Radio Milano Tastecasting Event

On January 27th, Brian and I participated in another Tastecasting event - this time at Radio Milano - a trendy italian restaurant in the Arcadia area. I recognized the area because it was my paternal grandparents' and dad's old stomping grounds. Funny thing is that it is a few doors down from a former seamstress's business that my maternal grandma used to use.  The area has seen some urban renewal and there are some other trendy restaurants/stores in that area.

The tasting went well and I enjoyed the great atmosphere - low lighting, couches and high tables/chairs, and industrial-esque setting (exposed cement walls, wood beams, metal accents - similar to Chipotle but higher class).

The place was very busy with a steady stream of various clientele.  Even the valet parking in the small lot didn't discourage eager patrons.

i (brian) also enjoyed the trendy atmosphere.  the windows in the restaurant reminded me of windows you would see on a ship.  a couple reminded me of port windows.  i noticed they did little things to hold to the "radio" theme.  they had the classic "on the air" indicator hanging on one of the walls as well as an abstract painting which included the words "stay tuned".  the staff of radio milano was very attentive and made sure everything was to our liking.
Among the seven of us, we sampled a variety of appetizers, entrees and wonderful desserts.  One of the fellow Tastecasters has a wonderful review about the yumminess.

as for the food, i (brian) was impressed with most of it.  they served 4 appetizers to us.  deviled eggs, crispy calamari, shattered potato chips & caprese salad.  the shattered potato chips were definitely my favorite, mainly because of the ketchup/chipotle mayo dip sauce that came with it.  i normally do not enjoy mayo, so that should tell you something.  the calamari was my 2nd favorite.  nice & crispy.  no rubberiness to it, which is my biggest concern with that dish.

The appetizers were a nice variety of items. I enjoyed the tomatoes and burrata cheese.  The toms were slightly charred and the cheese was very soft and fresh.

The deviled eggs were like my thanksgiving deviled eggs only 10 times better! The red pepper, onion and bacon were a nice blend of flavors and an accurate acidity.

I (Julie) also liked the smashed potatoes, as crispy as they were with the compliments of the mayo.

the main dish i (brian) had was the roasted organic chicken with potatoes and beans.  it was a large portion and the smell of garlic that came wafting to my nostrils when it was set before me immediately told me it was a winner.  the chicken skin had a nice carmelized, juicy texture and the meat inside was just as juicy.

I (Julie) ended up having the papardelle which was described as having butternut squash, asparagus, brocolini and was disappointed when the dish arrived and only had sugar snap peas, tomatoes and goat cheese among the soft homemade noodles. The dish had a nice light flavor and was a great vegetarian dish even though it was missing the first few ingredients named above.  One person next to me, who is a regular at Radio Milano, says that each dish is often unique because of the availability of ingredients for each dish.  Perhaps they were out of butternut squash, asparagus and brocolini that night.
naturally the entrees were followed with dessert.   radio milano had us sample 3 of the desserts they offer.  gelato (pistachio, orange and hazelnut), olive oil cake and chocolate pudding.

i (brian) surprisingly discovered the olive oil cake to be my favorite.  it had a nice sweet moistness to it that had my tastebuds asking for more.  i know.  olive oil cake?  i honestly did not think i would like it before i tried it.  i was happily surprised.

Radio Milano is closed on Sunday and only open for dinner.  They use a mesquite grill to cook with and it brings a nice flavor to the dishes.  Others that night sampled the small chopped salad, scallops, cowboy ribeye steak, linguine and clams and a sunny meatball crostini.  We would recommend Radio Milano for a nice meal!

Tastecasting Update

Hello friends!

We will post soon about our two latest Tastecasting adventures - Radio Milano and Avalon! Yummy goodness!

Yodipity Grand Opening!

Get your BUY 1 GET 1 FREE coupon.
Free yogurt for bloggers, click here for details.

BzzAgent L'Oreal Lash Boosting Campaign Follow-Up

Hello!

Back in December, I posted this about a new campaign through BzzAgent. The task was to try the Lash Boosting Serum and Mascara for 4 weeks. The serum claims to help give lashes a conditioning boost and the mascara claims to prime and extend lashes up to 80%.

I applied the serum almost every night and every other day.  I wore the mascara 5 days a week.

Some things I noticed:

- Wearing the serum alone, my lashes didn't seem to have any noticeable change.
- When I would apply the serum, primer and mascara, my lashes looked clumpier and heavier, and not necessarily longer.  With all three products applied, my lashes bothered me by their weight, strangely enough. There was just a lot of product build-up rather than light product with lengthening properties.
- When I applied all three products, it was essential to let the serum dry for about 10 minutes before applying the primer and wait about 10 minutes before applying the mascara.  Being a novice at lash boosting products, it would have been nice to know this beforehand. Otherwise, the product simply slides off my lashes and doesn't coat like it should.
- I noticed that the mascara would flake off occasionally after rubbing my eyes. But for the most part, it seemed to hold up well through tearing up even though it's not marketed as "waterproof."

I tool before and after photos before and after the trial period.  You can judge for yourself if there was noticeable difference.

Before
& After

Each of these photos were taken WITHOUT serum, primer and mascara to test the real effects of the products on my lashes.


Here is a photo of my lashes WITH the serum, primer and mascara on, just so you can see what it looked like.

In my opinion, when wearing the mascara, my lashes seemed longer with the products on but returned to pre-campaign length and consistency when the products came off.  My mom and sister were skeptical of trying the product.  They are both contact lens wearers and were worried about potential damage it might do to their eyes, even though I told them it was ophthalmologist tested. I also received several posts in response to my original post about this product from some who thought it was a vain attempt and potentially cancer causing.

In the end, this product got me into the habit of wearing mascara regularly, however, I can't say that I noticed very much difference in my natural lashes. Perhaps that was not the point, that when wearing the product, I would actually see the results. And when I did wear it, I did see a difference. But in the end, I'm not all that excited about putting a lot of unnatural product on my lashes on a regular basis, so close to my eyes to make them appear longer.  I don't think I would pay $24.95 retail for this product if I didn't know about it.

2 more states added

last weekend julie and i drove 4 hours northwest of phoenix to lake havasu city, az.  what a great time it was.   we went up to visit kristyn, julie's friend since the beginning of time.  of course  we made a stop at the london bridge.  what?  you say.   the london bridge in some podunk town in arizona?  yes.  apparently the town founder decided to purchase a bridge in london that spanned the thames river and move it to his city.  so, he did.  it was shipped from london to lake havasu city and rebuilt exactly the way it was in london.   here's a view of it as we were walking by it, along with a pic of us in front of the fountain near the entrance to the bridge.

after the bridge, kristyn, julie and i headed to in and out burger for lunch.  we needed to decide what to do with the rest of our day.  since the london bridge is about all that lake havasu city has to offer.  then, kristyn had a stroke of genius.  let's drive to laughlin, nv!  why was that genius?  because 1) it turned out to be a spur-of-the-moment road trip and 2) it would involve us driving through california and nevada.  two states i had never been in.  so we went.  90 minutes later, we're walking in an outlet mall across the street from a bunch of casinos and the colorado river.  here's a pic i took as we were crossing into california.  thanks to my "quick and accurate picture taking" you can almost read the sign saying "welcome to california"  :)

we didn't spend a whole lot of time in laughlin.  we walked the riverwalk along the colorado river, which had an amazing view.   we made some purchases in the outlet mall, including my purchase of a live otis redding CD from when he toured europe with a bunch of the other folks on stax records in 1967.   we drove back to lake havasu city and had at tasty dinner at the javelina cantina restaurant.  mmm...mexican.    a good time was had by all, and we thank kristyn for being a great tour guide in the fair town of lake havasu city.

Baskin Robbins ROCKS!

Not only is this the original version of the commercial BUT they have a Halloween AND Thanksgiving AND Christmas versions!  Watch the characters on the cakes to see the difference!

Here's the Halloween one:


And the Thanksgiving one!  YAY! I love the turkey!



And Christmas!

My Favorite Shaq Commercials!

Genius! Thx ESPN and YouTube!

This one was from an earlier post and a new one: