Box of J. Scott's Seafood Fest from Costco
J. Scott's Seafood Fest inner packaging
J.Scott's Seafood Fest frozen on tray
J.Scott's Seafood Fest cooked on tray

I first noticed this Seafood Fest when I went to Costco around July and the price was around $36.00. The price then dropped to $25 and dropped again to $19.95 last month so I finally decided to try some. At $19.95, it's about twice the price of the Aquastar Seafood Feast from Fry's/Kroger, but this one from Costco has more meat and no filler corn and potatoes. It came with a decent amount for the two of us: two lobster tails, 8 shrimps, 7 clams, and 9 scallops.

According to the instructions on the box, there are three different ways of cooking the Seafood Fest: boiling it, baking it, or grilling it. You can also thaw it out overnight first, but my boyfriend and I forgot to do that beforehand. So, we pretty much baked it right from frozen in the oven.

First, we melted one stick of butter and added approximately half of the given seasoning packet to the butter (the instructions say to use only half the seasoning if baking). We preheated the oven to 400 degrees F, and strayed from the instructions a little bit: we put all the seafood on a metal baking tray (without any seasoning) in the oven for five minutes to get it to start thawing and poured out the excess water. Then, we quickly poured the butter and seasoning mixture over the seafood using a spoon, and resumed baking it the rest of the way.

1 stick of melted butter
1 stick melted butter
Seafood Fest seasoning mixed with butter
Seasoning mixed with butter
Butter mixture poured over seafood
Butter mixture on seafood

It took about 25 minutes to bake the lobster tails (possibly because they were towards the back of the oven), and it took about 30 minutes for everything else.

It turned out pretty well! Nothing was rubbery, and everything had a crisp feel to it. The seasoning had a kind of salty, savory taste... sort of like a saltier Old Bay seasoning. If I ever had these again, I might do less than the half packet of seasoning because the seasoning started to seem saltier and more tiring the longer I ate.

However, the seasoning combined with everything still had a good taste, except for the clams. The clams had the strongest taste, and they started out tasting OK, but they tasted a little sour to both of us... like burnt egg yolk or something. I've never had clams before so I'm not sure what clams are supposed to taste like, but I ended up not liking the taste of these. I still ended up eating the majority of them since my boyfriend disliked them even more than I did.

Everything else was pretty good. Shelling the shrimps and lobster tails was a little time-consuming, but at least they had good meat on them. My favorite were the scallops, which had a nice sweet taste and complemented the seasoning well.

My boyfriend and I finished the entire Seafood Fest in one sitting, except for one last clam, which we just threw away. Overall, it was a fairly filling and satisfying seafood meal.

Finished plate with empty shells
My finished plate with empty shells + 1 clam no one wanted
Overall Rating:
Good
Food: J. Scott Foods: Seafood Feast (with lobster, scallops, shrimp & clams) (Frozen)
Source: Costco, Tucson, AZ
Rating (lobster): Good
Rating (scallops): Delicious
Rating (shrimp): Good
Rating (clams): OK
Rating (overall): Good

1 Comment / Post a Comment

Box of Bibigo Chicken & Vegetable Steamed Dumplings
Bibigo Chicken & Vegetable Steamed Dumplings, microwaved

After trying the Bibigo mini wontons from Costco, we tried some of these Bibigo steamed dumplings. According to the instructions, the only way you should cook them is using the microwave. The dumplings came in a little tray that gets microwaved for two minutes.

Like with the wontons, some spots on the dumplings were a little dry after microwaving, however, the steamed dumplings also came with a sauce. The taste of dumplings was very similar to Bibigo's wontons, just in a dumpling wrapper instead of a wonton one. It still had a Korean mandu taste with a dominant green onion flavor. Sometimes when you bite into one, water squirts out... so make sure you have a plate.. or at least a paper towel.

If you add the sauce, it adds a nice light, sweet flavor to it, which I liked. On their own, they were just OK, but the addition of the sauce definitely made these better for me.

Update (Nov. 2016): I had this rating at "good" intially, but the more I have these, the more tiring they get. I still have trays sitting in the freezer that are not seeming appealing to eat, so I'm lowering this rating to "ok".

Overall Rating:
OK
Food: Bibigo Steamed Dumplings, Chicken & Vegetable (Frozen)
Source: Costco, Tucson, AZ
Rating: OK (without added sauce)
Rating: OK~Good (with sauce)

25 Comments / Post a Comment

Crystal Pepsi Bottle
Cup of Crystal Pepsi

I don't drink a lot of soda (or pop), and in general, I usually prefer Coke and Sprite over Pepsi and Sierra Mist, but I still tried out some Crystal Pepsi that my boyfriend and I found at Fry's (Kroger).

I didn't have any Crystal Pepsi in the '90s and don't really remember it coming out (but I didn't really drink sodas in the '90s, and I was fairly young).

I haven't had Pepsi in a while, so my boyfriend and I tried the Crystal Pepsi along with regular Pepsi. The taste of the Crystal Pepsi is hard to describe. It tasted similar to Pepsi, but not quite the same... like when you have the dream that you're in your own house, but it's not really your house and some things are different.

It seemed to have a more watery taste or something compared with regular Pepsi to me. My boyfriend thought it tasted just like regular Pepsi, except with a bright finish similar to Sprite (and without the limey taste).

We later found that sodium citrate and sodium benzoate are found in both Sprite and Crystal Pepsi... so my boyfriend is now convinced he has a new super power: being able to detect the taste of those two ingredients.

My boyfriend and I also left a little bit of the Crystal Pepsi and regular Pepsi in the fridge, and the regular Pepsi definitely went flat faster, or at least tasted flatter than the Crystal Pepsi after the same amount of time.

We also compared the nutrition and ingredients of a regular Pepsi with Crystal Pepsi.

The main differences were:

  • Crystal Pepsi has sodium benzoate, sodium citrate, and gum arabic as ingredients. Regular Pepsi does not.
  • Regular Pepsi has 55 mg of sodium per 20 oz bottle. Crystal Pepsi has 90 mg of sodium per 20 oz bottle.
  • Regular Pepsi also lists caramel color and sugar as ingredients, and Crystal Pepsi does not.
  • Everything else appears about the same:

  • Both 20 oz bottles have 250 calories, 69 g of carbs/sugar, and 63 mg caffeine content.
  • The same remaining ingredients: carbonated water, phosphoric acid, caffeine, citric acid, and natural flavor
  • And they both have same statement that they are "partially produced with genetically engineering"! 😛
  • Nutrition Facts: Regular Pepsi vs Crystal Pepsi
    Nutrition Facts for one 20 fl oz bottle: Regular Pepsi vs. Crystal Pepsi

    Overall, it tasted fine to me and fairly close to regular Pepsi. It wasn't bad at all. My boyfriend also liked it and preferred the Crystal Pepsi over regular Pepsi.

    Overall Rating:
    Good
    Food: Crystal Pepsi
    Source: Fry's Food & Drug Store (Kroger), Tucson, AZ
    Price: $1.00 (on sale!)
    Rating: Good

    Post a Comment