a good article about how large corporations are determining what can be considered organic...if i find organic stuff that is similar in price, then i'll choose organic...otherwise, i'll get regular...i did switch to cage free eggs (usually they're organic), but who knows if they're really free range chicken of if they're just given a 2ft by 2ft piece of grass to stand on...the food business is a nasty industry
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/business/organic-food-purists-worry-about-big-companies-influence.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
10 July 2012
08 July 2012
milk doesn't do a body good
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/07/got-milk-you-dont-need-it/
article about how the us pushes for milk consumption when it isn't necessarily needed or good for us...i used to buy milk for cereal even though i was lactose intolerant...then i tried rice and soy milk, which were ok...then i started buy lactose free milk, but now i stopped eating cereal and have no need for milk
article about how the us pushes for milk consumption when it isn't necessarily needed or good for us...i used to buy milk for cereal even though i was lactose intolerant...then i tried rice and soy milk, which were ok...then i started buy lactose free milk, but now i stopped eating cereal and have no need for milk
14 January 2012
bo ssam
americans are slowly learning that korean food is the best...i just need a way to make money from it while it's popular...$200 for 6-10 people?...that's a little expensive, but it's nyc...the picture in the article is more westernized...doesn't have the correct kimchee and "sauce"...the picture right below is more proper looking
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/magazine/the-bo-ssam-miracle.html
The Bo Ssam Miracle
This weekend’s dinner is a slow-roasted shoulder of pig, a meal that can be picked apart by a table of friends armed only with chopsticks and lettuce. A tight and salty caramel crust sits on top of the moist, fragrant collapse of meat, and juices run thick to pool beneath it, a kind of syrup, delicious in its intensity. It is pork as pommes soufflé.
The dish is known in Korea as bo ssam— pork wrapped like a package in fresh greens, with rice and kimchi. David Chang, the chef and an owner of a small restaurant empire in New York and abroad, offers an exemplary version at his Momofuku Ssam Bar in Manhattan’s East Village for $200, where it serves 6 to 10 people and regularly blows minds.
That you can achieve almost exactly the same result at home for a fraction of the cost is both a testament to Chang’s magnanimity (he published a recipe for the dish in his recent “Momofuku” cookbook) and also an example of how important it is for chefs to be able to write good recipes.
The best restaurant kitchens are filled with exceptional cooks, or are meant to be. This is particularly the case in the kitchens run by Chang, whose restless, inventive cooking requires a great deal of skill and training. You cannot stuff mushroom caps in a sports bar and then expect to get a job working for him straight out of culinary school. (You can try!) But hacks will still sometimes get in the door, just as they do in every game: craftsmen rather than artists, regular joes, people exactly like most of us.
For them, perhaps (for us, for sure!), recipes like Chang’sbo ssam are a godsend. They make any cook appear to be better than he or she really is, elevating average kitchen skills into something that approaches alchemy. Tell no one how easy this all turns out to be, though. Simply cook the food and serve it and watch as those at your table devour the meat in a kind of trance.
The drill is simple. Buy a pork shoulder — it is generally labeled “Boston butt” in supermarket meat racks. Rinse and dry it with paper towels and cover it in a large bowl with salt and sugar, a dry brine that will begin to cure the meat. The next day, put the shoulder in a low oven for six hours, until the meat surrenders and becomes a kind of heap. Let it rest. Turn the oven on high. Slather on brown sugar and salt, and blast it into lacquer. Rest it again, then serve. (The skin at this point will have fused into a kind of caramel bark; you may need to use a pair of tongs to get at the meat.)
Meanwhile, make condiments. Chang, like most proper New Yorkers, is addicted to the ginger-scallion sauce used to flavor noodles at the Chinatown restaurant Great N.Y. Noodletown. The brightness of the ginger in his version, as well as the zap of the scallions, is an excellent match for the pork.
You will need spice too, something with some heat to it, to provide contrast. Kochujang, a sweet Korean hot-pepper paste, is one possibility, as is its cousin ssamjang, a fiery soybean paste. Chang thins out ssamjang with oil and sherry vinegar to achieve a marvelous result. Having all three sauces on the table would not be a waste.
From-scratch kimchi is a tall order for weekend warriors (it takes weeks to achieve the proper taste and fermentation). But commercial varieties are available in some supermarkets and online. In a pinch you can buy new pickles and amplify them with red pepper. Rigorous testing confirms their deliciousness in a homemade bo ssam.
There should be rice on the table and clean, cold bibb lettuce in which to wrap everything up. Chang suggests raw oysters as well. “I like the textural contrast,” he says, “as well as the temperature contrast.” But these are not strictly necessary for the miracle to occur.
What is necessary: close attention to the final disposition of the pork itself, when you return it to the oven to build its crust. “Once that last bit of sugar and salt is on there and the meat is back in a hot oven,” Chang says, “you want to watch it carefully. You’re not looking for a color so much as for the moment when the fat and the skin begins to fluff up a little. It’s not so much about the sugar caramelizing as it is about the fat starting to bubble.”
When that happens — Chang calls it the soufflé effect — you are ready to go. The meat should look roughly like a deflated and yet strangely attractive football. Let it rest a little while longer (take some of the sugar-thickened fat and whisk it into your thinned-outssamjang for some extra oomph) while you gather together a quorum to eat.
Now take a piece of lettuce to show others the way. Place into it a torn string of meat, a dab of rice, some hot sauce or kimchi or pickles. Fold and bite, fold and bite. Try it with a scissored shard of the candied pigskin. Or with an oyster. Or both. Repeat.
Chang served bo ssam at his new restaurant in Australia recently. “We put a lot of sugar on the meat at the end,” he says, “and served it like a pork petit four.” Most of the diners had eaten a full tasting menu already, so Chang did not think people would really eat thessam. It was almost abusive, he felt: “People were full, you know, they’d eaten like 10 courses already.”
But then he looked out at the dining room. The ssams were being taken apart as if by frenzied animals. “People were just housing them,” Chang said. “They smell it and they look at it and they just go crazy.” See for yourself.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/magazine/the-bo-ssam-miracle.html
The Bo Ssam Miracle
This weekend’s dinner is a slow-roasted shoulder of pig, a meal that can be picked apart by a table of friends armed only with chopsticks and lettuce. A tight and salty caramel crust sits on top of the moist, fragrant collapse of meat, and juices run thick to pool beneath it, a kind of syrup, delicious in its intensity. It is pork as pommes soufflé.
The dish is known in Korea as bo ssam— pork wrapped like a package in fresh greens, with rice and kimchi. David Chang, the chef and an owner of a small restaurant empire in New York and abroad, offers an exemplary version at his Momofuku Ssam Bar in Manhattan’s East Village for $200, where it serves 6 to 10 people and regularly blows minds.
That you can achieve almost exactly the same result at home for a fraction of the cost is both a testament to Chang’s magnanimity (he published a recipe for the dish in his recent “Momofuku” cookbook) and also an example of how important it is for chefs to be able to write good recipes.
The best restaurant kitchens are filled with exceptional cooks, or are meant to be. This is particularly the case in the kitchens run by Chang, whose restless, inventive cooking requires a great deal of skill and training. You cannot stuff mushroom caps in a sports bar and then expect to get a job working for him straight out of culinary school. (You can try!) But hacks will still sometimes get in the door, just as they do in every game: craftsmen rather than artists, regular joes, people exactly like most of us.
For them, perhaps (for us, for sure!), recipes like Chang’sbo ssam are a godsend. They make any cook appear to be better than he or she really is, elevating average kitchen skills into something that approaches alchemy. Tell no one how easy this all turns out to be, though. Simply cook the food and serve it and watch as those at your table devour the meat in a kind of trance.
The drill is simple. Buy a pork shoulder — it is generally labeled “Boston butt” in supermarket meat racks. Rinse and dry it with paper towels and cover it in a large bowl with salt and sugar, a dry brine that will begin to cure the meat. The next day, put the shoulder in a low oven for six hours, until the meat surrenders and becomes a kind of heap. Let it rest. Turn the oven on high. Slather on brown sugar and salt, and blast it into lacquer. Rest it again, then serve. (The skin at this point will have fused into a kind of caramel bark; you may need to use a pair of tongs to get at the meat.)
Meanwhile, make condiments. Chang, like most proper New Yorkers, is addicted to the ginger-scallion sauce used to flavor noodles at the Chinatown restaurant Great N.Y. Noodletown. The brightness of the ginger in his version, as well as the zap of the scallions, is an excellent match for the pork.
You will need spice too, something with some heat to it, to provide contrast. Kochujang, a sweet Korean hot-pepper paste, is one possibility, as is its cousin ssamjang, a fiery soybean paste. Chang thins out ssamjang with oil and sherry vinegar to achieve a marvelous result. Having all three sauces on the table would not be a waste.
From-scratch kimchi is a tall order for weekend warriors (it takes weeks to achieve the proper taste and fermentation). But commercial varieties are available in some supermarkets and online. In a pinch you can buy new pickles and amplify them with red pepper. Rigorous testing confirms their deliciousness in a homemade bo ssam.
There should be rice on the table and clean, cold bibb lettuce in which to wrap everything up. Chang suggests raw oysters as well. “I like the textural contrast,” he says, “as well as the temperature contrast.” But these are not strictly necessary for the miracle to occur.
What is necessary: close attention to the final disposition of the pork itself, when you return it to the oven to build its crust. “Once that last bit of sugar and salt is on there and the meat is back in a hot oven,” Chang says, “you want to watch it carefully. You’re not looking for a color so much as for the moment when the fat and the skin begins to fluff up a little. It’s not so much about the sugar caramelizing as it is about the fat starting to bubble.”
When that happens — Chang calls it the soufflé effect — you are ready to go. The meat should look roughly like a deflated and yet strangely attractive football. Let it rest a little while longer (take some of the sugar-thickened fat and whisk it into your thinned-outssamjang for some extra oomph) while you gather together a quorum to eat.
Now take a piece of lettuce to show others the way. Place into it a torn string of meat, a dab of rice, some hot sauce or kimchi or pickles. Fold and bite, fold and bite. Try it with a scissored shard of the candied pigskin. Or with an oyster. Or both. Repeat.
Chang served bo ssam at his new restaurant in Australia recently. “We put a lot of sugar on the meat at the end,” he says, “and served it like a pork petit four.” Most of the diners had eaten a full tasting menu already, so Chang did not think people would really eat thessam. It was almost abusive, he felt: “People were full, you know, they’d eaten like 10 courses already.”
But then he looked out at the dining room. The ssams were being taken apart as if by frenzied animals. “People were just housing them,” Chang said. “They smell it and they look at it and they just go crazy.” See for yourself.
09 January 2012
emergency food
i need a plan b for food when the world ends this year...i might have to buy a box of twinkies
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9S5NU900.htm
Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, is preparing to refile for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection just two years after emerging, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
A spokesman for the privately held Irving, Texas, bakery company declined to comment on the report.
The Wall Street Journal said people familiar with the matter said the company is facing a cash crunch with more than $860 million in debt, high labor expenses and rising ingredient costs.
When the company, then called Interstate Bakeries and based in Kansas City, Mo., filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004, it blamed low sales and high fixed costs. It emerged in February 2009.
Hostess Brands employs about 19,000 workers and operates in 49 states. Annual sales are about $2 billion, according to the company's website.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9S5NU900.htm
Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, is preparing to refile for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection just two years after emerging, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
A spokesman for the privately held Irving, Texas, bakery company declined to comment on the report.
The Wall Street Journal said people familiar with the matter said the company is facing a cash crunch with more than $860 million in debt, high labor expenses and rising ingredient costs.
When the company, then called Interstate Bakeries and based in Kansas City, Mo., filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004, it blamed low sales and high fixed costs. It emerged in February 2009.
Hostess Brands employs about 19,000 workers and operates in 49 states. Annual sales are about $2 billion, according to the company's website.
11 December 2011
snacks/candy
snacks i liked growing up
1. uncooked ramen - you crush the ramen in the bag and then mix in the soup powder...ichiban ramen or shin ramen...both good and easy to take to school...nowadays, they even sell it as a snack in the chip/cracker aisle in the korean market called crush-crush...it's pronounced more like bboo shyeoh bboo shyeo than ppushu
2. pork rinds - spicy pork fat/skin fried in more fat
3. doritos ranch...best with canned nacho cheese...i like the original better than the "cooler" ranch...it's too salty and ranchy now...this might have been the original commercial...then jay leno did the commercials...i also liked the regular corn flavored ones...strangely, i liked their most popular nacho flavored ones the least
4. corn pringles - not sure if it came out late '80s or early '90s, but they're no longer around
5. big league chew...gum wasn't allowed at school, but someone would bring a pouch of it occasionally...nothing like marketing gum like tobacco chew...which leads to cigarette bubblegum...blow through the gum and and a small puff of powder would make it look like smoke coming out the tip
6. ring pops, pop rocks, and sugar straws...sugar straws were different than the flavored pixie sticks...these were in colored plastic straws that you had to bite off to open...they were also usually sold from ice cream trucks or shady liquor stores...it contained larger grainy sugar than the refined colored powder found in pixie sticks
7. nila wafers...i only had these during snack time at school
1. uncooked ramen - you crush the ramen in the bag and then mix in the soup powder...ichiban ramen or shin ramen...both good and easy to take to school...nowadays, they even sell it as a snack in the chip/cracker aisle in the korean market called crush-crush...it's pronounced more like bboo shyeoh bboo shyeo than ppushu
2. pork rinds - spicy pork fat/skin fried in more fat
3. doritos ranch...best with canned nacho cheese...i like the original better than the "cooler" ranch...it's too salty and ranchy now...this might have been the original commercial...then jay leno did the commercials...i also liked the regular corn flavored ones...strangely, i liked their most popular nacho flavored ones the least
4. corn pringles - not sure if it came out late '80s or early '90s, but they're no longer around
5. big league chew...gum wasn't allowed at school, but someone would bring a pouch of it occasionally...nothing like marketing gum like tobacco chew...which leads to cigarette bubblegum...blow through the gum and and a small puff of powder would make it look like smoke coming out the tip
6. ring pops, pop rocks, and sugar straws...sugar straws were different than the flavored pixie sticks...these were in colored plastic straws that you had to bite off to open...they were also usually sold from ice cream trucks or shady liquor stores...it contained larger grainy sugar than the refined colored powder found in pixie sticks
7. nila wafers...i only had these during snack time at school
8. fried mcdonald's apple pies...discontinued sometime in the '90s i think...can't find them now...certain foreign mcdonalds have the regular fried apple pie...the ones in korea had them through the mid '00s but now they're baked...they even had fried pineapple pies, but they weren't as good...the closest thing now might be fried apple pies at kfc, but i haven't tried them
10 December 2011
french fry hotdog
http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/12/9/113819/764/travel/Foreign+Grocery+Friday%3A+The+French+Fry-Encrusted+Corn+Dogs+of+Seoul%2C+South+Korea
funny that there is an article about this...i would think something like this would do well at a county fair since everything they sell there is deep fried...surprisingly, this isn't as greasy as it sounds
funny that there is an article about this...i would think something like this would do well at a county fair since everything they sell there is deep fried...surprisingly, this isn't as greasy as it sounds
 |
| tasty street fare |
06 November 2011
green juice
a gallon of green juice for the week...lots and lots of kale, 2 cucumbers, 2 small apples, one large korean pear, 2lbs of strawberries, a bundle of dropwort, a bundle of korean chard, 2 large heads of broccoli, and 2 kiwis
31 October 2011
juicer
i decided to get a juicer and make my version of the mean green juice...it's from the movie/documentary fat, sick, and nearly dead...it's about a guy in poor health who drank this juice for a couple months and got healthy
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/about-the-film/learn-more/recipies/
i changed the recipe a bit since i thought adding celery was a waste and didn't want to add ginger or lemon...i bought the following at the market...crap load of kale, korean cucumbers, korean pears (did not use this time), korean chard, kiwi, drop wort, broccoli...i also added a honey crisp apples, a regular green pear, and a plum
the result...half a pitcher of juice and the left over pulp in the bowl...taste? - grassy and bland...more fruit would probably make it sweeter, but i didn't want too much sugar...the next test is to see if i can store it over night without it oxidizing too much...i'm pleased with the performance of the juicer...better than the blendtec blender that i got and then returned a few months back...i think i prefer juice to smoothie...it's also much quieter...i got the hurom slow masticating juicer..a bit pricey at $360...one drawback is that since it is a slow juicer, it takes a long time compared to the blendtec...with the blender, i can throw all ingredients in as is, and it'll be done in about a minute...the juicer required adding of the fruit and veggies gradually, and i had to cut them into small pieces...overall, it probably took an hour to wash, chop, juice, and clean up
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/about-the-film/learn-more/recipies/
i changed the recipe a bit since i thought adding celery was a waste and didn't want to add ginger or lemon...i bought the following at the market...crap load of kale, korean cucumbers, korean pears (did not use this time), korean chard, kiwi, drop wort, broccoli...i also added a honey crisp apples, a regular green pear, and a plum
 |
| most veggies i have bought ever |
 |
| above is the amount i put in to make the first batch of juice minus one kiwi |
the result...half a pitcher of juice and the left over pulp in the bowl...taste? - grassy and bland...more fruit would probably make it sweeter, but i didn't want too much sugar...the next test is to see if i can store it over night without it oxidizing too much...i'm pleased with the performance of the juicer...better than the blendtec blender that i got and then returned a few months back...i think i prefer juice to smoothie...it's also much quieter...i got the hurom slow masticating juicer..a bit pricey at $360...one drawback is that since it is a slow juicer, it takes a long time compared to the blendtec...with the blender, i can throw all ingredients in as is, and it'll be done in about a minute...the juicer required adding of the fruit and veggies gradually, and i had to cut them into small pieces...overall, it probably took an hour to wash, chop, juice, and clean up
 |
| http://www.hurom-slowjuicer.com/ made by a korean company |
star fruit
i forgot to post about trying star fruit, and it has been so long that i don't really remember what it tasted like...maybe like a rotten pineapple and with the texture of an apple/pear hybrid...i got it green, and it is supposed to be ripe when it turns yellow; however, i think i waited until it got too ripe
 |
22 September 2011
21 September 2011
food
friend sent a link to a blog about restaurants in korea...http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/
decent site that has places that i would like to try the next time i'm in korea, and also look for similar types of restaurants here
http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/kappa-sushi-%EA%B0%93%ED%8C%8C%EC%8A%A4%EC%8B%9C/
the post above is about a sushi conveyor belt restaurant...based on how much i spent last week at a similar place in irvine, i think it would be best to avoid this place
http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/dubu-maeul-%EB%91%90%EB%B6%80%EB%A7%88%EC%9D%84/
a korean restaurant like this around here would be great...dishes are simple but look tasty
http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/gyodong-jeon-seonsaeng-%EA%B5%90%EB%8F%99-%EC%A0%84%EC%84%A0%EC%83%9D/
another place that looks worth checking out...jeon and makgeolli sounds good
http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/pyeong-ga-ok-%ED%8F%89%EA%B0%80%EC%98%A5/
north korean style food...i wonder if there is a north korean style place around here...looks like something i would like
i'm doing the first phase of south beach just to see if i would feel different, so i can't eat anything with sugar or starchy food for two weeks...i'm about a week and a half in, so i'm almost done...i don't feel any different, and i failed to stick with the plan on sunday...i was at a gun club get together at an outdoor range, and they had hot dogs, potato salad, chili, and chips...it didn't seem right to spend a day shooting and say i can't eat the food because i'm doing the south beach diet...it's also why there haven't been any fruit or soda posts...looking forward to eating rice with my meals after this is done
decent site that has places that i would like to try the next time i'm in korea, and also look for similar types of restaurants here
http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/kappa-sushi-%EA%B0%93%ED%8C%8C%EC%8A%A4%EC%8B%9C/
the post above is about a sushi conveyor belt restaurant...based on how much i spent last week at a similar place in irvine, i think it would be best to avoid this place
http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/dubu-maeul-%EB%91%90%EB%B6%80%EB%A7%88%EC%9D%84/
a korean restaurant like this around here would be great...dishes are simple but look tasty
http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/gyodong-jeon-seonsaeng-%EA%B5%90%EB%8F%99-%EC%A0%84%EC%84%A0%EC%83%9D/
another place that looks worth checking out...jeon and makgeolli sounds good
http://seoulfoodyo.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/pyeong-ga-ok-%ED%8F%89%EA%B0%80%EC%98%A5/
north korean style food...i wonder if there is a north korean style place around here...looks like something i would like
i'm doing the first phase of south beach just to see if i would feel different, so i can't eat anything with sugar or starchy food for two weeks...i'm about a week and a half in, so i'm almost done...i don't feel any different, and i failed to stick with the plan on sunday...i was at a gun club get together at an outdoor range, and they had hot dogs, potato salad, chili, and chips...it didn't seem right to spend a day shooting and say i can't eat the food because i'm doing the south beach diet...it's also why there haven't been any fruit or soda posts...looking forward to eating rice with my meals after this is done
12 September 2011
burgers
my review of the troika of burger chains...in n out, five guys, and shake shack...
1. shake shack...tasty, flavorful, and juicy burgers...good crinkle cut fries that reminded me of the old style carl's jr fries from the 80's...shake was very good too...price is a little higher than in n out and similar to five guys
2. in n out...decent burgers but on the wimpy side unless you get the double or even larger custom burgers...to me that offsets the patty to bun ratio...veggie ingredients seem fresher...i like their fresh cut style fries, but sometimes, they're undercooked...neapolitan shakes are good...prices are the lowest out of the three
3. five guys...terrible...i prefer medium-well to well done burgers, but the one i had was super well done to the point that the patty crumbled, and i had to eat it with a fork...they give you a lot of fries, but they're not that good and their cajun style fries are super salty...i'm not sure if i can taste the difference between regular fried and peanut oil fried, which is what they're known for...the only plus side is that you can get mushrooms with your burger, but there wasn't enough to taste it...it was about 10 bucks for small fries, drink, and a regular burger...the regular burger has two patties...if i had known, i probably would have gotten the smaller burger
out of the three, i prefer shake shack...out of all the chains, the big mac reigns supreme
1. shake shack...tasty, flavorful, and juicy burgers...good crinkle cut fries that reminded me of the old style carl's jr fries from the 80's...shake was very good too...price is a little higher than in n out and similar to five guys
2. in n out...decent burgers but on the wimpy side unless you get the double or even larger custom burgers...to me that offsets the patty to bun ratio...veggie ingredients seem fresher...i like their fresh cut style fries, but sometimes, they're undercooked...neapolitan shakes are good...prices are the lowest out of the three
3. five guys...terrible...i prefer medium-well to well done burgers, but the one i had was super well done to the point that the patty crumbled, and i had to eat it with a fork...they give you a lot of fries, but they're not that good and their cajun style fries are super salty...i'm not sure if i can taste the difference between regular fried and peanut oil fried, which is what they're known for...the only plus side is that you can get mushrooms with your burger, but there wasn't enough to taste it...it was about 10 bucks for small fries, drink, and a regular burger...the regular burger has two patties...if i had known, i probably would have gotten the smaller burger
out of the three, i prefer shake shack...out of all the chains, the big mac reigns supreme
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| mcdonald's knows what they're doing..balance the two patties with a middle bun |
10 September 2011
sarsaparilla
sarsaparilla tastes like root beer...i guess it's really just root beer with maybe more sarsaparilla than other roots
08 September 2011
new sodas
i got some more sodas
virgil's root beer from trader joe's...this is very good root beer...there is a hint of black licorice
that i like...i don't like black licorice, but it's good in this soda...i was drinking a bottle at work, and someone from hr came and asked if it was beer
orange creme from trader joe's...this was ok...orange flavor isn't as good as faygo or fitz
i haven't tried the flavors below yet...
faygo flavors: root beer, rock and rye, and original red pop
sioux city sarsaparilla...really curious to know what sarsaparilla soda tastes like
kutztown sarsaparilla...is it as good as sunset sarsaparilla?(fallout reference for those who don't know)
cap't eli's root beer
sea dog root beer
jackson hole high mountain huckleberry
dang (that's good) butterscotch root beer
virgil's root beer from trader joe's...this is very good root beer...there is a hint of black licorice
that i like...i don't like black licorice, but it's good in this soda...i was drinking a bottle at work, and someone from hr came and asked if it was beer
orange creme from trader joe's...this was ok...orange flavor isn't as good as faygo or fitz
i haven't tried the flavors below yet...
faygo flavors: root beer, rock and rye, and original red pop
 |
| no idea what this is supposed to taste like |
sioux city sarsaparilla...really curious to know what sarsaparilla soda tastes like
kutztown sarsaparilla...is it as good as sunset sarsaparilla?(fallout reference for those who don't know)
cap't eli's root beer
sea dog root beer
jackson hole high mountain huckleberry
dang (that's good) butterscotch root beer
world market might be another good source of unique sodas
04 September 2011
dragon and jack fruit
the jack fruit was a little sweet, and had a strong smell...like rank pineapple...the pods are held in place by tendrils and the fruit is really fleshy...almost felt like rubber...there is a also a sticky mucous that is on the fruit that is a little hard to wash off...it tasted a little sweet, but i didn't like it
the dragon fruit looked good, but it didn't have much flavor...texture was soft but tasted bland...i wouldn't buy these again
it turns out the little round things that i posted before were really guavas...tasted decent, but they had tough little seeds in them...out of the fruit i got, i liked the mangosteens the best
01 September 2011
fruit and books
jackpot at the market...they had dragonfruit, jackfruit, and some yellow fruit that is labelled as guava but didn't look like any guava i know
i also saw some durians, but they were frozen...maybe that's how they keep them from stinking...i wasn't sure about frozen fruit, so i didn't get it
also, stopped by borders again...i think they're getting down to the last couple weeks until closing...they say that they don't have an official last day, but they raised the discount to 70-80 percent...it also seemed like they opened up all their inventory...i saw books that i didn't see yesterday...i got two books by david foster wallace...the pale king and oblivion...the pale king is in hard back, and i don't usually get them...however, it was only 8 dollars, which would have been cheaper than the paperback version...the problem is that they're more cumbersome and you can't carry it around...also heavier to hold and read...i really don't know why people would prefer hard covers over paperback...i also got the gospel according to jesus christ by jose saramago...three good finds for 18 bucks...still high for what i usually pay for books since i get used ones and many are just a dollar each...still a good deal for new ones though
i also saw some durians, but they were frozen...maybe that's how they keep them from stinking...i wasn't sure about frozen fruit, so i didn't get it
also, stopped by borders again...i think they're getting down to the last couple weeks until closing...they say that they don't have an official last day, but they raised the discount to 70-80 percent...it also seemed like they opened up all their inventory...i saw books that i didn't see yesterday...i got two books by david foster wallace...the pale king and oblivion...the pale king is in hard back, and i don't usually get them...however, it was only 8 dollars, which would have been cheaper than the paperback version...the problem is that they're more cumbersome and you can't carry it around...also heavier to hold and read...i really don't know why people would prefer hard covers over paperback...i also got the gospel according to jesus christ by jose saramago...three good finds for 18 bucks...still high for what i usually pay for books since i get used ones and many are just a dollar each...still a good deal for new ones though
29 August 2011
fruit
all i could find were mangosteens...i also bought one cherimoya...checked out trader joe's, and they didn't have anything...so i got some black figs since i never tried them
the mangosteens were tasty...a little slimy...soft flesh similar to a lychee, but they look like soft garlic...sweet and a little tart at the same time
i have had cherimoyas before, and i liked them...in my eagerness to eat the one i bought, it didn't register in my head that the fruit wasn't soft and not ready to be eaten...i started cutting and wondered why it was so difficult to cut...then i realized it wasn't ripe...wasted fruit
the figs i got didn't taste like anything...almost no flavor...maybe they're not ripe?...not sure what they're supposed to taste like...fig newtons?
the mangosteens were tasty...a little slimy...soft flesh similar to a lychee, but they look like soft garlic...sweet and a little tart at the same time
i have had cherimoyas before, and i liked them...in my eagerness to eat the one i bought, it didn't register in my head that the fruit wasn't soft and not ready to be eaten...i started cutting and wondered why it was so difficult to cut...then i realized it wasn't ripe...wasted fruit
the figs i got didn't taste like anything...almost no flavor...maybe they're not ripe?...not sure what they're supposed to taste like...fig newtons?
28 August 2011
fruit
too full from knott's chicken to sleep, so i looked up the strange melon that i bought this week...it was a santa claus melon, and it was pretty good...the flesh is crunchier almost like a cucumber instead of a cantaloupe or honeydew melon...
tasted similar to honeydew but a little less sweet...since i need to get groceries, i'll look for some more fruit that i haven't tried...i remember seeing some star fruit at the market, but that was about as exotic as it got...maybe some chermoyas...berkeley bowl had a decent variety of exotic fruit...i used to stop by after work by the ashby bart station...looked up exotic fruit and these two sites had some that looked interesting...
http://www.oddee.com/item_97133.aspx
http://blog.hotelclub.com/10-must-try-exotic-fruits/
my shopping list for tomorrow
tasted similar to honeydew but a little less sweet...since i need to get groceries, i'll look for some more fruit that i haven't tried...i remember seeing some star fruit at the market, but that was about as exotic as it got...maybe some chermoyas...berkeley bowl had a decent variety of exotic fruit...i used to stop by after work by the ashby bart station...looked up exotic fruit and these two sites had some that looked interesting...
http://www.oddee.com/item_97133.aspx
http://blog.hotelclub.com/10-must-try-exotic-fruits/
 |
| this is partially poisonous...seems a little risky...may have to try it while at a hospital or get life alert |
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| dragon fruit...i might be able to get this at a market |
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| kiwano...doesn't look very tasty but worth trying..i think i saw this at a market as well |
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| rambutan...looks more like a sea anemone than a fruit, but if it's like lychee, then it's probably good |
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| always see star fruit at the market but never tried it |
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| durian...supposed to stink, but might be good |
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| jack fruit...i think i saw this at the market, but what it was or how to eat it...i'll get it if they still have it |
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| mangosteen...has mango in the name...can't be that bad |
21 August 2011
new sodas
picked up these new ones...
squamscot
the half and half was nasty...i thought it might taste like milkis, which is a korean milk flavored soda...think of 7-up and and a little bit of milk together..
however, this was terrible...tasted like lime juice(the kind that you can get in those green lime shaped containers) mixed with some milk...i didn't try maple cream yet
drinking china cola as i write this, and it's pretty good...the bottle says made with chinese herbs...i don't think it is as sweet as mexican coke but stronger cane sugar taste (slightly bitter similar to chewing raw cane)...can't really taste the herbs
from their website:
the last one i got is a soda from austria called almdudler...i haven't tried it yet...
from wiki:
The original Almdudler is a sweetened carbonated beverage made of grape and apple juice concentrates flavoured with herbs; its flavour is similar to ginger ale or elderflower cordial but with a somewhat fruitier and more bitter flavour. Almdudler has been called the "national drink of Austria".[citation needed] Its popularity in Austria is second only to Coca Cola; 80 million litres of the beverage are produced per annum.
squamscot
the half and half was nasty...i thought it might taste like milkis, which is a korean milk flavored soda...think of 7-up and and a little bit of milk together..
however, this was terrible...tasted like lime juice(the kind that you can get in those green lime shaped containers) mixed with some milk...i didn't try maple cream yet
from their website:
China Cola is the top selling cola in natural foods. This great tasting cola gives a natural lift from the addition of a Chinese herbal infusion imported from China. This herbal infusion was originally developed by a Chinese master herbalist and was added to a popular cola in China. The main Chinese herbs are Szechwan Peony Root, Cassia Bark, Cardamom, Licorice, and Orange peel. These herbs were picked for their effect on digestion and the liver. It was designed to boost and balance the body’s natural energy levels. It was believed that these herbs would benefit the general population due to imbalances observed by the Chinese Herbal profession (according to Chinese herbalists these imbalances are commonly found in Americans, too)
the last one i got is a soda from austria called almdudler...i haven't tried it yet...
from wiki:
The original Almdudler is a sweetened carbonated beverage made of grape and apple juice concentrates flavoured with herbs; its flavour is similar to ginger ale or elderflower cordial but with a somewhat fruitier and more bitter flavour. Almdudler has been called the "national drink of Austria".[citation needed] Its popularity in Austria is second only to Coca Cola; 80 million litres of the beverage are produced per annum.
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