New Thing #327: A Starbucks Breakfast

I realize I've been writing about Starbucks a lot this year. You might wonder why, considering my strong preference for Dunkin' Donuts.

The thing is, since I like Dunkin' so much, I've done just about all there is to do there.

At Starbucks I have a routine - either a mocha or a hazelnut macchiato.

And I don't think of those as 'start my day' drinks - they're more 'afternoon pick-me-up' or 'end of day' drinks.

So on Friday I decided to try a Starbucks breakfast.

The way it goes at Dunkin' is once or twice a week I'll get myself a large coffee there in the morning along with a breakfast sandwich and maybe also a donut.

I know what I'm doing there.

The idea occurred to me this week to try a Starbucks breakfast when I went in for an evening Starbucks drink and saw their breakfast sandwiches sitting in the glass case they have there. They looked really good. I just didn't know what to get. (As far as Starbucks food, I've only had some of their food as dessert before - never the breakfast stuff.)

So on Friday morning I got myself a Pike Place coffee (a venti - also a pretty New Thing. Usually I get grande, and lately I've been getting talls for the evening drink), which was better than I remembered. (Though nothing will ever beat the Pike Place coffee I had in Seattle at the original Starbucks - that was an excellent, excellent coffee. But that could have been psychological.)

Then I ordered a ham and cheddar artisan sandwich. It was delicious. The bread was especially good. I might have liked a little something extra with it, but I played it safe and went just with the sandwich. (You can see my order in the picture above. That's when I was back in the poor lighting of my car on a rainy morning. If there's one thing I haven't improved at this year during 365 New Things In 2013 it's having the guts to take on-the-spot pictures. I would have rathered take a picture of the sandwiches in the glass case…but there were people around.)

So that's my Starbucks breakfast debut. It's slightly out of my way to go to Starbucks on the way to school, so it won't happen that often, but it might be something to try every so often on the weekends as an alternative to Dunkin' all the time.

New Thing #326: Big Lens

It's been a while since I used one of those Starbucks free app 'Pick of the Week' cards. Truth be told, it's been a while since I had even been to a Starbucks…or one that had the cards at the shop.

But this one caught my eye this week - it's a camera app.

I haven't fully explored it, but it does some photo touching up.

And if that's not a New Thing…I don't know what is.

Here's the deal - I pretty much exclusively use the regular camera on my phone.

I have another camera app that's supposed to take better pictures, but I never think to use it.

I also have Instagram, but I think I've only taken one picture ever on my Instagram account, if I'm remembering right.

So it seems like a photo app is a good one for getting me to try something new.

It's one of those apps that lets you focus in on a certain part of a picture - the part that you want comes into focus while the surrounding area looks blurry…it's somewhat artsy.

(The example you see at the right is a picture I took and then touched up of my computer screen while I was writing this entry. Meta, huh?)

So that's my new app.

You'd better stand right next to me in the middle of all of my pictures from now on, or else you'll be blurred right the heck out.

Ah. Who are we kidding.

I'll probably never use this app again.

New Thing #321: Caramel Brûlée Latte

I'm not much of a fan of peppermint or gingerbread, so when places like Starbucks come out with their holiday flavors it doesn't do a whole lot for me. But I have to admit, the caramel brûlée latte at Starbucks definitely caught my interest.

As did the fact that between 2 and 5 p.m. all weekend they were selling this drink or the peppermint mocha or the gingerbread latte 2-for-1.

And I definitely didn't want one of the other two flavors.

The caramel brûlée latte was very sweet. But it wasn't bad - and it provided me with the caffeine kick I needed for some Friday afternoon report writing.

It's not the healthiest drink, calorie-wise. Click here for that information.

Now, you may remember that I am in love with the hazelnut macchiato. It's the only Starbucks drink I've had in the past year.

And, truth be told, this caramel brûlée latte has not unseated the hazelnut macchiato as my beverage of choice.

But until they start offering the hazelnut macchiato in a 2-for-1 deal, if my wife's picking up one of her flavored Starbucks drinks, well, I'll be getting a free caramel brûlée latte.

And I'll be OK with that.

New Thing #208: Cyto

After a long hiatus, I tried out another Starbucks 'Pick of the Week' last week. And I'll be honest - I'm not sure how many more of these games I'm going to try out.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of originality here.

The latest - a game called 'Cyto' - is not all that different from 'Fibble', the first game I wrote about thanks to Starbucks back in January.

But you have to hand it to their marketing team, because they effectively made me think I was going to be playing an entirely different game from what 'Cyto' actually is.

See where it says "Test your memory...memorably"?

I thought I was going to get a brain teaser/memory game. I don't know what such a game would entail (maybe something along the lines of being shown images and then tested on the images later on), but I was looking forward to something that would challenge my brain and make me think a bit.

But it turns out - at least as far as I got with it - this character 'Cyto' has lost his memory and your job is to help him get it back.

You do this by trying to enter portals, in the same slingshot mode that 'Fibble' used that was a play on what 'Angry Birds' did in the first place.

It makes me think there's a limit on what new game modes can be done on the iPhone - it seems like you start with the slingshot thing and see what happens from there. (I don't play it all that much anymore, but at least 'Circadia' is still unique in its style of game.) And I think the 'from there' is the most unique part of these games - it's all about what story is trying to be told rather than the activity in which the user engages.

Which is fine. In the long run I don't need any more distractions on my phone. And if I learned nothing else with my recent foray into getting rid of apps to keep me from overloading my phone's memory, it's that trying New Things (like these apps) doesn't mean I need to keep them forever.

I've already deleted 'Cyto.'

New Thing #182: Despair by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

As you can tell by the picture, this week features another Starbucks free download. But that's not why I'm featuring it today.

I'd been holding onto it for a while, just because I hadn't pulled the trigger yet on listening to the song.

I figured I'd get to it eventually.

Then I came across a tweet from The AV Club about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' video for their song Despair - it was the first video shot at the top of the Empire State Building.

That caught my attention.

OK. First, let's clear up a couple of things.

I'm pretty sure I've heard of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs before this. Why? I don't know. But enough so that I absolutely confuse them with the Ting Tings. (Why do I know the Ting Tings? I'm not sure if there's any other reason than the fact that they sing this birthday song from Yo! Gabba Gabba...but whenever my mind wonders who sings that song, it automatically answers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I guess it's the repetition of the names.)

Secondly, I was shocked to read about this being the first music video filmed atop the Empire State Building. How is it that it happens with Despair and not something iconic like Billy Joel's New York State of Mind? My guess is there were some big hoops to go through - but then again, it's not like there weren't movies being filmed up there. (For what it's worth, I read that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a New York band.)

Anyway, it surprised me to learn that. Here's The AV Club article about the video. The song's not bad. (Interestingly, the video is longer than the song I downloaded - it starts with about 2 minutes of acoustic singing, and then the 4:30 song as recorded.) But it's not like the song itself was the big draw this week - I liked the story more than anything else.

And the parts of the video that take place on the Empire State Building's observation deck are pretty cool - definitely worth whatever hoops the band had to jump through to get that video filmed there.

But nothing beats that last shot, which I assume is from a helicopter. That has to be one of the coolest music video shots I've ever seen. Here's the video:

New Thing #159: Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich

You've probably heard by now that Dunkin' Donuts debuted a new sandwich this week. It's a glazed donut breakfast sandwich - a pepper fried egg and strips of bacon sandwiched between a glazed donut.

I have to admit - as much as I love all things Dunkin' Donuts, this did not sound appealing to me.

But I had to try it.

And today I did.

Here's the story of when I first heard about the new sandwich:

My wife told me about it. I said that does not sound very good. She said, "Kevin will love that!" I clarified, "I think you mean that he will like that I don't like a New Thing [he's been trying to get me to write about a week of New Things I don't like, because apparently I like most things], but you should also know he'll probably also like the sandwich." (Kevin likes Dunkin' Donuts sandwiches. For some reason I thought he'd like this.)

When I texted Kevin to tell him of this exchange he wrote, "I think that sounds amazing!"

I understand the appeal - what's not to like about a glazed donut (love glazed donuts!) and a bacon and egg sandwich (love bacon and egg sandwiches!)?

Well, I'll be honest - to me, they're not the best mix.

The sandwich was fine - it's not that I didn't enjoy it. I liked it well enough. But if I'm getting a bacon and egg sandwich, I'll get it on a bagel. And if I'm getting a glazed donut, well, I'll get it without the bacon and egg in the middle.

The most amazing thing about this sandwich to me is that I'm told it has less calories than the turkey sausage sandwich, which I wrote about in January. My wife suggests that's partly because this one doesn't have cheese.

There's some more new stuff to try at Dunkin' Donuts this summer - they have a new line of chicken sandwiches out. I enjoyed their chicken salad sandwich, so I'm  looking forward to trying one of the breaded chicken sandwiches.

I've mentioned this before, but all things being equal I prefer Dunkin' to Starbucks. (Here's why 'all things being equal' makes sense as a saying there: Starbucks has the hazelnut macchiato I like. Dunkin' has the sandwiches I like. But if it came down to plain coffee - all things being equal - I give the edge to Dunkin'.) So I like that Dunkin' Donuts keeps adding options - they're working to keep themselves fresh, and I like that. And I like living in an area where there are plenty of options to get Dunkin' Donuts.

Last Sunday in the Boston Globe, they mapped out in Massachusetts a town-by-town breakdown of Starbucks versus Dunkin' Donuts. And on Boston.com they lit up the United States with orange dots and green dots to show where the two shops are located.

Which leads me to believe that if I was President of the United States, one of my first priorities would be getting some more Dunkin' Donuts down in the D.C. area.

But it wouldn't necessarily be because they have a glazed donut breakfast sandwich.

New Thing #134: Circadia

I downloaded a new app (thanks, Starbucks 'Pick of the Week'!) last week. It's a game called "Circadia".

I'm not going to lie - these games don't last too long on my phone anymore.

I deleted 'Fibble' last week - I hadn't played it in months, and my daughters long ago stopped asking about it.

But 'Circadia' has some potential to stay a little longer.

I'll tell you why.

It's not plot-driven, as 'Fibble' was intended to be. (Though what that plot was I don't know if I ever figured out.)

It's more of a skill game.

There are a couple of levels of skill involved - using sight, sound, and, I guess, memory.

Here's what happens: There's a white circle somewhere on the screen. Then there are other circles (early in the game there are two - as you progress more come into play), and they emit these rings. The rings grow at different rates, and your goal is to get them to cross the white circle at the exact same time.

The rate at which the colored circles emit the rings is based on their tone - the deeper the color tone, the slower the rings come. (There's a corresponding audio tone as well.) So you have to work on the timing so that the rings approach the white circle at the same time.

Once you hit the white circle with all the rings at the same time, you advance to the next level. I imagine they keep adding colored circles, and there was even a level I played that had a moving white circle. But I've only advanced about 30 levels.

It's fun, and - good for me - not all that addictive. I can play it for just a few minutes to pass some time and put it aside pretty quickly.

Those are all elements that add up to a game that I don't expect to be deleting anytime soon.

New Thing #119: Madeleine Peyroux

I'll admit it - I'm mailing this one in a little bit. It's been a busy week, and I haven't had much of a chance to listen to any new music.

Luckily for me, as I headed home Friday night for a late night of preparing for Saturday night's auction, the Starbucks I stopped at for my late-night fuel had some 'Pick of the Week' cards left over.

And double lucky - this week's 'Pick of the Week' was music-related.

The song is "Bye Bye Love" by Madeleine Peyroux.

And if you're wondering, yes, it is a cover of the Everly Brothers' song.

(I'm going to go ahead and think that "Bye Bye Love" is famous enough that everyone knows it. But I think I am skewed by which '50's songs are well-known or not by wide audiences...especially those my age. See, I grew up in New York, and arguably the best station in New York City as I was growing up [or maybe only the one we listened to in the car as a family the most] was WCBS-FM, 101.1. The Oldies station. So my oldies knowledge, I'm sure, far surpasses my peers. But, the point is...I think everyone knows "Bye Bye Love". If not for the original song, then for its appearance in the Paul Reiser movie, right?)

OK. Back to Madeleine Peyroux. I can not for the life of me figure out which of her songs I've heard before. I searched her web page, I searched iTunes - I do not see a title of a song that I recognize. But I know that I heard her once on the radio, and though, wow, she sounds old-fashioned.

I'm pretty sure it was an original, not a cover. So that narrows things down. Because she mostly does covers, though there are a couple of albums of original work. So let me know if you know what her most famous song is. Because I'm sure that's what I heard.

This cover is a slowed-down version of "Bye Bye Love" - and, befitting the category into which iTunes has it organized, much jazzier.

I do like Peyroux's singing, though it's not something I can sit and listen to all day. For reference - think Zooey Deschanel's vocal style. (That would probably burn up Peyroux to hear, right?)

Well, that's all I got. I like at least getting the exposure to these songs I wouldn't otherwise hear thanks to Starbucks.

OK. I'm not confident everyone knows the original. Here are the Everly Brothers:

New Thing #112: A New Life

Here's another music New Thing courtesy of Starbucks' 'Pick of the Week': It's "A New Life", by Jim James.

You may know James from the band My Morning Jacket - this is one of his solo efforts.

I'm sorry to say that if you're interested in this song you're going to have to buy it yourself - this 'Pick of the Week' is actually the 'Pick of A Couple of Weeks Ago'.

First, some history: I own one My Morning Jacket song (I think thanks to a free Starbucks download from a couple of years ago, actually), and I don't know that I'd heard any Jim James solo music before now.

But I certainly know about him - my brother cites him as one of the major influences on his own music career. (Also there's this, which I've always found amusing: apparently this is no longer true, but when he did solo work in the past he went by 'Yim Yames' rather than 'Jim James'. And for all I know he still spelled it 'Jim James'.)

What's interesting about this song - "A New Life" - is that it's like it comes in three parts - the beginning is almost a cappella, very vocal with limited background music; then the middle is more rhythmic; and it ends almost sounding very oldies-like - the vocal sound changes and James sounds like he's channeling his inner Jay and the Americans when he sings his last words. Then as the song fades out it has a very 1950's-sounding feel to it.

The name of the album on which you can find the song is called (I think) 'Regions of Light and Sound of God'

Just for the heck of it I re-visited the original My Morning Jacket download I had - it's called "Wonderful (The Way I Feel)". It's a good listen. I've heard enough good things about My Morning Jacket and Jim James himself that I'm not surprised to find that I enjoy these songs...and find that I'll probably be looking into their music in the future.

Meantime, I found this video of James singing "A New Life" at this year's SXSW for you to enjoy:

New Thing #71: Hazelnut Macchiato

My wife and I have a deal - When I make the purchase at Starbucks, she needs to tell me exactly what her order is, how to say it, and the conversation always ends with me asking her, "Is there anything else that they're going to ask me that I need to know?" I don't like standing at the counter looking dumb because I don't understand how to order at Starbucks.

So when I offered to pick up a couple of coffees Saturday evening, I was tentative when she said, "I think I saw a sign at Starbucks that they have something called a hazelnut macchiato. I'll have one of those with whipped cream."

I made sure she gave me an alternative if there was no such thing.

Right from the moment I walked in, though, there were multiple signs touting this New Thing. (That's a terrible picture of one of the signs at left...I kind of snuck the shot and the sun was in the wrong spot - what a disaster.)

I knew then that I had to get one too.

Here's the thing about hazelnut: I've always loved the smell of it. Really loved it. It smells delicious.

But I can't recall whether I've ever had it.

At Dunkin' Donuts I'm a plain, french vanilla, or dark roast kind of guy. But I'm always tempted by that hazelnut smell. And at Starbucks I stay pretty routine (see the lead-in to this entry for evidence as to why) - usually a mocha of some sort.

But for some reason (OK, we all know it's because of the New Things) on Saturday I decided to try the hazelnut macchiato - I got mine iced.

It was great - I think it was better than an iced mocha. Tasted more like an iced coffee rather than a chocolate drink, which I liked.

My wife thought it was good. She says she would get it again. Unprompted by me, when I asked her to describe it, she said it was better than a mocha.

So there you have it. Hazelnut macchiatos are better than a mocha.

I liked it so much I got another one Sunday. I have a feeling I'll be having many more this spring.