What is it with the violet flavoring, England?

Should things taste like they smell if what they smell like is flowers?

Does this chocolate taste like a little old lady might, if she were made of chocolate and perfume?

I'll never regret trying this Rococo violet chocolate (thanks, A!), and if you're in the mood for a floral novelty snack, or need to get a flowery friend a gift, you should definitely go for a bar, but I like Parma Violets just a bit better as an odd and edibly violet option.

Another Taste of Hawaii

Along with the durian chips mentioned a few days ago, my dear friend Angela sent me these coconut and macadamia nut balls. I was afraid they'd have a texture too similar to gumdrops (which I dislike), but though they were chewy they were not as artificial, granular, or sugar-coated. They did taste like coconut, too, which is always a nice touch. I detected no macadamia nut in some of them, and just a little nut in others, but that didn't bother me much.

If you like Mounds bars, or are otherwise a sweetened coconut fan, keep an eye out for these.

Enrobement: It's what makes raisins tolerable.

Ah, to live in Cupcakeland

I'm no fiend for cupcakes. I'm more fond of classic sliced cakes and pies. But I like a good cupcake, and I'll try out the new neighborhood cupcake shop. And this cupcake, in specific, tasted fresh and light. Furthermore, the "Cookie" frosting pleased me. I'll be back.


Cupcakeland
390 Metropolitan Ave
(between Havemeyer St & 5th St)
Brooklyn, NY

How dark is too dark?

For me, 81% is too dark.

The almonds and sea salt in this Mast Brothers chocolate are swell, but I think I'm more of a 60% dark sort of gal. It's good to learn these sorts of things about myself.

(this chocolate was a gift from Jenny. I love the packaging, and I've been dying to sample the Mast Brothers' wares. Great present! Thanks!)

My problems have problems. But not big problems.

What should one do when her vitamin regimen is messing with her meals/snacking schedule? I've been tossed on these horns for the past week or so.

Want to read the medium-length (i.e. could be longer OR shorter, but is neither), medium-boring version? Here you go:

I made up my mind to start taking a magnesium supplement daily. So far I have been unable to work it into my schedule.

Often, I don't eat anything that qualifies as "breakfast" at home. I don't leave myself enough time between waking up and leaving the house. If I'm doing a morning shift, I try to be at work between 8:30 and 9am, and I eat breakfast there.

As it turns out, magnesium needs to be taken on an empty stomach, or with Vitamin C, so my plan has been to take my magnesium pill with a (hydrated) packet's-worth of Emergen-C as soon as I get to work (I could take the pill at home, I suppose, but it seems unlikely I would remember to do that). Then, in theory, I'd wait 30 minutes to an hour before eating breakfast at 9:30 or 10am. Though this begs a question: How long does my stomach have to remain empty (except for the magnesium) in order for it to "count" as empty while the pill is being ingested?

In practice, since "as soon as I get to work" is not only when I like to eat breakfast, but also the quietest time of day in the office, when I put breakfast off until after taking my magnesium, I often get busy with other things and forget or don't have time to ever come back to eat my Peanut Butter Puffins (or other cereal "Flavor of the Week) until it's 11am, and too close to lunchtime for me to back up to breakfast.

OR I eat something and put off taking the magnesium, but then I never know when my stomach qualifies as "empty" again, and I'm loathe to take the supplement incorrectly.

OR I neither eat, nor take the vitamin pill, and just stew in my own indecisive juices.

OR, like the morning pictured above, I finally remember to take the magnesium around 10 am, and then at 11am feel like it's too close to noon for "breakfast," so just eat a handful of dry Peanut Butter Puffins at my desk. Dissatisfying.

At the heart of this dilemma is probably the fact that I didn't consult my doctor before starting to take magnesium (she did recommend a multi-vitamin and calcium, which I also take, along with fish oil caplets, but all of those things can be taken with food). If I had actually talked to the doctor about it, her advice probably would have helped me sort out the timing of things.

What is "an empty stomach," anyway? I mean, how long of a buffer of time on either side of my magnesium do I need to have not eaten?

I could have worse issues. I realize this.

Suggested Use-By Holiday

On St. Patrick's Day, I bought the last carton of Mint Chocolate Chip at the corner store. It didn't turn out to be green, but it did seem an appropriate flavor. As a nod to the drunken drunkenness going on at bars around the nation, I ate some for dessert with a little Bailey's poured over the top (not my idea). Unfortunately, all we had in the cabinet was caramel Bailey's. Weird. But I ate it. I am nothing if not a slave to thematic-slash-edible follow-through.

Just as I suspected, this ice cream (without topping) is still good long after the holiday. I ate more straight from the carton last night, to preserve resources. Washing a bowl wastes water, right?

If there's a bottom, I haven't hit it.

Yes, I will snack on generic sliced pickles. Actually, this has been a tradition of mine since childhood, when my friends in the neighborhood and I used to sneak into the church basement (my dad was the pastor there) to snitch hamburger slices out of the (not-very-well-stocked) refrigerator in the fellowship hall.

The first one out of the jar still tastes like rebellion.

Angela, I finally tried them! Here's proof!

Oh, Angela, you've been so patient. I'm sorry it took me this long to get a little tipsy and try the durian chips you sent me. Did you have some? They taste/feel like sweet french fried onions. And they smell like weirdsville. Thanks!

Perfunctory reviews

Homemade Rice Crispy Treats? Yes. Sure.

Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats? No. Too sweet. Blick. Big mistake.

Passport Blue nail polish by American Apparel? Hard to apply neatly. So blue it's almost black.

C.I. knows broccoli.

I recently let my years-long subscription to Cooks Illustrated expire, but I've kept the back issues I own. Not only do they contain several recipes I use over and over again (for example, I swear by their carrot cake), but there are many I haven't tried yet and still mean to.

The other night, I pulled out the issue from January of 2008 in order to try their method of roasting broccoli.

And -- perfection! The broccoli florets (which I did not cut according to their instructions, as I misunderstood those instructions) roasted for about 10 minutes in a 500 degree oven, after having been tossed with olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. sugar (I had 1 1/2 lbs broccoli). Then, after roasting, I tossed the hot broccoli with a heated mixture of olive oil, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and oregano. Cooks Illustrated meant for me to have olives in there, too, but I didn't feel like shopping for another ingredient.

Oh, golly, I gobbled this up. I can't wait to have broccoli again.


[If you're an online member of CI, find the recipe here.]

Waffle Kerfluffle

It happens in the best marriages: Dan and I had a breakfast-related argument.

He wanted waffles; I was sort of willing to make waffles (I just need to mention right off that he was busy, or he could have made them himself). I craved savory and edgy; he craved sweet and classic. I thought I might improvise cornmeal waffles with bacon and parmesan cheese; Dan thought I should go with something banana-related. Oh, the waffling that ensued (pun intended).

My making The Hungry Housewife's recipe for Banana Bread Waffles ended our kerfluffle. They didn't even need the sliced banana or nuts that were suggested as topping -- just a little syrup brought it all together.

Who can argue when waffles are this good?

Peer Pressure Blogging

I got a lot of encouragement from members of our large party to blog about a recent dinner at Petite Abeille, a charming Belgian restaurant on 17th Street (among other locations), near Union Square in New York City.

The meal? Delicious, comforting, warm. I had vol au vent and frites. Incroyable!

The staff? Friendly, thoughtful, genuine.

The location? Charming, Tintin-a-riffic, cozy. And a little dark. Just too dark, in fact, to take good photos (see dimly lit Belgian chocolate mousse, above). Hence my reluctance to blog about the meal.

But I did take that one photo, and I do sometimes fold under pressure (and the meal was great), so here I am.

It's not just about the knitting.

Another knitting night, another awesome meal.

Kara and Jen W. (yes, another "Jenny") have really upped the ante. We used to sort of snack sporadically while crafting. Now we're eating fully-formed, healthy meals.








This time, at Jen's house, we had risotto-stuffed peppers, a spicy quinoa salad, a beet and greens salad, the softest ginger cookies, and lemon sandwich cookies (the last made by Jenny G.). I hardly even wanted to knit.




p.s. Bob is welcome at knitting night any time.

Second Place

I spotted a canister of Sriracha peas at The Meat Hook/Brooklyn Kitchen. I like wasabi peas, and I like Sriracha, so I decided to take it home.

To me, they're not as good as wasabi peas, but they're interesting. Predominately honey/tomato sweet, the spiciness builds up over time but doesn't have the sharp, pungent burn of wasabi in the sinuses. There's also something a little artificial about their flavor -- something I don't notice with w. peas. But, overall, Sriracha peas aren't bad as a savory snack.

Pancake Happy Hour

Bill said:

Instead of going to a bar after work today, I'm hosting happy hour at my house. Also, I'm making savory pancakes.

I replied:

I may Happy Hour some savory pancakes.

And I did. With salsa and sour cream and guacamole and cilantro and cheese -- and about a dozen very cool friends. Delicious.

A sign of the times

It must be spring. My craving for fruits and vegetables is up tenfold. Somebody left fruit out on the counter at work the other day, and I pounced. I promptly bought myself a bag of clementines for home consumption, too. Come on over, produce!

Dreaming of better days...

It's been seasonably chilly (it is March, after all) in NYC this week, and today is sunny but cold. I'm focusing on the gorgeous weather we had last weekend, and all the delicious food I had at Steve's classy BBQ party. My favorite items on the buffet were a moist shrimp with rice dish and an incredible peanut butter cookie.

(Shoes from Target)

A Waddle of Wafers

Thanks to Barbara, my coworker Dave and I ate far too many of these at the office yesterday.

They taste cheap, like thin layers of frosting and crunching and air. This is a good thing.

Dave regretted the number he ultimately ate. I did not. So good.

BabyCakes, meet Baby Cakes

BabyCakes vegan bakery's Banana Bread





Baby Cakes by Brad Neely, Creased Comics (watch 'em all!)

Takumi Take-Away.

The soup base was a little greasy, but the flavors were nice.

Ramen Takumi
90 University Place
New York, NY

I ate in the dark again.

Happy birthday, DMP! It turns out I don't like apple brandy, but I do like you.

Also, thanks for the brownies, Jessica. Their texture was tops -- silky and soft.



I hear the cupcakes, which were good, but entirely too enormous, were from The Blue Stove.

I wasn't just there for the cupcakes. I swear.

Over the past months, Snackreligious cast regular Dan Funderburgh created MAP/Pursuit of Pursuit of Happiness, an amazing installation for Sigerson Morrison's boutique space on the Upper East Side.

Funderburgh combined wall stickers (designed by him and made by wallpaper company Flavor Paper, who sell a number of wallpaper designs by Dan) with framed work for this show. I made it up there Thursday night for the opening party. The art looked fierce, the shoes were even cooler up close than in photos, the tiny cupcakes had cream cheese frosting, and the samosas were a nice touch.






I loved seeing the three small beasts Dan had painted (made by his sister, ceramicist Eva Funderburgh, with whom he collaborated last year) on display with the jewelry at the store.




I choked on an almond, but recovered well with a few sips of white wine. Ah, the rich life.




Dan also designed the patterns imprinted on the straps of these Sigerson Morrison shoes.

If you are in NYC and would like to stop by, Dan's art and prints will be displayed in the shop for viewing and sale throughout the month of March.


Sigerson Morrison
19 E 71st St
New York, NY

Presentation counts.

Here's an example of a cute package for a homemade snack. Inside? A small loaf of chocolate chip banana bread made by Melissa. I ate the payload too quickly to get a photograph, but you can take my word for it.

Happy, Ryan?

I am at Ryan's house, enjoying Sam's lively Chinese New Year birthday party as I type this. There's a lot going on.

The woman next to me is speaking rapidly in French, some crab rangoons are frying in a dangerous amount of oil heated over a turkey burner in the back yard, Chuck Norris (in The Octagon) is having flashbacks on the wall, several ladies are dancing like mad, and I just ate something tasty with noodles.

It has come to my attention that some of my friends fear that if I do not write a blog post about a party they've thrown or a meal they've fed me, it must mean I was disappointed by it -- and, by extension, the friend in question.

However, just for the record, it's often too dark for a good photo. See the top of this post for blurry phone photos I'd rather not have posted. I don't like using flash, either. The results aren't much better. Believe me, I mean no offense if your party does not end up on Snackreligious, especially if the lighting is dim. It doesn't mean I didn't enjoy myself, or your refreshments, immensely.

Other reasons I might not blog about the awesome snack you gave me include:

• No camera/phone on hand.
• I ate the thing too quickly (because it was so good, was melting, was in danger of being eaten by someone else) to get a photo.
• I plumb forgot to write the blog post.
• I just don't write about everything I eat. Something's going to be left out.
• I've already blogged about it in some other context and don't want to repeat myself.
  

At this party, however dimly lit, I made a special effort to put the ice cream cake under a lamp to take a better picture. Bought at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, it was layers of green tea, black sesame, and pandan ice creams. Superb!





Fun party, too.

Chocolate for the Athletic Frog In You

(nail polish = "Office" from American Apparel, another great gift)

Cadbury's Freddo makes me think, Froggy* Plays Tennis.

I found a little something strawberry inside this Australian frog, but it all tasted pretty artificial. Still, I'm not sorry I sampled it. Thanks, Cali!

p.s. Do frogs really taste like chicken? Anyone?

n.b. *Turns out, "Freddo" is a beloved character in his own right. And comes in numerous flavors.

You don't know me, beverage.

This bottle of Vitamin Water (new flavor, "connect") claims to know me. According to the copy on the bottle, I "voted on the flavor & designed the label" on Facebook.

But if that's true (which it isn't; I knew nothing of this project), why do I think it's gross? Surely, if I were involved, it would be delicious, right? More to my citrus-and berry-loving taste?

I don't get black-cherry lime from "connect." I get a sort of cherry cough syrup and something undefined. Perhaps that's the caffeine.

Generally, "made by fans, for fans on facebook" is neither my favorite product slogan, nor what I'd pick as a fool-proof method for designing beverages.

Crackin' Good

Chuao's Firecracker chocolate bar with chipotle, salt, and "popping candy" (think Pop Rocks) caused quite a tizzy around the office this afternoon. Angela sent it to me for my birthday, so everyone who got some is lucky I was feeling generous.

There's not much spice to the chipotle and not much saltiness to the salt in this bar, but that's good. The popping candies are doing enough; your tongue doesn't need anymore distractions.

All who tasted it seemed intrigued enough to consider eating it again or buying it for a friend, so I call this novel bar a keeper -- and I know first-hand that it makes a great gift!