Food
July 26, 2008 / Saturday
I Finally Found Some Pelmeni
Tonight was my last chance to eat some pelmeni (пельмени) before leaving Russia. I had no idea where to go, but I figured since I was in Russia I should be able to just walk in a straight line and find some. So I started walking up my street. I purposely walked away from the busy area because I was sick of the whole tourist atmosphere. I read every menu I could find posted, and after a few blocks, I found one with pelmeni on it.
I walked in, and asked (in Russian) if they had an English menu. Nope. Not a big deal. I confirmed that they had pelmeni and got a table.
I looked at the menu for a good long while, trying to figure out exactly what kind of pelmeni I was about to have. I never quite succeeded because I didn't find the food dictionary part of my Russian phrasebook until after I ordered. My server came, and I asked if she spoke English. She did... about as much as I spoke Russian. :) That's okay, we made it work. She tried really hard to think of the right words, and even though she didn't always succeed, I appreciated the effort. Plus, she was smiley and nice, which was a really refreshing contrast from the demeanor of most people I've encountered here. (It's a culture thing, methinks.)
I ordered pelmeni, cold borsh (борщ), mors, and water. I figured I might as well have a really Russian final dinner here. (Well, except for the water, but I have to have my water!)
As I waited for my food, I heard loud singing coming in from the next room. A rowdy Russian party? When they stopped, I noticed the music playing in the restaurant: outdated (or bad, depending on your point of view) American songs. What's with restaurants that don't have anything in English playing songs in English? Then I looked up at the TV. Jackie Chan was on. Awesome. Later, Sinead came on the radio with the hiccup song. Awesome++.
The borsh arrived. It was red. Really red. Beet red. Literally! It came with a side of sour cream, the universal Russian condiment. I stirred some in and had some soup. It was brothy, with strips of beet, ham, and cucumber. There were slices of egg, and it was sprinkled with dill. (I think I'll add dill to the list of things Russians like. Dill, mushrooms, sour cream, etc.) It was definitely not what I had expected, but it was tasty nonetheless. With the sour cream mixed in, the soup turned hot pink. Is that the color of my intestines now?
ZOMG, will it exit that color too???
Next came the pelmeni. They were little! And served with a side of sour cream, of course. The pelmeni looked like fat baby tortellini and were sprinkled with dill also. I'm not sure what kind of meat was inside, but I'd guess it was some sort of beef and pork combo. Not bad. They were surprisingly filling for something so little!
I was getting pretty full, but I still hadn't had real ice cream yet (the pre-packaged stuff from the carts don't count), so I asked (in Russian, as I've finally learned the word for ice cream: мороженое) if they had any. And they did! I got a scoop each of chocolate, strawberry, and green tea. I'm not generally a fan of green tea, but I was so surprised to see it at a Russian restaurant that I had to get it.
My ice cream came. The scoops here are considerably smaller than the ones in the US. That's definitely a good thing. I tasted the green tea. What on earth was that? It did not taste like any green tea ice cream I've had. Next, the strawberry. It tasted (and looked) artificial. Finally, the chocolate. Mmm, rich and dark. I saved the chocolate scoop for last.
I paid my bill, and when the server came back with the change, I did my best to say in Russian that she was very kind, and thank her. I think she understood, because her face lit up and she thanked me in English. I left her a big tip and headed back to the apartment.
So there you have it. I found pelmeni and managed to get fed with my ten (okay, a few more than that, but not by much) words of Russian. Tomorrow, home! I'm looking forward to not having to eat dinner by myself, and to hearing American English (the Al Jazeera English channel just doesn't cut it) again. :)
09:26 AM | Food:St. Petersburg| Comments (2)
July 25, 2008 / Friday
I May Be On To Something Here
I just made the fluffiest scrambled eggs ever. (Ever for me, not ever for everyone.) I didn't do anything different from what I usually do, so what made them so magically light? I used brown eggs with deep orange yolks and 2.5% milk. Should I be scrambling with darker eggs and fattier milk from now on? If that's the case, I'm using heavy cream for my next batch!
09:56 AM | Food:St. Petersburg| Comments (0)
St. Petersburg From Above
My trip into work this morning took me back to St. Isaac's Cathedral, where I went up to the Colonnade to see the city from above. I walked alllll the way down Nevsky Prospekt, bought my ticket, and walked up the 200+ step circular stone staircase.
The view, it was nice. But St. Petersburg doesn't have much of a skyline, so it wasn't much to wow at. It was neat, though, seeing all the buildings in the city. The from-above analog to all the scaffolding seen at street level are the giant cranes in every direction. Lots of construction, yes there is.
I wasn't anywhere near a Metro station from St. Isaac's, so I decided to walk along the Neva toward Gorkovskaya station. It's another long walk, but it ended up being pretty cool because there were 5 Navy ships anchored just off the shore. I took lots of pictures. I was a little confused by the flags they flew, as I didn't see the Russian flag on any of the ships, but the internet tells me they were flying the Russian Navy Jack up front and the Russian naval ensign in the back.
At noon, the cannon at Peter and Paul Fortress went off. I think it's pointed across the Neva toward where I was at the time. It was, by far, the loudest I've heard it all week. Made my ears ring a little. Made some tourists scream. That was kind of funny.
As I neared the bridge toward Gorkovskaya, one of the ships started to fire its cannon. (I guess it was a cannon? It boomed.) I was close by for the first few shots, and they were loud, and rumbled like thunder. I watched the last few shots from the bridge, and I could see the ship fire a couple seconds before hearing the boom. There were 20 shots in all. Not sure what that was all about, but it was neat.
[ Update: I was talking to someone at the office just now and found out that Navy Day is this coming Sunday. Too bad I will have just left. The internet tells me there will be music everywhere, a submarine, and access to board and visit the ships. Darnit darnit darnit! ]
[ Update to update: Darnit darnit! ]
I was quite hungry by the time I got to the other end of the bridge. I had originally planned to check out Petrogradskaya, but I wanted to be at the office soon and I needed food and liquid. I came across a babushka with a food cart. I read the menu: Пирожки. "Pee-ro-sh-k-eee." Ah! Piroshki! There were two kinds, and I had no idea what the difference was, so I just shrugged and repeated one of the words the babushka said. I think I got potato. Potato piroshki and Powerade. :)
Afterward, I wondered what the difference was between a piroshki and a pierogi. Wikipedia says they pretty much refer to the same thing, except that a Russian piroshki is much different from a Polish pierogi. The "Russian pierogi" picture on that page is a pretty accurate depiction of what I got, except that mine didn't have meat.
Now, to find pelmeni!
02:25 AM | Food:St. Petersburg| Comments (3)
July 24, 2008 / Thursday
Summer Garden, And That Ship I'm Not Going To Get To Visit
This morning, I decided to pay a visit to the Summer Garden. I threw on my comfy red shoes, strapped my backpack on nice and snug around my waist (hooray for a thick waist band; with the laptop and all my pack here is heavier than the one I carried up Whitney) and headed out.
I'm learning to take side streets here now. They're still pretty busy, but much more pleasant than the main drag.
I got to the Summer Garden and walked down the center path toward the statues. When I reached the statues, I found that the entire area had been taped off. What is up, St. Petersburg? Why do you like to close tourist attractions in the middle of tourist season?
I headed for a parallel path, which, fortunately, was also lined with statues. I took pictures as I made up silly captions for the various figures and poses. I hope I remember them when I post the pictures next week.
[ Update: I remembered them. :-) ]
When I reached the other end, I swung by the Summer Palace, in the corner of the garden (it's more like a park) along the Fontanka River. Unlike all the other palaces we've seen, which have been giant, the Summer Palace is the size of a house.
In all the Summer Garden was quite pleasant. The tree cover was very nice, as it's warm and sunny out today.
Back into the sun I went, for my second try at seeing the Cruiser Aurora. I noticed as I crossed the Neva that there were a lot of large Russian navy vessels in the river, four in all. As I got closer to the Aurora I saw groups of sailors everywhere, in various types of uniforms. I wonder what's going on here right now? I held out hope that perhaps they'd be busy with the other ships and not the Aurora, but when I arrived at the ship I found it was not to be. The Aurora was closed yet again. I guess I'm not going to get to see it on this trip.
Headed for the office and stopped for lunch at the outdoor Teremok stand (it's a round thing you walk up to) near the Metro station. I managed to order without too much trouble, except that I knew only how to say juice, and was handed an apple juice even though I wanted orange juice. A "please" (пожалуйста) and a bit of pointing fixed that. "Orange" (or probably some juicy adjective derived from orange) is a difficult word in Russian; I can sound out the letters but it's so long that until I learn to say it naturally, it's hard to read and pronounce to a server. Here, you try: апельсиновый.
Okay, I just made myself learn it: a-pel-sin-o-veey. Short 'o' not long 'o', I think.
The gentleman in line behind me tried to talk to me while we were at the stand-as-you-eat table by the stand. (The table has little hooks underneath for hanging your bag. Neat.) I pretty naturally managed to say, "I'm sorry, I don't understand Russian. Do you speak English?" He didn't, but he tried to ask me something along the lines of whether I liked my blin. (I heard some word in what he said that I've heard before, and from context I'm starting to gather that it means something along the lines of liking something.) I gave a nod, a smile, and a thumbs up. My mushroom and cheese blin was quite tasty. I'm still not going to try it with fish roe, but at least now I've tried a savory blin here in Russia.
When I left, the gentleman mustered a very well enunciated "goodbye". I reciprocated with what I hope was a well enunciated "dasvidanya" (до свидания).
02:32 AM | Food:St. Petersburg| Comments (2)
July 23, 2008 / Wednesday
Band-Aids and Blini
Now that I'm doing the solo-sightseeing Metro thing, I've been doing a lot of walking. I really hadn't planned on this much walking, and brought only one pair of walk-friendly shoes. Those shoes, however, are bright red, and I thought perhaps I shouldn't wear them to the office. Since I've been visiting sites on my way there, I've been doing a lot of walking in my sandals. Today, I wore a little hole in my foot from the sandal strap. Ouch.
I remembered that there was a drugstore (аптека, they're everywhere, and you can figure out what they are by the square cross on the sign) on the way from the office to the subway station, so I decided to see if I could pick up some Band-Aids there. This drugstore, however, was a dinky little shop, and the only way to get something was to ask the woman behind the little hole in the product display wall.
I didn't see any Band-Aids (or plastic bandages, now that I remember the generic term for them) on display, so I was going to have to make this work without anything to point at.
I opened with my usual question. "Excuse me, do you speak English?" I'm getting really good at saying that in Russian now. The answer, as usual, was no. I asked in Russian if they had Band-Aids, and got a blank stare over the term "Band-Aids". So I resorted to charades. I peeled an imaginary Band-Aid and stuck it on my hand. She immediately returned with a box of plastic bandages. Score one for charades. :)
I hopped on the Metro and headed home. Next stop: Teremok. It's a fast food blini (блины) joint found all over the place here. They have both sit-down stores and little round huts out in the open. Check out their savory blini. Red roe blini? Caviar crepes! Aaron says I should try it, but given that I'm not a fan of savory crepes to begin with, I might make myself sick if I try to eat one stuffed with fish roe.
I was in a sweets mood, so I ordered a chocolate banana blin (singular of blini). See how the banana is cut up into nice little chunks in the picture? They don't serve it that way in real life. I got a whole banana covered in chocolate and wrapped in what can be pretty accurately described as a crepe shell. Interesting visual, eh? It tasted pretty much like a crepe.
I also had some mors (морс), which I've had quite a bit of since arriving here. It's a common cranberry-based juice drink. I much prefer it to kvas (квас), another common drink made from fermented bread. Sergey and my boss had kvas everywhere we went; I think it tastes like beer without the buzz. Beer, blech!
10:42 AM | Food:St. Petersburg| Comments (2)
July 22, 2008 / Tuesday
Russian Sushi
I was debating between picking up some food at the store and being a hermit or venturing out to a restaurant, and honestly, I have to say that I was leaning toward the former. But since I'm not going to be here forever, I figured I might as well go on as many (manageable) adventures as I can. Besides, I promised all of you that I'd find out about Russian Sushi and report back. That gave me the extra bump that I needed to get out there and try it.
I have found three sushi places within one block of my apartment. I passed on the trendy looking one; I don't like trendy places unless it's for a special occasion. (Think Santana Row. Gag!) That left the place I pass by on my way to and from the Metro, which I always see people in, and the place on the corner that I passed by this morning before it opened. I opted for the one I'd seen people eating in.
First, a Russian lesson. The word for sushi in Russian is суши. It's pronounced "sushi". :)
I grabbed my umbrella and Russian phrasebook and headed for the restaurant. I walked in, was greeted, and asked in Russian if they had an English menu. They did not. I paused, then asked if their menu had pictures. (фото?) Yes. Okay then, sushi me! I got the last table.
I spent a few minutes sounding out all the familiar looking fish on the menu. Whaddaya know, they serve sake, hamachi, maguro, ebi, saba, unagi, etc. here too, just written differently. Very differently. But in the end, no matter what language it's written in, the sounds come out about the same. Genmaicha was the same, too.
The server came, and I asked if he spoke English. No, not a word. No matter. I ordered some nigiri (you can get them in ones here, not pairs like we have to in the US), some tea, and some water. At the office today, I compared bottles of water and learned how they distinguish between carbonated and still: gaz, nye gaz. Easy enough.
I realized shortly after ordering that I had forgotten to tell them I didn't want wasabi on my sushi. Darn. I even knew how to say it. Fortunately, their norm is not to put wasabi in the nigiri. (As it should be; a lot of sushi places in the US get it totally wrong.) Phew.
I took tons of notes (for this post) while I waited for my food. I noticed that they have a website, and figured out from my placemat that they're a chain. Now, here's the screwy thing. There is an English version of the website available, but no English menus at the restaurant. How silly.
The music was interesting. They had on some Russian radio station that played what I thought were obscure American songs. Later, some British rap came on, so I guess it's a Russian radio station playing British songs. In any case, English songs in a place where there was not a lick of English to be found otherwise.
I was sitting cross-legged on my (Western style, not Japanese style) bench. I like to sit cross-legged, and do it at home, at the office, etc., so I wasn't doing it for the Japanese theme or anything. Still, I wonder if anyone there though I was doing it out of Japanese-ness. I definitely get some "Whoa, an Asian person," stares here.
When I ran out of notes to take, I opened my Russian phrasebook to learn how to ask for the check later. I took that opportunity to also learn how to say receipt and ice cream. I promptly forgot how to say all three after I got back to the apartment. Still, I love my little Lonely Planet Russian phrasebook. I'm sooo glad I stumbled upon it at Sports Basement. (I guess I should also be glad that I practically live at Sports Basement.) Not all the phrases are exactly what I hear, but I attribute that to colloquial usage. So far, it's been a big help.
My food came, and I found myself looking at a very familar setup: sushi, tea, water, soy sauce, and chopsticks. It was comforting, actually, especially the genmaicha.
When I started in on the food, however, I stopped feeling comforted. The hamachi tasted kind of hard and rubbery. What the heck? Was this even hamachi? It should be soft and creamy! At least the sake was soft, although it was a little *too* soft, and not very creamy. The unagi was softer than expected, too, but at least it had decent (though not great) flavor. The rice and seaweed salad were okay, although it's kind of hard to mess those up.
I suspect their fish is frozen at some point before it's served. Or maybe it's on par with chain restaurant quality. I wouldn't know; I don't go to sushi chain restaurants.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by all the good sushi in California. All I know is, I'm done with Russian sushi for the rest of this trip. I've got much more Russian things I need to hunt down and try. Blini and pelmeni, here I come!
10:27 AM | Food:St. Petersburg| Comments (0)
July 15, 2008 / Tuesday
Russian Food O'Rama
My stomach was definitely not ready for a Russian food fest on Tuesday, but it got one anyway. I don't think I managed to finish anything, but I did try a little of everything.
Lunch at the cafeteria downstairs from the office.
Fish meatballs - I don't want to call them fishballs because they were the size of modest American meatballs, not little fishballs like you find at Chinese restaurants for hot pot. They were pretty good. Soft and flavorful.
Buckwheat - I actually got rice as my side, but I was told that buckwheat was the Russian staple, so I tried some. It's good, and good for you. I chuckled to myself a bit that the Russians got buckwheat and I got rice. What can I say? When I'm not feeling well I want rice. It's comfort food for me. ^.^
Veggie salad mix things - "Salad" here has no lettuce. It's more along the lines of prepared stuff like what we have in terms of potato salad, or pasta salad. Except that it's veggies. Cucumber, mushroom, bell pepper, cabbage, maybe? Sour and kind of creamy.
Marinated mushrooms - Various kinds I'd never seen before. I was told that Russians really like mushrooms and they will go into the forest to pick them. They're all marinated a bit differently, but the theme was sour and salted.
Dried fruit compote - This was my beverage. They take dried fruit and boil it. It's sweet and fruity, but not like juice.
Dinner at Restaurant Demidoff.
Russian food and singing gypsies. This place felt a little touristy, especially when the giant Japanese group came in.
No matter, it didn't change the fact that the restaurant was full of food I've never had before. They started with bread, but not regular sourdough and French bread like we get in the states. There was a cabbage-filled puff pastry, a cheesy looking roll, and some other roll that tasted onion-plus-somethingey.
Next, the appetizers: Potato pancake with sour cream, dill, and caviar. Creamy shrimp thing. Meat jelly. And, of course, mushrooms.
After the appetizers, an additional dish that was like super thick cream of mushroom soup with a French onion soup-like layer of cheese on top. It was so rich (and my stomach was so unhappy) that I could only have a couple spoonfuls.
I was pretty full by then, but we still had our main courses. I had ordered quail, hoping that it would be light and meatless enough for me to put a dent into, but it came in yet another rich creamy sauce and I was able to eat only half of one of the two birds. I did eat the veggie garnish that came with it, though.
I also had kvas to drink. It was described to me as "Russian root beer". It looked like uncarbonated cola and tasted like a combination of beer, root beer, and fermented bread. Interesting.
I think I would have eaten a lot more of my hearty dinner if my stomach was feeling okay. I felt bad for leaving so much food uneaten.
After dinner, we walked back to my apartment, about half a mile away. It was still light out when we arrived, and I was surprised when I looked at the clock and saw that it was well after 11 PM. Hooray, super-Northern city summer!
• • •
So what do I think of Russian food after day one?
- It's heavy. Lots of cream and flavor.
- Mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms.
- Fish. Lots of fish.
I went to the store across the street (the one that doesn't take credit cards) after dinner and was surprised to learn that they charge for plastic bags. In retrospect, it's not really that surprising. Perhaps we should start doing that in the U.S. to encourage people to reuse their bags.
I returned to the apartment with water, juice, fruit, and yogurt. As much as I like trying new foods, I do enjoy some amount of food normalcy in my day. I'm looking forward to juice and yogurt tomorrow morning.
12:59 PM | Food:St. Petersburg| Comments (0)
June 25, 2008 / Wednesday
Cousins of Squirmy
I bought a bag of Chinese mystery bok choy-like vegetables at the farmer's market last weekend. When I prepped them for cooking last night, I noticed holes in the leaves and a mini Squirmy look-a-like on the bag. After some meticulous searching and washing, I found one more. Satisfied that I had removed all non-plant life, I cooked me up some lunch for the next couple days.
I had me some lunch just now, and found a stir fried cousin of Squirmy in the sauce. I poked around the veggies and found another. This, after already having eaten most of what was in the container.
I feel a little ill.
June 16, 2008 / Monday
Dinner on a Farm
More precisely, an Outstanding in the Field dinner at McEvoy Ranch. There's more info about it on the website, but the idea behind it is this: A bunch of people get together to have dinner on a local farm. We get to see where our food comes from, meet the people who grow it, and share this experience with our fellow diners. Seating is at one very long outdoor table out in the field.
I'm not sure where I'm getting this number from, but I *think* there were 140 people at our dinner on Saturday. It was a very Prius-y crowd. We saw a couple Priuses on the road near the farm and joked that we could follow them to the dinner, then laughed when we realized they really were heading to the dinner. Once there, I headed to the main building, and while in line for the restroom I overheard a conversation between two people talking about the wonderfulness of their Priuses. Then, at the table, more Prius talk. What could I add to such a conversation? I own a car with a stinky exhaust leak (don't fret, I brought it to the shop this morning!) and an emissions canister neutered motorcycle. Perhaps I should have just started singing, "Bom-bom-bombombom-bom bom bom bom-bom..."
There were a few Hollywood cowboy types at the dinner too. You know, with the glam designer threads, giant sunglasses, pointy boots, and cowboy hats. Hrm, I wonder how a conversation between them and the Prius owners would go.
We got seated for dinner and were immediately surrounded by foodie talk. "Are you a foodie?" "I'm totally a foodie." Erm, people, we each paid $200 to come to this dinner. It should go without saying that we're all some sort of foodie. That said, it soon became obvious to me that I was not totally a foodie, as I don't dine at fine restaurants in the city every night. Yes, it's true, some nights I like to go home and cook myself an egg sandwich.
Okay, since I did choose this dinner because I wanted to experience a Vincent Nattress meal, here's the part where I write about the food. Sorry about omitting the wine; I don't drink. I will say, though, that the various sample sips I took from Aaron's glass didn't suck. :)
Pre-dinner: A really tasty olive onion bruschetta thing. In retrospect, I should have had more of them, because we waited around from 4-5, then had talks and a olive mill tour from 5-6. I was pretty hungry by the time we reached the table.
Appetizer: Oysters. No, wait, one oyster. It had little mini Chinese broccoli looking things on it. Those were good. The oyster was pretty good, too. More, please. Still hungry!
Salad: Some combination of greens with both sweet and hot radishes. I discovered that I can tolerate radishes if they're sliced paper thin. Or maybe I was just hungry. I had a particularly small helping of the salad because the guy at our table who started the round of serving accidentally took giant portions for him and his wife. I was pretty bummed about being hungry and saladless, but I think the guy felt even worse than I did. No biggie; I eventually got my hands on more bread. :)
Main course: Lamb sausage, braised (lamb?) leg, roasted (lamb?) saddle, and tasty yellow eye beans. I'm not a big fan of lamb, but I did enjoy the meats. Well, the sausage and braised leg, at least. I didn't end up with a slice of the roast. D'oh.
Cheese course: Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk, tasty marinated apricots, greens, and flower petals. By this time I was slowing down, and Aaron got to help me finish my cheese. Just as well, he's a big Cowgirl Creamery fan. I did have a second serving of apricots, though. Did I mention they were tasty?
Dessert: Strawberry shortcake. Fresh and tasty also.
By the time we finished dessert it was after 9 PM, quite a bit later than we'd expected. It was COLD, and I'd been shivering since before the main course. (Thank you, neighbor, for snagging me a Mexican blanket when they came by with them.) No one lingered; we ate our food and retreated to the heated shelter of our cars.
Overall, the food was decent. It wasn't super gourmet; just good food from local sources within a 25 mile radius. We have a lot of flavors and variety available to us here. That's quite nice.
A few notes for those of you thinking about going to an OitF dinner in the future:
- The schedule may say 4 PM, but really you just mill around 'til 5 PM for all the stragglers to arrive.
- Dress for winter! It's cold out in the fields at night.
- Bring your own plate, and a story to go along with it.
- Play Punch Buggy Prius with your companion(s).
Oh, and McEvoy Ranch makes some tasty stuff. Check them out at the Ferry Building. :)
April 29, 2008 / Tuesday
Easy Mac, I Miss You!
Today marks 6 months since my office moved to San Ramon. That's 6 months without the Santa Clara cafeteria and meal plan. No lunch, no snacks, no ice cream, no milk. At first, I missed the lunch salads and milk, but I soon learned to buy extra veggies and milk for the new office. I also learned to cook on a regular basis, since I didn't want to get fat and poor from eating out every day. This has had a positive impact on my overall diet; I find that I'm no longer having Easy Mac for dinner. Not that I don't like Easy Mac (I find it quite tasty, actually), but I have a lot more options now that my fridge contains more than just beverages and condiments.
That said, I kind of miss Easy Mac. Maybe I'll have some for dinner tonight. I can make a little 6 month celebration out of it.
February 26, 2008 / Tuesday
My Cube Is Not Nut Allergy Safe
I just flicked something off my keyboard, rubbed my eye, and smelled peanut butter.
I think it's time to clean my keyboard.
*lick*
February 22, 2008 / Friday
Fungus Is So Unfestive
Good: I finally figured out how I like to fry my Chinese New Year cake.
Bad: My Chinese New Year cake has mold on it.
February 21, 2008 / Thursday
Fried Dace
Andrea reminded me over Twitter today of a tasty Chinese canned fish I ate all the time as a kid: Fried Dace. I haven't had it in years, and this prompted me to go to the Chinese supermarket for a can. On my way home, I made a quick stop at Lion, where I found myself walking up and down the canned foods aisle looking, looking...
There were more varieties of canned sardines than I could count, but no fried dace. I walked up and down the aisle some more. Still no dace. Sadness.
When I went home, I asked the Great Internet why. It looks like my beloved fried dace has been deemed toxic, which is probably why I can't find it on the shelves anymore.
Personally, I'm willing to down a little malachite green in order to have my tasty fried dace. I'm sure the vast amounts of oil it's packed in would clog my arteries and kill me first anyway.
I at least got a good laugh out of all this from Amazon. They call it gourmet food. A can of fish, oil, and black beans for two dollars... gourmet! I guess it could be if you served it on a fancy plate, but that's moot now. Stupid regulations.
February 14, 2008 / Thursday
Happy Valentine's Day
A couple weeks ago, I was wandering around the supermarket (it's a hobby of mine) and I came across a bunch of heart shaped cookie cutters. "How cute," I thought, "I'll buy one!" After all, Valentine's Day was coming up, so I'd have an excuse to use it.
Next, it was time to pick a cookie recipe. Shortbread sounded tasty, but I wanted something red, and I didn't want to decorate the cookies. (Cookie decorations often ruin the taste for me.) What to do? Ooh, red velvet! Except that it's a cake, not a cookie. I scoured the internet for a red velvet cookie recipe, and found the same one over and over again: Duncan Hines red velvet cake mix, two eggs, 1/3 cup of oil. Boo.
I also came across this one (I bake lots of tasty stuff from this blog; it's worth checking out if you like to bake too), which looked tasty, but I wasn't sure whether the batter would be firm enough for a cookie cutter.
I decided to pair the cake mix cookie with the sandwich cookie filling. Off to the store I went. Guess what I discovered? We don't carry red velvet cake mix here in the Bay Area. Duh.
So I improvised. I bought white cake mix and added cocoa powder and a ton of red food coloring. I also substituted some of the oil with buttermilk. I was totally scared that I'd dye my kitchen red, but I actually managed to complete baking without disaster. I modified flour ratio and baking time as I went, and managed to achieve a batch of cuttable pre-bake but soft-enough-for-a-sandwich post-bake cookies.
Next, the filling. I chose the Baking Bites filling because it contained mascarpone ("mahscapone", as I say it), which I'd never used or tasted before. I guess I just wanted an excuse to try it. Now, having tried it, I have this to say: It's rich. In more ways than one.
Okay, I've blathered long enough. Here is the grand reveal:
Next, heart shaped shortbread!
January 28, 2008 / Monday
Kleenex Is A Great Excuse For Snacks
My nose is running like a faucet and my box of Kleenex was running low, so I made a trip to Safeway for additional supplies. Once there, I bought all sorts of other things as well: tomatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts, bacon... When I left the store, the air smelled of roasted chestnuts, which reminded me of the fact that I've been wanting to buy fresh chestnuts for a couple months now. I didn't want to go back into Safeway, so I drove a few blocks over to 99 Ranch. Once there, I bought all sorts of other things once again: crunchy anchovy snacks, pineapple cakes, fruity beef jerky candy, and a tub of macapuno-ube ice cream. I broke into the ice cream the moment I got home. Yummy! Who knew that a Kleenex run could taste so good?
January 14, 2008 / Monday
Choo Betta Hide Yo Honey Bears!
Needed a mid-afternoon snack just now and cried when I surveyed the options. No peanut butter and honey toast. No ice cream. No leftovers from lunch. I dug through my drawer of snacks and found a regular instant oatmeal packet from the old office. I walked down to the other end of the building to buy a tiny carton of milk (which, by the way, is free at the other office) and made my un-peanut buttery snack. The oatmeal tasted blander than bland; I needed honey. I dug through my drawer of snacks some more and found a nearly empty honey bear from the old office. I squeezed from it what I could and ate my makeshift old office snack. Honey makes everything better.
But now my honey bear is empty. I must remedy this.
Watch out, old office coworkers, I'm coming for your honey bears!
January 11, 2008 / Friday
Chinese Curry
Note to self:
You don't like Chinese curry. You've never liked Chinese curry. You grew up thinking you didn't like curry because all mom cooked was Chinese curry and you thought it was gross. Just because you've discovered the joy of Thai and (most) Indian curries doesn't mean that you all of a sudden like all curries. You still don't like Chinese curry. Please remember that so you don't buy more curry flavored grossness the next time you go to 99 Ranch.
Please remember also that you really like that fruit flavored beef jerky stuff. Mmm, cow candy!
12:45 PM | Food:PSA/NTS| Comments (0)
November 25, 2007 / Sunday
My Pie-Fu Is Weak
I spent the entire weekend eating pie. Slice after slice of sweet, tasty, fruity goodness...
Thursday - mini slices of apple, pumpkin (with whipped cream), pecan
Friday - regular slices of apple (with ice cream), pumpkin (with whipped cream)
Saturday - large slice of cherry (with ice cream), regular slice of apple (with more ice cream)
Sunday - regular slice of apple (with ice cream)
All that, and I'm somehow still 1/6 of a pie away from having consumed a full tin. I used to be able to polish off a full pie in two or three days. What happened, me?
I promise to do a better job of pie eating over Christmas.
November 07, 2007 / Wednesday
Better Than The Company Cafeteria
Today's lunch, which I'm eating a bit late (as I type this post):
- 1 cup of lowfat milk with Ovaltine
- 2 strips of chicken breast marinated and baked in Trader Joe's five spice sauce
- 1/3 cup of brown rice (mmm, chewy!)
- handful of steamed broccoli and carrots
The chicken, despite having been cooked, frozen, defrosted, and reheated, (that's what happens when I have to prepare my lunch in bulk ahead of time) tastes better than any chicken I've had at the company cafeteria in the two plus years that I ate there.
Plus, I don't drown what I cook in oil and butter. I feel healthier already.
October 11, 2007 / Thursday
Stomach Trumps Geek
More evidence that all I think about is food. The following exchange occurred in the middle of a discussion about web authentication.
aaron: i may have to resort to cookies :(
SoopahViv: what cookies?
aaron: http cookies
SoopahViv: ohhhhh
SoopahViv: hahaha
SoopahViv: i thought maybe you finished the brownies
When the (mint chip, mmm) brownies are finished, I'll make lemon curd cookies. Yum.
October 08, 2007 / Monday
Vegetarian Fried Chicken?
Wednesday lunch...
Main Dish: Nans with Babaganoush
Vegetarian Side Dishes: Tzatziki, Hummus, Fried Chicken Wings
I'm not sure which disturbs me more, the classification of chicken wings as a vegetarian side dish, or the fact that we're going to be served non-numbers.
October 05, 2007 / Friday
Zachary's Makes Everything Better
My company recently acquired another company, laid off a bunch of employees, and announced plans to relocate its Santa Clara software operations (of which I'm a part) to the other company's site in San Ramon. This move will increase my commute tenfold, which means no more bicycle commuting. Needless to say, I was not thrilled when I found out about it.
Not thrilled, that is, until tonight, when I discovered that the new Zachary's is a block away from the San Ramon office. That's right, one block. Lookie:
The green arrow points to the new office and the red A points to Zachary's.
Suddenly, I feel a lot better about our impending relocation. Goodbye, Norovirus-laden cafeteria fare. Hello, Chicago style tastiness!
September 05, 2007 / Wednesday
Oh, Tasty Toast, I Love You So
Ride to gym.
Lift, lower, repeat.
Ride back to work.
Chug milk.
And then, my favoritest part of the entire afternoon...
Enjoy cinnamon raisin grainy toast with peanut butter and sugar.
04:11 PM | Food:Gym| Comments (3)
Cookie Emergency
SoopahViv: mmm cookie
SoopahViv: OHGODDROPPEDCOOKIENOOO
SoopahViv: 5 second rule
SoopahViv: mmm rescued cookie
aaron: phew
aaron: disaster averted
September 04, 2007 / Tuesday
Company Cafeteria Fusion Food
On the menu for lunch tomorrow...
Main Dish: Malaysian Lunch Bowl
Side Dishes: Salsa, Guacamole, Tortillas
I think I'll make myself a beef rendang burrito.
[ Update: Malaysian Lunch Bowl was a disaster, and the Mexican side dishes were nowhere to be found. Ate some veggies and had ice cream for lunch instead. ]
August 30, 2007 / Thursday
Broccoli Is Spicy?
I've been noticing it lately, now that I've learned to eat raw vegetables without salad dressing. (It's mostly because I'm lazy.) Carrots, sweet. Tomatoes, also sweet. Sweet peas, which I wouldn't eat until about a month ago, sweet! (Imagine that!) Bell peppers, sweet. Cauliflower, very very mildly sweet. Broccoli, not sweet. Somewhat disturbingly, it's also a bit spicy. Broccoli, my favorite vegetable growing up, is now the only one I need to eat with accompaniment. Huh.
[ Update: Actually, I just noticed that cauliflower is also a bit spicy, but it's so much smaller of a bit spicy than broccoli that I don't really mind the tingle on my tongue. ]
August 15, 2007 / Wednesday
Now That's A Graduation Dinner!
Aaron and I had a lovely dinner at Chez TJ tonight, thanks to Scully, who treated us with a very generous and thoughtful graduation present. It's a Michelin one star restaurant situated in a house in downtown Mountain View, of all places. We ordered the Chef's Tasting Menu, which sent 12 amazing mini courses to our table. My descriptions will not do it justice, but it suffices to say that we dined on items such as quail egg, scallop, squab, foie gras, sweetbread, caviar, and truffles. The pork was out of this world tender, the micro veggies adorable, and the desserts scrumptious.
Here are the courses in a little more detail. They're mostly in order, except in the middle.
- quail egg, some other thing, and some other thing
- mushroom steeped in some sort of broth with a cheesy mini roll
- scallops prepared three ways: with quail yolk, some crispy thing, and avocado / smoked kampachi, grilled watermelon, and tomato
- foie gras prepared two ways: fried and bruleed
- citrus cured sardine and frozen gazpacho (Aaron says the server called it "gazpacho sorbet", so take your pick)
- super duper tender squab breast and some other tasty thing that neither Aaron nor I can remember
- sweetbread ravioli with truffles
- plum sorbet with sauce made from some exotic fruit I didn't know existed
- melt in your mouth pork and pistachio crusted foie gras atop a slice of nectarine
- a block of tasty cow cheese and cute little micro greens
- nectarines and other refreshing fruits with some sauce in a big bowl
- fig pot de creme, milk chocolate in a crispy coffee shell, dark chocolate sorbet on fig
- apricot gelee-like thing, magic melty key lime dome, dark chocolate mint
August 06, 2007 / Monday
They Swooshed My Smoothie
Went to Jamba Juice yesterday and found that they've renamed my favorite smoothie, henceforth to be referred as The Smoothie Formerly Known As Protein Berry Pizzazz, to the Nike Protein Berry Workout. It's the same thing, but with Nike co-branding and an option for whey protein instead of soy protein. The essential amino acid nut in me ordered it with whey protein, and my taste buds immediately made me regret it. Whey protein tastes gross, I've always known it, and I don't know why I keep hoping that they'll magically invent a way to make it ungross.
Hooray for essential amino acids, but boo for that yucky protein shake taste.
August 03, 2007 / Friday
It's Time For ... (?)
Today's Main Dish, according to the menu released Monday: Fish (only time will tell...)
Are they hoping that the fish they started with at the beginning of the week has not morphed into something else, or that the mystery item in the back of the freezer will defrost into fish?
August 02, 2007 / Thursday
Warm Soda Is Gross
Our ice cube trays have disappeared, and the ice machine is still broken.
How can we be expected to work under such squalid conditions?
02:21 PM | Food:Rant/Whine| Comments (2)
August 01, 2007 / Wednesday
I Guess I've Missed My Kitchen
Since my return to the Bay Area I've gone out to eat once, for pancakes with Aaron Saturday morning. Other than that, I've been eating at home, cooking as much as I can. From my kitchen, since my return on Friday:
Saturday: chicken piccata
Sunday: egg sandwich, chicken sandwich, chicken and pasta (okay, Aaron cooked that one)
Monday: baked french toast
Tuesday: turkey drumsticks
Wednesday: dumpling soup, sour cream berry swirl bread
I've also gone through 2+ bags of ready to eat veggies, and that's on top of the platefuls of the stuff I eat at work. I had to stop at the store today to pick up more.
Amazingly, neither Easy Mac nor cereal have crossed my mind as dinner options yet.
Tomorrow, stir fry!
July 30, 2007 / Monday
Hello, Company Cafeteria
Lunch today: a big plate of veggies, soup, half a chicken breast, and two egg whites.
It's no Five Guys, but it'll do.
July 22, 2007 / Sunday
I Want Pie
Aaron's grandma went on a pie baking spree...
aaron: what am i supposed to do with a whole apple pie and no one here to help me eat it?
SoopahViv: OMG
SoopahViv: THAT'SNOTFAIR
SoopahViv: INTARWEBZMESOME
SoopahViv: NOWWW
I wonder if it'll last 'til Friday.
Paneras Everywhere
Everywhere in the Raleigh-Durham area, that is. I diggit.
07:21 AM | Food:Trips| Comments (0)
July 20, 2007 / Friday
All I Do Is Eat
Okay, that's not really true, but that's probably what you're thinking if you've been following my photos on Flickr. It's not all I do, but it's one of the few things I've been doing this week. Every day has pretty much gone the same way: wake up, go to the office, go to lunch, go back to the office, get dinner, return to the hotel, do homework and/or meet for school, go to bed. Out of all that, lunch and dinner are pretty much the only things I can document.
Fortunately, the weekend is here. Tomorrow, I'll join the folks from work for a day at the lake. I'll get to try wakeboarding, which sounds really fun, somewhat painful, and a little scary. I'm not exactly comfortable in water yet, but I do trust that I'll be able to handle myself well enough in a life jacket not to drown, so screw being scared; I'm going in!
I considered driving to the Outer Banks on Sunday to either sand dune hang glide or SCUBA dive. I hear they have warm water and some nice wreck dives in the area. I also heard, however, that I will be ridiculously sore after wakeboarding (especially after a week of being completely sedentary), so I'm opting for some in-town activities instead. Lunch with Mike (a.k.a. deebeecee, whom some of you may know as the guy who can answer most of the things that I can't, and therefore ponder in this blog), homework (there's no avoiding it, sigh), and maybe Transformers (even though I hear Soundwave's not in it).
I suspect, however, that I will continue to eat, and that there will continue to be pictures of all the places and things that I eat posted to Flickr.
I'll try not to visit Five Brothers again, though. That'd be almost as bad as if I went to In-N-Out three times in one week and followed it up with a visit to Sonic.
*whistles innocently*
06:14 PM | Food:Trips| Comments (0)
July 18, 2007 / Wednesday
OMG I Ate That?
Tried to dine on my leftovers from Tuesday's BBQ lunch just now. I dug into the baby back ribs cold, and was shocked by the uniform layer of fat I encountered, which was so plentiful it rivaled the amount of meat on the bone. I picked off what meat I could and nuked the hush puppies, which each left oil stains twice their size on the paper plate. Gross!
Next up are the candied yams, which are so sweet they taste almost bitter. How is it possible to dissolve sugar at that high a concentration?
I'm a little scared. How do people eat this regularly and not die?
July 16, 2007 / Monday
Tastes Like I Never Left
Flew into Raleigh-Durham tonight for a two week stay. I wasn't exactly looking forward to 11 days of eating out, so I found a Whole Foods near my hotel and paid a visit there to pick up some dinner and snacks. The loot: a $10 salad (yikes!), a bag of baby carrots, organic black pepper crackers, goat cheese, and a gallon of water. Standard Viv fare.
The salad makes me feel tons better about having just spent 11 hours sitting in my car, the plane, the terminal, the other plane, my rental car, and now my hotel room. Plus, since I avoided the company cafeteria all last week, I very much needed the veggies.
On my way to Whole Foods, I wondered briefly what kind of neighborhood it was in, until this little voice in my head said, "It's a Whole Foods, silly! Of course it's in a decent neighborhood!" Oh, right, poor people can't afford to shop there. I'm thinking that'll be a pretty good way to gauge the safety of unknown neighborhoods from now on.
06:24 PM | Food:Trips| Comments (3)
July 13, 2007 / Friday
Who Would Have Thought Toasting Could Be So Complex?
Our break room's disappeared toaster is gone for good, but a couple replacements showed up in its place today. Six slices of parallel toasting power with three separate settings!
Now my problem is, which toaster slot do I choose? I eat only one slice (or half a bagel) at a time, and never more than one a day, so even at max toast eating capacity it'll take me over a week to try them all. Plus, I'll probably have to try several toastings with various types of bread, each of those at various settings (e.g. Do I want to blindly trust that the bagel setting is best for how I like to have my bagels toasted? And what about bagel tops vs. bagel bottoms?), to find my preference.
I estimate it'll be at least 2-3 months before I run through the full matrix of possibilities. In addition, I'm limited by what's available; our bread selection is somewhat random, so there may be delays due to shortages of test subjects. Gosh, this is pretty complex. I really should create the matrix, design a rating scale, and track the results.
I'm looking forward to my peanut butter and honey toast this afternoon. :)
[ Update: Shiny new toasters and no good bread. Siiigh. :( ]
Company Cafeteria Cruise
We got an update today on last week's episode of company cafeteria food poisoning, which I should refer to from now on as "food-borne illness", because getting sick from a virus doesn't really constitute poisoning. In any case, after working with the county health department (as it turns out, a LOT of us got sick) and a couple doctors, they suspect Norovirus was the cause.
Darn, I didn't even get a cruise out of whole deal. :(
July 12, 2007 / Thursday
Commute Notes
Today's non-cafeteria lunch: Vietnamese sandwich. There's a place that makes pretty good ones on my ride to work. I'd better eat it soon, though; it's stinking up my office!
40 mashes today got me to the same spot that took 50 mashes the first time. My legs felt great, I shifted to the big ring for the descent, and the chain fell off. D'oh.
The chain is filthy. Time for a cleaning.
12:01 PM | Food:Road| Comments (0)
July 11, 2007 / Wednesday
Mostly Back To Normal
After a long afternoon of stomach not digesting, it finally returned to action with an incredible burrito craving. I fed it a burrito (the whole thing, yikes), all the chips that came with, and topped it off later in the evening with some ice cream and other random snackage.
I woke up this morning feeling like I'd eaten too much last night, which is true, but otherwise felt pretty good. Rode into work on my bicycle, which also felt pretty good, especially given that walking up a flight of steps made my legs burn earlier this week.
I'm avoiding the work cafeteria this week, and won't be around the next two weeks to partake in its gastrointestinally-unfriendly offerings. I hope that by the time I return they'll have cleaned things up and put better sanitation processes in place. Change comes from the top, though, and given the head chef's reputation, I'm not too hopeful.
In the meantime, what do I do about getting enough vegetables in my diet? Cafeteria lunch usually means a big plate of veggies and some protein, and any other lunch usually means trading those veggies for carbs and fat. Ugh, I feel sluggish just thinking about it.
[ Update: Vegetable stir fry for dinner. Now what do I do about tomorrow? ]
July 09, 2007 / Monday
Work Poisoning
Looks like my weekend bout of food poisoning came courtesy of my company cafeteria. Lots of folks at work got hit over the weekend. The cafeteria seems to have responded by saying nothing, not sending out the weekly menu, and posting only today's dish on the menu site: fried chicken.
I bet the chicken is fried super crispy today to kill off anything that might be growing in it, which means it's super tasty, which sucks for me, because I'm currently incapable of digesting fried chicken and afraid to eat at the company cafeteria anyhow.
Way to kill workplace productivity.
July 08, 2007 / Sunday
Time To Eat
Today, I'm making myself eat because I should. It's quite strange, given that I'm usually telling myself not to mindlessly snack if I'm not really hungry.
Later, I'm going to try eating some real food. Normally, pasta is the boring default when I can't think of anything better to cook, but tonight, it will taste like a flavorful feast.
Either that, or it's gonna make me barf.
Stomach Flu Sucks
Gatorade and chicken soup are getting old.
04:27 PM | Food:Rant/Whine| Comments (0)
July 03, 2007 / Tuesday
I Declare Break Room Mutiny!
The break room in my building is totally slummin' these days. Our toaster has disappeared (that means no cinnamon raisin toast, which means no PB and honey, which makes for a pouty me), the Diet Sprite is out of syrup, and the hot chocolate machine dispenses water.
To the credit of whoever stocks the break room in my building, we've had a steady supply of wheat bread (and no yucky herb rolls) since my whiny post three months ago. We even get cinnamon raisin bagels once or twice a week. Of course, none of that matters until we get our toaster back. I need crunch, dangit!
[ Update: I almost forgot, our ice machine broke a month or two ago, and they "fixed" it by turning it off and giving us a couple ice cube trays. ]
02:47 PM | Food:Rant/Whine| Comments (4)
June 25, 2007 / Monday
Chock Full Of Sweet Carb-ey Goodness
In the queue to be eaten soon:
- 1/2 a donut (ate one this morning, yum)
- 8 chocolate chip cookies
- 2 Belgian waffles
- 1 slice of blackberry coffee cake
- 1 slice of peach berry pie (ate a slice of apple last night, yum)
- 3 slices of Vital Vittles raisin bread
Hello, yumminess!
June 23, 2007 / Saturday
Fusion Food
I had a lot of leftover Spanish rice in the fridge that wasn't going anywhere, so I whipped out some eggs and made fried rice with it.
It's surprisingly tasty. Good job, me!
June 17, 2007 / Sunday
Noah's Love-Hate
Dear Noah's,
I love your whole wheat bagels toasted dark with honey almond schmear, but I hate your perpetual inability to toast and schmear bagels properly.
It doesn't seem that hard. Do you simply not train your employees?
Rarr,
Viv
01:14 PM | Food:Rant/Whine| Comments (0)
June 15, 2007 / Friday
Mr. Tofu House Has A Name
His name is Jim.
I finally got around to asking today at lunch. He told me his name, laughed when I told him we called him Mr. Tofu House, then returned with a gigantic handful of lollipops. Blue raspberry, yum.
Blue tongue, whoo.
Anyone want a lollipop? I have Awesome Orange, Boppin' Banana, Bubble Gum Burst, and Groovy Grape.
June 11, 2007 / Monday
Ack, I Almost Ate A Fatty Fruit Fly
So here I am, being good and snacking on an apple instead of my usual peanut butter and sugar toast. I see a fatty fruit fly buzzing around near my desk. It ducks under my keyboard and doesn't reappear. Fine, I think, as long as it stays under there it won't bother me.
Then I raise the apple to my mouth for another bite, and what do I see headed my way? The fatty fruit fly, perched on the edge of the previous bite. I slam the apple down on my desk and squish it. Fatty fruit fly guts, ew.
That's it, I'm switching back to peanut butter and sugar toast.
May 16, 2007 / Wednesday
Thank Goodness For Dunkies
I gave up on trying to sleep half an hour after my last post, turned the laptop on, got too tired to work, shut down, lay back on the floor with the warm laptop on my lap, and managed to get *just* warm enough to snooze a little around 4 AM (2 AM blog time).
Then, at 4:30, a planeful of people unloaded 20 feet from my head. That didn't bother me as much as the cold jetway air blasting me. Forget airport camping. This sucks!
I wandered down to Dunkies and found them blazingly open with about 15 people in line. I looked over toward McDonald's and saw about 30. We airport campers eat well, don't we?
Currently sipping on a Dunkies hazelnut coffee with cream and sugar. Mmm, that's good stuff!
03:01 AM | Food:Trips| Comments (6)
May 07, 2007 / Monday
Fried Plautus
On the menu for Wednesday: Fried Plautus
We're having crispy ancient Roman playwright for lunch?
April 25, 2007 / Wednesday
Indian Lunch Buffets Are Bad For Productivity
Yawwwn.
April 17, 2007 / Tuesday
Make That Three Cookies
SoopahViv: i'm so bummed. i had a 3pm meeting
BH: why bummed?
SoopahViv: 'cause now i don't want to go to the gym
SoopahViv: gets crowded starting at 4
SoopahViv: i'm gonna eat a cookie instead
04:27 PM | Food:Gym| Comments (0)
April 14, 2007 / Saturday
Resistance is Futile
Every time I try to zest or grate a lemon, I lose a chunk of one of my thumbs.
Whatever, lemons. I'm still gonna eat you ... AFTER I STICK YOU IN TEH OVEN INFERNO! BWAHAHAHAHA!
April 12, 2007 / Thursday
Tiny Tomato Etiquette
It's fine and all to walk around the house munching on a pint of tiny tomatoes, but not fine at all to drop that pint and send tiny tomatoes flying everywhere.
Geez, me, quit making a mess!
April 09, 2007 / Monday
Friday Lunch
The weekly menu just came out.
Main Dish: Fish?
- What is that?
- I dunno. Fish?
- Smell it.
- No, you smell it.
- No way, Jose*!
- Fine then, we'll just tell everyone it's "Fish?".
* That really is his name.
April 08, 2007 / Sunday
Espetus
All you can eat meat, meat, and more meat, brought to your table on skewer, after skewer, after skewer.
I think the beef mooed at me. <3!
April 06, 2007 / Friday
More Than Just White Bread Today
Toasted cinnamon raisin bagel with crunchy peanut butter and sugar on top, oh how I've missed you.
The day after my whiny post, a pallet of ramen appeared in our kitchen. Whoa.
April 03, 2007 / Tuesday
This Is Building Discrimination!
Dear Person Who Stocks the Kitchen in My Building,
Why did you give us three loaves of white bread today? Why isn't there variety? No wheat, no nine-grain, no cinnamon raisin bagels? And why don't we ever have strawberry jam? Orange marmalade is blech. So are those yucky herb rolls we get every day. Oh, and we're out of honey. Actually, we've been out of honey for half a year now. How come the other building gets popcorn and ramen and we don't? And don't even get me started about the ice cream ...
You just don't care about us, do you?
Fine then, I don't care about you, either.
Viv
10:28 AM | Food:Rant/Whine| Comments (5)
March 28, 2007 / Wednesday
Stupid Internet Fairies
aaron: mmm berry pie
SoopahViv: iwantiwantiwant
SoopahViv: ahhhhh
aaron: i have a piece here just for you
aaron: but it might be gone soon so you better come get it
SoopahViv: intarwebz it
*** aaron is trying to send you "berry pie.zip".
*** You have received C:\downloads\berry pie.zip.
* SoopahViv opens berry pie.zip
SoopahViv: omg the internet fairies ate the contents!
SoopahViv: 
aaron: oh no
aaron: i guess it's too good to intarwebz
SoopahViv: 
11:31 PM | Food:Intarwebz| Comments (0)
How Do They Snap Through All That Grease?
I snapped into a Slim Jim just now, and Randy Savage came busting through my office wall.
No, wait, let me try that again.
I snapped into a Slim Jim just now, chewed a few chews, and spit the greasy lump back out. Gross!
I used to think those things were tasty when I was little. Wow, little me, wow.
March 27, 2007 / Tuesday
Mmm ... MEAT
Cold, rare, leftover steak.
It's good like sushi.
Cow sushi.
Moo.
March 23, 2007 / Friday
Peanut Butter Lindt Balls
OMG, SO GOOD. PBLB FTW!!!
Move over, RPBC.
March 21, 2007 / Wednesday
Crunchy Comfort Corn
For the last couple weeks, it seems that every time I come home late from a school meeting I make a beeline to the kitchen for either CornNuts or Kettle Korn. What is it about their processed corny goodness that has me so addicted?
I don't know, but I'll see you tomorrow.
March 20, 2007 / Tuesday
All Gone Already?
I'm not buying Girl Scout Cookies next year.
The ones this year ganged up on me and made me eat them.
March 14, 2007 / Wednesday
Too Lazy To Cook?
Today's main dish: Salad Bar Assortment
Too bad for you if you don't like salad.
Ironically, there will likely be a secret real main dish for the vegetarians.
March 12, 2007 / Monday
Lemon Candy Bread
I made lemon bread this weekend and accidentally baked in an extra half cup of sugar.
I think I'll accidentally do it again next time.
Mini Muffins, Anyone?
I stopped by Target to pick up a couple items and walked out with seven. Why does that always happen?
Among the surprise buys: peanut butter Lindt balls and a mini muffin pan. Hello, yumminess!
Lunchtime Beer?
On the menu for today: Grilled Chicken with Anchor Steam Beer
That sounds like a waste of Anchor Steam.
It'd be cool if the beer came on the side.
March 10, 2007 / Saturday
Ew, Paper, Gross!
I don't eat FAGE yogurt often enough to remember how it's packaged, so when I do get around to opening one I'm always weirded out by the funky skin on top ... until I realize it's a sheet of parchment paper.
Oh look, there are instructions on the outside of the container telling me exactly this.
I wonder what it's for.
March 09, 2007 / Friday
Mini Sweet Bell Peppers
For those of you who like bell peppers and randomly munching on veggies, check out Trader Joe's mini sweet bell peppers. They're bite-sized, super crispy, amazingly flavorful, and wonderfully sweet. Oh, and did I mention they're tasty? And that they're good for you? You can get them in little half-pint sized clear plastic containers (all bright red, orange, and yellow bell peppery inside). I would have taken a picture of mine to post, but I ate most of it within an hour of purchase. Must go back for more.
March 02, 2007 / Friday
Sweet Sorrow
Dear R4,
I was going to make lemon bars and bring them to our final game of the season, but all they had at the store were little, airy, bumpy ones for a buck each. What a crappy price for such crappy fruit. So solly, no lemon bar for you. Maybe once I get over that unlemony sour taste in my mouth I'll make you some peanut butter cup brownies.
Let's all wear red jerseys this Sunday,
Viv (not Lucinda)
#97
08:02 PM | Food:R4| Comments (4)
Crack Caramel
I'm normally not a huge fan of caramel. I don't dislike it, but it doesn't make me ooh and mmm and drool like chocolate, peanut butter, and mango do.
Unless, of course, it's inside a Cadbury's Caramel Egg. I cannot resist Cadbury's Caramel Eggs. Last year, after I ate the final CCE in my stash, I cried, searched eBay for more, and almost purchased an entire case of them. Thank goodness they're back! I kicked off Easter season today with a dozen minis. I'm glad they come in a size smaller than the original; I'd be in big trouble otherwise.
Buk buk buk.
February 28, 2007 / Wednesday
Riddick And Cheesecake
Because I'm off from school this week, and because I have to rest my knees until they stop hurting, I played couch potato last night. I went home, threw on some sweats, and watched the entire Riddick Trilogy while dining on Bailey's Cheesecake Bars.
This couch potato thing doesn't suck.
11:10 AM | Food:Injuries| Comments (6)
February 22, 2007 / Thursday
So Many Corners!
Baker's Edge: a rectangular pan with 10 corners. Finally, a pan for brownie corner lovers like me.
Ironically, last weekend I discovered that I really like brownie centers, too.
Poor edges. They're like the middle child of brownies.
February 21, 2007 / Wednesday
Veggies++
Despite the fact that I sometimes (okay, sometimes often) eat a lot of ice cream, candy, baked goods, and peanut butter (with sugar on top, mmm), I do try to eat a decent amount of vegetables too. I've found that a good way to do this is to keep a bag of immediately munchable veggies (currently, baby carrots) in the fridge. Then, when I'm reheating leftovers (I almost always have leftovers for some reason) I can munch away on the veggies. By the time my food is heated, I've already consumed a serving or two of vegetables for the meal. Good thing, too, because my leftovers always seem to be way too meat and starch heavy.
I think this may actually be my first serious blog PSA. Whoa.
Whoa? I know kung fu?
11:50 PM | Food:PSA/NTS| Comments (4)
February 13, 2007 / Tuesday
Answer Me, Bacon, Answer Me!
Ryuuen10: I blogged about bacon today
SoopahViv: mmm bacon!
* Soopahviv checks Ryuuen10's blog
Dear Bacon,
I love you so much it hurts. Will you marry me?
XOXO,
me
Ryuuen10: I think I will compose a sonnet to bacon
SoopahViv: awesome
SoopahViv: but i asked bacon first
SoopahViv: so i will be very hurt if bacon says yes to you and not me
Ryuuen10: what did bacon say
Ryuuen10: I haven't officially asked
Ryuuen10: I'm too shy
SoopahViv: bacon left me hanging
SoopahViv: i think bacon's playin' me
A Declaration
Oh, how I love cereal for dinner!
February 02, 2007 / Friday
Why I Love Tofu House
It's been just over a month since my last visit to Tofu House in Sunnyvale. They've added a few items to the menu, among them a tasty dumpling tofu soup. As per usual, I asked for no water to be poured into the stone rice bowl, explaining that I liked the crispy rice that was stuck to the bowl. Our server took the bowl away (Hey, where are you going?) and returned with a perfect, bowl-shaped scraping of the crispy rice, still warm. How's that for service?
As I said goodbye to the always cheery Mr. Tofu House on our way out, he called me over and gave me a huge handful of candy. He saw my coworker Kathy walking by and gave me something for her, too. "Hey, Kathy!" I said, and immediately heard Mr. Tofu House exclaim, "HEY, KATHY!" He grinned proudly. "How'd he know my name?" Kathy wondered. Mr. Tofu House rules.
January 29, 2007 / Monday
The Best Steak Ever
The $2.99 late night special steak and eggs at Marilyn's Cafe at the Tuscany Las Vegas. Comes with hash browns and toast. Flavorful and seared on the outside, tender and rare (exactly as requested) on the inside. Melts in your mouth. Move over, Ruth's Chris.
02:49 PM | Food:Trips| Comments (2)
December 09, 2006 / Saturday
No Good Noah's
Noah's near Milpitas Town Center: undertoasted bagels, half-assed schmear jobs, often out of whole wheat bagels by noon.
Noah's on Stevens Creek at De Anza: small, busy, crowded all the time, also runs out of whole wheat bagels by noon.
Today we tried a different Noah's, the one on El Camino at San Tomas. They at least had a few sesame whole wheat bagels, but the employees, wow.
Crappy disinterested customer service is one thing, but on-shift workers behind the counter tossing bagels and peanut butter tubs, waving 12" knives in the air, faux-throwing those knives at each other, and whacking store displays off the ceiling with broom handles is quite another thing. I'm not sure whether I'm too scared to go back, or want to return for the entertainment.
If only their honey almond schmear wasn't so tasty!
December 08, 2006 / Friday
Boston Kreme
Or "custard", as non-Dunkies folks like to call it. Is it really that hard to make Boston creme filling that doesn't taste like plastic?
How do I get this coating of blech off my tongue?
December 06, 2006 / Wednesday
Eat Your Veggies
Trader Joe's Basil Pesto Ranch Dip = Raw Veggie Munching Heaven
December 01, 2006 / Friday
Cure-All
About an hour ago, I suddenly felt crappy. Not achoo sniffle waah is me crappy, but really, truly, something is wrong crappy. I felt weak, lightheaded, hot, and was sweating despite the fact that I've been cold for the last few weeks and the temperature hasn't changed any.
The cure? Milk and cookies. Worked like a charm.
November 13, 2006 / Monday
Sausage: The New Vegetable
Today's company cafeteria menu:
Main Dish: Grilled Tri Tip
Vegetarian Side Dishes: Black + Pinto Beans with Sausage
November 08, 2006 / Wednesday
Semolina
Mmm ... love couscous. Fun to say, too. :)
October 06, 2006 / Friday
Afternoon Snack
raisin walnut bread, toasted (too bad it's not cinnamon)
butterrr
sugarrr
Yum.
October 04, 2006 / Wednesday
Fudgycake, You Win Again!
Ugh, my stomach! Whoosh, my head!
October 02, 2006 / Monday
Yambalalla
What is that? The cafeteria menu says they're serving it on Friday.
Oh, I think it's Mexican Jambalaya.
September 21, 2006 / Thursday
Mmm ... Cholesterol
Aaron and I went to a Fresh Fruit Pies & Tarts class last night. The instructor showed us how to make several items, all involving various amounts of egg yolk and butter. At one point, a student commented on the number of egg yolks in one of the recipes, adding that he would never eat anything with so much cholesterol, and equated egg yolks with poison.
The instructor looked at him, held up one of the many half pound loaves of butter on the table, and replied, deliberately, "It's a pastry class."
I'm not sure what that guy thought pies and tarts were made of, but whatever, more for me.
Egg yolks and butter, sooo tasty.
September 18, 2006 / Monday
Greek Yogurt
Damn, that stuff is good!
August 07, 2006 / Monday
Not-So-Easy Mac
I just screwed up making Easy Mac.
I assure you, it's possible. You just have to be a doofy enough doofus.
August 01, 2006 / Tuesday
MUNCHIES
Cheese Fix: Cheetos, Doritos, Rold Gold, and Sun Chips. Yesh.
June 25, 2006 / Sunday
Texas French Toast
Sounds somewhat oxymoronic to me.
Mmm, tasty.
June 21, 2006 / Wednesday
Mmm, Milkfat
The store was out of plain nonfat yogurt, so I bought some plain lowfat instead.
I've been missing out.
It's a lot like how I used to drink nonfat milk once in a while because it was good for me. Now that I've switched to 2%, my milk consumption has increased tenfold.
Maybe even twentyfold.
I'd continue with an example of reduced fat vs. full fat ice cream, but I should have known better in the first place. If anything, the fat content of ice cream should be increased. Cases in point: Godiva, Häagen Dazs, and Ben & Jerry's.
Speaking of which, it's time for my nightly licks of Mango Häagen Dazs.
May 25, 2006 / Thursday
Leftovers-O-Rama
I have enough leftovers at home for 7 (Viv-sized) meals. Good thing I have a freezer.
Maybe I should eat more.
May 18, 2006 / Thursday
Dairylicious
For someone who is somewhat lactose intolerant, I sure have a lot of dairy in the fridge.
The inventory:
- 3 pints of ice cream
- 3 containers of yogurt
- 3 kinds of cheese
- 2 kinds of milk
- 1 package of frozen cheese ravioli
And the rest? Condiments, leftovers, and beverages.
I'd probably starve if cows went on strike.
Moo.
May 16, 2006 / Tuesday
Company Cafeteria Concoction
Cocoa Puffs + Ice Cream = Cuckoo^2
April 16, 2006 / Sunday
Ugh
I think I just overdosed on Jelly Bellys.
April 14, 2006 / Friday
Smoldering Cookies
Chris and I are on our way out of the cafeteria after lunch ...
Viv: Ooh, what's that smell?
Chris: Yeah, smells good.
Viv: Mmm, like cookies!
We head into the kitchen ...
Chris: Do I smell cookies?
Kitchen guy: Just a couple from yesterday. I burned them in the microwave.
Kitchen guy shows us a smoldering-from-the-inside cookie.
Kitchen guy: You want it?
Chris: Okay.
Kitchen guy offers me the other smoldering-from-the-inside cookie. I take it, of course.
We eat the unburnt parts of the still-smoldering cookies as we walk back to our building.
We have no cookie shame.
April 09, 2006 / Sunday
Hockey Fixed My Stomach
I can eat again! Hooray!
April 07, 2006 / Friday
Tofu House Poisoning
I had tofu soup for lunch today. Then I went home, curled up into a little nauseated ball, and slept until 5. Then I had tofu soup all over again, on its way back up.
Now my stomach is eating itself. I'm hungry, but I'm afraid if I eat too much I'll end up repeating my tofu eating repeat.
Blaaah. :(
March 11, 2006 / Saturday
Panera
There's one 3 miles from my apartment. It's totally yummy, they have free Wi-Fi, and it reminds me of my visits back home.
Yaaay.
March 09, 2006 / Thursday
Pizookied
Finally had a BJ's Pizookie last night.
All that hype was just for the name, huh?
February 27, 2006 / Monday
Breakfast for Dinner
Breakfastey foods, that is, assembled like lunch. I made myself an eBlat for dinner. Mmm, tasty.
An eBlat? What's with the capital B, you wonder?
B for bacon, because it's all about the bacon.
• • •
Woops, I just realized I didn't actually have any lettuce in the eBlat, so I guess it was more of an eBat. Or maybe a meBat, since I made up for the lack of lettuce with lots of mayo. Mmm, mayo.
February 26, 2006 / Sunday
Dessert for Breakfast
Ghirardelli dark chocolate chunk pancakes with maple syrup and whipped cream.
Mmm, tasty.
I also learned today that I actually do like maple syrup. I'd based a life's worth of "I don't like maple syrup" on the yucky bottle of Aunt Jemimas I made my mom buy when I was a kid. Turns out the real stuff isn't yucky at all.
Yesh.
February 18, 2006 / Saturday
There's Chocolate on My Keyboard
It bridged three keys, hanging just over the gap between them.
Guess how I cleaned it off.
February 15, 2006 / Wednesday
Mmm ... Meatwads
Er, I mean ...
Yum, chipotle meatballs.
That said, I guess Meatwad is something of a meatball too. A lovable shape-shifting meatball with eyes and random hairs.
So anyway, Aaron and I made chipotle meatballs last night. And they were tasty. Tasty enough to share. The recipe, that is. Not the meatballs. Those were too tasty to share.
BuRp!
February 13, 2006 / Monday
Franco-American Fusion?
The main dish on today's lunch menu: Glaced Meatloaf.
What exactly does that mean? French meatloaf on ice?
Good thing I'm at home. I think I'll make some tofu soup. Mmm, tofu soup. Yum.
February 01, 2006 / Wednesday
I Have Strayed from the Path Of Cummo
In late December, I decided I needed to drop 5 pounds before the Vegas tournament. I ate well for a month, and beat my goal weight by half a pound the day before the tournament.
The weekend of the tournament, I went to a buffet every day. Last night, I had In-N-Out for dinner at 10 PM. Tonight, I had Wendy's for dinner at 11:30 PM.
Tomorrow night, tofu at home. I swear! I might go whack some sandbags while I'm at it.
Yeah, maybe two of you understood that.
January 24, 2006 / Tuesday
Dyping Souce
On the chalkboard menu at lunch today: Chinese noodles w/ dyping souce.
January 13, 2006 / Friday
Ugh
There was gooey black forest cake in the kitchen this morning.
I had some, of course. Can't pass up black forest!
That was a bad idea.
December 23, 2005 / Friday
French Toast
Bread, eggs, peanut butter, banana, cinnamon, honey.
I love having a kitchen again.
December 09, 2005 / Friday
Dinner, What's That?
Consumed, in lieu of dinner:
- 2 Krispy Kreme doughnuts (thanks, Currrd)
- 1/2 a bag of extra buttery movie theater popcorn
Accomplished, by way of skipping dinner:
- handed in final project
- watched Aeon Flux
3 more small deliverables to go, and hellooo 3 week break! I'll get to have real dinners, exercise, buy a couch, and sit around pretending to be lazy.
Maybe I'll even go to Tahoe and play in the snow ...
09:51 PM | Food:School| Comments (0)
November 22, 2005 / Tuesday
Combos
Why is it so hard to find a supermarket that carries Combos?
It seems whenever I want Combos, I have to find myself a gas station convenience store.
Speaking of which, I have a new favorite gas station: the Chevron on the corner of Homestead and De Anza that (1) is a Chevron (2) is not too pricey for a Chevron (3) has a decent automatic touchless car wash and (4) carries both small and large bags of Cheddar Cheese Pretzel Combos.
I like my new neighborhood.
• • •
I visited the Combos website (I figured I should since I linked it from this post), and it turns out they have a product locator! All right!
10:33 PM | Cheese:Food| Comments (0)
November 15, 2005 / Tuesday
Company Fusion Food
Naan and hummus.
To top it off, they promised us fresh naan, then served us Trader Joe's Naan-in-a-Bag.
November 14, 2005 / Monday
Afternoon Snack
Warm, fresh, Costco churro. One dollah! Yum.
November 10, 2005 / Thursday
Homemade, Eh?
On the menu for tomorrow: Homemade Tamales
The company e-mail just now: Sorry ... no tamales tomorrow, the tamale machine broke down.
I guess that's better than, "Sorry ... couldn't defrost them in time."
November 01, 2005 / Tuesday
Why I Love November 1st
Leftover halloween candy in the break area at work!
10:07 AM | Food| Comments (10)
October 06, 2005 / Thursday
Ugh
Too many cookies!
September 17, 2005 / Saturday
Starved
I saw a display with Banana Cake and Carrot Cake Nemo's at the convenience store earlier today. I wondered where the Chocolate ones were.
Triscuits Are Evil
I think my Triscuits are out to get me.
Two days ago, they made a mess in my car. Today, they tried to kill me at school.
"Inhale me," a Triscuit crumb said, right before it fell halfway down my windpipe.
That was by far the longest coughing/heaving fit I've had in years.
September 14, 2005 / Wednesday
Maybe I Should Grow My Own Vegetables
I mentioned to my mom the other day that I've been eating a lot more vegetables and a lot less meat since I started at my new company. She's always been pro vegetable and anti-lots-of-meat, so I figured she'd be pleased.
"Aiya!" she exclaimed, "Pesticides!" She then launched into 10 minutes of lecture about the dangers of pesticides.
Finally, I interrupted.
"Would you rather I switch back to eating lots of meat?"
"No, too much meat is bad for you."
"Would you rather I eat only organic vegetables?"
"No, that's too expensive."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"The world is so pitiful!"
So now, instead of worrying about me eating too much meat, she worries about me eating too much broccoli.
That's mom for ya.
09:39 PM | Famidotes:Food| Comments (1)
September 13, 2005 / Tuesday
Thursday Lunch
An excerpt from our weekly company cafeteria menu:
Main Dish: BBQ
Vegetarian Side Dishes: Assortment of Condiments
Who knew you could make side dishes out of condiments?
September 09, 2005 / Friday
Fragrant Cookie
Someone put a couple boxes of Kirkland cookies out in the break area. I took one, put it on a plate, brought it back to my office, and put it up on a shelf, out of sight.
Every 5 minutes or so, its double chocolatey smell wafts over to me. So much for trying to forget it's there.
August 23, 2005 / Tuesday
Yummy Lunch
sticky rice chicken wrapped in a lotus leaf
glazed baked barbeque pork bun
egg white custard tart
red bean boba shake
I'm finally discovering the yummy food near my house.
July 21, 2005 / Thursday
They Really Do Put Crack In Them
I'm trying really hard to eat better this week, and I've mostly been successful.
I am, however, unable to last 7 days without a crack Snickers bar.
June 22, 2005 / Wednesday
Crack Snickers
Why, oh why, must the vending machine at work sell such yummy Snickers bars? They're always freshly soft, and the caramel inside is always gooey. I can't not eat them. Even when I have no change and no small bills on me, I manage to scrounge up enough coins to get my fix. Our yummy Snickers situation is self-perpetuating, too, because everyone seems to be addicted to them, which means the vending folks are always replenishing the supply with fresher, softer, gooier bars.
Mmm ...
Failed Fusion Food
1 scoop of buttery mashed potatoes
1 scoop of Southwestern corn salad
2 tofu and shitake mushroom kabobs
That was today's lunch special.
June 15, 2005 / Wednesday
Chorizo Quesadilla
I love how the title sounds when read aloud.*
Flour tortilla, greasy chorizo, cheese, different cheese, sour cream, guacamole.
Rice and beans on the side.
My pants just got tighter.
*This likely holds true only for my not-exactly-a-gringo pronunciation of the word "chorizo".
June 03, 2005 / Friday
Final Bite Of Friday Lunch
Ripe avocado, parmesean cheese, and caesar dressing, smeared on a greasy 1.25 x 1.25 x 0.75 inch seasoned crouton.
Yum.