MMM, TASTES LIKE NOSTALGIA
Remember this blog in which I reminisced about the cheesy garlic bread that I used to get at Pizza Hut when I was a kid/teen?
I forgot to follow that up with a review of this bread, since you can still get it up here in Canada (according to my mom, it’s no longer on the menu in the States – at least in Moscow).
My review? IT’S FREAKING GREAT
How good does that look? And it tastes exactly like I remember it.
So if you ever used to get this at Pizza Hut and you’re ever up in Canada, try it again? It’ll give you a big nostalgia hit.
MATCHA, MATCHA MAN (An Update)
Yo.
So further research on matcha revealed to me that I may have used water that was too hot, which may have messed with the flavor. So today I:
1) used water at the oft-recommended temperature of 175 degrees;
2) used the higher recommended amount of matcha powder (1 teaspoon)
Picture of result:
And the taste?
Yup. Still nothing.
I reiterate from yesterday: my chemical senses are so broken, man.
MATCHA, MATCHA MAN (I wanna be…a matcha man!)
In my “One of These Teas Must Taste Like Something, Dammit” quest, I bought some matcha powder when I was in the States. Y’know the stuff that apparently has a super strong taste.
“Matcha has a bright, vegetal, and slightly bitter taste, with notes of sweetness and umami” according to Artful Tea.
Pic of final product:
It looks like someone took the wet grass clippings from under a lawn mower and squeezed the liquid into a cup, huh?
Want to guess what it tastes like to me?
My chemical senses are so broken, man.
Phood Phixation
So I’m sure this is a relatable thing to quite a lot of people, but does anyone else latch on to some specific food and want THAT FOOD and THAT FOOD ONLY for like a month and then never want to touch it again?
Remember all those freaking string cheeses I showed y’all a few months ago? Yeah, I’m over those now.
This month’s fixation is this:
Will I hate them forever by June?
Probably.
Humans are weird.
Fromage A Trois
What up, POSERS??
I’m back in Moscow for a stint. Did a marathon this morning and then went to WinCo.
The tariffs are already starting to hit grocery prices, huh? Prices at WinCo were, in general, much higher than I remember from last year.
The one exception? Dairy.
Consider this bag of cheese:
How much do you think this little buddy cost?
$1.98.
$1.98.
At absolute minimum, a bag of cheese this size in Calgary would cost like $5.95.
Insanity.
Anyway.
OH MY GOD IS FOODGAWKER BACK??????
I haven’t been posting mass recipe lists because Foodgawker was dead for quite some time.
But now…it lives?!?!?!?!?!?!
RECIPE DUMP FOR OLD TIME’S SAKE, THEN!
Turkey Wrap Supremacy
Guys, look at this thing:
It’s a tortilla with turkey and cream cheese in it.
It’s super boring and plain.
And it’s the best tasting thing EVER.
I randomly decided to get one of these from FreshCo the other day because they were out of the regular turkey sandwiches, but this is SO MUCH BETTER. This is like the perfect post-running food.
Edit: okay, so apparently ONLY FreshCo has these; I haven’t been able to find them at Safeway. My guess is that they make these to use up any old turkey and tortillas from their other wraps and sandwiches, which is why they go to FreshCo and not Safeway itself.
Safeway, you should start selling these too, yo…so good!
I guess I just can’t taste ANY OF THESE DAMN TEAS THEN
So remember back at the beginning of the month when I tried a new type of tea and couldn’t taste it?
Well, here is my tea collection now:
The only one I can taste is the green tea, and just barely. I think if I were blindfolded, I could tell that it was not just water but maybe water mixed with something else. But for all those other teas?
NOTHING.
They all taste like hot water and ONLY hot water.
Even when they’re room temperature or cold, they just taste like water.
HOW?
Does smell really contribute that much to the tea experience? Or is my sense of taste broken as well?
(Note that I’ll keep drinking these; I may not be able to taste them, but tea has some health benefits, so I might as well get ‘em.)
What the hell is wrong with me?
(Many, many things.)
So as you may be aware (especially if you’re my husband or my mom), I have trouble finishing the packages of things – food items in particular.
For example, if I have a bag of spaghetti, I will never finish it down to the last spaghetti noodle. I’ll use like 90% of it and then start in on a new bag. And then just repeat this until I have 20+ bags that have 10% of the spaghetti left in them. And that’s just one example – I could give you like twenty other ones.
The newest problem is string cheese. You buy them in bags of 8, 16, or 24 up here and GUESS WHO CAN’T FINISH A DAMN BAG BEFORE BUYING A NEW ONE?
CAN YOU GUESS???? ?? ?
??
?
Visual proof:
I reiterate: what the hell is wrong with me?
Huh…
So the only type of tea I’ve ever tried before today was green tea, but on a whim I bought some English breakfast tea because green tea has only the slightest flavor to it to me and I wanted to see what a different type of tea tastes like.
This is what it looked like:
And this is the Google description of the flavor:
So did I like it?
Well, yeah, but that’s because it just tasted like hot water. Even when it cooled down to room temperature, it just tasted like room temperature water.
So…I can’t taste English breakfast tea, apparently.
Huh.
To Nom or Not to Nom
My daily food intake over the past like two weeks or so:
- 2-4 string cheeses
- Red Bull
- That’s pretty much it.
(I just haven’t been hungry for a few weeks, haha.)
Coming to Canada? WANT TASTIES??
Four of them are in Calgary. I don’t know where Eight, D.O.P., and Major Tom are, but the River Café is on Prince’s Island Park. I use their year-round public bathroom sometimes, haha.
As for the Vancouver ones, I feel like I’ve heard of Published on Main (and probably walked by it if it’s actually on Main St.), but I’ve never heard of the other ones.
It’s too bad I’m so picky about food, otherwise I’d probably enjoy exploring those four Calgary restaurants.
Itty Bitty Pasta Blog
If you can find this wherever you live, freaking get it. It’s tasty.
That’s all.
Recipe Redux
Yo.
I am currently on a (several-months-long) journey to finally organize all my Chrome bookmarks. One of my sub-folders contains all my favorite recipes that I’ve found over the years. And while I’ve already posted my Recipe Master List a while back, I think some of these didn’t make that cut but are good* anyway. So here they are.
- Baked Breakfast Croissant Sandwiches
- Creamy Mushroom Pasta
- Gordon Ramsay’s Scrambled Eggs
- Spinach and Cheddar Rolled Omelet
- Stuffed Shells with Spinach and Ricotta
BYE!
*Most of these I haven’t actually tried yet, hahaha, but THEY LOOK GOOD, OKAY
Recall:
Okay so random thought: Pizza Hut still sells those breadstick things, right?
These bad boys:
And they still sell the garlic bread:
Does anyone remember when they used to sell cheesy garlic bread? It was that garlic bread above but with the best freaking melted mozzarella on top. They don’t sell that anymore and it sucks because that stuff was the BEST. ‘Twas my childhood. I ordered cheesy garlic bread more often than I ordered pizza back when my mom, dad, and I would go there on Thursdays.
EDIT: HOLY SHIT YOU CAN STILL ORDER THE GARLIC BREAD WITH CHEESE ALDSJFLFAJALDFKAJLGHAREFIADFY
Carbs Aplenty
Yummers.
I hate how carbs have been vilified. Carbs are wonderful. They power your brain. They help you run. They’re TASTY.
Wafflin’
So I’ve been running from my office (rather than from home) the past several runs. When I do so, I always forget to grab my chocolate milk and throw it in the lounge fridge.
And when I ran from my office this morning, that’s exactly what I did. Forgot my choccy milk.
However, I’d bought a few energy waffles last time I was at Safeway because I wanted to try them (as an alternate to the Gu packets). Specifically, these:
So I tried one.
It was super tasty! It’s a lot softer than it looks and kind of melts into a gritty chew when you bite it. This one is honey flavor; I also have a few salted caramel flavored ones too (because the salted caramel has been my favorite Gu flavor so far).
So yeah, if you need some energies, give these a try!
Boof
Grilled cheese!
Am I the only one who doesn’t like the crunchy cheese bits? Like…cheese is supposed to be soft and melty. I don’t want that texture interrupted by crusty bits. Ick.
But I’m weird.
Oh my GOD
THIS LOOKS SO GOOD
(Sorry, I just want ALL THE CARBS thanks to all the running, haha)
I want carbs.
I ALWAYS want carbs.
I’d blame the running, but I think I’ve always just wanted carbs, haha.
Anyway, have some carbs:
Also, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of blooming spices. Interesting.
LOOK AT THESE FREAKING CUTE CHIPS
That is all.
Captain Macaroni and Dr. Cheese
I love these kinds of things, yo.
Haha, I like how everyone could identify the Kraft Mac & Cheese. It’s iconic, after all. I’m surprised that they didn’t rip on the Velveeta, too. Some of these options look really good!
New Tasty
So my new favorite food combo is baba ghanoush and cauliflower. Specifically, this baba ghanoush:
It’s SO FREAKING GOOD. I’ve been having practically a whole head of cauliflower and three tablespoons of baba every day. Super tasty. You should try it!
Edit: ugh, they changed it and now it has this absolutely vomit-inducing chunky texture. Am sad.
Taste Test
I agree with some of the comments that the test is “too easy” given that they can still differentiate the foods due to texture/feel, but it’s still interesting to hear their commentary about how diminished the tasting part is.
“I can’t taste the flavor. Oh, it’s just bitter.”
YES. EXACTLY.
I really think this is why I have such a limited number of foods that I like and why I’m SO picky about texture. I don’t have as much to experience as others, so what I can experience is very impactful.
Interesting stuff.
Eigenblogger 