For some of you out there, you might know that I'm not a big fan of JELL-O brand jello. I was traumatized once by the raspberry--it was way too sour.
I'm not trying to, as they say, "hate on" the Chinese right now, but the stigma is that there's a lot of cheap labor out there. We temporarily forget that there's also a whole lot of history and culture from there. (Lots of Kung Fu movies, too.)
But for the past several days, I've been in a touch of zen with the Jen-Yi brand jelly--or, as it's called, Dofu Delight. It's one of those almost-instant types: you don't just add water, but you boil it. Oh, and you put in some milk, as well. The cream gives the result some great texture (like, say, tofu) and balances the sourness that may result. There's also some good news for you lactose intolerant types out there, too: from what I've seen, at least, nothing will happen.
The thing is, the Jen-Yi brand has a lot of cool mellow. The taste envelops your tongue but doesn't leave any rancidity, and the temperature is just right for a hot day. Combine that with the fact that jello is (already) melt-in-your-mouth, and it's a whole lot of goodness from there.
My favorite is probably either the almond or the mango jello, though they're all pretty excellent. I've been hoarding the boxes and making them almost every day, because they're great for a low-caloric after-dinner dessert and midnight snack.
IMAGE REFERENCES:
http://www.comptoirdesameriques.ch/media/DIR_17501/Jell-o$20Raspberry.jpg
http://men.stareastasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/jet-li-pic-0001.jpghttp://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/img/prods/dessert/160BJ007-jenyi-mango-dofu-jello-lg.jpg
For those of you who knew me in high school, you'd probably know that I had an odd fascination with mangoes. Those yellow, succulent fruits (that's right - none of the red-green ones) with their easy to peel skin and sticky innards were perhaps the epitome of my existence. "Mangoes are the spice of life" was even in the yearbook for senior year. So many of you ended up believing that, well, mangoes were my favorite fruit.
That's a sham.
You see, though I love mangoes and their generic savory-ness, I have a favorite fruit that I've never really told anybody: persimmons. Yes, persimmons. These things taste God awful when they're unripe, but so darn sweet when they are. And they're orange. (For the time being, orange is my favorite color.) They've always trumped mangoes in terms of my favorite fruit, and I even ended up naming two blogs after it. (Loserish, perhaps, since the fruit has had nothing to do with my posts until now--but I'm not too good with names.)
So, hello, persimmons, and hello, my mangoes. I've been having mangoes for the past few weeks, but the other fruit is few and far between. I hope, though, that I'll manage to taste one before the end of summer.
IMAGE REFERENCE: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/images/persimmons.JPG
I just love milk chocolate. It's not too sweet like white chocolate (although, frankly, that's my second most favorite), but not that bitter, like dark chocolate. Sure, it might not exactly be "the real thing," but I'm fine with that.
My favorite milk chocolate has to be Chokladljus, from IKEA. This little baby is just rich enough to warrant enough of that umami feeling in your mouth, but not too much to leave lingering, weird texture in your mouth like Hershey sometimes does. The "bite" is just right, too--and let's not forget the taste. Chokladljus warrants just enough sweetness to quickly give you that savory sensation in your mouth.
I had the opportunity to go to IKEA the other week, and I got three bars. I'm eating my first today--and though I was convinced I could restrain myself, it's apparent that I can't. Chocolate and Big Bang Theory--a bit of physics comedy and a nightly indulgence. It feels just right.
Okay, I realize this is my third post about food and it's not even a food blog (in fact, this blog's not even an anything blog--it's just for "non-reviews," whatever that means). BUT--at least I can argue that it's actually about "food," not some junk food or some dry cereal.
Today, I wanted to surprise my parents and cook (along with my sibling) a good meal for them. The menu? Crab cakes and Thai beef salad.
Allrecipes has always been my favorite recipes site. With the exception of one dish which I won't mention here, I've always followed the recipes to a, well, half a T, because there are always reviews giving their own suggestions and because I always use less sugar.
The crab cake recipe I used was pretty darn good. One container of lump crab meat from the seafood section of the grocery makes about six well-sized pancakes. It's safe to say that that's a great price compared to what you pay at a restaurant. They're much tastier, too--especially with the Worcestershire adding a bit of its soy sauce-like constituency. Nevermind the Creole seasoning substitution I used in place of Old Bay.
The Thai beef salad was just as scrumptious. Going with what I said before, I used less sugar--about two thirds the amount, in this case. I also messed around with the proportions of the fish sauce and lime juice (mostly because I couldn't squeeze a lot of juice out of the limes), and I froze it for about ten minutes instead of refrigerating it for three hours (when you cook just before dinner, you don't really have the time). If you don't like the smell of lime, you might not like this, but even though I was missing two ingredients, lemon grass and green onions, the salad ended up being just right. And I didn't need to eat it with rice, either, as I usually do with that kind of salad.
All in all, it was a great meal, especially when you consider the price of crab nowadays.
I'm now off to eat some Cupcake Pebbles.
NOTE: All images are from AllRecipes.com.
I just came back from one of those late-night indulgences where you buy food and gorge, even though you know that it's not in the least bit healthy. It doesn't help that what I ate was Chicken McNuggets and fries.
Ah, chicken nuggets. I can't help but like their crispy exteriors and the way the oil diffuses throughout your system. Okay, so maybe that's a little weird. But doesn't fat help to make the gustatory response more full?
I got to thinking about McNuggets and one of my Chinese fast food favorites--sweet and sour chicken. That's right, the chicken bits that may as well be called nuggets, even though you're supposed to dip them (not too much sauce, per favore--I really love Italian) and (hopefully) eat them with rice.
There are two noticeable differences between McDonald's and Chinese-y chicken, though: the oil and the amount of batter. In sweet & sour chicken, there's just way too much oil (surprise, surprise--McDonald's doesn't have the most grease). It forces you (well, at least me) to eat a lot of rice, and to get just enough sauce to cover up that oil and forget about it. The batter, on the other hand, just covers up those blobs of chicken and makes it extra crispy.
My preference? I really have none, though I must say I do enjoy things with rice.IMAGE REFERENCES:
http://in10words.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/mcnugget.jpg
http://www.lotuschinesefood.com/Sweet%20&%20Sour%20Chicken%20Balls.JPG
We all kn
ow Post's Pebbles Cereals (try saying that five times fast). Over the years, there have been two main types--Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles--with variations of Fruity Pebbles in between. I don't know about you, but I've loved both cereals since I first tasted them. All those little pieces forming a big crunchy, tasty, mass inside your mouth can only make you want more. It's kind of like how mini M&Ms work, just not as sweet or dry (provided you eat the cereal with milk). Now, there's a new member joining the family: Cupcake Pebbles. Does it merit its place?
Cupcake Pebbles features the prototypical shape of the cereal--flattened, crinkly crisps--speckled with tiny, multicolored sprinkles. Think birthday-cake-ice-cream-turned cereal (okay, I admit that wasn't the most witty comparison, but I couldn't think of anything else). When you open that plastic bag full of the stuff, you immediately smell cupcakes. Very sweet ones, at that. In fact, the scent is almost overpowering (and, most certainly, mouthwatering). Post has successfully created a cereal that smells like the real thing.
Now on to the big question: does it taste like the real thing? Yes, and no. Put these little babies in your mouth and your mouth is, again, flowing with all those tiny things culminating into a whole (and thus proving the concept of holism). But it's not really much. It does taste like cake with frosting, but a blander one than you'd think. That's one definite thing; it's not as sweet as it smells. Which is good, because I'm not sure I'd like too much "frosting."
It's not as sweet as Cocoa Pebbles--which was able to balance the flavor quite a bit without going on overload--and definitely not as tangy as Fruity Pebbles, which tend to taste weird (and too much) sometimes. I personally liked it, moreso than I do Fruity Pebbles. It might, however, be too tasteless for others, especially when you add in too much milk.
That's a good balance to add to the "spectrum" of the other Pebbles. It smells like a cake, and you can pretend like you're having one. Additionally, it doesn't taste a little too much like frosting like other "cakelike" products tend to do, and instead focuses on the actual "cake" part. Cupcake Pebbles is now a personal favorite, and I'm sure that it will stay that way.
