Free birthday goods

It used to be that Denny's was the place to go for a free birthday meal. Nowadays, things are different and a lot more places offer free goodies. Because I'm cheap New Englandy and frugal, I recently spent my birthday graciously accepting all the gratis goods coming my way. Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts both offer free drinks. (Sign up on their websites and they'll send you a postcard for a free beverage). I took the opportunity to try the Salted Caramel Mocha at Starbucks. I'm not usually much for flavored coffee beverages, but it just sounded yummy, so why not?
No dramatic lead-in here: it was so good. The roasty taste of the espresso was balanced by the sweet buttery deliciousness of the caramel. Since it was my birthday, I opted for the whipped cream, which was topped with sticky caramel drizzle and-- you know it's coming-- a shake of sea salt. "Caffeine and salt?" you cry. "That's a heart attack in a cup!" Well, yes, it may be, but it was also pure yummy decadence. For a once-a-year splurge, it was worth every penny. Or in this case, it was TOTALLY worth the free coupon.
Next on the birthday party free goods roadtrip was a stop at Panera, which yielded a free pastry (in this case, a brownie) which was handed over to the Sugar Baby.

Since I was already at the mall, I headed over to the Godiva store where I cashed in on my monthly free chocolate. I chose a pumpkin cheesecake truffle. Had I been thinking more clearly, I would've chosen the pumpkin spice truffle, which has a chocolate shell, as opposed to the one with the white chocolate (or, in this case, orange-colored chocolate) shell. The filling was half pumpkiny cream and half cream cheesey cream. It was pretty tasty, but also pretty sweet. One was definitely sufficient to meet my daily recommended truffle intake.
I still have yet to cash in on my free bubble bath from Sephora and hibachi dinner at the local Japanese place. And I got a nice e-card from Mini Cooper, but alas, no free car.

Russell Stover pumpkins: Made in the U.S.A.

I've been sorely lacking in my Halloween coverage this year. It's already the second week of October, for gosh golly sakes. What is wrong with me? At this point in time over the past few years, I'd already planned out my Halloween schedule/trick-or-treating route, jamming in as many candy-filled activities into 24 hours as I possibly could. I should be in training with the Sugar Baby right now, loading him up with carbs and doing practice runs throughout the neighborhood. But a kink has been thrown into the works. See, I've been dealing with a strange bout of vertigo since August. Basically, I feel like I'm standing on a boat, walking on pillows, after drinking a few too many rum punches. Now, if this were truly the case, that would be a good thing. Unfortunately it's just the feeling, minus the boat and the booze. Hence, I'm not sure what Halloween is going to bring this year. But I have hope that all will be okay by the time October 31st rolls around, at which time I will have some serious trick-or-treating to do.
In the meantime, I'm starting to slowly get back into the groove. With that, I present to you this year's initial Halloween offerings: Russell Stover Milk Chocolate Pumpkin and Caramel Mini Pumpkin. 

I bought these both for the Sugar Baby and he gave them both a thumbs up. I was drawn to them because a) they're festive and b) the wrapper specifically points out that the chocolate is Made in America, along with a little American flag. I'm big on supporting American businesses, and even more so when it entails food. I didn't get to try the milk chocolate pumpkin, but the caramel ones came in a bag of six or so and were on sale at Stop & Shop for $1. I have to say, I was mighty impressed with these. I'd go as far to say as these present the perfect caramel consistency. Not too soft, not too hard and chewy. The caramel is just sticky enough to have bite without fear of ripping your fillings out.

 I've been checking out the Halloween candy at different stores and I have to say that this year seems pretty lackluster. There aren't too many new products out there. What do you think? Have you seen anything that demands attention?