By: Audrey Smith

This week I tried the Crumbl Cookie flavors. I tried 4 different flavors in total. The theme this week was Saint Patrick’s Day, with a gold coin cookie, a green mint cookie, and Lucky Charms cookie.

The first flavor I tried was Lucky Charms flavored. It had a marshmallow cream cheese frosting and it had Lucky Charms on too. Inside the vanilla cookie, there was white chocolate chips and more marshmallows. This cookie was served hot. I would have to say this was one of the best Crumbl Cookies I’ve had. I would rate this a 10/10.

The next flavor I tried was the mint chocolate cookie. It was a chocolate cookie with green mint frosting and a chocolate ganache on top. This cookie was served cold. I thought this tasted sort of like a thin mint but leveled up. Although the flavor was good, I don’t really like mint so I would have to rate this cookie a 5/10.

The cookies and cream cookie was next. It was a vanilla cookie mixed with an Oreo cookie in marble. It had Oreos on top and was drizzled in white icing. This cookie was served hot. It was a good cookie, but I feel like I could have made it at home. I would rate this cookie a 7/10, it tasted good, it just wasn’t that impressive.

The last cookie we tried was the French Silk cookie. This cookie was a dense chocolate cookie, almost like a brownie, and it had a milk chocolate silk frosting with whipped cream. I really didn’t like the texture of the cookie, I thought it was too dense. Along with this, the flavor wasn’t that good at all. I would rate this cookie a 4/10.

Overall, this week was okay, and the Lucky Charms cookie was one of my favorites. I’d give this week a 7/10.

By: Joseph Nelson

We all know that building with the weird roof on the top of it. The same roof that draws thousands of customers into the building to order the now well known pizzas that Pizza Hut offers.

But there’s a problem, the yearly sales for the franchise have only gone down in the years! What does this mean? How has this happened? Has someone finally out pizza’d the hut?

In 1990 Pizza Hut had the reputation of having some of the craziest pizza ideas like the Bigfoot, that was a 2 foot wide and 1 foot long pizza, where at one point made a total of 18% of Pizza Huts total revenue. But that wasn’t even close to the sales of their stuffed crust pizza that totaled around 1 billion dollars worth of sales in its first year.

Along with all these ideas, Pizza Hut served as a more modern and fancy pizza restaurant where families and friends could come together to dine in instead of the now very popular delivery service that Dominos has pioneered. But, like all good things, they must come to an end.

Pizza Hut had finally started to cut down on quality and started raising prices with many critics calling out the change in Pizza Hut sauce as the start of its downward spiral. With this new sauce came new pricing with now a large pizza costing $8.49 instead of $6.49.

With the new pricing came new problems with the teen audience (who was their main audience they attempted to appeal to) being in outrage that their after school hangout spot just got a little more expensive.

The competition didn’t help either, with places like Dominos and Papa Johns making compelling and appealing prices to old Hut customers, with more bang for their buck, with a small Domino’s pizza almost costing only half of a small Pizza Hut pizza.

Now, finally Pizza Hut is seeing the downsides like in 2019 when they were forced to close more than 500 restaurants due to underperformance and lack of finances.

Pizza Hut has been a staple to many with the iconic saying “You can’t out-pizza the hut” but it truly seems like the hut has been out-pizza’d for a long time.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.eatthis.com/news-pizza-hut-favor-customers/

By: Rose Ramadan and Thea Berg

In this article, we will be reviewing the difference in pop flavors. We chose to compare Pepsi and Coke flavors, due to the big controversy surrounding them. We tested regular Pepsi, regular Coke, Cherry Pepsi, and Cherry Coke. We also tested the different pop brands they own. For Pepsi, we tested Sierra Mist and for Coke, we tested Sprite.

Our outcomes were as anticipated. More so than Pepsi, we preferred most Coke products. On a scale of 1 to 10, we assigned each pop a flavor rating. Then a bubble scale from 1 to 10. The aftertaste on a scale of 1 to 10.

The majority of Coke products scored an 8 on the flavor rating. They scored a 6 on the bubbling scale, primarily due to our distaste for bubbly beverages. On the aftertaste, they scored an average of 9.

Pepsi, on the other hand, scored an average of 6 on the flavor scale. On the scale of bubbling, they scored a 5. Finally, they scored an average of 7 for aftertaste.

To dive deeper, let’s review each comparison. To start with regular Coke versus Pepsi; the Coke had more of a refreshing taste. It was more pleasing to our taste buds and overall it had a better lasting flavor. In addition, it didn’t have much of an aftertaste compared to Pepsi, where the aftertaste had more of an unhealthy taste. Because of this, Coke had way more of a higher rating in our books.

To compare Cherry Coke versus Cherry Pepsi, we could hardly taste a difference between the two of them. As stated before, the Coke had more of a refreshing taste. We probably couldn’t tell the difference between them if it came down to it, though. The comparison between these two was hard.

Last, we compared Sierra Mist to Sprite. Sierra Mist, being a Pepsi product, and Sprite, being a Coke product. Though both are on the top of the list for our favorite pop drinks, we prefer Sierra Mist by a lot more. It has a sweeter taste and is more pleasing to our taste buds. It also has less bubbles which makes it more of an appealing option to the two of us.

The differences between the flavors of the regular Coke and Pepsi were subtle, but noticeable. Regular Pepsi tends to be sweeter, but it also has 2 more grams of sugar than Coke does, so the sweetness level makes sense. Coke is a little less sweet and has a more flavorful taste than Pepsi does. Pepsi also has more of a slightly citrusy tang, but Coke has more of a raisiny-vanilla flavor, although both Coke and Pepsi have very similar recipes that both contain carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, and caffeine.

One main difference between these two drink recipes is that Pepsi has the ingredient of citric acid in their drink, and Coke does not. The citric acid is what sets the flavors apart between the drinks and makes Pepsi have the citrus flavor over the vanilla raisin flavor.

Coke also had more carbonation and bubbles than Pepsi did, we thought that Pepsi seemed a little more flat and less bubbly.

Between the 2 of us we both agreed that we liked the flavor that Coke had better than the flavor of Pepsi. We both preferred the less sweet flavor and the less tangy flavor because we thought it tasted more authentic with the raisiny-vanilla flavor.

We also liked the carbonation level that Coke had better than the carbonation level of Pepsi.

Overall, we both agreed that the Coke products were better than the Pepsi products based on a lot of factors. Pepsi had many good flavors, and it had the upper hand with Sierra Mist, but most of the other flavors of drinks were in favor of Coke products.

By: Toby Martin-Kohls

Caribou Coffee is a worldwide coffee chain headquartered in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It was also founded here in-state, in Edina, in 1992. As of May 2015, the company operates 603 locations worldwide.

Caribou is your typical American brand coffee chain, similar to Starbucks, Dunkin, Dutch Bros, and Peet’s coffee chains. They offer coffee and an array of snacks and bakery items.

On a Saturday morning, I decided to go venture out and try some of their bakery items, which I’d never tried before. This article was a good excuse for me to go buy some coffee, muffins, croissants, and scones.

The service I received was pretty good. I felt the price for the items was reasonable and each of the three items I tried, were all offered to be warmed up for me.

The first item I tried was their Blueberry Muffin. I received the muffin in a typical brown to-go bag. I’m going to be honest, looking at the muffin out of the bag was uninspiring. You could see a couple of blueberries from the top but not as much as you would like to see.

I was pleasantly surprised when I bit into the muffin, as it was warm and not dry. You could taste the blueberries but they didn’t overpower the muffin. It was sweet, but not overly sweet (like some of the other items!). The texture was wonderful, making it easy to enjoy.

The next item I sampled was their Raspberry White Chocolate Scone. It took me two locations to find them, so this may be a popular item. I opted to not have this one warmed up and was satisfied with my choice.

The white chocolate was the best part of the item, as it was nice to differentiate from just regular chocolate.

Fun fact: did you know that white chocolate is not actually chocolate and is actually made of just sugar, cocoa butter, and milk?

I was surprised by the sweetness of the chocolate complimenting the raspberry taste, but it worked pretty well. I thought the scone was soft and almost buttery-like, which made it enjoyable to eat without feeling too heavy or dense.

The sweetness was pretty good and balanced, but the coarse sugar sprinkled on the top might be a little much for some.

The last item I tried was their Lemon Poppy Seed Bread. As an avid lover of poppy seed muffins, I was excited to try this item. It is an old-fashioned pound cake with lemon zest, black poppy seeds, and icing.

I also got this item warmed up, which I think greatly improved the niceness of this item. Having your pastry warm just adds another level of comfort. The balance of flavors stood out to me, as the lemon flavor was there without being too overpowering of the bread. I got a little tired of the icing, but most will not notice the sweetness as much as I did.

Overall, Caribou has a solid selection of pastry items, perfect for when you want a little snack with your coffee on your way to work, school, or whatever!

By: Hannah Gliedman

One of the best snacks to have on a snowy or rainy day is soft, delicious chocolate muffins. Not only are they delicious and healthy but a way to keep busy on a day stuck inside. With a bake time of only 30 minutes, and easy to get ingredients, these muffins are sure to be the best part of your day. This recipe consists of a chocolate muffin recipe and a chocolate frosting recipe.

What you need

• big bowl
• mixer
• wisk
• muffin/cupcake tray
• non stick cooking spray

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of avocado
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1⁄2 tsp of balsamic vinegar
• 2 cups of flour
• 1⁄2 cup of cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1⁄2 tsp salt

Frosting

• 1 pack (8 ounces) of cream cheese
• 1⁄2 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 tbs vanilla extract
• 1⁄8 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a 12 cup muffin tin with wax paper or spray with non stick cooking spray.
2. Into a large bowl, mix the avocado, sugar, milk, vanilla, and vinegar. After mixed throughout, either by hand or with an electric mixer, add eggs in one at a time until thoroughly incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, mix in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Pour half of the dry ingredients and mix well, add the remaining half.
5. Mix well and separate into muffin tins using either a spoon, pouring, or an ice cream scooper works very well.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins are lightly browned.
7. Cool for about 5 minutes, or until completely cool to frost
8. For the frosting, beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt together until completely smooth
9. Spread the frosting over the cooled cupcakes

Serve and enjoy.

Note: Recipe adapted from Jessica Seinfeld’s ‘Deceptivly Delicous’

By: Calla Fragrassi & Mackenzie Malek

With spring break coming up everyone needs a break from Minnesota’s hard and cold winters. Here are the 10 best tropical places to visit in 2023.

1. Santorini

Santorini is one of the many Greek islands and one of the most famous islands in the world. Santorini is known for its beautiful views and hosts one of the few active volcanoes in Europe. Many people have theories that Santorini is the home to the lost city of Atlantis. The island is also known for its beaches and is made up of two different inhabited islands and multiple smaller surrounding islands.

2. The Azores

Just off the coast of Portugal are the nine islands of Azores. Azores is one of the Europes safest destinations. There are many activities to do in the Azores including hiking, diving, bike tours, canyoning, bird watching, surfing and much more. The Azores’ islands are very sustainable because they preserve resources and opportunities for tourists to be eco friendly.

3. Bali

Bali is a small island within the country of Indonesia. The country is known for its beautiful mountains and volcanoes, and is known for being a “surfer’s paradise”. The surrounding coast is filled with coral reefs and is perfect for family vacations. On the very famous Kuta beach you can find many hotels, restaurants, and shops along with many different water sports for anyone to enjoy!

4. Galápagos Islands

The nineteen Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean. These islands are known for their unique wildlife such as sea turtles, sei whales, marine iguanas, and much more. Some activities you can do on these islands are snorkeling, which is a highlight for many tourists, sea kayaking, surfing, horseback riding, etc. If you are interested in relaxation don’t even worry, there are beaches perfect for disconnecting.

5. Hawaii

Located in the central Pacific Ocean, known for its beautiful beaches, are the five main islands of Hawaii: Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, Lana’i, Maui. Some of the most common things to do in Hawaii are visiting the Pearl Harbor museum, if you’re into history, or if you are into hiking, visit Diamond Head which is the most recognized landmark in Hawaii.

6. Aruba

Aruba is a country south of the Caribbean Sea. This country is most known for its white sand beaches and bright blue ocean water. Some things to do are the butterfly farm, basically you are walking through a tropical rainforest surrounded by butterflies. Eagle Beach is a very popular beach to visit because of the white sand and turquoise water.

7. Bora Bora

Bora Bora is one of the 118 islands of Tahiti. What makes it special is the scenery and culture. Like many other places on this list, Bora Bora is known for the vibrant blue water and white sandy beaches. The top sites are Matira Beach, Bora Bora romantic tour, the Tohora Bora Bora snorkeling lagoon tours, and whale watching.

8. Maldives

Maldives the smallest country in Asia, located in the southwest of Sri Lanka and India. This beautiful place is most known for its amazing culture and interesting landmarks. Maldives is also famous for water sports like scuba diving, surfing, and water skiing. Maldives may be costly, but is one of those places where you only have to be there a few days to get the most out of your vacation.

9. Dalmatian Islands

The Dalmatian Islands are a strip of 79 different islands along the Adriatic Sea. The three most famous and largest of the islands are Brač, Pag, and Hvar. The islands are all surrounded by beautiful high limestone cliffs, each with their own unique beaches and sights. This is the perfect destination for unforgettable beach trips, with one of a kind landscapes, and scenic views.

10. The Isle of Skye

*Note, this one is not tropical, but still worth the visit.

The Isle of Skye, also called Cloud Island, is popular for its medieval castles and beautiful mountains, cliffs, and history that brings in tourists from all over the world. The island is rich with fascinating culture, scenery, and wildlife. Past visitors commonly say the land looks almost “untouched by the modern world”. If you’re looking for an exciting vacation with plenty of greenery and vibrant culture, The Isle of Skye is the place to be.

All 10 of these beautiful tropical places have something different to offer, along with great tranquility. While traveling to a tropical island can be spendy, and planning can seem like a lot of work, everyone deserves a break from the real world. Booking that trip can open many new doors and adventures that lead to many amazing experiences.

By: Rose Ramadan & Thea Berg

In this article, we will be comparing two different sushi restaurants that we visited last Saturday. The first sushi restaurant, which was Sakana sushi, was loved and appreciated way more by us. Although, we both did appreciate Yumi sushi, we have both decided it was not the best, and we will not visit there again.

Both restaurants are located in the Highland area of Saint Paul. Sakana is on the corner of Cleveland and Pinehurst, and Yumi is on Selby and Arundel St. Yumi sushi is not the only one, it has multiple locations with one also in Edina. Sakana is more local and it does not have other locations. There are other competing sushi restaurants in Saint Paul, but Yumi and Sakana are the main and more popular ones.

The restaurants give off very different vibes. Yumi sushi has more of a sports bar vibe. It’s a bigger space with many TVs and open seats around a big bar in the middle. It’s very dark there as well. It seems less like you would get sushi and more like you would get burgers or bar food.

At Sakana the vibe is a lot calmer and it’s much brighter. There are many windows and natural lighting along with less seating around a bar and more seats at tables and booths. Sakana has a much smaller space, but it fits the vibe of getting sushi more than Yumi does.

At both places the waiters are very nice and welcoming, the environment created by the workers is great, and we have not had a rude experience.

At Yumi sushi, we ordered the honeymoon sushi roll. In this roll is spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, snow crab, avocado, cucumber, wrapped in soy paper, and topped with honeymoon sauce. We really liked the way it tasted, but we felt the bites were almost too big for our mouth. They were completely packed and each roll seemed to have a different amount of meat and vegetables. We wouldn’t order it again based on the price, it was not ideal and not what we were expecting. However, we really enjoyed the spicy taste and the honeymoon sauce was to die for.

At Sakana sushi, where we have been a lot, we ordered two different orders. First, we ordered a simple California roll. They are always tasty and one of our favorite types of sushi. However, we feel as though it didn’t have enough sushi on the plate for our liking. This is fine, though, for it was still cheap enough for us to enjoy.

We also ordered Thai lettuce wraps. These included wok seared Thai basil, diced chicken and vegetables, with hoisin sauce. They are an absolute go-to order for us. They taste delicious and you can add as much or as little of the vegetables into the lettuce wraps as you want. We would also like to say it is a fairly healthy meal.

In the end, we would rate Sakana 9.2/10 on sushi restaurants. They have good prices, good flavors, good environment, and a good location for us to go to.

We would rate Yumi Sushi 6.7/10. The vibe wasn’t something loved by us; it was too bar-ish and we didn’t feel comfortable there. They were also very expensive which was a big turn off for us. Their flavors were great, but their portions were too much and each bite was different. We would recommend this restaurant to an older audience.

Yet, Sakana will always be our favorite and we will recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quick sushi stop any day.

By: Sophie Johnson

Expedition Everest was one of the rides that I re-rode multiple times when I was in Disney World in December of 2021. This is one of the fastest roller coasters in the park. While on this coaster, you speed over mountains and through caves where BigFoot is lurking in the darkness.

This ride has some unexpected aspects to it as well, including when it appears to be a dead end with a broken coaster track. You creep up to the edge and then zoom backwards in the opposite direction.

I also loved this ride so much because it was night when I rode it, and right as we were rolling over the mountain, the firework show started and it was a very memorable moment.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a short but very gripping ride in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This ride is based on the film series ‘The Twilight Zone’. It includes many surprising sharp turns and extreme drops. The Tower of Terror has windows that open to the outside and when you are suddenly dropped, you can see flashes through the windows of the whole Disney park. I love the anticipation of this ride and it was definitely worth the long wait in line.

Space Mountain is a thrilling indoor roller coaster in the dark. The theme of this roller coaster is outer space. While waiting in line for this ride, you walk through a dimly lit passage that mimics the inside of a spaceship. You can look out and see different stars and planets in the distance.

Once you get to the actual roller coaster, there are small, two person carts that zoom down a winding and spiraling track in the dark. The part of this ride that makes it one of my favorites is that you get very immersed in the experience. It is also exciting and scary because you can’t tell when the track will drop down really far or take a sharp turn.