More Work To Be Done...

I'm trying my best to eat my way through the vendors at Smorgasburg, the local Saturday "flea market" for food. Here are some highlights of my trips there this summer:


Doughnut holes from Dough


Landhaus maple bacon on a stick


Landhaus BLT


Brooklyn Soda Works blackberry-mint artisanal soda


Nana’s (made by Cecile Dyer of Pies ’n’ Thighs) frozen banana with nuts and sea salt

Okay, so I haven't really made a dent.  Smorgasburg closes for the winter on November 20th, so there's still time for me to visit a few more times. Have you been there? What do you recommend I try?

-------

Once Upon a Clementine

-------

Subway Snack

These animal crackers were a closing-night gift from Averyn, a fellow cast member in Field 309, the play I just wrapped. I ate them while waiting for a train.

Question: How long have these been branded "Barnum's?" I've never thought about that before.

Answer: Since 1902! [source: Wikipedia]

-------

Emergency Snacks on Hand

Sometimes, when I'm riding on the subway or in an elevator, I think to myself, "How long could I live on the food I'm carrying with me if I got stuck?"

I cleaned out my bag this morning and discovered a number of snack items (plus a water bottle, Tylenol, and vitamins) -- Clif Bar, peanuts, cheese, and an apple.  As hungry as I've been lately, this wouldn't last too long, but I'll ride the elevator without fear this afternoon.

So, what's edible in your bag?

-------

Junior Cousin

I'm familiar with Junior Mints, but I'd never had or seen Junior Caramels before. They're reminiscent of Rollos, but drier. It's not right that the picture on the box made them look like the caramel in the middle would be gooey and melty. I ate these on an 80-something degree (F) day, but did not find the insides liquid at all.

Don't get it twisted. I liked them, and I ate the whole box (hardly sharing at all) but I don't think I'll ever crave them.

Color me Junior Mints, y'all! Now that's a box of somethin' else. I don't believe that Junior Mints should be reserved for the movies. They're for every day. A box in your bag is a good idea (as long as it's not too hot out). Like a York Peppermint Pattie, Junior Mints are refreshing. They're a candy that tastes like brushing your teeth (with chocolate).

Memories like crumbs in the purse of my mind.

(photo credit: unknown fellow camper/counselor at Dayton Oaks)

I spent a good part of today reminiscing on Facebook and Flickr, uploading pictures from 10, 20 and more years ago, like this one (from 1990 or 1991) of my first youth group leader and favorite camp counselor eating a disgusting sandwich we made for him out of everything in the camp kitchen. I appreciate that he would even smell it, let alone take a bite. In this respect, I have to consider him a snacking mentor.

A fitting mid-afternoon snack for a day of such nostalgia? A leftover cherry Pop Tart, broken into pieces by a day spent in my purse waiting to be eaten (said purse got a little knocked around by a baby who was playing with it in the meantime, hence the eaten-in-pieces business).



(This photo was taken yesterday, before I ate the first of the two PopTarts.)

I guess I technically prefer a hot and icing-ed Toaster Strudel, but I've always had a soft spot for raw, fruit-flavored Pop Tarts (and this is an item that is not so good in the generic). A favorite cold breakfast in college (we didn't have them in the house when I was a kid), they taste both bland and like candy at the same time. I find them comforting. If only I could pull these memories up over me like a blanket and crawl into a bed of photo albums and boxes of Pop Tarts, the approaching weekend would be a rather cozy one.

p.s. The homepage of the Pop Tarts website, which I had originally linked to in this post, invited me to click on "Moms" or "Kids." That there were no other options (as I am neither -- what about "Dads?" "Caregivers?" "Childless People Who Like Pop Tarts?") struck me as obnoxious. I refuse to link to them anymore.

Tent and Breakfast

The night we camped at Lake Powell, we set up the tents in failing light. For dinner, Eva cooked hotdogs in the night's pitch blackness. They were served simply (but at least, as can be seen in the photo above, we did happen to have some Grey Poupon) and eaten by electric lantern and headlamps' light. It was cold and windy and cold. I just wanted to crawl into my new sleeping bag and crash. I believe I managed to stay awake for the dessert of E.L. Fudge cookies, but just barely.




Things looked much brighter in the morning. Water heated on the propane stove moistened instant hot cocoa and instant plain oatmeal, to which we added pecans, blueberries and brown sugar.



These were AgroBerries, but I thought of them as aggro berries.

Just brush off the sand.

Bread, cheese, and salami is a good lunch on the trail. Cheese is tasty on day one, okay on day two, and expendable beyond that (unless temperatures are quite cold).



If you found your knife on the ground and all the blades are stuck shut, you might want to go for pre-sliced cheese and salami.

Poetry Tuesday: Lines from a Road Trip

Devils bright red lurk among milder, yellower friends,
Screw up faces with sour taste of hell and angry roars.

---

Tube of giant, hot cheese balls aflame,
Redder than these canyon's walls, this soil.


(photo by Dan)

But, seriously, folks:

Raw upheavals, anvils, pedestals erupting,
pimpling upward.
Earthen thunderheads,
each high, red wall a chorus of narrow faces,
Easter Island émigrés
singing to the scrub brush opposite,
masks stacked, Dahl's cloud people,
elegant arched eyebrows and mouths.
Ridge and hill and slide piled into one;
above, a contrail hangs like a pine needle
or a maestro's baton,
pointing.
Mountain of food or fabric or pressed powder
spilling in ribbons, in folds of chalk,
its weight on itself.
Farther colors pale like the memories of colors.


(photo by Dan)

On the trail (literally)

(phone photo by Dan)

Things I like in GOrP (Good Old Peanuts without raisins, not to be confused with GORP):

• Peanuts (and other nuts)
• M&Ms
• Chocolate chips
• Peanut butter chips
• Granola
• Coconut flakes
  
• Dried fruit (especially cranberries and bananas) except for raisins (though golden raisins and organic raisins are tolerable)
  

This one was just peanuts and M&Ms, but it was still sad when some of it got dropped on the sandy path outside of Peekaboo Canyon.






Note to self: 7 miles!!! of trudging through soft, thick sand to get to and from this place? It was beautiful, but... Next time, rent a jeep.

Poetry Tuesday: A few things that rhyme with salami.

In calm Miami,
A brave young swami
Named Octavo
Found when balmy
Breezes blew through his pastrami
A cry of "Bravo"
Made skies calmy.
None were ever scared or qualmy
Thanks to Octavo.

- 1994 -

(Mexican and Swiss salamis courtesy Koglin Royal Hams at Grand Central Terminal. Which is not to say they were free. For what it's worth, I believe the Swiss variety was preferred by all who tasted them.)

Adventures in Bento

I used some Christmas money (thanks, Mom and Dad!) to buy myself a Bento-style lunchbox.




This is supposed to make me more excited to eat leftovers for lunch.







It's working!




The lunchbox is a little bigger than I need, so there's plenty of room for snacks.




Tortilla soup and tortilla chips never have to touch until they're ready.





Beyond work, I'm thinking the beach and the park would also be good destinations for me and my portable foodstuffs. There's a smaller bento box available, too, if you're looking for a kid- or snack-sized version.


p.s. I just learned (the research way, not the hard way) - don't microwave these.

South Beach Diet

Refreshing; a bit mild for my taste. Overripe?




Delicious! I'll buy these for myself. Also good with hummus.

I didn't get a photo, but I have to mention the new beverage ground I covered - despite not really being a coffee drinker. I enjoyed a cafe Cubano the other evening (it's tiny, but comes with tinier plastic shot glasses so that you can space out your doses if you wish) and a Cuban cafe con leche post-beach. They're hot, sweet, and available all over town. I hear Farm Stores (drive-through convenience centers) make the best Cubanos in Miami.

Sometimes I snack beyond all reason.

Anybody know from whose wedding these are left over? They must be at least a year old.

They do taste a little funky.

My tongue hurts.

My top 5 sweet-and-sour-make-your-tongue-burn candies of the moment:
1. Chewy Spree
2. Sour Patch Kids
3. SweeTARTS (But you know what almost ruined SweeTARTS for me? Trying to navigate the Wonka website.)
4. Giant Pixy Sticks
5. Lemonheads



Two days ago I ate a small roll of SweeTARTS found at work. I'd never seen this size before. Looks like somebody's jumping on the Smarties bandwagon. In the middle of eating them, while enjoying the cursive script of the "Swee" etched into each candy, Jeff offered me a Sour Patch Kid.

It was like being punched in the tongue while it was already bleeding - but with a fist of sour deliciousness.

Well-traveled chocolate

I cracked open the first item in my Seattle-area and misc. snack sampler from friend and former coworker Tia. I was attracted to this tin of chocolate wedges because, due to its having been mailed from the West Coast, it has already fulfilled the brand's ambitions of being a chocolate traveler. Were this not the case, I would find the name a little perplexing.

This is a milk chocolate product that also contains "chocolate liquor" as an ingredient, but there is no liquor flavor. It's just basic, mild milk chocolate in a pleasantly portable form and clever triangular shape (I like triangles and consider them all clever). I have, in general but with exceptions, grown more fond of dark chocolate than milk chocolate. This is not an exception to that rule, but I didn't dislike these traveling chocolates, either.

So, they're kinda no big whoop, but I'm okay with that.

Type of triangle: isosceles.

The key is lime.

I've been to Miami. Twice. Why didn't I run into these down there? Thanks for bringing them back with you, Paul!



Despite (or because of) the four types of sugar (sugar, corn syrup, invert sugar, invertase), these are pretty tasty.



Sure, they could use more lime on the inside and more chocolate on the outside (why not enrobe?), but they're moist and dense and sweetly charming. Just like you.

The Silent Snackstress

While browsing vintage cookbooks on Ebay (trying to look-but-not-buy), I ran across one from the early 1930s titled, The Silent Hostess. Produced by General Electric, I expect that the "silent" to this book is the silence of G.E. appliances, and that it's not a treatise on why the woman throwing the party should keep quiet, but the title made me wonder what I might serve at a "silence" themed dinner party. I mean that the food would need to be silent, not the guests (or the host/ess). Nothing crunchy or crispy or that needs to be sawed into with knives and forks. Still, you'd want enough variation in flavor and texture that dinner guests don't feel like they're eating an institutional dinner for the infirm. And I'd hope everyone would wear muted colors and soft-soled shoes.

As a silent snack, the marshmallow is a revelation, if not particularly healthy. I like a jumbo Jet-Puffed with a smear of peanut butter on top. But if you're more of a jelly lover than a p.b. fan, why not go with these?



There's jelly in them thar marshmallows. Grape jelly.



I like that they're individually wrapped because it increases portability (and because of this they don't stick together in lumps or go stale like other bags of marshmallows can). They have a pleasant, powdery sweetness that soothes the palate and neither too much nor too little of the jelly filling. The marshmallows used in these treats might even taste better (leaving aside the probably artificial grapeness inside) than the plain, bagged variety available everywhere. I'd buy these unfilled, too, if that were an option, and put them in dark chocolate cocoa.

Want to go wild? PBJ marshmallow (one of these with a little peanut butter on top). Or two held together with peanut butter spread in between. Why not?!

Our Sandwich

As far as I'm concerned, Dan invented this open-faced beauty. And I became a believer when we ate dozens of them on a day's drive from Colorado to Kansas in my little used Saturn (deceased). They're good at home, in the car, while camping (you may want to swap out mustard for the mayo), while picnicking, at the beach...

The variation pictured here (from last weekend's bocce picnic) is bread, spreadable cheese, Viennese mustard, and Hormel Turkey Pepperoni, but the original version (still classic and my favorite) is a Triscuit, a dab of mayonnaise, a small slice of cheese, and a slice of the turkey pepperoni on top.

Inside Out

Cadbury's Eclairs are penny-sized caramels with a bit of chocolate filling inside. They're a little harder and stickier than I like (I have to scrape that last hard and sticky bit off my teeth every time!) and the chocolate in the middle is only really evident if you suck on these instead of chewing, but I enjoyed the combination.

The caramel is sweet and rich, buttery without coming on too strong. Inside, the chocolate is smooth, milky tasting and just a bit thick. Though the two flavors complement each other, the caramel dominates.

I appreciate portability, so while having the caramels individually wrapped inside the outer tube of paper could be seen as wasteful packaging, it's handy when I'm carrying them around in my bag all day and it keeps them from melting together into a caramel lump.

Ultimately, I prefer the old chocolate-on-the-outside-caramel-in-the-middle candy standby, but I won't say no to these, especially if what I'm looking for is a snack that travels well.