rantlust

Posted by jcaldera on October 16th 2007 in Food & Wine, Humor, Random, Rants, Society
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We discovered not so long ago that our daughter Natalia is lactose intolerant. This has been an inconvenience because she seemed to develop this intolerance recently, and she loved dairy products. Since we figure out that she was lactose intolerant we’ve been buying soy based products for her. Tonite we bought soy ice cream. And I can’t be any more sorry for her that I am tonite. Soy based ice cream is likely the worse product I’ve ever tasted in my life. Maybe it is the brand or the actual flavor, but it was so terrible that it make me thinks it is just the way it is. The worst part is that Natalia ate it all and she seemed to like it. I didn’t have the heart to put it where it belongs: the trash can.

Thinking about it, at least I can understand why lactose intolerant people would eat it. Now, what in the world is going through the people that makes it a choice. I know likes and dislikes are subjective and sure, somebody must like it for there to be a product, but this is beyond any comprehension. This is an actual aberration. If there is any Vegan reader that can explain to me why they would turn down actual ice cream for soy based ice cream, I hope the answer is like: we don’t eat ice cream for that reason, that would make me respect them at least. But trying to justify that they actually eat it because they like it would be beyond any comprehension.

Since we are in the subject, I’ll give you another piece of information on modified ice cream. The writer of this blog has actually been on and off the south beach diet. As you may know this diet precludes eating ice cream both because of the sugar and because of the fat. So, my love for ice cream is so deep that I am forced to buy the sugar free versions of the ice cream. Agreed that at least this ice cream is eatable. The availability of splenda and the like have make it possible to create a version of ice cream that though doesn’t get to the actual full fat/sugar ice cream is ok. But don’t be fooled ice cream was meant to be tasty not healthy, and it should remain as such.

For those of us that have access to San Francisco and those that come to visit I must suggest Mitchell’s ice creams. Incredible ice creams - no sugar free or soy available… … Go and expect to be in line for about 30 minutes even in the middle of the winter.

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Posted by meerkat on August 27th 2007 in Food & Wine, Trivia, USA
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When I read about the deep fried Pepsi, I could not believe my eyes. I have heard of deep fried snickers, oreos, reese’s peanut butter cups, cakes and what not. How does one deep fry pepsi?

Here is a snippet from the NY Times article,

“Jeremy Orme, who runs Fried Creations, the home of the Combo Plate, introduced a new item at this year’s fair: deep-fried Pepsi. He rolls out his Pepsi-based dough, dips it in a batter made with Pepsi and deep-fries it for 90 seconds. His oil, made of soybeans, is trans-fat free as required, and on the front of his booth he has posted a local newspaper’s account about the fair’s trans-fat ban”

Notice that it is deep fried for sure, but it is trans fat free. So, no guilt involved, even if you have to get yourself an all new wardrobe after the fair.

While on the topic of deep fried everything, I read that French fries are not really French. It is supposedly a Belgian marvel and the French stands for the type of the cut, which means to cut in thin, long strips. I guess a lot of time was wasted after 9/11 renaming French fries and French toast(which is also not French) to Freedom fries and Freedom Toast.

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Posted by meerkat on August 23rd 2007 in Agriculture, Food & Wine, Raves
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Wednesdays are my farm box day. I open the mystery box from my farmer(Community Supported Agriculture CSA) and I hope to get what I love. I see Swiss chard, blue potatoes, basil, plums, onions, corn, cucumber, summer squash and so many tomatoes- heirloom, red, orange, green , yellow cherry tomatoes and green striped ones. I am not all that fond of tomatoes. For sure, I do not like them raw. So, eating a salad is out of the question. I have to look for quite a few recipes to cook the tomatoes as it would be a sin to waste them.

These tomatoes are ripened in the plants and harvested 24 hours before it gets delivered to me, they are so juicy and flavorful when I cook them. I got to know tomatoes should not be refrigerated as chilling stops the ripening and kills the flavor of the tomatoes . That leaves a short and finite time before I need to cook them. I did try my favorite ones like the tomato pickle, tomato rice and the egg curry with plenty of tomatoes. I also had to find new ones to use up all the tomatoes and have been figuring out how to can the tomatoes so I can use them during winter. The New York Times had an interesting article with recipes So Many Tomatoes to Stuff in a Week, this will surely come in handy now.

Although the tomatoes have been overwhelming, I am very happy with the farm box without which I would never had the courage to try Swiss chard, fava beans, leeks, arugula or rutabaga(what a name!). I do not like all the vegetables I get, but I do try them and have liked many of them. It has been an interesting experience so far.

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Posted by anupcs on August 13th 2007 in Food & Wine, Photography
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Posted by anupcs on August 12th 2007 in Business, Cars, Design, Environment, Food & Wine, Rants
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Yesterday, when I rolled into an In-N-Out Burger drive-thru, the line didn’t seem long. There was a guy waiting near the menu board wearing the familiar red and white uniform taking orders. I should have been out of there in five minutes max under normal circumstances. But for some unexplained reason, it took me more than 15 minutes (no exaggeration) to get through.

During this long, impatient wait for a burger with onions (protein style!), I noticed that the minivan in front was covered with stickers touting eco-responsibility and warning against global warming and the extinction of penguins, whales, and baby seals. There was also a faded “Gore/Lieberman 2000″ sticker. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the hypocrisy of its occupants. Fifteen minutes of idling in a minivan that probably has a mileage close to the SUVs that the environmentalists love to bash. If you are so much for saving the environment as clearly the minivan occupants were, why drive a minivan? And why go through a drive-thru on top of that? Can’t you park the car and go inside and order thus saving fifteen minutes of harmful emissions from idling?
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Posted by anupcs on July 24th 2007 in Food & Wine, Photography
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Posted by riyer on July 15th 2007 in Food & Wine, Society, Trivia, World
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To me the idea of eating Foie Gras made me wince, but then what do I know, I am a pesca-vegetarian.

Now I learn of “kopi luwak” - Enjoying coffee, made from beans that have been harvested from the dung of a civet. There is no accounting of taste, I tell you. I can understand the dung beetle having to do its thing, but we are people - accused frequently of being civilized. Do we really have to? Not being a coffee connoisseur, you can be assured that this is one coffee I will not taste.

BTW: The LA times has a story on this $600 a pound “ugh!”.

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Posted by anupcs on June 18th 2007 in Food & Wine
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When I visited Jamaica last year, I never got the chance to head up to the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are a far cry from people’s image of Jamaica: beach, sea, reggae, and violent crime. Visible from most of eastern Jamaica, the cool, verdant woodlands are home to a slew of coffee plantations, the most prestigious of which come with the eponymous appellation. Only coffee grown above a certain altitude in the Blue mountains can be labeled thus. This is one of the most expensive coffees in the world. I didn’t bring back any Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica but did buy some last weekend from my favorite coffee store.

At $40 per pound, it’s the most expensive coffee I have ever bought. Apart from the limited number of plantations that can be labeled Blue Mountain, another reason for the high price is because 90% of this coffee is exported for consumption by the Japanese. The rest of the world has to make do with the remaining 10%.

I love this coffee. It’s smooth, not too strong, and is not at all bitter. Do I think it’s worth the exorbitant price? No. I have had better coffee (Ethiopian Longberry springs to mind) for much less. But it’s worth trying at least once.

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