Tortilla Soup

This blog is a bit late, but here it is now that I have time...
Well for those of you who don't know, I experienced making tortilla soup for the first time. My mom made it for the first time a few years ago, after she felt an urge to experiment (which is rare, because she hardly ever wants to cook at all). She had never looked at the recipe before, but thought instead that she could easily identify the ingredients from a soup-filled bowl she ordered at a Mexican restaurant. Much to our amazement, she pulled it off with her first try.
Now, here I type about my own experience in making this soup for the first time, using the very recipe she failed to write down for me. Hooray!!!
I was nervous about messing it up and completely ruining my creation, even before I started it. I boiled the chicken first, as that was always the first thing my mom did whenever she made soup. Once I thought it was mostly cooked, I added the flavoring, which consisted of ground comino, salt, and chicken bouillon. As I mentioned, my mom never bothered to write down the recipe for me, so all I had was my senses to go on. This was perfectly fine with me once I realized how easy sniffing the pot would be. Next, I opened a can of pre-spiced tomatoes and green peppers. I myself would have preferred using fresh ingredients, but as there was no recipe to follow, all I could do was listen to my mother's advice. I was glad to have used them in the end, however, when I realized that the chicken would have to suffer through more boiling and possibly over-cooking if I had done that. Overall, the soup was a fairly simple task.
I only had to focus on frying thick strips of corn tortilla for a few short minutes before taking my soup out for a test drive. Of course, I hadn't forgotten the anticipated cheese, and so I added mozzarella to my concoction. It melted perfectly, and so I felt confident, especially after adding the tortilla strips. Mackenzie was willing enough to taste it, and she agreed with me when I mentioned that it needed a little something extra. Neither of us could really put our finger on it, but overall I think it was a success!

Crepes

Well, over the weekend I cooked a traditional family breakfast with crepes as dessert. The breakfast was standard fare -- eggs, "naturally-processed" sausage, and tasty Ciabatta bread. My crepes came out surprisingly well, though, the first few I struggled to keep in one piece as I flipped them in the pan. I was following a recipe from a dusty "Joy of Cooking" recipe book. I stuffed the crepes with crushed nuts, fresh whipped cream, and slices of sugared strawberries. Then I poured prodigious amounts of unprocessed maple syrup over them. They were quite delicious. I think the secret as always is just add lots of butter in the pan and half & half never hurts, too. Next time I'll try lobster crepes, but I'll need to allocate a little more preparation time for those...

Ooooookaaaaay.......

Yeah, my experiment? It turned out... interesting. I dubbed it "Disaster Cake". The toppings themselves were actually quite good, in my opinion at least. It was the cake/bread part that went wrong....

In any case, I made an apple topping and a banana topping. The banana topping was basically a banana's foster, but without the rum and fire. Which infinitely takes away from the fun factor, I must say. :( As well as the taste. There just isn't that whole almost crunchiness to the edges of the banana. But it still tasted good.

The bread had no taste. At all. The texture was good, but it had no flavor, therefore was terrible. As Hayley told me, it has potential, and over time I can most definitely perfect it. 

I wonder if I'll ever be brave enough to make it again? 

Cooking - addendum/revision

Well I kind of have a switcheroo for both of my dishes - from an old Pilsbury bake-off winner cake recipe to Snowball sandwiches (I couldn't resist), and Amish Friendship Bread to Skip's Favorites. I was planning on making the bread for my home food but I decided against it for the time being.

Amish Friendship Bread takes about ten days to make- you mix milk and yeast together and let it sit out at room temperature, adding sugar and flour as the days progress. (No super processed hygenic white bread here.) I have to admit I chickened out - I was a little afraid of leaving it in the dorm kitchen (what kind of things could happen there..) and I didn' t want to be the roommate who leaves fermenting milk out and about. However, I am glad that this class reminded me of this childhood bread and I would like to try making it again soon. This was recipe was handed down to me from my grandmother, aunt, and mother - they always used to make it when my aunt came down to visit. I remember seeing the bags of starter in the fridge and, as a child, being a little creeped out by the whole yeast thing. "It's alive?!" "...[M]illions of these little worms have been born and have died, and from their dead and decaying bodies there rises a gas just as it does from the dead body of a hog."
Now, looking back, I think it was a pretty nifty bread. The starter batter makes enough for you and your friends and the cycle of making and giving can just keep on going. Additionally, I have never had to cook/bake anything that takes ten days to prepare - so the recipe is kind of enlightening in that way. Instant gratification recipes or food products are so prevalent nowadays. This bread reminded me of the "slow food" movement and mindset - I really want to look into that more. (Plus, it tastes really good - nice and cinnamony:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmP1rAc_KDnL_dfmckQ0mK3f0fVZ_3OhpnODd8uMxd1iLWAyWNQkjo44jaiD2r5FK3iOqUQWczo_3P-QeCgQVKsG2hYGbCFzUGIsQDqs3hGCI1ErTSdYB34PNFKPQ_LQLPE230WQCuiUo1/s1600-h/07-0611_amish+friendship+bread_04_e100.jpg)

So in the end, I decided to choose another old family recipe: Skip's Favorites. This one is also from my grandmother. She picked it up in Korea while she and my grandfather were stationed there. The recipe was from another army wife - these cookies were wildly popular on the base. The woman's name was Loretta and her husband was named Skip, thus "Skip's Favorites." My grandmother brought the recipe back to the states and it has been a part of my family's food culture for as long as I can remember. My father is who really got me into these cookies - he is now the one who makes them almost every holiday since I was very young. The smell of these cookies baking, the taste of the raw batter, and the sprinkling of sugar on top brings back a flood of holiday memories.

(I like how my parents have such different cooking styles. My mom doesn't cook as much as my dad but when she seems to have a knack at making strange food combinations work really well together. Her goulash was a delicious mishmash of whatever the pantry held. This dish makes me think of cold, rainy days, and how comforting and warm her cooking made the house feel. [Plus as a child I always confused "goulash" with "galoshes."] My dad on the other hand, is really serious about cooking - even when he's just making toast. The quality of ingredients is crucial and he is all about technique. It's not that he's extremely fastidious about cooking - he just likes to know the mechanics and science behind it. I'd say he likes to know the rules so he can then know how to make educated improvisations and experiments. I admire his style a lot and his dishes always seem to be great successes. For example, I can follow the same Skip's Favorites recipe but my cookies are never as good as his. I should really learn from him but my cooking style remains somewhat hapdash/hit-or-miss. I'm still trying to imbibe the value of patience - throwing out hours worth of work gets pretty annoying. On the bright side however, my stubborness and determination to give everything a try combined with this experimental method of cooking are slowly helping me develop tastebuds of steel. What is your cooking style?)

So it was fun to make them myself and see how they turned out. Cooking in the dorm kitchen is always a bit exciting - finding and washing all the utensils, hoping someone hasn't used up your ingredients, figuring out what the oven's cook time is like, etc. It's nice to cook in a public kitchen though, because at least one person usually comes in and keeps you company for a time. Taste-testers are always handy as well.

Better Luck with Baklava?

So I'm not sure why I was unable to make a successful chocolate pie, but was successful in making Baklava. The level of difficulty in making the chocolate pie shouldn't of been too much, but with two failures I guess it was. So when it was time for me to construct the Baklava, I was expecting the worse, Baklawrong. To my surprise, the Baklava turned out not only presentable, but edible as well. I'm thinking it was shear luck that led me to a pretty decent greek dish. Perhaps I had better luck because I had a partner. The chocolate pie was made solo, but Adrian assisted in the Baklava making festivities. Since I am unable to make edible foods alone, I have decided that I probably shouldn't cook alone.  

Snowball Sandwiches

Well I have to say these sandwiches were probably about as "interesting" to make as they were to eat. Though I'm glad I did - I was so intrigued as soon as I read about them. (I really want someone to make the flaming hot dog Sterno lettuce phenomenon.) I have to admit I was little surprised at how much work went into this dish. I think it took me approximately two hours to get them all just right. Maybe I'm slow or maybe the cutting and spreading and whatnot was just really time consuming. I can't imagine anyone happily putting that much effort into something that produces such a result. (More than once at least.) What an "appetizer." I found out quickly that straight-up cream cheese does not make for very frostable frosting and tuna fish and whipped cream do not have the most sweet-smelling odor after a while. Even pineapple couldn't really save the day. (Though I happily sneaked a few bites of the tropified whipped cream.) All in all, I think it's fun to try strange combinations and give your tastebuds a run for their money. And it's nice to have the privilege to play with your food.

(It was great making them in the dorm kitchen though - I was able to gross out a variety of people. Someone even tried a sandwich - even with me being too compassionate to not tell them what was in it first. Which was probably for the best - for my sake and theirs.)

Beneath the Coconut Icing

In my family there is a particular story related to German chocolate cake. A little background: my mom's favorite cake is German chocolate, my parents divorced when I was 7 and my mom remarried when I was 9.

The story starts at my mom's wedding. I, being nine, decided that it would be a good idea to eat two pieces of cake at the reception. It was a typical wedding cake, white cake, butter cream frosting and if I remember correctly it even had the cliche figures on top of it multitude of frosted layers. But the fun didn't stop there. Later that night we returned to our house for a continuation of the reception. It was here where I laid eyes on the largest German chocolate cake known to man. It was a brick, 2'x2'x6", a massive slab of the richest chocolate and sweetest coconut frosting you could imagine. I decided at once that I was going to eat as much as possible, which I did. Eight pieces later I was feeling, well lets just say a little queasy. I wandered out the backdoor and in to an unfortunate cloud of cigar smoke. The next thing I knew a nights worth of hard work was splattered on the back steps, all 8 odd pieces of it.

This tale of over consumption is, much to my dismay, told around the dinner table at least once a month, but is especially popular at parties. So for all of you a lesson, watch how much you eat for remember it isn't nearly as pretty splattered on pavement.

Almond Pears

So, tonight I made almond pears.  I found them in  Swedish cookbook that my mother bought and that I knew she wasn't using.  The picture looked delicious, and, trying to get in touch with my Swedish roots, I took up the challenge of making them.  At first this was something I just wanted to do for a fun dessert, but it turned out to be fairly difficult, so I think this was my stretch dish. I really had less trouble with the pie.  The end result turned out to be edible, and tasty, but I will be the first to say that it was not great.  

I made the thing from scratch.  First, I started with the almonds, which i had to smash up myself because I couldn't find ground almonds in the store.  I also had to whip the cream by hand and was very grateful that I found a whisk in the kitchen and that Dak was there to help me when I got tired of whisking.  That was my biggest mistake, because, in trying to halve the recipe, I forgot that I would need only one cup of cream, not two.  So my pears were smothered in whipped cream, but people ate them anyways. Thanks, guys!  The one plus to my dish was that the pears, which is rescued from the commons on pear day, were perfectly ripe and delicious.  So, that was my experience with Swedish desserts.  I'm going to wait until I get home and have a real kitchen before I try any of those again. 

Good luck?

Well, the time has come. I gathered some food from the commons, and I plan to try and cook something with it with some help from the ingredients in the kitchen. I'm not altogether sure what it is I'm going to be making, but I do know what I'm doing to the apples. I'm chopping and sauteeing them with butter, vanilla, sugar, and cinnammon. Other than that, I have no idea, it's gonna be spur of the moment. 

Wish me luck! I'll blog about what I made later!

Beachboy's favorite

I had the best veggie burger this weekend. Whole wheat bun, that lettuce that really isn't lettuce at all (just pulverized, shreds that are so delicious), veggie burger, Swiss cheese, slice of pineapple, and mayonnaise. Oh I am already craving another. All of these flavors and textures synergized so well! The softness of the bun, the crunchiness of the "lettuce", the cheese melted into the veggie burger, the sweet, tangy pineapple, and the rich mayonnaise.

I know I probably prefer whole grains for partially psychological reasons but I can live with that - I have grown to love their heavier texture and taste. I also like how they fill me up in a nice way - I feel like I can just taste the processing in white breads and it's not very satisfying. And once again, pineapple makes the day. I am going to have to try this at home. It's also inspired me to make my own veggie burgers - the frozen ones just don't compare anymore.

Jicama

They now have jicama in the salad bar! This is a beloved food from my childhood - my mom always used to make us jicama sticks with peanut butter. I never really knew what it was until just recently - "a large, edible, tuberous root of a tropical American plant."

I always liked it for the unique flavor - kind of sweet, somewhat nutty, milky but not too chalky. I like its crisp crunchiness and how pearly the inside flesh is. It's kind of like a water chesnut that way - another food I love. An added bonus - like pineapple, I think it can compliment a lot of different dishes - sweet or savory.

This looks good: http://photos.igougo.com/images/p130187-San_Jose-Jicama_salad.jpg

Adventures of a Cake Walk

On Sunday, my mother came up and we met my grandparents at a church festival for lunch. Along with lunch, I participated in a very "American" activity: a cake walk. This is where you stand around a three sided square with various numbers sectioned off, and you place a ticket on a number, and a wheel is spun and if your number is selected, you win the cake for that round. There's a variety of different ways a cake walk is done, but that's the way it was done yesterday. Now these tickets for the cake walk do cost money and you get to chose which cake you want to play for, but when you have tickets to get rid of and there's cake on the line, you tend to lose all self control. Now only in America will people throw down cash and gamble for cake. With a country full of compulsive gamblers and even more compulsive eaters, a cake walk is genius, because people are blinded by cake and just give up their wallets. This combination of gambling and cake is quite a dangerous one, especially when you just can't get enough. This simple cake walk to help out the church ended up being a highly competitive sport highlighted with yelling, pushing, and sprinkles. It was ridiculous. I want to say I stood there and observed on how funny this was to watch people lose their christianity at the cake walk, but I had to play along. What started out as an amusing way to pass time turned out to be a mild obsession. I played for about an hour and didn't win a single cake, therefore with growing frustration and hunger after watching german chocolate and red velvet slip out from underneath me, I had to win a cake. So I continued to burn a hole in my wallet just for cake...pathetic I know. After analyzing how the game is played, I came to the conclusion that numbers 35, 19, and 21 were often chosen, so I decided to place copious amounts of tickets on those numbers. Result: success! After 3 hours at the cake walk and I'm sure about 30$ spent on tickets, I left that evil cake walk with nine cakes. Nine! Part of me is proud of my nine cakes, the other part is ashamed of how I let my self go all because of cake gambling. I was sucked into this sly way of church volunteers to take my money. Although this cake walk is a great example of how far we will go for food, what we will sacrifice, and how silly we will act, at least I got cake!  

timeless debate

Buckwheat banana blueberry flax waffles slathered with butter, agave nectar, and blackberry jelly. That is a smell I will gladly wake up to.

(I like the first meal of the day because I'm always truly hungry. Food tastes so much better and feels so much more satisfying that way. Other times I feel I eat more out of habit - because I feel I should, or because it's just that time of day. Additionally, I can't stand it when you are surrounded with delicious looking/tasting food and you're sincerely not hungry. But you end up eating anyway. And no matter how tasty it is it still makes you feel sick to your stomach in the end. I guess that's where self-discipline comes in. Anyways.)

Pancakes vs. waffles
Personally, I love both and they each have their time and place. However, if I'm cooking, waffles win hands down. Making waffles is just easier. Yes, easier does not always equal better, but pancakes can be an arduous task for early mornings when you're very hungry. As the pancake chef, you either have to wait until you have cooked all the pancakes to finally eat, or you have to sneak in quick bites while you flip and pour. For the most part, I personally like to eat sitting down, with the leisure of focusing on my food and my company. Running back and forth to the smell of burning pancakes is not quite as idyllic. So that's why I lean more towards waffles - they might not have the deliciously dense, cakey texture and flavor that I love so much about pancakes, but I can forgive them for that. There is something nice about the more uniform, gridded shapes and how the syrup can collect in all the little pockets - evenly distributing the flavors. Waffle irons also take the guesswork out of cooking times, which can be very nice when you want breakfast without too many surprises. All in all, I'm just glad that both mediums do very well with lots of miscellaneous fruit and tidbits thrown in.

Missing Home Grilling

Last Saturday I made sloppy joe's for myself and a few other members of our hallway. As I was cooking them, the smell of browning meat brought back a flood of memories of home. Every Sunday night my mom and step dad would grill chicken and occasionally steaks or tenderloins. This ritual, I've found out, is one I truly miss. I was raised on grilled meat, steaks, lamb, chicken and shrimp. The cafeteria, try as it might, just can't substitute the smell of a great steak or the taste of a grill blackened chicken breast.

"grenade with patterned surface"

I love pineapple. I think it's one of those foods that is amazingly tasty in just about anything with just about everything. Pizza especially. Conan's deep dish veggie pizza especially . It mixes things up nicely - a counterbalancing sweet taste to all of the savory ones. Pineapple fried rice is also a culinary experience to be had. It a very complimentary flavor - not overpowering in the least. I also find Pineapples very enjoyable to cut - they are such a bizarre and unique fruit. Once again, I am enamored with tropical fruits and their bold, funky flavors.

I also hear that dunking pineapple in soda is an interesting - somewhat explosive - experiment due to its acidity. I'm intrigued.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nANfw5WFzc

Chocolate Pie

So this weekend Eric J. made a chocolate pie. Actually, it was his second attempt at a chocolate pie, as he had trouble with the first one.  I think his experience with the two pies is reminiscent of what Laura Shapiro was talking about when she said that cooking takes alot of patience and that it does not always turn out perfectly every time.  Even though the cook may do everything right, the end result may not always turn out as hoped for.  Here was Eric's problem.  Neither one of his pies really classified as pie, they were both more like a sort of pudding. I have to say that I thought the first one was tastier, but that the second set up better.  Perhaps if he had left the first pie to sit longer, it would have had a better chance to set up, but as it was, it was a quite delicious, chocolate-mush.  The second pie, to me, was more of a gelatin-y sort of thing.  I ate it the night it was made and it was like eating taffy, it stuck together.  I think he was trying to compensate for the runniness of the last pie. By morning, it had set up into a very hard though gooey chocolate substance.  

I don't mean to be overly critical of Eric's pies.  I enjoyed eating both of them.  I just see his experience as a great chance to learn and improve.  Now that he knows more about making chocolate pie, I'm sure his future attempts will be more and more successful.  With practice, he could become a chocolate pie master. 

Hot Chocolate

Well, first off, I have to pay homage to Zoe for being so amazingly dedicated and blogging every day just about. I feel quite insignificant next to this, but I'm going to do my best.

I just recently tried the hot chocolate in the commons, and was really shocked at how good it was. I've been missing out! It's almost perfect; creamy and thick, flavorful but not too sweet, with that perfect chocolateness to it. I love good hot chocolate, I don't know what can really top it on a crisp or cold day. You take a sip, and suddenly your life feels better.

I have realized several things about my eating habits in the past few days. First off, when I'm upset I do one of two things. I either eat a lot more, or completely lose my appetite. Second, there are specific foods that are comfort foods to me.

Cheese and sweets. My comfort foods. Odd, I know, but it's true. I had a meal almost completely of cheese the other night and didn't even realize it until I sat down to eat. It's amazing how you feel emotionally can effect the way you eat.

I think I have discovered my favorite salad.

Sonora salad from Hyde Park Bar & Grill - crisp romaine hearts with roasted corn, black bean pico de gallo, Monterey jack cheese, hearts of palm, baby tomatoes, tortilla strips, cilantro lime vinaigrette, with a hunk of blackened tuna on top. Now that is a meal. I never really understood how people could only eat a salad for dinner but I think I could get used to this. While all of the different ingredients eventually mixed together to create a rather unappetizing looking concoction - it was oh so delicious. There were so many different tastes but they all complimented each other so well! That's what I find so interesting about mingling foods - how you can experiment and try to create new flavors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04CDjYUZuBU

Breakfast

I've always heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Apparently scientific studies have proved it (though I've never read them).  Usually, I am enjoying my sleep way too much for breakfast to ever be a possibility, however that all changed last Wednesday when I set my clock an hour ahead accidentally.  I ended up waking up at eight-thirty thinking that I was thirty minutes late for my nine o'clock class.  What a great morning.  Once I checked my phone I decided to head to breakfast to see what it was like.  I have to say that there was an excellent selection in the cafeteria.  I selected a bagel with cream cheese and two sausages and some hot chocolate to take to class with me.  My other problem, aside from sleeping, is that I am never hungry when I wake up.  I don't know why that is.  I also am not fond of breakfast foods. I am good with hash browns, I love sausages, and bagels are okay.  I hate eggs.  Pancakes don't excite me.  So I ate half of my bagel and both of my sausages and I couldn't stand any more.  I'm wondering if breakfast is really that important after all. In my personal experience, I usually do better without it. 

"I'm one tough Gazookus"

Spinach -while it's not a new flavor for me I have newly discovered how awkward it is for me to eat. I think I like eating foods that are somewhat neat - as in not having stems randomly stick out of your mouth at unsightly angles. While not all forms of spinach are quite so tricky for me, spinach salads are the worst. I love the way fresh spinach tastes but the forecast of embarrassment detracts from its more favorable characteristics. But maybe I'm just too self-conscious when it comes to eating. (Or maybe I'm just a clumsy eater. Will look into this.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UjM9UI40jk - 1st Popeye episode!

A Sweet Sensation

I've been experimenting with desserts in the cafeteria since I got here. I'm sure these aren't 100% original, but I like to think that I did come up with them myself:

Ice cream sandwich: I took two cookies and glued them together with soft-serve. I enjoyed it so much, I eat them often after dinner.

Cookies and Milk: I got tired of dipping, so I just crammed all the cookies into a glass of chocolate milk. After drinking the milk, I ate the mush out of the bottom with a spoon. It turns out that milk saturated cookies taste pretty darn good. Serves 1.

Banana Split: I decided to try my hand at one of these last night. It was easy; all the ingredients are in the cafeteria. The hardest part for me was splitting the banana neatly. I'm not too handy with a knife. The only key ingredient missing from our servery was the whipped cream.

Hope these ideas spark some creativity in you guys.

Love,

Adrian

Tuesday & Wednesday

(Oops, I accidently saved Tuesday's post instead of "publishing" it yesterday. So here we go.)

Tuesday's: Ice cream in a cone. This is not a new flavor for me but it is a newly revisited eating experience. There's something very simple about it but I think ice cream tastes better this way. No utensil between you and the dessert. The interactivity - swirling the cream into the cone, perhaps decorating it with a creative sprinkle of cinnamon. A nice refreshing, cooling end to a meal. (My apologies to everyone I have already gushed about this to.)

Today's: Honey, bananas, and peanut butter sandwiches. The bread lightly toasted and crunchy (this was before the toaster became so lovingly decorated with melted cheese) - its heat slightly melting the filling and fusing the flavors together. ("F" for the win!) What makes some flavors compliment each other so well? A mix of taste-buds, memory, and texture? (I'm sure there's some factual science behind why we all like the way certain things taste but I like to think it transcends that in some way, sometimes.)

Overall, this sandwich has a very homey flavor and feeling for me. It's comfort food that truly comforts - instead of making one regret it afterwards and make silly comments about thighs. However, if you're going to eat something, you shouldn't have to repent it later. Even if it's not "healthy" for you - enjoy it. Relish it. Indulge and accept it. If not, why eat it in the first place?

Sweet potatos part deux

Well it's still Monday somewhere.

They had sweet potato fries in the commons today! I was very excited and pleased. They had a very nice texture and taste - not too soggy or oily but "crunchily" tender and bright orange. (I have to admit I have a great fondness for this tuber.) So the sweet potatoes were a delight all by themselves but all of a sudden, I was somehow reminded by a combination I'd always heard about but never tried. Ice cream and fries. I guess it's not that surprising - sweet & salty is a somewhat common duo. But just because you can combine things doesn't always mean you should, right? (For example: Ketchup & mac&cheese. Ranch dressing & pizza.) But I decided to forget all of that, sit down, and give fries and ice cream a try.

Verdict: Not half bad. It had a very summer-food feel to it - 4th of July even. Very "American" - and hopefully that doesn't come off in a terribly snobbish way.

(However, this does not mean I will be trying fried ice cream anytime soon. Oho.)

Pancaked

I realized today that it has been a whole week since I last posted so I will try to make up for that with a post-a-day *this* week!

New flavor of the day: Mango buttermilk pancakes. Magnolia Café is where it's at. (I'll admit that Kerbey Lane makes a fine gingerbread pancake but Magnolia's will always hold a special place in my heart.)

After today, I am once again amazed by the versatility of certain foods. For example, I like how you can add such a wide variety of things to pancakes and they still, in some miraculous way, turn out tasting really good. Perhaps I'm not picky enough or too easily impressed, or maybe some foods are just really special that way. (Oatmeal is another close relative to the pancake in this respect.)

Overall, the mango turned the typical pancake eating experience into a very exotic and enjoyable one. I like tropical foods - the bright colors, the rich and vibrant flavors. It made breakfast a little more exciting. Especially with a little cactus nectar drizzled on top.

Cookie Dough

Today I wish to talk about not a new food I've tried, but an old favorite. I, of course, am talking about cookie dough. That's right, cookie dough. Not the baked good, the raw stuff that you can eat with a spoon. Which I do, when I can.

At this very moment, there is a 5 pound tub of chocolate chip cookie dough in my little mini fridge. It's taking up most of the space with its sweet calorie filled goodness. As much as I love cookies, and anyone who knows me can tell you I really love cookies, there is something really wonderful about cookie dough. There's almost a little kid feeling to cookie dough.

For as long as I can remember, my father has been making me chocolate chip cookies. It was almost a ritual to it. He would mix everything together, use the electric mixer, and then when he was done he would give the beaters to my sister and I to consume with much finger licking and joy. There's an art to cleaning off a mixer to it's best potential. You have to twist your tongue in unexpected ways, use your pinkies to get out that last little bite of dough, until you return the beater to the sink, its metal surface already sparklingly clean.

I don't really know what's so comforting about cookie dough. It's sweet, of course, which is always a plus. There's that really wonderful almost crumbly texture to it, the mealy feeling of the sugar that's still in a solid form mixed into flour that is no longer powdery and dry. I try not to think about the raw eggs and the diseases I'm probably flirting with in my obsession. Usually it's not really that hard.

How do you really describe the taste of a chocolate chip cookie? It's like trying to describe what blue is. It simply IS. If you've never had a chocolate chip cookie, how can you understand that warm, sweet mixture of cookie and chocolate? How can you really get that undercurrent of rich warmth, not really sweet but on the edge? How can you truly appreciate the delicious scent that rises out of the oven in response to the small chunks of flour, sugar, eggs, chocolate, milk, and more that sit, smugly baking into something magical?

People say we're American as Apple Pie. I disagree. I think we're American as Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Mixin it up

About a week ago we discussed how Americans can only eat their meals if they are separated into little compartments.. well just as i imagined, this statement it completely true

For the past week i have been putting everything that i eat on one plate, for breakfast it was usually eggs and bacon for lunch stir fry salad beans and tortillas and for dinner it could be anything from spaghetti, burgers, pizza, stir fry, or a sandwich with my salad and possibly beans

either way what i found was the everyone who sat around me thought it was disgusting.. i mean i didn't think it looked that bad ( and i actually thought it tasted amazing), but pretty much every meal that i mixed i found that people couldn't watch me eat because they thought it was weird to mix my tofu with my salad, beans, salad dressing, rice, and onions. 

although something interesting that i found out is that if i mixed up all my food and put it in a tortilla that some how it was then not a big deal to have it all mixed up which brings me to my next idea... it appears that if foods are mixed up, but put on or inside another food (ie. burgers, pizza, tacos...etc) then its not gross.. i mean who would really eat ham with pineapple mixed together unless it was on a pizza? or who would think that cheese bacon mayo and tomatoes were good unless they were on a burger?

I can only wonder why these foods make it appropriate to mix, while mixing in the open is unacceptable 

You think I'm exaggerating when i say unacceptable, but the majority of people felt just that way..they felt that by mixing my food i was being childish

Why are children allowed to mix their food but I am not? i don't think its very fair because mixing food is sooo much fun (OK.... so i was a little childish with it, but still i still want to know why i cant)

i think my next step is to mix my food outside the country and see how that turns out

until then i guess ill keep mixing 

and people will keep getting grossed out

Oh well....

McSlime

Last Saturday I had the misfortune to eat at the McDonald's outside of Hillsbourough. I ordered a #12 with a coke which was a chicken nugget combo with fries. The nuggets, for I lacked to discen any chicken in them, had the consistence of a wet sponge coated in grease. Needless to say they were gross. The fries however left me wanting more. Whether it was the transfats, the high sodium content or the lack of flavor from the nuggets but those fries were amazing. I had found myself in the middle of the American cliche, on my phone, in my car and eating a fast food lunch. And I realized that I didn't really care.

Fudruckers

It has been many years since I have eaten at the burger sensation known as Fudruckers, and I have really been missing out.

First, the atmosphere is a real experience. I watched the life of the Beatles from the booth that I sat in. Various other rock legends such as the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley made their debut inside more circular booths. There really was the full experience of 50s rock, along with all the times I used to go there, way back when. It's amazing what a few years will do in respects to appreciating one's surroundings.

In respects to the food, I don't think I've had a better tasting corn-burger in years. First, the bun was slightly toasted, but not too much. There was a fair amount of butter, and just enough crunch to the bread. The meat, cooked well done, did not resemble any form of industrial processing. Granted, I am not so naive, but I can't argue with good flavor.

Tortillas

Now that I am shoved forcibly into a literary mood by mere company of another, more scholarly party I find myself willing to discourse on the gratuitous amount of food available to us. In order to settle all stomachs the cafeteria presents us with a less than bewildering array of foodstuffs, and we navigate it blindly at first, but then with a learned eye - knowing by mere look the singularly bland tastes the non-vegeterian entree will offer us. The mouth feel of pseudo-crisp sandwiches, and the ever present taste of sardines in the Caesar dressing. However the one unblemished and undoubtedly most flavorful thing the whole cafeteria has to offer is the Tortillas.

I don't work behind the scenes so I don't know what goes into the food as a whole. I can't say for sure what the flour tortillas are made of, but I can state that it is a unanimous agreement amongst BC1, that the Tortillas are excellent. Made fresh from the tortilla press, they have the most care put into them, and taste excellent. None of you are stranger to the fact I hail from easterly regions, however you may be stranger to the complete lack of good mexican food on the east coast. There are a few token chains which attempt a facsimile but very few can actually achieve the proper flavor. The salsas are never spicy enough, the chips never quite crisp enough, and above all the complete lack of competent breadstuffs. The basis for most cuisines, beyond the spices, is the breadstuff. Bread, or its analogue, composes the greater half of a cuisine and most of the dishes contained within it follow suit in order to be utilized or accompany this breadstuff. We see french bread, porous and crusty - and multifarious, while it's eastern analogue, rice, is incorporated as a critical part of all foods - it is to be added, and enhanced by any meal. One of the best examples is Injera, the ethiopian unleavened bread which forms the very plate upon which food is served. The Tortilla as presented here is excellent. It contains the right amount of chewy fatty goodness. It has fulfills it's purpose as the base to an excellent taco. Alone it is a fine snack, or even accompaniment to soup. They achieve and airy thickness and a satisfying texture that is not mealy. They are not too thin, and have a proper taste, I would attribute it to lard, and the fact that they are not factory produced.

Cheese Soup

The most interesting thing in the cafeteria today (served twice, both at lunch and dinner, I don't know about breakfast), was called "Canadian Cheese Soup." I had never heard of anything like cheese soup, but when I saw the sign it made me wonder just enough to try some.  Mostly I wondered how similar it would be to queso. I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat a bowl of queso, so I took half of a little bowl, just for a taste.  It was surprisingly wonderful.  It was much thinner than queso, so the title of soup did apply, as I was afraid it wouldn't.  I also really enjoyed the taste. It wasn't very spicy, like queso sometimes is, of course I wouldn't expect too much spice to come from Canada.  I don't really know how Canadian this dish was, but at dinner I took a whole bowl of it and found it quite enjoyable the second time.  I believe that it had carrots and celery in it.  Like queso, the soup did get a thin film on the top of it, but that has never bothered me very much.  Cheese soup was a very new eating experience for me, but it gave me a very pleasant surprise. 

Underground sensation

I've been tracking my corn intake this weekend - so far I think I've been doing reasonably...

Breakfast
Sprouted wheat cereal (very crunchy)
Soymilk (uh oh)
Unsweetened peanut butter (please don't tell me there's corn in that)
Peach

Lunch
Tuna fish
Whole wheat noodles
Milk
Butter
Steamed vegetables: broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, asparagus

Dinner forecast
Mixed (cornless!) veggie burrito
Sweet potato fries

Discovery: Mr. Natural's down on Lamar has the most amazing sweet potato empanadas! (According to the world wide wild web, some of the original empanadas were stuffed with cod fish.) Anyways, I love this pastry- fun to say and fun to eat. I really liked the sweet potato one because I love versatile this tuber is. It delivers a high performance - sweet or savory.

Granted, the casseroles bedecked with marshmallows have never really enticed me. However, this empanada was not overpoweringly sugary and fake. Mr. Natural's uses whole wheat flour and sweetens their bakery items with honey - which seems to help give their hearty pastries a distinct yet not overpowering flavor. (It's also kind of a funny way to get a little bit of your vegetable quota in...) I am infatuated with the sweet potato's potential - empanadas, waffles, pancakes, pies, biscuits - the list goes on. Plus it gives all of your baked goods such a nice orangey tint!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsARXtPbY4c&feature=related
(I like the part where he saws the pie.)

Delicious corn and fish gelatin bar

Yuck. My breakfast in a bar most certainly did not deliver on its claim to be a "caramel nut blast," nor, as far as I can tell did it fill some need for a "NUTRITION ENERGY BAR with High Protein." It is, alas, a bar of corn, with just a passing association with nuts, and none whatsoever with caramel." I don't even want to know what "blast" is a euphemism for. The first ingredient is apparently their proprietary 4 protein blend, consisting of casein, whey protein isolate, partially hydrogenated casein and whey, and soy protein isolate." Mouthwatering, no? And here we go, the next three ingredients are as bad as they get: corn syrup, sugar, and glycerin. Then follows a snappy medley of all manner of corny and unctuous concoctions: palm kernel oil, high maltose corn syrup, maltodextrin, fructose, soy lecithin, and a dusting of peanut flour and cocoa. The bar's "caramel nut blast" is powered by "less than 2%peanut butter," and absolutely no caramel at all; what looks caramel-like is the annatto added for color. The whole polysyllabic mess concludes with the slightest nod toward heavy cream and butter (much less than 2%, presumably), a pinch of salt, and some "mixed tocopherols," to "help protect flavor," we are told, and finally, the sine qua non of industrial hand-held food: fish gelatin. I don't even know what to say about that.

CORN TRACKER 8.0!!!

DAY ONE:

I ATE CORN

Beets

I tried plain beets for the first time last week. I'd made beet chocolate cake before - something I highly recommend - but I'd never straight up swallowed a beet, unadorned and on its own. I have to admit, these beets might not have been the best advertisement for their kind. The texture was kind of mushy - it was not a very pleasant eating experience. For me, the way food feels in my mouth is sometimes just as important as the flavor.

However, I love their color and their dyeing potential:
http://pbetouffee.blogspot.com/2006/07/retro-recipe-challenge-pickled-beets_12.html

Sandvich

So I wanted ice cream. But I also wanted a cookie. What to do, what to do....ah yes.

Mix the two.

I grabbed two chocolate chip cookies and hurried to the soft serve machine. After learning that the chocolate and swirl machines dispensed some sort of ice-cream soup, I placed the perfect amount of vanilla on the bottom cookie, annnnnnnd......

Ice cream sandvich.

I enjoyed my dessert that night.

Slime... I mean food.

Ever since this blog thing has been happening, I've been pretty brave about trying new things. I've just been sure to have a coke or something to wash a terrible taste down. The funny thing is, what I've tried has always seemed to be interesting at the least; most of my expenditures are actually quite tasty. That trend ends now.

Eggplant Parmesan found its way on my plate the other night. I speak in such a term because it must have tricked me into trying to eat it. The first bite told me everything. It was like I was eating a mint conditioned, never before seen, super rare action figure (Note: I don't actually own anything of the sort, just cringe with my in this nerdy analogy). By this, I mean it not only tasted like cardboard, plastic, and paint, but I also had that sinking feeling in my stomach. I probably would have thrown up on my plate, but the meal already looked like vomit, so I got confused and decided it was better not to throw up at all rather than throw up twice.

I think my adventures might be a little more timid from now on...

Gingerbread... pancakes?

Yes, gingerbread pancakes. I enjoyed them thoroughly on my ridiculous and disastrous attempt to leave Austin on Friday. My cousin took me to this little cafe, Magnolia something, and my eye was caught by the words pancakes. You see, I love pancakes. When I was a little girl, I could eat about 15 to 20 of my mothers pancakes in one sitting. Needless to say, my metabolism and hunger have abated quite a bit since then.
Anyway, I saw the words pancakes. And then, next to that, gingerbread. My head spun with the possibilities. I ordered them with strawberries inside, as fruit makes just about anything better. They were fantastic, a little lighter than actual gingerbread, but still very rich and with that thick taste. It dwelled on my tongue for a while afterwards, and the strawberries added quite a nice sweet, even lighter counterpoint to the gingerbread.
All the same, they were too rich for me. I couldn't finish them. I wanted to though...

Cafeteria Food

As I ate today's dinner, I began to wonder...Who comes up with these meal ideas? Today we had the option of either some strange (and apparently pickled) vegetables, or some delicious looking turkey-goo with broccoli in it.  The goo tasted much too strongly of bird meat, I'm guessing that was turkey, like the sign said, but I'm not sure I believe it.  And there was some dry rice to go along with it. Not that I am complaining about the food, because I have had some delicious meals there. I especially love anything with black beans in it. But the meal tonight made me wonder.  It made me think about the recipes Laura Shapiro describes in her book.  Things that you would never normally think to put together somehow get all mashed together, and while the result is edible, it is not always particularly tasty. I really do wonder who thinks up the meals for the cafeteria and I also wonder if some of them have been pulled from the Can Opener Cookbook.

Buttercream Pie...Thank You Cameron

   This Sunday, we decided to have a hall dinner. Eric Godat made us delicious Lasagna (both meat and vegetarian), and Cameron was generous to make us a Buttercream Pie. Although the Lasagna was extremely tasty, I have to dedicate this blog to Cameron's Buttercream Pie, due to my ridiculous sweet tooth I have acquired from being at college. I've never had Buttercream Pie before, and I'm glad I have now. The texture was smooth, the crust oh so flakey, and the taste was absolutely out of this world.

    Even though Cameron insisted that it was not good and there was entirely too much vanilla, my taste buds thought other wise. I've had all sorts of pies in my lifetime, and I'm now going to have to put Buttercream at the top of my list. Last week I didn't know what it was, and now I can't stop dreaming about it. The Buttercream Pie was definitely a sweet ending to a wonderful dinner, and I hope Cameron treats us with delicious sweets in the future.       

Adventures in Lasagna

This past weekend I had the pleasure of spending some time in the BC kitchen (4 hrs to be exact) making lasagna for our hallway. Using a recipe from my mom and a little improvisation I managed to pull together both a spinach and a beef lasagna. The oddest part was the making of the lasagna was how I was able to straight substitute canned spinach for a pound of ground beef. I also learned that lasagna is a lot of work, a lot more than I had thought especially when you make a double batch of sauce in large pots on a tiny cook top.
That's it for now.
Eric G

short 'n sweet

I recently found a new love - baked snap pea crisps. Green, crunchy and pleasantly filling - exotic yet familiar. I'm amazed at how different they taste from the snap peas one finds in stir-fry and the like. I like how the same food can take on so many different flavors - all depending on how you manipulate it.

Burrito

Talk about food nostalgia! I couldn't find anything interesting in the cafeteria tonight, so I settled for a tortilla with refried beans in it. Amazing how happy that sad little thing made me.  It reminded me of one of my favorite childhood foods, the bean and cheese burrito from Cafe Adobe, albeit with better beans.  I ordered that same meal practically every time I went in there. There was nothing better.  What's funny is that if was fully of refried beans and it came with refried beans on the side, along with some yellow rice that I never really bothered to finish. What a nourishing meal!  What can I say? I guess I just really love refried beans!

I cant believe there not Hummus?

Yah i made the mistake of trying the lunch room hummus tonight

needless to say they were less than edible

the texture was that of gum that has been chewed for over three hours and it slowly falling apart while still having some parts more attached to the whole than others (anyone who has chewed gum for an extended amount of time will be able to identify with what i am describing)

For those of you who were eating with me, for give me for editing my comments on the blog now, but i feel its necessary.. either way the smell of them was that of a mixture of mayo and mustard....oh wait and i forgot the final ingredient... a rotten diaper 

the taste was way too strong of beans, yet they didnt taste like beans..they tasted like rotten beans mixed with some sort of spice

The appearance of them was the worst, it looked like some sort of food that my dog might have tried to eat that didnt sit well with her

although i didnt like these hummus i will admit that i am willing to try others hummus 

im sure that the lunch room's hummus are below par

-billiam

Tots Alot

For breakfast today, I ate tater tots.

Those things are good. What could make a better side (or breakfast) than tiny deep-fried mashed potatoes?

I mean, I had a biscuit too. It was all right. But inevitably, I would turn back to my tots.

Now, the humble tater tot is a great piece of art. The crispy golden outside, the tender white inside....sounds alot like chicken, and this would probably taste like chicken if chicken tasted like a potato. Or just heaven.

Anywho, whether you eat your tots with ketchup, hollandaise, or on a burger, they really are not something to be missed.


Adrian Gonzalez

Condiment Surprise.

Today for lunch I had a seemingly average meal. Chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, and some fruit. Nothing really worth writing a blog over, until I discovered a foreign substance on my chicken... mustard.

Now, I put mustard on my grilled chicken sandwiches, but this baked chicken was covered in mustard. I am amazed that I didn't realize this sooner, as the whole time I was holding the tray, I was bothered with a strong mustard sent. It was a gamble, but I figured it couldn't have been any worse than the green beans.

The verdict: not bad. The mustard surprisingly did not cover up the chicken taste, and I was once again surprised on how simple condiments can add so much to a meal. Would I eat it again? Yes, actually. I would recommend it, too.

peach plum pear

I recently bought a grab bag of dried fruits. Pears, peaches, plums, apricots, & apples. No added sulfites it touts! I've had dried apricots and apples before, but the plums, pears, and peaches were a new experience for me. I have to admit, dried fruit is not always the most alluring of snack foods. Swarthy wrinkled slices of fruit tend to look like they've seen better days. I also find it interesting how I can consume much more dried fruit than I'd ever be able to eat if it was fresh. However, their taste and texture makes up for any lost aesthetics in my opinion.

Dried fruit is pretty leathery, but I find that to be part of its charm. It's chewy and hearty - the flavor is so poignant and concentrated. I also have fond memories associated with it - it was always a camping trip staple. Does anyone else have connections at times between tastebuds and memory?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV1a6UBdrPk

Drafthouse Food

I had a surprisingly good meal Thursday night at the Alamo Drafthouse. Non-Austinites in our group should definitely check out the "Alamo" next time you want to eat and see a film in Austin.

The Alamo is a local movie theater chain (with a few other locations in Texas) which serves food and drinks during your film and also holds myriad special events and retrospective screenings (www.drafthouse.com).

Some of Alamo's food can be shoddy at times, but tonight my "Chicken Caesar Wrap" was quite delicious. They stuffed a modestly baked flour tortilla with chicken fried in a crispy, golden batter combined with romaine lettuce, tomato, and all mixed in a creamy sauce with just a soupçon of Caesar dressing.

The added side dish was chips and salsa, which were insipid. But it was perfectly fine because the delicioso fried chicken strips (really more like chunks) made up for it.

Taco Cabana

The other night, while sitting around a game of cards listing things we'd rather be doing, Billiam expressed a craving for taco cabana. Upon hearing that I'd never visited this alleged institution, the group decided that it was necessary to go on a late night taco run....at the time it seemed like a great idea. With only twenty dollars we purchased enough tacos to sustain the lives of five full grown mexican men for three years. It was awesome. Upon returning home we slathered out tacos, quesadillas, and tortillas in queso and guacamole. Although the imitation mexican food had the familiar stink of fast food, like most deep fried things, it was delicious. In the best interest of my arteries I don't plan on repeating this meal more than once a month I find myself looking forward to the next late night run to taco cabana. I guess cheap food isn't always bad.

Hamburgler

This evening, I opted to go with a traditional American meal: that is, I had a cheeseburger with onions, french fries, a Coca-Cola, and a soft-serve ice cream for dessert.

While seemingly an humble meal, this classic has been enjoyed by our country for....years. All the separate flavors meld together in the stomach like a mad wizard's love potion.

The basic cheeseburger was the standard greasy fare, wrapped in wax paper. With the addition of the onions however, the soft buns and patty gained a distinctive crunch and bitter flavor, accenting the sweetness of the cheese.

The french fries at the cafeteria are actually top-quality. Sprinkled with a little salt and doused in ketchup, its no wonder that fast food joints the world over picked up these pillowy potato sticks. The sweet ketchup lends its red goodness to the salt of the fries.

As for the Coca-Cola, what better way to wash down a predominately salty meal with this fizzy beverage? While brown and tasting strongly of soda water, Coca-Cola is still one of my favorite beverages to eat with a burger and some fries.

Lastly comes the soft-serve ice cream. Delicious! This frozen treat rounds out the meal with its melting chocolate and vanilla taste.

Lipophobes, eat your hearts out. Oh no wait. You might have a heart attack.

-Adrian Gonzalez

Chicken and Goat cheese

The other day when we had that "Green Dinner" I finally had free-range chicken for the first time in my life. I have to say that it was probably the best damn chicken I've eaten thus far. While there was obviously a wide variety of flavorly mixtures, I felt like I could still taste and absorb the natural flavor of the chicken- which was so wonderful, for a change!
About the same time I felt compelled to taste the delectable goat-cheese-and-beet salad, as it was somehow staring at me as I walked by on my way to the desert section. I didn't get any for myself at that time, but managed to steal some from an all-too-willing Zoe. I found it to be one of the most disgusting foods in the history of my life up to now. I don't think the texture of the almonds or pecans (whatever they were) mixed well with the texture of the beets and goat cheese. It was too much of an abnormal combination for me to handle, so that's the end of that adventure.

Tellings of Tofu

   So I've always wanted to try tofu because people always talk about it (especially vegetarians), like it is the next best thing since sliced bread. The oppurtunity has never come up to partake on the meatless treat, but the other night, they served a bell pepper, onion, and tofu concoction that I couldn't resist. The rumor with tofu has been that it really has no identifiable taste, and it is the texture that is to like or dislike. It supposedly acts as a sponge and absorbs surrounding flavors into its soft and chewy cube like structure. Through my tofu experience I have found that this is to be true. The texture was a bit chewy/stringy and it is something that you would have to get used to.

   Since I like bell peppers and onions, I thought the tofu was pretty good, but I could see where combined with certain things the tofu could only highlight an utter disaster. Although it was not at all bad, I think that Tofu and I will have an open relationship and I will most likely not make time to visit it often. I am finding it difficult to understand why anyone would want to make tofu there all time favorite food. I just think that there's better food (meatless or not), although there are those tofu tyrants out there who just can't get enough. 

   I would have to give my time with tofu a rating of a 6 (1-10), it was tasteful to say the least due to the surrounding flavors, but the texture was unusual. Perhaps I will have better moments with tofu in the future, because the quality of the tofu coming from the school cafeteria is a little questionable. So I can now say I have better understanding of tofu and its properties, but will hopefully only devour it on select occasions. 

  

Lichi

I know this isn't a recent food, but I feel I have to share it with the world.  I was in Oxford last summer, taking a summer course at St. Hugh's college when i discovered the unusual fruit called lichi.  We had a catering staff and the food was very good, and we had the option of picking fruit at the end of every meal.  I noticed that some people would take these little white grape-like things (they were already peeled, apparently, they come with a shell and a seed), and since everyone who didn't know what they were seemed afraid of them, I decided to try them.  I don't really know how to describe the flavor of lichi, and it has been awhile since I have had them, but I do remember them being very good. I haven't had any since last summer and I sort of miss them for their weirdness.  So, that was my exciting food discovery.  I know it probably doesn't sound that exciting, but let my end by saying that anyone who has never tried lichi definitely should. 

Queso

Ok wow so the other night i took Griff to get some queso from Taco Cabana and i think he though it was delish...but either way i wanted to describe one of my favorite foods in this entire world... Queso ...its chunky yet smooth... it tastes like cheese yet has the feeling of eating a yummy ice cream Sunday.. it just slides down the throat, but instead of it being cold like ice cream its warm and gooey .. the most that i write this the more that i realize that i really cant describe foods without having to reference other foods  sometimes the simplest foods are the hardest to explain because you wana jsut say... well duh it tastes like an apple..

so why do things that are things (ie drinks jolly ranchers cough syrup) that are labeled as tasting like grape  not actually taste like grapes? did grapes once taste like a grape jolly rancher? iunno im just kinda confused we deff need to discuss this sometime  or at least post ur responses btw eric is deff dancing to and just ran into the door of our room...give him a hug next time you see him

poor eric

For lack of anything to say

I have never blogged before so here it goes:
First I made a double cheese burger in the cafeteria the other day but the semi-hardened cheese forced me to combine the two burger tops and dispose of the bottom bun.
Second Dak and I watched a history channel show on acids and their uses in society. I was amazed to find out how many applications they have. But back to food, did you know that gelatin is formed when animal bone is dissolved in hydrochloric acid, and that gelatin is a common additive in a lot of processed foods and the main component of jell-o? Also acid rain has a pH of tomato juice and vinegar is mostly acetic acid which has a lower pH that carbonated sodas
That's all for now
Eric G

Oh boy! Jell-O!

For days now I have been eyeing the Jell-O in the cafeteria - it's red translucency quivering and calling to me for some reason. I guess I have happy childhood associations with Jell-O - something comforting - something nonsensical and fun. So I finally succumbed and sat down yesterday with the first Jell-O I've had in years. The taste of it (I think it was cherry flavored? Though the color is really the only thing that would make me assume that.) has probably never been anything to write home about but the texture!

It has structure and yet it doesn't somehow. It doesn't quite melt in your mouth but not a whole lot of chewing has to go on. It's wiggly in a nice-not-freshly-killed-seafood kind of way. Jell-O is definitely an amusing food to eat and a nice palate cleanser to boot. In the end, even though there's really no food in that food, I kind of like the idea of Jell-O for its vast and whimsical creative potential. Plus gelatinous is fun to say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbqVGWayvyw&feature=related
(70's Jell-O commercial)

Leaves

Yay, I finally have an account! I will proceed to speak of my odd and slightly disturbing experience of a tree leaf in my chicken noodle soup the other day. I thought it was a bay leaf, and then I tried to eat it, and it had no flavor. None whatsoever. If I had to think of a descriptor, I would have to think it would be like trying to ingest a piece of... hmm.... laminated cardboard. I think that would be an apt description texture-wise, but the flavor was nothing like that. There was no flavor. I know I already said that, but it's true. It was really bizarre.

And now all I want to know is how it got in my soup...

Neophobia: Insects at Cambodian market

Neophilia and Neophobia

Those are the terms food writer and former patent attorney Jeffrey Steingarten uses to describe the omnivore's predicament. "The tricky part of being an omnivore," he writes "is that we are always in danger of poisoning ourselves. Catfish have taste buds on their whiskers, but we are not so lucky. Instead we are born with a cautious ambivalence toward novel foods, a precarious balance between neophilia and neophobia." He writes this in the Introduction to his book The Man Who Ate Everything, in which he chronicles his journey to overcome his own food phobias (including all desserts in Indian restaurants, with which I have to agree, Squid Boy's homage to tapioca nothwithstanding). If you've seen Steingarten in his role as curmudgeonly judge on Iron Chef America, you won't be surprised that he undertakes this project in part because he's appalled at how accepted peoples' food issues have become. "People should be deeply ashamed of the irrational food phobias that keep them from sharing food with each other. Instead, they have become proud and isolated, arrogant and aggressively misinformed."

Too cranky, or right on the money? Do we have to be tolerant of the (food) intolerant?

Tapioca

One of the few things that I truly like about the cafeteria is the continual presence of a desert course at every meal. Whether it breakfast or dinner, there are always sweet things to be had. Recently I've taken to eating Tapioca pudding. At my home dinner was very rarely bookended by desert, and so I'm accustomed to a time without it. Tapioca pudding was an utter rarity. Although Tapioca exists in it's handy ez-open box it had rarely been used to make actual tapioca pudding. I find myself enjoying the pudding texture, the strange marbles of clear gelatin, wondering if this is what sweetened Frog Eggs would taste like. It is sweet, but not excessively and it has a tendency to turn into a milky fluid if left undisturbed in the heat long enough.

Welcome to Salt Cod and Coolwhip

This Blog is established for Southwestern class of 2012 LLC "Salt Cod and Coolwhip: Adventures in American Gastronomica." Feel free to post your responses, your feelings and your comments on the blog! I'll be collecting emails and getting the list together shortly. I suggest you subscribe to the RSS feed, which I think will be running - I'll have to double check, just to see when your friends throw up new posts.

-Ben P.