Pit stop

On my last full day in Texas for this trip, what else could I do but get some barbecue?  My brother vouched for the excellence of Hard Eight BBQ in Coppell, and he was dead on.  With the way I've eaten down here, it's a good thing I'm leaving on Tuesday.

For the meat you order by the pound.  Be careful.

The chicken poppers--mesquite smoked chicken wrapped with green pepper, onion, and bacon--were unbelievably good.  I may regret having to work off this meal, but it was delicious.
 

Even the taxidermied animals are excited about the Rangers and their bid to win the World Series.

Food and family

I could write up some thoughts about things I observed or pondered today, but this photo pretty much summarizes it all.  This was a travel day--I'm now in between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas where my brother and sister-in-law live--and it's been marked by the food I've eaten and the company I've kept, namely my nephew.

The last time I saw my nephew was at Christmas, about a month after he was born.  We got along famously, and I showed him off to my parents via Skype.

I've been doing a good job of eating sensibly...but not today.  In addition to some airport barbecue in Memphis, I had my first visit to the fabled In-N-Out Burger.  I enjoyed a double double animal style (but without cheese), fries, and a Neapolitan shake.

It was quite a busy day but a good one.  And just think, I still have a World Series game to attend while I'm down here.

Eat and run

If there's only one time for one meal a day while I'm at the film festival, make it count, right?  Big Smoke Burger on King St. E. fit the bill today.

Business as usual

I'd like to be sampling Toronto's cuisine more than I've had time for.  Basically it's been a donut and one meal, but I was able to sit and enjoy my lunch today at the O&B Canteen, which is next to the festival's hub, the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

There's really no reason for posting another view of my lunch other than to give you a little bit better sense of the surroundings.

And then I saw the new film starring Val Kilmer and directed by that guy who made The Godfather.

If this all seems frivolous on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, well, that's how I spent the day.  I'll admit that it was kind of a relief not to be around what I imagine was inescapable reflecting on the tragedy.  The festival acknowledged it with a well-intended but ultimately misguided short that preceded each film.  September 11 falls during the festival every year and affected the tenor of it in 2001, not that I was at it then.  So bringing it up made sense, even if the piece about it was, umm, awkward.

Taste test

Some years ago I got on a list, I don't know how, to participate in opinion surveys and tests and get paid for my time. More often than not I haven't qualified for one reason or another, but sometimes I don't return the calls. In all this time I've taken part in one radio survey, which was quite clearly for a classic rock station in town. My best guess is that was probably six or seven years ago, so I'm not getting rich from these opportunities.

I've now completed my second of these sessions, this time in the form of a taste test. I reported to the Wendy's Research and Development Innovation Center and waited until my small group was ushered into a long, narrow, white room. The individual stations were set up so that you couldn't see the person next to you. A monitor was mounted to the wall, and a keyboard was below the counter. Napkins were placed in a holder on the counter.

After answering a few questions on the screen, in each station a small door to the test kitchen opened. A tray with a cup of water and a sandwich was slid in front of each of us. It felt very futuristic, even if it was in kind of a dystopian way. We'd been instructed to eat at least half of the sample before answering the questions. The way I looked at it is that I was getting paid to eat supper.

As expected, I was testing a spicy chicken sandwich. I like this fast food chain's version of one--I believe I've called it the single best fast food sandwich--but I've been gravitating more toward Chick-fil-A's spicy chicken over the last year. Out of all of the taste tests I could be selected for, this is one that I feel extremely qualified to participate in. This is especially true having gone through it. The sample sandwich is clearly trying to duplicate the one from the chain I've been favoring lately.

I finished answering the questions (and eating the remainder of the sandwich), and that was that. As it is when visiting a fast food restaurant, this experience was quick and easy. The difference is that I left with a nice sum of cash rather than spending any.

Should-hood

File under "is this how it should be?":

-Last weekend I got some ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery because I wanted some and they were the only place I could find it where I was. There are too many good local places near where I live to give this chain a second thought, but in this instance they would do. What I didn't realize before entering the shop is that at Cold Stone the ice cream is really just a base for whatever you want to mix in. (Yes, I was aware that adding stuff to ice cream is this place's thing.) It's kind of like the ice cream itself is an afterthought. I wanted mint chocolate chip, which meant I ordered the mint ice cream and then had to ask for chocolate chips to be mixed in. Something just seemed wrong about this whole method.

-As noted yesterday, my original birth certificate was not in good enough condition to be accepted with a passport application. I went to the Vital Statistics office today to get a new one. I didn't have any trouble and was pleasantly surprised how little I had to wait. What struck me as odd is that it would seem anyone with enough basic information about me could have gone in and got my birth certificate if they wanted. I presented no identification. While I put my name, address, phone number, and e-mail on the form where it wanted to know who was requesting the information, there's nothing to say that I was that person. Could anyone who knows my full name, the city and county where I was born, the date of my birth, and my parents' full names pony up $21.50 and get my (or anyone's) birth certificate? Something about that just feels wrong.

A full plate

It would be fitting to write about my dad, what with it being Father's Day and all, and I might have done so if things had gone according to plan. I made the trip to Cincinnati to spend the weekend watching the Reds as a way to unwind from the end of the school year. I also intended for it to be a time to spend with my dad, as he lives far enough away that getting to the games isn't easy if you just want to go for the day. Since he and my mom are getting ready to close on a house and move, he couldn't join me. Assuming the Reds don't go in the tank over the next month, I've floated the idea of doing this in July.

Before the game I went to breakfast and ordered the bacon pancakes. I assumed it was more like bacon bits sprinkled into the batter rather than the sizable pieces you can see pictured above. They were good, although somehow the bacon's taste didn't quite come through as much being in the pancakes. But not to fear, I also got a side order of bacon, which was fantastic. (Hey, I'm exercising regularly, so I can sort of justify eating this.)

Plus, I walked all the way from Kentucky to Ohio. (OK, it was probably only a mile.) Of the things that I love, not paying much for parking is on the list. Three bucks to park for a professional sporting event? That's a win.

The Reds still didn't have much offense in them, but they managed to win and send me home on a high note. Although rain fell before the game, it held off until the top of the ninth. All in all, the weather was pretty good for mid-June.

The weekend was much more of a whirlwind than I'd hoped, but it was a pleasant 48 hours out of town. Let's do it again soon.

Tidbits

What is going on with this weather? At the end of last week I was bemoaning the fact that my air conditioning isn't working. Today I turned the heat back on.

A few months ago I was disappointed to see that Healthy Choice's Honey Ginger Chicken was no longer being carried at the grocery stores I shop at most often. I've since found it at a different local chain and at a grocery store when I was in New Jersey, but I thought they might have been exhausting their inventory. Apparently not. I bought some more today. Weird that nobody else seems to be stocking it.

Lazy, blind, or both? I set up a small Christmas tree--my first--in my apartment in late November or early December 2009. I still haven't put it away. Sometimes I forget that it's even there.

Weird cravings

I don't know why I suddenly wanted them, I don't know when I last had them, but the craving presented itself. The next time I was at the grocery, I bought some.

I'm talking about sandwich cookies. Sure, Oreos are sandwich cookies, but I'm talking about them in the general sense. Some are chocolate, some aren't. (Some are lemon.) They all have that sweet creme filling.

My grandmother always had cookies of some kind in a jar that I'd stop in and get after school when I was in junior high and high school. My brothers surely followed suit. Her house was across the street from the family business, which is where I'd put in a couple hours once classes were over. Sometimes the jar had cookies she made. (Sometimes those were in the freezer.) Other times there were sandwich cookies. They're usually among the cheapest cookies you can buy at the grocery, especially since all I found today were the store brand in a minimally designed package. I know at least one brand existed, but for all I know, they've been discontinued like Hydrox.

Who knows what spurred me to think of them and go to the trouble of buying them. (It's like that Pringles phase I went through this year.) I suspect I'm going to struggle to polish off the package now that I have them. It was still nice to bring back the memories associated with the sandwich cookies.

Pretzel logic

About ready to conk out from an extremely busy day. One highlight: I finally was able to have a fresh, locally made pretzel from Brezel. Oh yeah.

Sweet

Columbus is a bigger city than most people realize, but it doesn't have much of an identity other than being the home of Ohio State. For those of you who don't live here, especially those outside Ohio, what do you know about Columbus? *waits* I thought so.

From what I can tell, this city has quietly developed a reputation for food. It's nice when Columbus gets some national attention, as is the case with this Time article about one of my favorite things in town. Surely I've written about Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams here before, and if I haven't, then suffice it to say that their ice creams are as good as they get. I have a pint of Meyer lemon yogurt from Jeni's in the freezer, and it's taken a lot of willpower not to gobble it all down in one sitting. (I haven't, thank you very much.)

So put Jeni's on your list of Places to Go in Columbus if you ever wander into town. (You could order some online, but it's kind of pricey, at least in my view, to have the ice cream shipped.)

Uh oh

Has it come to this? I was completely cleaned out of the frozen meals that comprise most of my diet, so I stopped at the grocery late tonight on the way home. I opened the freezer door and started selecting the usual. Wait, what's this? NEW OPTIONS!!!

Getting excited over new frozen meals offered by my manufacturer of choice shows how far I've come in a month and a half, doesn't it?

Granted, since I've mostly been rotating the same meals all year, meaning it's not out of the ordinary for me to have the same one twice a week, I'm probably due to be tiring of what I'm eating. A couple of different ones to throw into the mix really is a big deal. Still, it's kind of pathetic, right?

Sorry for another entry about eating. This year has been work, exercise, and little else. It's been productive, but I could stand to have a break. Knitting needs to get into the mix.

Weird eats

I was reading The AV Club's survey of its writers about weird childhood foods, and the memories came flooding back about the strange stuff I ate. The following items were not consumed out of necessity but because I liked them or because others ate them. I cannot say that I remember when I last ate any of these, so it's been some time.

-Mustard sandwiches

These are self-explanatory. I like mustard. Spread it on some bread and there you go.

-Grated Parmesan cheese sandwiches

As far as I know, this recipe is my own creation. Toast two pieces of bread. Shake Kraft grated Parmesan cheese on one piece of toast. Top with the other piece of toast. It's a good thing I'm not hungry right now because this sounds good. Of all the items on this list, this is one I'm likely to have eaten within the last ten to fifteen years.

I would also dip into that memorable green can to eat the grated cheese by the spoonful.

-Cinnamon Graham crackers with cake frosting

Take two cinnamon Graham crackers and put cake frosting, preferably vanilla, between them. I'm so ashamed.

-Ice cream with Ritz crackers

This one may have come from my grandmother. I remember that sometimes she would eat vanilla ice cream with Ritz crackers kind of like one might enjoy chips and salsa. What's the idea behind it? I DON'T KNOW.

-Ice cream with Nestle Quik

In comparison to the rest, this one probably isn't as weird and might even be considered normal use of the product. Sprinkle the powdered flavoring on top of vanilla ice cream and mix in to create a new flavor--I'd use chocolate and strawberry--or don't mix it in and enjoy. That works too.

-Chicken livers

I'll end on something that is legitimately recognized as what one might eat. I loved chicken livers as a kid. I want to say that I even got them from Kentucky Fried Chicken on occasion. I definitely ate those that my grandmother made. I think that at one point I must have been put off them, probably when I became more aware of what livers are. Still, it done right, I think I'd eat these again.

Fess up. What weird things did you eat as a kid?

Contains original blogging flavor!

The headline says plenty: "Fake Blueberries Masquerade As Real Fruit". (The video that is the basis for the article can be found here.)

The short of it is that many products that appear to contain blueberries aren't made with the fruit but rather a combination of sugars, oils, and dyes. Despite what you might simply and reasonably assume, especially from the name and description on the box, you better check the list of ingredients to see if any are actually in there.

To this news I give a big sigh. Life can be busy enough without needing to parse every single little thing to deal with nonsense like this. The box of blueberry muffin mix in my kitchen lists blueberries in the ingredients, so I guess I lucked into that one.

Discontinued

During January I've been subsisting mostly on Healthy Choice meals for lunch and dinner. If I'm going to eat out of convenience and putting forth the least effort, I might as well sample a variety of their frozen meals so I don't get bored with it.

Of those I've tried my favorite is the Honey Ginger Chicken. The flavor is fairly intense, especially for these kinds of meals. While I've tried not to repeat any meals in back-to-back days, this one occasionally has been the exception to the rule.

It's also been discontinued.

A couple weeks ago I saw it on sale for less than anything else in the freezer. I happily purchased a few extras. I wondered if the yellow closeout sticker with the lower price meant that it wouldn't be available much longer. That's what closeout means, right? I wasn't too concerned since there were plenty boxes of the meal at this grocery.

A few days later I went back and stockpiled five more Honey Ginger Chicken meals. There was no shortage in the freezer, so I figured I might be able to stretch this out for awhile. I recently discovered that this particular offering is no longer available where I've been doing most of my grocery shopping. Uh oh.

Today I decided to check out a different chain in a different part of town. Surely they'll have a few. Nope. Not a one. I will probably try to plunder a few other stores before I stop the search, and I may still locate some. The writing is on the wall, though. I better savor the last three of these that I possess.

Healthy choices

First of all, yes, I know I could be doing better than eating Healthy Choice meals for lunch and dinner, but it's a vast improvement over the fast food routine I resumed the past couple years. While I did feel a sense of shame in sidling up to the checkout line conveyor belt with a basket loaded with these boxes--what does that say?--I also knew I was making a better effort to be smart about what I'm eating.

If I'm going to settle for the quick option--and that's definitely been a major factor in what I consume--I might as well go for the healthier alternative. This week is a bruiser for me. There's no way I have the time or inclination to make something. So frozen meals it is.

The thing is, I'm finding that there are some good ones available. I'm not going to make any claims that these are the epitome of dining, but I've found some that have good flavor. (Some are also bland as bland.) I feel little guilty about the amount of (presumably) non-recyclable packaging that the meals come in. There was no symbol on the steamer pack for today's lunch. Still, it's the best I can do for the time being. Consider these a gateway to improved habits.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that at some point I may have to do a rundown of my favorites and non-favorites and that I'm taking baby steps toward one of my New Year's resolutions.

Bueno

Three or five years ago I first saw the logo for fast food franchise Taco Bueno. I became kind of obsessed with it. The word bubble with "bueno" in it looks like something that anyone could have (and might have) whipped up in a pinch on MS Paint. It fascinated me because it looks so unpolished. Surely something like that would never pass muster with test market groups.

Yet that logo is what had me wanting to go to the restaurant and determined to get to one this time while down here in the Dallas-Fort Worth. Readers, today was that day.

Basically Taco Bueno appears to be similar too but a step up from Taco Bell. (Granted, I don't know how many years it's been since I last set foot in a Taco Bell.) I went with a simple and straightforward order--three beef tacos and a drink--and was able to sample one of my brothers' orders of monkey bread. Yes, monkey bread!

The food was fine for the kind of place that it is. The meat wasn't greasy, especially when compared to what I recall Taco Bell's offerings being. (This is a big plus.) Some extra fixings--jalapenos and a few different kinds of salsa--are a nice touch. I didn't peruse the menu too closely, but it seems like they have a wider variety than their Mexican fast food competitors.

The closest Taco Buenos to my home are in Columbia and Blue Springs, Missouri and Conway, Arkansas. So not very. Dumb as it sounds, I was legitimately excited to be able to get to one of these restaurants today. (I figured my mom would not be too keen on the idea.) I'm surely more fixated on this franchise because it's inaccessible to me on a daily basis but that's okay. I can order a t-shirt from their online store, and if I'm ever in the vicinity of one, I can know that it's worth a visit.

And it's all because of that crazy logo.

Hankering

Food is more than its flavor or caloric value. It can be, perhaps most powerfully, a time machine. (Here's where I'd talk about Proust for a bit, but I've not read any.)

For some reason I've found myself getting a few items that I haven't purchased and eaten in who knows how long. For that matter, I shouldn't be buying and eating them, but that's not the point of this piece.

What did I buy? Pringles. Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes. Andes Creme de Menthe Thins. (See, I told you it was junk.)

Pringles don't even come close to being the ideal potato chip--they're classified as potato crisps--yet there's something tempting about them. (Probably it's all the sodium.) I remember that we had them around when I was a kid. I want to say that I associate them with my maternal grandmother, but that could be memory playing tricks on me. Crazy as it sounds, the can itself may be part of the appeal. I can recall them being reused for craft projects and possibly other purposes.

Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes--the vanilla kind--are seasonal treats that I also remember from my childhood. They're also ridiculously good, at least if one doesn't have them in a year's time.

Andes Creme de Menthe Thins were among my mom's favorites when I was growing up. Around this time of year they were usually around the house, and it wasn't out of the ordinary for us each to get a box of them at Christmas.

I'll know that I'm indulging some junk food nostalgia if I go out and buy Zingers (if they're still available). I associate the Snoopy-promoted snack cakes with my maternal grandmother, perhaps because her house is where I remember having them. If I get myself a Life Savers Sweet Story Book, an annual stocking stuffer, then there's no doubt this time of year and the available sweets are stirring up the past.

Seasonal

Today the air was crisp and provided a reminder that autumn is here. The weather this season hasn't quite lived up to what I usually expect from the fall, so it was nice to get something more representative for this time of year.

At the grocery store I saw pumpkin pies and was tempted to purchase one. I resisted but the seed was planted. So I made one tonight. It didn't quite turn out. In an effort to make the healthier choice, I opted for the fat-free evaporated milk. The recipe called for sweetened condensed milk. Let's just say the pie could stand to be sweeter, even if it means more calories.

But a chill in the air! Pumpkin pie! Apple cider! Fall is here!

Off to market

When I'm out of state I like to visit local grocery stores. I'm not sure how this quirk developed, but I enjoy popping in to unfamiliar chains to see how they differ from what I'm used to and to find things that aren't available where I live. I don't necessarily go out of my way to do this, but if the opportunity is there, I'll take it.

During my summer travels I perused the aisles at Lueken's Village Foods and Marketplace Foods in Bemidji, Minnesota; an independent grocery in Blackduck, Minnesota; Hannaford stores in Oneonta, New York and Bangor, Maine; Market Basket in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Price Chopper in Dunmore, Pennsylvania (near Scranton).

I suppose that part of the appeal is just getting a sense of what an average place is like somewhere else. One of the Minnesota groceries had all of the dental rinses behind the customer service counter and took the requested products to the checkout line. (In other words, at no time did I as a customer handle this particular item until I paid for it.) My best guess is that some of these rinses contain alcohol, so they're trying to keep them from being stolen by teens. (I did see various signs or billboards warning about meth use in this area, so who knows.) This place also didn't do cash back on debit cards. I'm not making a judgment. I simply find these differences interesting.

Of course, the local and regional products are what entice me the most. Although Rippin' Good Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies are made in Wisconsin, I bought them in Minnesota. The purchase was motivated due to the brand name. I also bought coconut M&M's at a Minnesota convenience store under the assumption that they might be a test market item. (Nope, probably just limited edition.)

In Oneonta I was tempted by what looked to be a budget line of sodas. I picked up an adk grape soda for that evening and adk blue pop for some other time (which proved to be tonight). I mean, come on, blue pop! What could that be? This particular brand and flavor appears to be something of a mystery. I'd peg the taste as something akin to blue raspberry or blueberry. Actually, it's pretty good and better than the grape, which seemed kind of flat. But what in the world is glycerol ester of wood rosin, which is a listed ingredient, and is this common?! (Apparently so.)

The prize find of my wanderings, though, was something I was specifically looking for: Moxie. It's an unusual soft drink that tastes like a differently spiced root beer, for lack of a better way of describing it. Upon returning from Maine I regretted not bringing more back with me--distribution is limited to part of the northeast--so I must be selective in consuming the stock I have.

I also got a whoopie pie in Maine. The one I ate was like two oatmeal cookies pasted together with cake frosting. That took a couple of sittings to polish off.