The Friday Five, 2/5/21: 5 things I've been up to this week

I made the mistake of not putting my car cover on last night, and then we got walloped. A kind neighbor texted me saying my boyfriend could park in another resident's carport spot, who apparently is away for the month, so I might take advantage of that myself at some point, if he's not over and we get big snow. 

Free dozen Krispy Kremes for my birthday perk!

What I've been up to this week:

1. Getting the last of my birthday freebies. Most of them expired 1/31, and last Saturday I went to Krispy Kreme to get my free DOZEN doughnuts ... in past years, the birthday freebies has been one doughnut and one free coffee (and I don't drink coffee), but this year I got an email saying it was a free DOZEN doughnuts! So of course I took advantage of that, haha. I split with my boyfriend and parents. Sad news though, they got rid of my favorite doughnut, the creme-filled one—they technically still have it, but it now has a hole in the middle, and isn't the same. I also still have a free birthday dessert/shake at Potbelly's, which expires 2/8, and I'm hoping to get that tomorrow. Last Friday I also got my free four-square birthday pizza at Buddy's Troy for takeout, and added pepperoni.
2. Field trips. Pretty much anything outside my usual routine is considered a field trip these days. On Tuesday, my boyfriend and I went back to Srodek's SH (second time for me, first time for him), and I got Farmer's Cheese pierogies (HOPEFULLY the right ones—they had 4-5 different varieties, I'm hoping to find the ones I got last time which were in a mislabeled potato, garlic, and chives pierogies bag)—as well as Cherry. I also got a few of the Polish chocolates, which were delicious. Brad got sauerkraut & mushroom pierogies, as well as the potato, garlic & chives pierogies, and a barrel of pickles. Yesterday, we went to Detroit to pick up the Valentine's Day collection from Bon Bon Bon that I ordered (pricey but delicious! Plus I had some Xmas money to use) and then we were going to dine outside at Detroit Shipping Company, but it was too cold, so we ended up doing takeout. 
3. Getting takeout. Which leads me to this perennial category, haha. Like I just mentioned, yesterday we got takeout at DSC, but it was a much different experience then my last two times there, pre-pandemic—all of the tables are gone, they do have indoor seating but it's upstairs. The outdoor seating was FREEZING, despite the heat lamps (who puts metal chairs outdoors?!) so we opted for takeout. We got Brussels sprouts and a hot chicken sandwich (for him) from Coop Caribbean, and a pad thai (with chicken) roll for me plus mango sticky rice (finally!) from Bangkok96. Unfortunately, the mango sticky rice wasn't as good as I remembered, but the Brussels and pad thai roll were still pretty good, even with a 25 minute ride home.
   Last weekend I did Buddy's and Krispy Kreme, as I mentioned above, and on Sunday, I had a Groupon for Froze Creamery in Clawson that was expiring, so I got bubble tea from them. Their rolled ice cream is delicious, and I already re-bought another Groupon that I will use later for that. 
4. Cooking. I finished up my Hello Fresh box last week and now I'm on to Dinnerly this week, I also have Dinnerly next week. Every time I order from Dinnerly, they give me one free box to give out ("free" as in it's $8.99 for you, but you get three meals aka six servings of food, so that's like $1.50 per serving which is a pretty good deal). If anyone would like a box, please drop your email in the comments below or you can privately email it to me.
5. Trying out new TV shows. Firefly Lane is new on Netflix this week—I meant to read the book, by Kristin Hannah, first, and I even checked it out of the library a month or two ago, but then it was due back and I hadn't started it yet. However, I've heard that the show is WAY different than the book, so perhaps it's best I didn't read it. I also started I May Destroy You, on HBO Max, because I was hearing how it was snubbed by the Golden Globe nominations, and I've only watched one episode so far; I'm not a huge fan yet but I'll give it a few more episodes. The main actress it in was also in a show called Chewing Gum, on Netflix, which I did really like, from 2015-2017. I also started Bunheads, on Hulu, this week, because I really like Sutton Foster in Younger. It only ran for one season, but it's an Amy Sherman-Palladino show, who also did Gilmore Girls (and in fact, the grandma from Gilmore Girls is one of the main charaacters here too) and it has the same fast-paced dialogue she is known for; so far, I am liking it a lot. 

Bubble tea from Froze Creamery; almond milk tea w/ lychee jellies, and taro milk tea with w/ mango jellies