Dare "Real Fruit Gummies"

Dare Brand "Real Fruit Gummies"
www.darefoods.com
We tried the flavors; "Fruit Medley", "Orchard Fruits", and "Tropical Fruits". With no artificial colors or flavors and real fruit juice, we were sure they would be tasty, but were not prepared for how delightful these little fruit treats really were. Seriously true to the actual fresh fruit flavor (from fresh pureed fruits and fruit juices), and packed with juicy goodness.

This is the ONLY kind of candy you would ever want in your backpack for hiking. It contains sugar in surprisingly small quantity for a candy (19g), salt in amounts I would expect having experienced it's ability to induce salivation, and thus enhance the flavor (5mg), and a very surprising protein count of 2g. (Measurements are per 8 piece serving)

Price: 1.89 per 6.4oz bag
Where to buy: Grocery store

These are a must have for any household that likes gummy treats or real fruit flavor.


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Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches Restaurant

322 East Walnut 65806 832-0500 832-0504 Mondays-Sundays 10a-2p http://www.jimmyjohns.com/

Pricing is reasonable with subs and sandwiches ranging in price from $3-$7. Made with high quality ingredients, they are surprisingly nothing special. I shouldn't expect amazing for those prices I suppose, but my first opinion was that any place advertising as gourmet aught to reasonably have food that is high flavor, with great texture. I have since discovered that the addition of the word "gourmet" to the sign was more of a lark than an actual descriptor.

Sandwiches should be juicy and make my taste buds dance. These didn't. They were, instead, simply, good. Most anyone can make a sandwich of this quality in a few minutes with the right ingredients for less than you can but them, but such is the fact of all restaurants, no matter the type of food served.

Of course it is the downtown restaurant to get something healthy, quick, and inexpensive to fill your belly, as most of the other places in the area are much more expensive, not to mention slower to serve. The service at Jimmy John's is very fast, helpful, & friendly. It is obviously a great place to work, as the employees were laughing and joking with each other.

There was a lot to amuse a person there while waiting the two short minutes between walking in and receiving the order. This was our maximum wait time for each of our three orders, including first time menu inspection and ingredient questioning. Really fast service, while not compromising on smiles.

Very loud music & lots of conflicting colors in bright lighting makes it hard to think or concentrate. It might help to go online for the menu or grab a menu inside, then run back outside to decide what you want before you go in to order. Not suggested for anyone with heart or anxiety problems. Call you order in and have it delivered instead.

The sign for the bathroom was fun to decipher, and it was nice to see they have a community bulletin board.


I went to the website to see if I could get more information. The Jimmy John's website is entirely flash. Very annoying interface, nonintuitive navigation, lots of noise and movement. Website and store integration and similarity very well accomplished, as both the store and the website are garish, loud, obnoxious, and made me feel like I need to escape.



Maybe the loud garish atmosphere is to make people just come in to grab their food & leave? It seems like a logical idea with such a small store, but I know that can't be the reasoning for the website to be so terribly annoying, as any business worth it's salt wants people to stay and browse the website for a bit. My first visit to the website, I had my speakers turned on (big mistake). When I clicked to go forward into the site from the flash screens, my computer couldn't handle the load, had a fatal error, and rebooted. This was on a 1.5mhz computer with 256 megs of ram. Website is definitely not backwards compatible or legacy compliant in any manner whatsoever.

Final verdict: Healthier than a burger joint, cheaper than other places nearby, fast, friendly service, grab & go only.

[where: 322 E Walnut St Springfield, MO 65806-2302]

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La Loo's Goat's Milk Ice Cream

La Loo's Goat's Milk Ice Cream Company
www.goatmilkicecream.com
Flavors tried; "Deep Chocolate" and "Vanilla Snowflake"
No artificial colors or flavors and a simple recipe unite to make one of the richest frozen treats we have ever tasted. The chocolate was similar in flavor to the Hagen Das "Mayan chocolate" without the cinnamon, only richer with a somewhat creamier texture. A robust and solid nearly dark chocolate flavor that explodes on the tongue.

The vanilla on the other hand is a serious case of creamy goodness. Exceedingly rich and bursting with flavor, it is almost buttery, a truer vanilla than any I've ever tasted, and completely irresistible.

60-85g of cholesterol, 50-55g sodium, 17-18g sugar, and 6g of fat make this ice cream a daunting treat for the health conscious, but the protein count of 5g per 1/2 cup serving is a surprising benefit to an otherwise health-bomb of decadence.

The first time we tried this, we sampled it in the car and downed the entire pint between the two adults within 15 minutes. To top it off, we were eating it slowly, savoring it while I drove us around town on errands. It is simply that amazing! We had to buy another pint for the kids to try later, and they devoured it as quickly as we did.

My personal suggestion would be to serve this at a dinner or cocktail party as a delicate dessert. A melon ball sphere of this ice cream on a natural brownie would be a prepare-ahead frozen delight few could (or would) resist.

Price: $7.90 a pint
Where to buy: Health food store, Online

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