Read posts about food

October 4

and you call that food? (eccentric squares (Kuya)) by noel

new for 2008: a spaminal, caught in the wild!


spam with cheesesince the alcosandraholic posts periodically about her liquid vice, and since i said i would profess my love for the nectar of the gods online, i figured this could be considered occasion to start a semiregular (which means this will probably be the only one) entry on the food i eat. the title of this post derives from the fact that what i call lunch is shunned by most of western civilization, starving wolves, and flesh eating bacteria. in fact, the term OMGWTFBBQ!?! was coined after my discovery of new pizza sauce substitutes.

topping out my list of culinary contributions to the world is the spamburger with cheese. it may surprise some to learn that a spamburger with cheese is in reality a food and not a 4th grade insult. originally, i would put cheese in my spam sandwiches, so imagine my delight when i discovered that the animal (i call him the spaminal) from which spam originates, has now been genetically combined with cheese!

the spaminal in the wild: artist's depiction


the original spaminal was originally 50% hoof and 50% snout, however this new genetic combination entails a 20% dairy imitation (which means it's hoof + snout + udder). surprisingly, spam with cheese does not look that appealing out of the can. there are little yellow chunks in the pink imeatation (or imutation if you prefer). i thought that it would tastier after frying (melted cheese does that), however it just got angry at me when i tried to stick it in the frying pan.

Armour Vienna Sausagenext on my list of typical lunches is vienna sausage. i like vienna sausage, because they require even less preparation than spam. on the days that my roommate cooks rice, i'll just scoop some rice into a bowl, grab a can of vienna sausage, then just pop it in the microwave at work. so if you're looking for a diet to help produce the muscular physique i have, consider increasing your discarded-meat-product intake. actually i think the primary reason i eat vienna sausage is because i tend to eat it with:

MY BELOVED BANANA SAUCE!!

i love banana sauce

under my pillow is a list of inanimate objects that i would propose marriage to if such actions weren't precluded by established social convention, religion, and the law. jufran's banana sauce constitutes 86% of that list. discussing the other 14% would invite ridicule and scorn. ok, now back to the love of my life. if you haven't tried it, it's like a sweet sweet ketchup. it's good with rice, chicken, hamburgers, bread, beef, milk, chocolate, ice cream, straight from the bottle, just about anything. in fact, i have to be careful not to get any on my cheek or lips, because if that were to happen, i would probably eat my own face. considered THE BEST CONDIMENT EVAR by some and an act of god by most, truly banana sauce is a must try.


STINKY TOFU!

back on the topic of and you call that food, is something i've heard legends about and i'd like to try, but actually haven't the opportunity myself: chòu dòufu, which apprently translates to stinky tofu. i wet myself laughing every time i read that. here is a food which by definition is an olfactory assault (raw sewage anyone?) for which it makes no attempt at amends. at times, i've called my cafeteria's menu: dirt flavored shit, but i doubt that's what the chefs called it. stinky tofu *wetness* has the appeal of "fatty corpuscle". like michael jackson's bad, it has the capability to entirely reverse a word's connotations! if banana sauce can work for spam and vienna sausage though, i'm sure it could cure even the stinkiest of tofus.

to summarize, above i've outlined several dishes: spam with cheese, vienna sausage, stinky tofu, all of which are arguably edible. the moral of the story is that banana sauce will make them all better! (as long as you don't end up eating your own face)
Posted in: commented on , food , pictures
September 29

chocolate meat (eccentric squares (Kuya)) by noel


i've written previously about food in the philippines. unfortunately, there is a very small (isolated, both socially and diplomatically) slice of the general population which has not read my blog before. today, an elderly white man in my apartments' elevator read my t-shirt and said:

"di-noo-goo-ahn? wow, meat with chocolate, that sounds tasty. i'd like to try that"

muhahahahaha. i might just stop by his apartment one day and bring him some...

Dinuguan, or dinardaraan in Ilocano or "pork blood stew" in English, is a Filipino savory stew of blood and meat simmered in a rich, spicy gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili and vinegar. The term dinuguan comes from the word dugo meaning "blood". It is recognizably thick and dark, hence the Westernized term "chocolate pudding". It is similar to the Singapore dish pig's organ soup, differing in that it does not contain vegetables and has a characteristically thick gravy. Due to the offal it is frequently considered an unusual or alarming dish to those in Western culture, though it is rather similar to European-style blood sausage, or British black pudding in a saucy stew form. It is often served with white rice or a Filipino rice caked called puto.
Posted in: food , pictures
May 17

Summary of my saturday [biking, food, health & lifestyle, life] (Clint Ecker (clintology)) by Clint Ecker

  • Woke up at 5:45am
  • Chilled, ate ramen
  • 7:30am hopped on the bike with Jacqui and rode down to Lincoln Park and the just-opened-for-the-season Green City Market

  • Bought a bunch of delicious food for dinner, watched people and dogs, laid in the grass. Watched Mayor Daley congratulate the operators of the market (it’s the 10 year anniversary—just like Ars!)
  • Stopped at Trader Joe’s to pick up some items for the mashed potatoes (and wine)
  • Chilled out at home for a while.
  • Around 12:30pm, rode our bikes down to Division/Damen, got some sandwiches from Jimmy Johns and ate lunch in Wicker Park (the actual park). Lounged in the sun on the grass, chilled, watched people.


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  • Around 3pm, took a 3 hour nap
  • Around 7pm, cooked up a feast of a dinner from our purchases from the market. Over roasted, pastured chicken breast. Mashed french fingerling potatoes, and grilled, giant purple asparagus!

Best day ever… yet :)

Posted in: biking , food , health & lifestyle , life
May 10

Add vinegar to your bean dip [food] (Clint Ecker (clintology)) by Clint Ecker

Posted in: food
April 2

We're a biking team [food, health & lifestyle, life] (Clint Ecker (clintology)) by Clint Ecker

This past Saturday, Jacqui got herself a new bike. She wrote about our trip to the Village Cycle Shop in Old Town and her new bike, a Gary Fisher Wingra.

While there, I picked up a wireless bike computer, because, well, I’ve wanted one for a while and VCS was having a Spring super sale.

When I got it home, it was missing a piece. I got the piece replaced today after work and got it all hooked up.

Only problem? The damn thing doesn’t work! I’ve tried aligning the magnet in a billion different ways, moving the sensor up and down the fork, everything. The stupid thing is busted. Now I’m going to have to stop by again and get a new one.

The coolest thing about the both of us having bike now, is that we can run errands together and get a workout at the same time. After I failed to install this computer, we took a ride to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to grab sheets for our new king bed mattress that’s arriving tomorrow.

We also went to Trader Joe’s and picked up a pound of amazing bacon for dinner. What did we make? Bacon wrapped shrip and eggplant salad:

The shimp is pretty straight forward, but the eggplant was sliced, covered in olive oil, grilled, and mixed with balsamic vinegar, pine nuts, goat cheese and mixed together into a pseudo-mush. It was delicious!

Posted in: food , health & lifestyle , life
October 18

Yelp! (Cotter's Corner (IRS)) by IRS

So, I was reading some comment on eJaqui's blog today and I noticed the badge for a place called Yelp in her sidebar. So, I started checking it out and it's pretty darned cool. It's a social-networking/reviews site. It's more reviews than the social networking, so… I signed up. And yeah, the uber-trendy eJ signed up for it like a YEAR ago, but I'm a little slow to the game. So, I reviewed a couple of places here locally (and the OMG awesome Doc Chey's in Asheville). I'm going to keep adding some places over time but I have a few reviews in at this point and I'm going to be adding more. If you wanna check out my reviews head here. For right now, it's mostly a bunch of restaurant reviews, but I'll add more later. I really like the idea!

Posted in: food
October 12

My bravery for today... (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

Packaged DurianI have just had a durian.

What can I say? Most of you, I am going to guess, have NEVER heard of this fruit (except possibly [info]wombat1138, who once shocked us by having canned white jelly fungus in her parent's cupboard). I had only heard OF it on the Food Network or something. Let me tell you... even though it was in a shrink-wrapped box filled with three cling-wrapped logs... all inside a plastic grocery bag... you could smell it coming in the room.

How do I describe it? I am sure many people have tried. My description is like a combination of leeks, gasoline, rotting fruit, and old diapers. The smell has the same tang fungus has when you find it on something in your fridge. There's a dusty rotten taste that hits you through your nose, and lingers like a volatile chemical one should vent before your OSHA inspector smells it.

But my boss and the data center technician wanted to try it, based on a semi-dare "there's no such thing" said by the NOC, who became conspicuously absent when the tiny bundle arrived. I *had* to taste it, because I heard it's actually good once you get past the smell.

When we cut through the shrink wrap on the box, our eyes started to water. But it was tolerable to me and my boss, while the DC guy left the kitchen. "I am not kidding guys," he warned us, "you can taste the smell even from out here." But I got used to it pretty fast. My boss knew HOW to eat it, so he said it was just the flesh. When we unwrapped the cling wrap, the smell got no worse. In fact, the bulk of the bad smell seemed to have already floated away, and was worse in the back of the kitchen than near the flesh of the fruit. Or maybe we just got used to it.

The flesh, by the way, looked like someone had left a soggy Dim Sum sausage at the bottom of a sink. It has a kind of fibrous "skin" much like a weak cloth, and the flesh was like custard. I took a small spoonful.

It was actually pretty good! No, really! I would have eaten a whole one if I didn't worry what my stomach might do with it (and so far, so good), and I was going to get on board the Metro in 40 minutes, so I didn't want to risk my stomach going, "Out. OUT!!" The taste was like spicy mango vanilla pudding with onions, but not really in a bad way. It tasted SOOO much better than it smelled.

Really.

I love new things. Posted in: durian , experiment , food , fruit
July 15

Kam sa needa! (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

I feel better today. I have to admit, Friday I felt like dog meat, but got better in the afternoon despite the fact [info]takayla left for the whole weekend to be with her sister Debbie for her birthday. [info]anyarm and Brain went with her, so that meant someone had to stay home with the dogs, and CR is still 16, and wasn't feeling very well anyway.

I was resigned to spend the whole weekend alone catching up one housework, but luckily, [info]aksident came to the rescue, and she stayed Friday into Saturday morning. She was having a very bad Friday the 13th, and needed some company not related to her, so her and CR and I went out to Starbucks, hung around until close, walked home, and was up until about 1am when we all crashed.

Saturday brought more fun as I was invited to a cookout with the Heares, Bruce, and Cheryl which is kind of symbolic because the Heares and FanTek are like surrogate families in a way. It ended at a trip to Super H Mart, which I had been told was the major Asian supermarket one anime fan MUST go to. For YEARS people have been telling me to go there to pick up the latest of Asian cuisine, but everyone flaked. And I live like 4 miles away.

I thought it was nice, but I have to admit, it wasn't a very clean place. It was far bigger than I thought, even though I had passed by it before. There were THRONGS of people of ALL nationalities crammed into that place, which was as big as an average supermarket here, but more packed full of customers than I have ever seen around here except just before a winter storm. I say it wasn't clean because they had a minor fly problem, some of their fresh produce was rotting (I couldn't find ONE bag of oranges, for instance, that didn't have a molding orange in it), and a lot of stuff was worn, dented, and poorly labeled. Maybe I am a spoiled American snob, so I tried to tell myself it seemed like a Hong Kong market and a little germiness or limp brown leafiness never hurt anyone.

Their seafood section was wide open. Assorted things from the sea, some of which didn't look very nice, lay in open pans of ice. They had mottled gray "Korean Squid," which looked larger than the white squid I am used to. I don't know what makes it Korean, but they also looked angry, as if to say, "What are YOU looking at, bub?" [info]stodgycat actually took a picture of them, which I thought might be rude, but I was also thinking of doing the same thing. I looked at some kind of small pink eel, which looked like a disturbing combination of sliced erect penis, earthworm, and a carrot, and wondered, "How does one cook this?" I thought that a lot at this place. I recalled Anthony Bourdain's trip to South Korea, and how the seafood stew had some of these fish and bivalves I was looking at.

They had a poor Pocky selection, but WOW, made up for it in the rest of the candy. They even had some Swedish brands there, which was a little surprising, although the only Marabou they had was the small bars with hazelnuts (I am not a hazelnut fan). I got some Anna's Gingersnaps anyway. And some Giant Strawberry Pocky. I got a lot of Ramune, in flavors I have never seen, including something only labeled "Children's flavor." I have never eaten children before, but I imagine now they are quite mildly sweet with a hint of coconut milk. I also drank something awesome that was green tea with brown rice. It tastes like strong tea with a Shredded Wheat aftertaste. This may not appeal to some, but it certainly appeals to me.

They also had a huge kitchen section, with personal rice cookers (yay) for $100 (boo), but I bet I can get cheaper elsewhere, or even there if I am not holding up my pants with one hand. They also had an anime section, which I got a gift for [info]takayla.

I could have spent hours there, but I have lost so much weight since last summer, my shorts weren't staying up. I'll go back, but only if I know how to select fresh squid, and have a recipe ready. Posted in: anime , food , heares
July 9

BOOM goes a box(?) of spoiled chicken broth (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

Okay, maybe it didn't go "boom," but I smelled something funky Saturday night and found much to my horror a foil box of chicken broth had split open. I am not sure if it blew open because it spoiled, or was just defective, but it got all over the top shelf of my pantry and spilled a little to the lower shelves.

Obviously, I had to toss a LOT of food out. I took this opportunity to continue my "shit that needs to be cleaned for the last few years" and toss out a lot of dubious crap. Lucky for me, a majority of the chicken broth got absorbed by two old boxes of Bisquick, two boxes of some bran cereal I don't think anyone was eating anyway, some pouches of "EZ-mix packaged" envelopes (like brown gravy, taco seasoning, ranch dressing, dip mix, etc), a bag of rice, two boxes of "No Pudge Fudge," a box of Lipton tea bags, and a round carton of generic iodized salt. I also tossed out a lot of spices we have had for so long, they no longer had any odor (which I assume means the spices were no longer potent). I don't know how we ended up with so many boxes of Jell-O or pudding mix, but I have enough to last a while. I must remember to make them all, because they make a very nice low-fat dessert (well, the Jell-O does). I also seem to be waiting for a disaster that requires making lasagna at any moment, because I have three large boxes of lasagna noodles.

Hey, how about Jell-O lasagna-- no, no... sorry I even thought that far.

Sadly, my contact with spoiled chicken broth made me a little ill on Sunday (even though I scrubbed my hands and made sure to clean up everything and such), but I am fine now.

Now my kitchen pantry, hall pantry, and fridge have been cleaned out, although the fridge needs a heavy steam cleaning (I have a pressure steam cleaner which worked very well on the fridge last time) and replacement of duct tape where the shelves are breaking. I know, I know... I need a new fridge. But the previous owners had the cabinets fit around a specially sized fridge, and we can't find a modern fridge to occupy that space without some major carpentry work. Posted in: cleaning , food , lasagna , pantry
June 17

adventures in gastronomy (eccentric squares (Kuya)) by noel

for dinner, jackie and i decided to grab filipino food at alejandro's in glassell park. for dinner, we had the grilled bangus (<3 banana sauce) and the dinuguan. i hadn't eaten dinuguan since i was like 6. i think i stopped after i found out what was in it.

Dinuguan, or dinardaraan in Ilocano or "pork blood stew" in English, is a Filipino savory stew of blood and meat simmered in a rich, spicy gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili and vinegar. The term dinuguan comes from the word dugo meaning "blood". It is recognizably thick and dark, hence the Westernized term "chocolate pudding". It is similar to the Singapore dish pig's organ soup, differing in that it does not contain vegetables and has a characteristically thick gravy. Due to the offal it is frequently considered an unusual or alarming dish to those in Western culture, though it is rather similar to European-style blood sausage, or British black pudding in a saucy stew form. It is often served with white rice or a Filipino rice caked called puto.

i ate it, but i have to admit not liking it too much. i did like the bangus, with the fish eye in particular being quite tasty. after dinner, we started to reminisce about the fruits in the philippines. while my favorite all time fruit is the mango, there is one southeast asian fruit that will always hold a special place in my colon heart. that my friends is the tamarind (the magical fruit):



if you look closely at the turd tamarind above, you see that it has a distinct brown color and texture with a uniquely undulating shape. this encourages people in possession of such a fruit to chase unsuspecting roommates around with it and leave it in unexpected places.



tamarinds: fun for the whole family!
Posted in: food
June 15

drive by shooting (eccentric squares (Kuya)) by noel

IMG_2559

leigh and i had landed in montreal around new years of 2006 when we went skiing in mount saint anne, but we had never gotten much of a chance to explore montreal. as we were leaving the airport, debating if we should explore the city, we saw a sign on the side of the road that said MULTIDICK, so we ran away.

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this time, we took the ~7 hour drive up to montreal. the french speaking montreal lies at the confluence of the saint lawrence and ottawa rivers. in contrast to quebec city, the urban areas is an eclectic mixture of modern architecture, old cathedrals, and sex clubs (free buffet!).

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the 2007 canadian grand prix was held at circuit gilles villenueve, which is a man made island with a ~3 mile race track. on the island are a casino, a park inhabited by cheetos eating groundhogs and various curious canadian cultural oddities like a urinating R2D2 and a giant chia-head.


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the race weekend consisted of several different leagues and race events. we had a front row seat near the starting line and pit lane, so we were able to see up close the start, finish, and pits. the F1 cars screaming by at 200mph for 70 laps probably induced profound hearing loss. you could feel the rumbling and humming in your seat before you could even see the cars. the track itself is very technical with several crashes, including one 28G impact from a driver at ~180mph.


foodwise, i had the best korean rice bowl evar on crescent street. also, we searched out and found the (allegedly) world famous montreal bagel. i won't go as far as to say that it's better than a NY bagel (bagel melts FTW), but their smaller, sweeter, and canadian cousin was really good also. the store we went to lacked tables, stools, and plastic knives, so we dipped our bagels in tuna fish cottage cheese cream cheese at a nearby bus stop bench.


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the drive back was horrendous due to long lines at customs, but in a shout out to haters everywhere, we found that the great equalizers of traffic and cochon cut down a couple lamborghinis and maseratis that had also driven up for the weekend.
Posted in: food , pictures , tripping
January 13

phood (eccentric squares (Kuya)) by noel

noel: hey fuki, check out these pictures from the motherland
fuki: is that your dad in this picture?
noel: yup, that's him eating balut.
fuki: he looks so young
noel: he's 62
fuki: oh, it must be from eating all the unborn duck fetus

IMG_1060

IMG_1064balut is the name of a filipino delicacy. it's a boiled duck egg with a duck embryo inside. one of my uncles actually has a balut farm balut nursery duck morgue duck matrix baby duck killing camp sells balut. my dad loves it. i've never seen him happier than he is when eating balut. my mom is afraid to eat it now though. my sister and i, while we haven't tried it, aren't morally opposed to it.

there are often times, when for fun, i'll try to challenge my uber catholic parents on some of their views. usually i'll try to find fault with their argument by citing some biblical precedent. my mom is usually obsessed with me getting a haircut. so when she starts going on and on about how long my hair is (it never is), i'll usually say "well you know who had long hair...Jesus!" and then my mom usually concedes. with my dad, i said "how can you be pro-life, but continue to abort unborn duck. you can't be against abortion, but for balut." in response, i think he bit off the unborn duck's head.

IMG_1140any discussion of food in the philippines warrants the obligatory inclusion of lechon. i'm not too big a fan of pork, but i do heartily approve of it's use for decorative purposes. in the mega malls, we found another filipino favorite: tsitsaron (pork rinds). due to the pronunciation of tsitsaron, (chi-cha-ron), apparently they decided to give (as flips are so wont to do) the snack a nickname:


IMG_0817
FLIPS EAT CHINKS FOR BREAKFAST!!!

taken alone, the text above would seem to suggest that all the food we ate still had all of its organs and appendages intact (where they had properly formed). that would be all the westernized meals (i <3 filipino spaghetti) that we ate at home and in the mega malls. all the fast food chains you'd recognize in the states are in the philippines, but they often have a filipino twist. the 7-11s in the philippines have a sio-down (cha siu bao) and the food packaging tends to be more colorful.

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filipino mcdonald's (mcdo) has the usual american menu, but non american-sized. for example, you can actually order a small drink and a small fries in the philippines. the american fatass sized meals, such as the double quarter pounder with cheese and even "super-sizing" is not available in the philippines. those are regional meals unique to the states. unique to the phillippines are the taro pie and the McRice burger. i've got to say, i like the international mcdonald's pies (as recommended by angela) better than the american ones. abroad, they're fried, which makes them crispier. i liked the taro pie, but not McRice burger not so much. basically the bun was just made of rice. maybe if they used banana sauce instead of ketchup...

IMG_1059one thing that surprised me about filipinos in the philippines was how often they ate. there were two breakfasts, lunch, merienda, dinner, and some more snacks during the day. i suppose i had a different idea growing up. my mom used to tell us stories of how often times when they were young, they'd only have a bowl of rice to eat for a day. now that i think about it, there's been days when i've only had a bowl of rice to eat. but that's usually with banana sauce. oh and i suppose that's just because i'm lazy.


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fruit at a filipino market


IMG_0915the food i'll miss the most though will definitely have to be the fruits (and fruit products). the bananas, the pineapple, the chico, the list goes on and on. there are these dwarf bananas that are really sweet. but the mother of them all has got to be the filipino mango. i've tried buying mangos in the states, but they're never near the quality of the ones that come from the philippines. my mom said that often, the mangos labeled "manila mangos" are actually from mexico. the mangos in the motherland are super sweet, not fibrous, and are so soft, that the way we usually eat them is with a spoon. cutting up mangos into small slices means you have an inferior mango. we had all things mango in the philippines, including mango ice cream. i really wish i could have smuggled some back. Posted in: commented on , food , philippines
November 28

TV : Throwdown with Bobby Flay : Breakfast : Food Network [ma.gnolia] (Put together quickly (Haligan)) by MichaelBiven

One of my favorite restaurants in Louisville is on Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

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Posted in: bobby flay , food , louisville , lynn winter , recipes , restaurant