The Friday Five, 5/6/22: 5 things I've been up to this week

This week has felt really long, for some reason, but I have a very Detroit-centric weekend planned: I'm seeing Stars on Ice at LCA tomorrow night with my boyfriend, a friend of mine, and her daughter, and I'm seeing An American in Paris at the Fox on Sunday with him, another friend, and her husband. 

Margherita pizza at Crispelli's, Troy

What I've been up to this week:

1. Eating out. On Sunday, I had a California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) gift card that a neighbor had given me last year for making a vaccine appointment for her, so we stopped by the CPK at 12 Oaks Mall in Novi to use it. I used to always like their signature BBQ chicken pizza, so I ordered that, but it was just okay. Everything was just okay there, unfortunately, including the service; the spinach artichoke dip was meh (Granite City's is much better). My favorite things were the bread + olive oil/spices that is complimentary, and we also got a Thai chicken pizza which was interesting.
   On Monday, we got B-dubs takeout again because they keep sending me great deals—this time it was buy one lunch combo, get one half-off, so it was only about $16 for two people, because their cheese curds are a +$3 upcharge. On Tuesday, I went out to eat with my parents at Maggiano's—my first time dining out with them since Nov. 2021 because they are COVID-cautious—and it almost didn't happen because the restaurant said they only had 4pm or 7:45pm reservations left. On Wednesday, I met a former coworker friend at Crispelli's in Troy (see pizza pic above), which is always tasty.
2. Watching movies. Last Friday I saw Ambulance, which was very "Michael Bay" (the director) but also great; I'd give it 4.5/5 stars. On Saturday, I saw The Northman, which was also good—I'd give it 4/5 stars and it had some fantastic acting. On Sunday, Emagine Novi + also Royal Oak were playing Spirited Away, from 2002 I believe, and I had never seen it and my boyfriend had never seen it in a theater. I am not a huge anime fan but the illustrations were great; I would give it 3/5 stars. And then yesterday, I saw the new Dr. Strange movie in 3D, which was awesome; I'd give that one 4.5/5 stars. Don't forget to stay through the credits, too, as there is a mid-credits scene and also a post-credits one. I also saw the new movie Crush, on Hulu, which was cute; I'd give it 3.5/5 stars. 
3. Cooking. I had Home Chef last week and I have Gobble this week. I have only tried Gobble one other time, and I thought it was so-so, because it uses a lot of premade sauces and whatnot, but yesterday I was low on time after the movie and I made a steak in a bearnaise sauce (premade sauce) from them, with the potatoes pre-chopped, and it was delicious. They were doing a friends & family deal thing so it was only $8.99 for the week, too. Next week I am doing Marley Spoon and I think Marley Spoon the week after that, as well, since they gave me some deals. I also cooked a Blue Apron meal for my parents on Saturday night, too, since BA gives you a free box to give out after a certain number of orders; I gave my free box to them so they could try it. We had soy and butter-glazed chicken, and the other dish was a shawarma chicken dish, as they only eat chicken and veggie dishes generally.
4. Starting and ending TV shows. I finally finished Yellowjackets, on Showtime, and today I want to try The First Lady, also on Showtime—it has an amazing cast, including Viola Davis, and it seems to portray three first ladies such as Michelle Obama, Eleanor Roosevelt, and I believe one other. I'd like to continue watching Super Pumped, the Uber store, on Showtime, as well. The Circle came back this week though and has been fantastic, on Netflix; they even have the Spice Girls (two of them, Scary Spice and Baby Spice) playing a catfish profile, and another of the players, also playing a catfish profile, is from Novi, so that's awesome too. Girls5Eva also returned on Peacock, so I watched that last night. I also watched the new Flight Attendant episode yesterday, and I still need to catch up on The Good Doctor episode that aired this week. 
5. Panera Sip Club and car maintenance. Not my car maintenance, but I have been driving my boyfriend to his car dealership and also Midas near him to have some work done on his car. Since we are already out of the house, I then stopped at Panera—I've been in their Sip Club for a while but it used to be just coffee or tea (and I don't drink coffee, and rarely drink tea, but they kept offering free memberships). Now, however, they've raised the membership price a bit and have expanded it to free sodas and lemonades; their lemonades are caffeinated, and I tend to stay up too late at night, so they have been nice to have. They do have a LOT of sugar though (like 65-85g for a 20-oz. lemonade ...) so I try to only drink a third to a half a portion a day, and finish it up the next day. 

Chicken piccata from Maggiano's