I think the flash of the camera makes it worse actually.

Barstools added. We got a great deal on 4 barstools in the style we wanted from The counter also has under cabinet lighting using the Dioder’s from Ikea which are LED lights. They are also used in our under cabinet lighting.

Here they are. Dioders.

The faucet is a Hansgrohe single handle pull out and the sink is Elkay.

We took off our old window treatments and haven’t replaced them yet. Loving all the light that comes in every morning though. You can also see the high bar section on the right in this picture. I really don’t know what to call it – “high bar.” Its where our garbage can and recycling bin are as well as our “home center.”

That red table near the window, also purchased from Ikea, was going to be set behind the couch and used a computer workstation where the display would be projected onto the tv. However, there isn’t really enough room there, plus when sitting on the barstools your legs won’t fit underneath, so we moved it over to the window and we actually think its a better spot for it. One of the things before the kitchen remodel was that we had to replace those high hat lights frequently. However the two above this picture (which you can’t see) are on a dimmer switch and we have rarely had to change those bulbs. So we put a dimmer switch on the main kitchen lights to save energy/bulb replacement costs.

The kitchen and this family room have been Feng Shui’d.

TV stand and shelf from Ikea also. We went Ikea nuts. New TV, HD receiver, Wii, and plant.