Mezzetta Garlic stuffed olives

It's weird, I was never a fan of olives, but on a whim one time at Costco I bought some Mezzetta Garlic Stuffed Olives.  I do love garlic, raw or otherwise, and olives are actually a really good complement to them.  I was hooked.. I'd go to eat one out of the jar, and ended up eating at least three every time.  After I finished the jar, I went back to Costco and they no longer had them in stock.  But they carried Tassos Double Stuffed Jalapeno/Garlic super mammoth olives, so I bought some.

Here is a side by side pic.  You'll notice that the jar on the left is almost empty, and somewhat foggy, while the one on the right is clear and full. That's because the Tassos jar has been sitting in the fridge for months and months, because they're really not that good.  Luckily for me, Costco is carrying the Mezzetta ones again.

  Here's a pic of the Tassos with olives inside. There are no herbs or anything that really adds flavor, and as much as I also like jalapeno, I don't think it mixes into the brine or whatever very well.  The Mezzetta olives are marinated in herbs and chardonnay, and it really gives it a great flavor.  If I have any complaint it's that some of the olives are a little too salty.

I would give the Mezzetta olives an 8/10, while the Tassos gets a 5/10.

Well, there you have it, a blog post comparing two brands of garlic stuffed olives.  Fun stuff.

Yogo Vera aloe drink

a.k.a Yogur de Savila. I really like the strawberry flavor, pictured to the right.  You can find it at your local asian supermarket probably?

It tastes a lot like this sweet milky "soft drink" on the left (also available at asian supermarkets).. but with little bits of aloe vera floating in the drink.  The soft drinks are pretty good too, if you just feel like wetting your lips with flavor.  They're tiny.

If you've never had an aloe vera drink, I recommend you try that too!  It doesn't taste like lotion, I promise.  It's sweet and delicious.  Here's a pic:

Recently I bought a bottle of strawberry Calpico because it was on sale.  Calpico is a similar milky drink, but without the aloe vera bits.  I actually found it a little too sweet and not having as good of a flavor as Yogo Vera.  According to Wikipedia, Calpico is called Calpis outside of the US.  They changed it to Calpico because Calpis sounds like "cow piss".