I've used Hotwire for years. When you don't care exactly where you stay, it offered some great deals on last minute hotel reservations. Got an awesome hotel on the beach in Dayton with a balcony one time.
And then I tried to use it for a hotel in Denver. Now getting a hotel can be stressful because there are just SO MANY CHOICES! How important is location? Amenities? Price? I had finally settled on the Hotwire deal that claimed it was about a $40 savings on a 2 star hotel that normally cost around $100. Two star hotels are normally those hotels between Super 8's and Hampton Inns. Maybe a Best Western. Something like that.
Nope, not this one. It was the cheaper sibling of an Extended Stay America and actually cost the same amount on the hotel's website as my "deal" for using Hotwire. Strike #1.
And then I started reading the hotel's reviews. I read a lot of reviews and I write a fair amount of them. This hotel had by far the worst reviews I had ever seen for a hotel. And pictures to back up the reviews! There were complaints of dirty sheets, piles of trash, drug deals in the parking lot. And on about half the reviews the management had posted a response. But the responses were all form responses that basically amounted to "Why didn't you call us, we would have fixed everything!" I feel with that many complaints, that wouldn't actually have been possible. Strike #2.
I contacted Hotwire. Repeatedly. Email. Facebook. And never got any conclusive response. I got form email after form email and promises to look into things, but no resolution. They didn't offer to switch my hotel. They didn't offer to let me rebook. They just kept saying to check in and call them. Our flight was to land at 1:30am, if it was on time. I wasn't calling them in the middle of the night to try to fix a problem that didn't really seem like they could fix it (what, were they going to tear down the hotel and rebuild it in a different, safer location?) Strike #3.
I will no longer be using Hotwire for my travels and I warn you guys to avoid it as well. Their facebook page is not full of compliments. I think they've lost their touch.
Finger's crossed Priceline still has it! They did not disappoint when I used them to help my parent's get a hotel in NYC.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Toulouse Petit
What: Toulouse Beignets
Where: 601 Queen Anne Ave North, Seattle WA 98109
When: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Beignets could be called French donuts, but they were probably around long before we had donuts. I had never tried them before, but got the chance to in Seattle of all places. A large group of us went out to Toulouse for their breakfast happy hour (M-F 8am-11am) and got a large order of beignets as our appetizer. Brunch can have appetizers, why not?
They were lightly fried dough triangles dusted with powdered sugar and served with one of the greatest dipping sauces I have ever had. The dough was pretty standard, but the sauce is what made them excellent. It had a coffee finish to it and was the perfect amount of sweet to pair with the beignets. I'd give them a 4.5/5, only losing half a point because they aren't true donuts (and I can't go back and get them constantly, which might be a good thing!)
Monday, August 24, 2015
50 States, 50 Donuts
While researching one of my donut stops in July, I found this lovely list by Zagat of one donut from each state. I love lists like this by state, and this one is especially nice because you can view it as a list and not a slide show! Woohoo!
From the list, I have gone/had donuts from:
Colorado's Glazed and Confused Donuts
Massachusette's Union Square Donuts
Minnesota's Glam Doll Donuts
North Carolina's Krispy Kreme (although probably not the flagship store since I've never been to Winston-Salem)
Oregon's Voodoo Donuts
Pennsylvania's Federal Donuts
Texas' Shipley Do-Nuts
Washington's Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts
However, I've only had two of the actual donuts on the list (The Maple Bar at Voodoo and the Sticky Bun at Federal Donuts, which may be my husband's favorite donut ever)
From the list, I have gone/had donuts from:
Colorado's Glazed and Confused Donuts
Massachusette's Union Square Donuts
Minnesota's Glam Doll Donuts
North Carolina's Krispy Kreme (although probably not the flagship store since I've never been to Winston-Salem)
Oregon's Voodoo Donuts
Pennsylvania's Federal Donuts
Texas' Shipley Do-Nuts
Washington's Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts
However, I've only had two of the actual donuts on the list (The Maple Bar at Voodoo and the Sticky Bun at Federal Donuts, which may be my husband's favorite donut ever)
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Daily Dozen Donuts
What: Maple frosted, Chocolate frosted with sprinkles, hot cinnamon and sugar
Where: Pike's Place Market, Seattle WA
When: Monday, July 27th, 2015
While getting the grand Seattle Tour, we walked through Pike's Place Market because that's what you do. Once during the summer. And then never again. SO MANY PEOPLE. And no fish throwing. Apparently everyone just wants to watch the fish throwers, not actually buy anything to get them to throw said fish.
We did stop at a mini-donut place that fries them right in front of your eyes using a lovely automated thingy. The cinnamon and sugar donuts are served warm and freshly sprinkled, but be careful mixing the flavors because the warm donuts caused the frosting to melt off some of our other donuts.
The hot ones were super hot and melted in our mouths. The other ones were decent donuts, but got stale really fast. The smell was also intoxicating, but for over $5 we got 6 mini-donuts. We could get 6 full sized donuts at some other places for $5! I think I will stick to my full sized donuts elsewhere, but it is fun to watch them being made.
All varieties: 4/5
Monday, August 17, 2015
Travel Deals
Omaha is not the cheapest city to fly in and out of, despite being so centrally located. We ran up against this in May when trying to figure out how to get to Seattle for a wedding the last weekend in July. We were able to find some cheaper flights for Wednesday to Tuesday and the husband was able to get the needed time off. But then, before we could book them, they shot up in price. It was now going to cost about $1000 for two of us to fly round trip from Omaha to Seattle. It just seemed so crazy.
I noticed that most of the flights had layovers in Denver, so I thought why not check Denver prices. Denver to Seattle round trip was only $450 for both of us! So I made the executive decision (ok, not really, I waited to book the tickets, but I did all the prep work for it!) to fly out of Denver.
Now, to get to Denver. We could drive straight there, but that would be boring. And a little ridiculous to just drive to the Denver airport. Since we already had about a week of vacation carved out, I decided we would camp. Because camping is fun and cheap and what this summer is all about. And there happened to be a Nebraska state park the right distance from Lincoln and the right distance from Denver. So camping it was!
We camped for two nights, flew to Seattle for three, stayed one night in Denver on the way back, and got back in Lincoln in time for work on Wednesday. Plus we got two vacations in one! It was a win-win and I would totally do it again.
So if you are looking for flight deals, don't discount airports that are further away! You never know what kind of fun you can plan if you think outside the box!
I noticed that most of the flights had layovers in Denver, so I thought why not check Denver prices. Denver to Seattle round trip was only $450 for both of us! So I made the executive decision (ok, not really, I waited to book the tickets, but I did all the prep work for it!) to fly out of Denver.
Now, to get to Denver. We could drive straight there, but that would be boring. And a little ridiculous to just drive to the Denver airport. Since we already had about a week of vacation carved out, I decided we would camp. Because camping is fun and cheap and what this summer is all about. And there happened to be a Nebraska state park the right distance from Lincoln and the right distance from Denver. So camping it was!
We camped for two nights, flew to Seattle for three, stayed one night in Denver on the way back, and got back in Lincoln in time for work on Wednesday. Plus we got two vacations in one! It was a win-win and I would totally do it again.
So if you are looking for flight deals, don't discount airports that are further away! You never know what kind of fun you can plan if you think outside the box!
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Top Pot
What: Blueberry Cinnamon and Sugar
Where: 2758 Alki Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116
When: Sunday, July 26th 2015
This is my first Washington review! Top Pot is the local chain in Seattle (with a couple stores in Dallas as well) and has a huge variety of donuts. We had planned on going back for more later, but never got around to it.
Our first, and only Top Pot donut was the blueberry cake donut with cinnamon and sugar dusting. The blueberry was the most subdued blueberry flavor I've ever had in a cake donut. The cinnamon and sugar coating was nice and the donut itself was moist, but I wouldn't get this flavor again. I wanted to try one of their maple donuts, but we just got too busy in Seattle to go back! Next time!
I give it a 3/5, we'll see if the husband gives it a different score.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Coffee and Donuts
There is a new cookie company in Lincoln that has amazingly soft cookies. They sell them at farmer's market's mostly, but are starting to do business hours at their community kitchen. We decided to get some tiny cookies to bring to different 4th of July bbq's, and while we were there picking them up we grabbed their "Coffee and Donuts" cookie to try. (BTW, the tiny cookies were a special order I did via facebook message, so easy! I love when companies work with you and make it so easy to patronize them!)
The Coffee and Donuts cookie is described as "Nutmeg, coffee, good morning" and tasted kind of like a snickerdoodle to me. With yummy frosting. It wasn't my favorite of their cookies (that may be the Lucky Strike) but it was good. I know we'll go back for more, but I want to try more of their flavors before I would get another Coffee and Donut one.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Blue Star
What: Chocolate Ganache, Buttermilk Old Fashioned, Maple Bacon
Where: Somewhere in Portland, OR
When: Saturday, July 25th, 2015
website
While we were in Seattle for a wedding in July, we had the chance to meet up with one of my very best friends (from 7th grade!) and her husband in Centralia, WA. And they brought us donuts! It was very fitting because it was 2 years ago that I started my donut tour of the west coast with this very same friend that led to the birth of this blog!
They brought us three donuts, a chocolate ganache with peanut sprinkles, a large old fashioned, and the ever popular maple with bacon sprinkles.
This was the second time I had an old fashioned, ever, and within the same month. It was my favorite of the three, so nice and pure tasting. The shape was also really fun with a distinct square on top. The maple had a subdued maple flavor with a very distinct bacon taste. You could tell that this wasn't the cheapest bacon they could buy. The chocolate ganache was slightly sticky and had almost a bittersweet chocolate flavor. The peanut flavor was almost totally lost in the ganache. The husband was not a fan of the ganache, but I didn't mind it. I've never had a donut with ganache on it. And for those of you trying to figure out what I'm talking about, ganache is whipped chocolate and cream without butter or sugar added like a more standard frosting.
I would give the old fashioned a 4.5/5, the maple a 3.5/5 and the chocolate a 3.5/5. Checking out their website get's me excited to try other flavors next time I'm in Portland!
Where: Somewhere in Portland, OR
When: Saturday, July 25th, 2015
website
While we were in Seattle for a wedding in July, we had the chance to meet up with one of my very best friends (from 7th grade!) and her husband in Centralia, WA. And they brought us donuts! It was very fitting because it was 2 years ago that I started my donut tour of the west coast with this very same friend that led to the birth of this blog!They brought us three donuts, a chocolate ganache with peanut sprinkles, a large old fashioned, and the ever popular maple with bacon sprinkles.
This was the second time I had an old fashioned, ever, and within the same month. It was my favorite of the three, so nice and pure tasting. The shape was also really fun with a distinct square on top. The maple had a subdued maple flavor with a very distinct bacon taste. You could tell that this wasn't the cheapest bacon they could buy. The chocolate ganache was slightly sticky and had almost a bittersweet chocolate flavor. The peanut flavor was almost totally lost in the ganache. The husband was not a fan of the ganache, but I didn't mind it. I've never had a donut with ganache on it. And for those of you trying to figure out what I'm talking about, ganache is whipped chocolate and cream without butter or sugar added like a more standard frosting.
I would give the old fashioned a 4.5/5, the maple a 3.5/5 and the chocolate a 3.5/5. Checking out their website get's me excited to try other flavors next time I'm in Portland!Monday, August 3, 2015
Fire starters
The husband and I have been working on our fire building skills, and they aren't horrible. But we always have to hold our breath for a but to see if it will work this time or not.
Paper condiment cups (my local fast food favorite has these out so we collected some last time we got dinner there)
They were super simple to make, put two cotton balls in each up, spoon warm bacon grease over them, use extra cotton balls to wipe all the grease out of the dish, and your set!
I put mine back in the fridge till I need them since it's been so hot here recently and I wanted the grease to stay more solid.
Now for the practical review:
The first time we tried them we actually forgot and used them after the fire was already built and they didn't seem to help to get it going. They ended up on top of the wood, which was definitely not ideal.
The second time we used them, we did a much better job getting a couple fire starters at the bottom of the wood pile. They lit really easily with our long neck lighter and we were able to move them around a bit with our grill tongs. That way we were able to get them under different logs to get the logs lit. The fire starters burned strong for about 10 minutes, creating a lot of good flames to light the logs.
I would definitely make these again, especially since I was able to make them with stuff I had around the house anyways. For my next batch I'm going to try candle wax instead of bacon grease. I'll let you know how those compare!
I have read a bunch of camping hacks and Life Pro Tips and am excited to try homemade fire starters! Here is the process to make them:
Materials:
Paper condiment cups (my local fast food favorite has these out so we collected some last time we got dinner there)
Bacon grease
Cotton balls
They were super simple to make, put two cotton balls in each up, spoon warm bacon grease over them, use extra cotton balls to wipe all the grease out of the dish, and your set! I put mine back in the fridge till I need them since it's been so hot here recently and I wanted the grease to stay more solid.
Now for the practical review:
The first time we tried them we actually forgot and used them after the fire was already built and they didn't seem to help to get it going. They ended up on top of the wood, which was definitely not ideal.
The second time we used them, we did a much better job getting a couple fire starters at the bottom of the wood pile. They lit really easily with our long neck lighter and we were able to move them around a bit with our grill tongs. That way we were able to get them under different logs to get the logs lit. The fire starters burned strong for about 10 minutes, creating a lot of good flames to light the logs.
I would definitely make these again, especially since I was able to make them with stuff I had around the house anyways. For my next batch I'm going to try candle wax instead of bacon grease. I'll let you know how those compare!
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