Netchick’s living vicariously, asking everyone what they got for Christmas. And I’m happy to oblige!

Some new running gear: an iPod Nano, the Nike + iPod pedometer/workout tracker and some new kicks to put it in, since my current runners were looking mighty sad.

And a year’s subscription to Cook’s Illustrated Magazine.

These will either be highly complementary, or cause a great deal of cognitive dissonance in 2008.

It only took a few months to happen - I’ve got lunch fatigue. I’m officially bored with the lunch offerings around my office.

And yah, I could make lunch to take to work, but I’m sorely out of practice and creativity in that department.

It gets especially difficult when you consider the fact that I don’t really like sandwiches.

That’s right. Don’t like sandwiches. I don’t mind a basic PB&J, or a toasted clubhouse, or the holy grail: the day-after Christmas turkey/cranberry sauce/stuffing/mashed potatoes/gravy on bread concoction, but untoasted bread stuffed with… stuff… it just turns me off. I dunno why.

I’ve also tried bringing salads to work, but I find they’re not filling enough, and also a very cold lunch in my very cold office. Plus after 3 days of salads, I’m still bored with the local options and now also bored with salad.

But I think I’ve found a solution!

Surfing through the blogopshere, I found the new site Just Bento.

I love bento - tiny meals in a box - and Makiko has put together a collection of tasty recipes and handy tricks. Including a big ol’ DUH that I didn’t think of but really should have: most bentos start with rice, so pre-cook a bunch, freeze it, and then top a frozen rice-hunk with bento fixin’s.

In fact she talks about maintaining a stash of joubisai (prepared ingredients) to make prep and assembly easier. We already maintain a similar pantry stock for dinners, so why it never occurred to me to populate a similar collection for lunches I’m not sure.

The site is pretty new, so it only has two bento recipes up so far. I’m hoping more will come during the next week while I’m away, and I can start the bento process with earnest once I’m back home.

Do you have any favourite lunch fixin’s or bento resources? After 1 week away, 6 frazzled days at home, and another week on the road, I’m going to be in the mood for some serious home cooking.

You can’t imagine how unbelievably sad I am to be writing this entry.

Ending any relationship is hard, but this one meant more to me than most. It’s seen me through so much, been with me through good times and bad, and its warm, comforting embrace has been the one constant I’ve had to rely on when nothing else was going right.

My friends, I am off coffee.

I’ve been pretty ill for quite some time. Since late March I’ve been dealing with being completely irregular (varying widely from one end of that particular spectrum to the other), and random attacks of nausea. It’s gotten to bad that I’ve had to walk out on dinners (because just being in the presence of food is enough to trigger illness) and have bolted from a cab, upstairs to the bathroom just in time to hurl. I have spent more nights than I care to admit to myself curled up in the fetal position waiting for the sweet release of sleep - or death - or anything to make me stop feeling like my torso is being turned inside-out.

Now I’m at a point where I don’t like going out much, because I have no idea how I’ll feel or what might happen (it tends to come out of “nowhere”). I’ve lost 5lbs - but not in a good way. I’ve actually mostly abandoned any sort of serious exercise routine, because on a daily basis I’m never sure if I’ll be able to consume enough calories to make it through a workout without fainting. And of course, the lack of exercise means my energy levels have gone waaaaaay down, and I’m mostly tired all the time.

It was clearly time to do something about this, and I’m already familiar with the processes of dealing with GI distresses - so I started paying really close attention to everything I do and eat.

And one constant I’ve found is coffee.

I’ve not had any for a few days (or the couple cups I have had made me pretty sick) - and I’m already starting to feel better.

I almost wish I didn’t.

But for now, coffee is dead to me. Really rich foods (especially dense, dark chocolates) and wine are on notice.

Of course, if I actually have to move either one of those to the banned list, life may not be worth living anymore.

At the moment, though, things are slowly getting better - and Neil has switched from delivering java in the mornings to tea instead.

If you know me, you know how much I love Love LOVE food and wine. And the absolute highlight of the trip was dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. It’s one of few restaurants where the quality of the food is not inversely proportionate to the quality of the views. We were incredibly lucky to get a reservation there - I called from the Airport on Friday before we left, and the caller before me had just canceled their Saturday reservation. Otherwise it’s generally weeks to get a weekend sitting.

We had the tasting menu and accompanying flight of wine - and let me tell you, there are only a few things in this world (which I won’t mention, since my Mom reads this, but you get the idea) better than the taste and mouth-feel of amazing food with perfectly paired wines.

I’m mostly posting this so I can go back and reminisce over the menu at some point, but for the curious (because I know there are at least a few food/wine nerds reading), here’s what we had:

Amuse Bouche: Tomato Gaspacho, Rabbit Confit on Crostini, Crab Cake
Champagne - estate and vintage long forgotten

Cold Foie Gras Torchon, Duck Prosciutto, Fig Compote
Trimbach Reserve, Pinot Gris 2003, Alsace France

Maine Lobster, Fennel Remoulade, Herb Salad
Schafer Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay 2005, Napa

Braised Filet of Halibut, Artichoke, Basil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pascal Jolivet Sancerre 2005, Loire Valley France

Roasted Rack of Lamb, Confit Eggplant, Tomato Tart, Tarragon Jus
Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Alexander Valley

Crispy Michigan Farmstead Artisanal Camembert, Almond Apricot Petite Salad
Wedell Pinot Noir 2004, SantaRita Hills California

Eiffel Tower Dessert: Neil had the Apple Strudel, I had the Chocolate Sampler
Clos Uroulat Jurancon 2004, France

It was all just as good as it sounds - possibly better.

After my Food Network rant the other day, I must make a confession.

I use a lot of disposable plastics in the kitchen.

I do use a lot of plastic and glass re-usable containers, but I’m also guilty of using a great deal of zip-top bags and cling-film.

Not to mention all the tinfoil, now that it’s BBQ Season again.

What on earth can you do with used tinfoil?

Solutions I’ve come up with so far are to use as many re-usable containers as possible instead of baggies, and to try and get a couple uses out of baggies when I do need to use them.

But I’m at a bit of a loss for ideas when it comes to reducing my use of clingfilm (primarily for covering big casserole dishes or re-wrapping cheese, etc.) and tinfoil.

Do you have any brilliant ideas?

Not unlike fellow blogger and member of the ranks of the unemployed, Dave Drucker, I’m also spending a lot more of my time cooking at home, rather than going out.

This isn’t a huge change, as Neil and I both really enjoy cooking - we generally argue over who gets to make dinner - but being home all day means I’m a) watching a lot more food network and b) constructing some awfully elaborate dishes because I have the time, so why not?

Favourites over the last little while include Slow Roasted Moroccan Lamb, Lasagna Rio Grande, BBQ’d Ribs - slow roasted in homemade bbq sauce, and a succulent, falling apart Pork Roast in Teriyaki Pinapple marinade.

And I tell you, nothing has upped my food snob factor like having the time to spend closely examining the origins and quality of the things I eat and how they’re prepared.

I found myself watching Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller (warning: flashy talking video awaits…) and just getting irate at the TV about the choices she’s making.

The premise of the show is fine - make a meal plan, and purchase the ingredients for three quick and easy weeknight meals, using the same staples. Prep as much as you can ahead of time, and assemble the day you want to eat.

But then she starts off the cooking bit by washing her hands… and drying them with paper towels! She creates a lot of waste on the show in general - from paper towels, through convenience packaging, and storing prepped food in disposable (and disposed of) plastic baggies. I don’t honestly know whether she just strikes me as environmentally non-conscious, or because I’ve been paying more and more attention to living green and sustainability lately. But whatever it is, it irks me.

But maybe the food’s ok? Meh.

Keep in mind she’s targeting her show to busy women who need to feed their families quickly. But every single week, she makes a pasta dish with plain, white pasta. Now I’m sure someday I’ll be rewarded with kids who will eat nothing but one plain spaghetti noodle for dinner (except on Tuesdays after 8:00pm in months that begin with “J”, when they’ll demand a plate of deep-fried chicken strips instead) but where’s the variety???

What about polenta, quinoa, couscous, bulgur, whole what pasta, whole grain rice, other ancient grains? In a brief spark of irony, now that I rant I notice she’s using soba noodles in her recipe this week - but it’s the first non-white food I’ve seen in at least half-a-dozen episodes.

The meals are nutritionally sound if you don’t look too closely: a bit of protein, some starch and plenty of veggies - but convenience is the major focus.

Contrast this with the new Jamie Oliver show, Jamie at Home, where Oliver has taken his trillions of Pounds, and upon returning from Italy has purchased acres of land in the English countryside to devote to a massive vegetable garden. Of course, Mr. Celebrity doesn’t actually do the gardening, he has a gardener for that - but he uses his garden’s spoils to create his dishes. Throughout the show he reminds the viewer (who can’t always grow it all) to “pull your finger out” and make some effort to find a good market, fishmonger, butcher and create wonderful dishes with quality ingredients.

There’s no shortage of people encouraging the Food Network audience to do the same thing.

On his show Good Deal with Dave Lieberman, Dave brings fresh ingredients from Whole Foods back to his tiny New York loft kitchen, and encourages cooking with quality ingredients on a budget.

I even caught an episode of 30-minute meals with Rachel Ray that had to be at least 2-3 years old, where her first instruction was to “Buy Organic Spinach. It’s far and away better than the other stuff, just make sure you get all the dirt off.”

Blogger Rebecca Blood just spent the past month proving that it’s possible to feed your family organic food on a food stamp budget.

And of course our own local 100-mile-diet initiators Alisa Smith and James McKinnon have started a movement that reduces impact on the earth, supports local farms, and results in some darned tasty food at the end of the day.

So what’s up Robin?

Other TV hosts and food influencers have shown that convenience, local eating consciousness and affordability can work in tandem with nutrition and organic ingredients. One shouldn’t come at the expense of the other, and I’d like to see more of a focus on both, because I certainly don’t plan on giving up the awesome meals to which I’ve become accustomed once I’m working again.

Every now and again I’m sent products to review. The latest of these are a new granola bar product, the Fiber One Chewy Bars - Oats and Chocolate (made by General Mills - I’d link to a product site if they had one).

I haven’t personally eaten a mass produced chewy granola bar in years. Now I remember why. They just taste like cardboard and glue, and these bars were no exception. Bland starchy ingredients, held together in an amalgam of high fructose corn syrup and confectioner’s shellac. Oh, and some chocolate drizzled on top. THAT CHOCOLATE FOOLS NO ONE!

But I did eat the whole box (5 bars) over a period of a couple weeks. What can I say - they were in my desk drawer, and sometimes my hunger is only rivaled by my laziness. But they were obviously not that bad if I didn’t throw the box away upon the first bite - and I’ve been known to do that with stuff I’ve paid for myself, nevermind stuff that came to me for free.

I had a whole laundry list of pros, cons and ingredient horror stories about the bars once I saw the whole box - but then I saw the review up at Fitness Mantra, and realized it was far more inspired than mine ever would be - so I suggest you read it instead to get a better idea of the product.

The bar has what amounts to 1/3 of your daily requirement of fiber. I eat a pretty high fiber diet anyway, so the extra wasn’t noticeable to me - however the box did come to me with a disclaimer:

As you may be aware, health professionals often recommend gradually increasing fiber intake to help reduce gastrointestinal discomfort that initially may be experienced by some people when more fiber is added to their diet. Note that each Fiber One Chewy Bar has 9 grams of fiber—about 1/3 the Daily Value. If you’re not used to eating a high fiber diet, you may want to begin with just half a bar and gradually work up to a full bar as your body becomes used to the fiber.

Olestra-style anal leakage anyone?

Bottom line about the Fiber One bars - If you’re going to eat a chewy granola bar anyway, maybe hate your body a smidgen less, and get one that has some extra fiber in it. Because god knows if chewy granola bars are a diet staple of yours, you can probably use all the help you can get.

If you’re not a chewy granola bar eater, then just keep passing these on by like you would any other chewy bar. General Mills might not thank you (or me for that matter), but your body will.

A while back I happened upon this blog post, which basically instructs the reader on how to manage cooking for yourself, without eating things that only come out of a can or box, while having absolutely no clue to what you’re doing.

I realized that even though, yes, of course, eating at home is cheaper, the primary obstacle for most people is that cooking at home is about as familiar as Abu Dubai. It takes a long time to get up to speed if you weren’t raised to be a cooking adult; I grew up on McDonald’s, convenience-store ice-cream Snickers and bagels (through no fault of my mother’s–she was an awesome cook, but I was stubborn and unteachable).

I agree with most of her points, but having ventured further and further into culinary utopia as of late, I figured I’d let you, gentle reader, in on a few additional things I’ve picked up along the way.

First, run - don’t walk - to your local bookstore and pick up The Joy of Cooking. There is a reason it’s been around as long as it has, and why it’s been one of the most popular bridal shower gifts for women who’re traditionally setting up their own kitchens for the first time. It’s that good. In fact, of the dozens of cookbooks I currently own, it’s the only one that’s NEVER yeilded a recipe that makes more of its way to the dog’s stomach than mine.

Still not sold? It’s so good that someone else decided it was respectable enough to model one of the world’s most well-known sex books after it. It contains every single thing you ever wanted to know about every ingredient you will ever encounter, and then some. Do you have it yet? No? Why are you still reading this - I SAID GO! I’ll be here when you get back.

Now that you’ve torn yourself away from your new book, I’ve got a couple other tips for you:

Even though the author of the aforementioned post advocates for it, DO NOT under any circumstances, EVER purchase a George Foreman Grill. EVER. The worst crime against food this particular appliance commits is its temperature. You can not regulate it. The grill is either on, or off, and leaves the cook little to no recourse for combatting the tough, leathery outer layer to her meats, shielding the raw inside from being adequately heated through.

Anything you may want to do with a GF Grill, you can do better on a stovetop griddle (or even in a frying pan) or on a charcoal or gas grill outside. An attentive hand and a well-chosen non-stick pan or two will serve you far better in the long run.

If you are going to splurge on an appliance, make it a food processor. They can be had for as little as $50 for a brand-new low-end model, and is considered an “essential” by most chefs I know. While you can use a hand-mixer, or even a strong arm and a whisk as a substitute for a stand-mixer, your oven can serve the same functions as most BBQs or toasters, and a four-sided grater can do the work of about 6 other (expensive) tools, the Food Processor has no substitute and is called for (or will save a great amount of time) in a lot of recipes. Bonus: It can also do the same jobs as a blender.

One thing I do agree with Jen on though. is that she’s absolutely bang-on when she goes over steps instructing new cooks to familiarize themselves with their local farmer’s market, butcher and fishmonger. These people are invaluable resources for fresh food, and can help instruct you on what’s in season and how to prepare most any of their products.

A great tip for the locals: Edible British Columbia offers a series of Marketplace Tours in the key “food” areas of Vancouver: Granville Island, Chinatown, Commercial Drive, and (in season) the Richmond Night Market. For the price of a good meal in a good restaurant, you’ll not only get lunch, but a guided tour of one of these locations, where you’ll be informed of and introduced to the best local vendors, and ideas of how to find ingredients and prepare great, local cuisine.

Eat local, eat in-season, and suddenly your entire world will turn topsy turvy and the words Kraft Dinner and Pizza Pop will all but vanish from your regular vocabulary.

The best tip for a new cook though, is one I’ve never read ANYWHERE and something I’ve had to establish all on my own: If you don’t like it, THROW IT AWAY.

I know you’ve probably been lectured since you were wee that wasting food is a very big no no, and you may even be feeling the pinch in your own pocketbook. I understand. But there is absolutely no sense in forcing down something awful. Tossing it will also help you move forward faster, toward culinary greatness!

If you completely botch a recipe and subsequently force yourself to eat something you completely dislike, you’ll suffer through an unbearable meal, and feel not only ill, but discouraged that your attempts at feeding yourself only lead to discomfort.

If instead you toss the offending dish, you will feel bad about throwing it away and wasting food and money, but you will also be much more likely to pay closer attention to what you did wrong, and think about how to remedy or avoid it next time.

You could even take the 5 minutes you’re waiting for the water for your ramen noodles (which you keep in the back of the cupboard for such an occasion) to boil, to google “how to fix dropping the entire box of salt in the soup” which will yield you the expert advice of thousands of cooks who’ve gone there before, and suggest throwing some potatoes into the mix to absorb the sodium.

Above all, don’t be afraid to try something new, pick up an ingredient that sounds utterly unfamiliar, and expand your cooking and eating horizons. You have nothing to lose but your Big Macs.

I think it’s nearly impossible to live in Vancouver for a certain amount of time, and not eventually develop a liking for at least one soy product.

Don’t get me wrong, I love meat. And not in the PETA way - in the kill and devour it charred and bloody way.

But I also really like edamame, agedashi tofu, and soy beverage (for its own sake, not as a milk substitute). As do most other people I know.

What I don’t like - in fact I consider it a complete abomination of food as we know it - is soy products masquerading as meat.

Tofurkey, Fake-on, Ground Round… If you’re going to be vegetarian or vegan that’s fine, but that means you DON’T GET TO ENJOY THE MEAT. Enough torturing the market with your sad and inadequate meat substitutes. I don’t even want to know how you mimic the flavour of turkey using no animal products.

So it was much to my surprise, that I encountered the following recipe for a cake made with tofu, that’s actually DELICIOUS and a pretty much constant coffee cake standby for when guests drop in (which in reality means the man and I end up eating it all our damn selves because who just “drops by” on anyone anymore?):

1. Take 1 Betty Crocker Cake Mix
2. Empty cake mix into food processor or mixer
3. Add 1 package of Surise or Pete’s Tofu dessert tofu. Blend
4. Add 1/4 cup of water. Blend just until mixed. Note: do not add eggs or oil
5. Bake as directed on box.

TA DA!

It really is just that easy. And it tastes GOOD. It does not taste like a regular cake-in-a-box, rather it’s much more moist and dense. Just like a coffee cake. I make mine in a fluted pan, although you could certainly use regular cake or cupcake tins as well.

The best thing about it is that it doesn’t taste like a “cake substitute.” It just tastes like dessert. Tofu because it’s tasty - not as a piss-poor substitute that will only leave you longing for the way things used to be, before you grew a beer gut and/or an environmental conscience.

Another fun bit, for me anyway, is playing with flavour combinations. The two I’ve had the most success with are a French Vanilla cake with Peach-Mango tofu and a Devil’s Food cake with Caramel tofu (excellent warmed up a bit and served with vanilla ice cream, and liberally doused with Blackberry dessert wine) .

Think it can’t get better? OH YOU’D BE WRONG.

Not only does this not taste like tofu, it’s also one of the lowest fat/calorie desserts you’ll ever enjoy:

Made the regular way (oil & eggs), a serving of Betty Crocker cake (1/12 of the total batch) will ring in at 120 Calories, 11g of Fat, and 45mg of Cholesterol.

Using tofu instead? One serving (same size) is a mere 35 Calories, 0.5g Fat and 0g Cholesterol.

Considering the holidays are coming up, you may want to introduce this to your kitchen, as an alternate temptation to the mincemeat tarts and shortbread that I’m sure will be making their way around soon. Consider the recipe a holiday gift from my stomach to yours!

One of the culinary frontiers I hadn’t explored until today was shellfish. I don’t mean eating (I’m an old pro at that one), I mean preparing in my own kitchen.

I doubt I would’ve made it there, had I not possessed an excess of wine in the fridge that needed to be cooked with.

(Wine that went off with surprising regularity in our slightly-too-hot apartment in the pre-wine-fridge days.)

The man loves mussels, I’m pretty fond of them, and allrecipes.com said they were fantastically simple. So why not?

Well the recipe was right, they were DEAD easy. Dead, as in, I killed 1/3 of them by leaving them in the bag too long. Did you know mussels need to breathe? Yah. I didn’t either. In fact, there was a whole bunch of stuff I didn’t know about cleaning mussels.

No matter. It was all done in fairly short order, and the recipe we used was easy and tasty.

Unfortunately, the mussels were just a bit too… real.

The flesh of these fresh sea-treats was huge & meaty. Much more so than from any restaurant I’ve had them at. And while I usually enjoy mussels, the texture of these ones turned me off a little.

Ok, a lot.

The rule has generally been that I prefer food I’ve made in my own kitchen. It’s somewhat disappointing to form a new relationship with an ingredient, only to find out that the ingredient is “not that into you.”

Have I just been subjected to shitty mussels all these years? Did I inadvertently happen to get some juiced up “kitsilano meathead” mussels - all bulk and no substance? Could I have done something differently?

In any case, I’ll probably try shellfish again someday (especially if you, gentle readers, leave some tips or advice for me), but not until I’ve soothed my poor, brokenhearted, disappointed palate with some tea and girlguide cookies.

I got a lovely wee package in the mail yesterday. TiVo was sharing some love, in the form of an apron! WooHoo!

They sent it because I was supposed to host a TiVo tasting party (they loaded my box with a bunch of content, with the intention of sharing it with my friends), which I never did get around to.

But I sing the praises of the TiVo often enough, and pimp the TiVo love all over town, so I don’t feel guilty accepting the gift anyway.

I’ve already given it an inaugural run, and covered it in spaghetti sauce splatters from tonight’s dinner.

Neil also gave it a trial run while prepping salad. I’ve included that particular photo under the cut. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. (more…)

In true Vancouver fashion, November has ushered itself in with rain which probably won’t depart until sometime in February, when we’ll be blessed with a week or 10 days of bright, crisp sunshine, to be followed by more rain through April.

And not much is better in that kind of weather than curling up with a hot beverage, wrapped in a warm blanket, completely absorbed by a good book.

So I decided to start a book club.

My idea came from looking at Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks Eating Between the Leaves book club. Six cold, dark months, six captivating books, six great meals that tie into the story. But because I’m not a professional cook or doing this tied to a commercial enterprise, I’ve made mine a community effort, inviting some friends to participate where we’ll each pick a book and cook a meal for the group that ties into the story.

Of course, being that this was my hairbrained idea, I’m up first.

And this, dear readers, is where I ask for your input.

I’m hoping to make good use of some of the spices and cookbooks that I brought back from the Carribean with me - but I need a book-club-suitable fiction novel or memoir that contains some definite island flair. Any suggestions?

If you don’t have any grand ideas for that, drop me a comment with a creative reading/feeding idea of your own!

And while I wish I could invite each and every one of you into the group, I don’t cook for parties greater than 10. But don’t let that stop you from starting your own Books & Cooks Book Club! Gather some good friends, good books, good food and go to it! Just don’t forget to share what you’re reading and eating!

Further proof to add to the already overwhelming collection of evidence that I am O.L.D.

I am just so excited about this weekend that I could spit! (Though not until after a quick swirl, deep sniff, and roll-around in the mouth taste.)

What on earth am I going on about?

THE 2003 BORDEAUXS ARE HERE!

That’s wine for those who still haven’t clued in.

Summation? I am really excited about a wine release. Most of which I’ll immediately stuff in a dark box and put in the back of the closet for 3-10 years before drinking (unless the man can be convinced to adjust the budget to include one of these sooner rather than later).

But what makes these wines extra special? The extreme heat wave in 2003 caused massive chaos through most of Europe. Tens of thousands of people died and acres of crops were ruined by accellerated ripening.

However the unbearable conditions did something a bit magical to the grapes in the area. The lack of moisture made for a more concentrated juice, and the speed at which the grapes ripened meant a higher concentration of alcohol upon fermenting. This is an especially fantastic equation for wines in the Bordeaux region, whose full flavours depend on a decade or so of cellaring to mature and mellow. The extra potent juice and high alcohol will make for unusually robust and deep flavours through the wine as the years carry on.

Of course, there is a price to pay for such concentrated juices. The volatile conditions meant that while the quality of the harvests were superb, they also yielded only around half of the average volume of grapes that come out of the region. This release has been highly anticipated by wine enthusiasts ever since the early harvest in August of 2003, and promises to be one of those “legendary” vintages that collectors vie to include in their cellars.

Personally, one of my favourite fantasies includes owning a bottle of one of the extraordinary vintages of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and opening it the day I board my sailboat and begin an epic voyage around the world.

Unfortunately, with the 2003’s starting somewhere around $750 a bottle, I believe I’ll have to wait a few years to realize that one. Luckily there are a number of Bordeaux selections available (.pdf) starting from just $30 arriving at the BCLDB Signature Stores tomorrow, with bottles ready for drinking now, all the way through to those that will be best sometime in 2015.

If this is what getting old holds? It tastes pretty sweet so far.

I drove into work today since I had to go visit a client before lunch. New job downside: No more free parking, which means I bus in most days. New job upside? Does not make me want to stab myself in the face daily, or ever.

Because I was more mobile than usual, I ventured over to 4th & Cypress for lunch to try out the Noodle Box that just opened.

Short Review: Yum.

Long Review: Everyone else thinks it’s pretty good too, and it was a 20 min. wait for my Nasi Goreng. But a generous portion of Nasi Goreng, in a box to go, for $10? Hell yes! In all fairness, the order-taker was upfront about the wait, and most people were willing to sit it out for the fresh, fresh, tasty noodles.

Since I spent my 20 minutes waiting (shopping) instead of eating I brought lunch back to the office with my set of chopsticks.

Then I opened the Noodle Box box and remembered that I ordered a rice dish. And now I (because I’m too lazy to go all the way across the building to the kitchen for a fork/spoon) am trying to eat fried rice with chopsticks.

Asian people, help me out here… HOW? Other than one grain at a time….

This is starting to remind me of eating in Korea, where the food was all good, but I never finished my soup/rice. Not because it wasn’t tasty, but because with broth and rice there is a critical threshold reached where it takes more effort to wrangle the food from vessel to mouth than caloric benefit you will receive from getting that extra bite into your gullet. I was hungry a lot in Korea.

But this is good enough (And I’m hungry enough) that I’m sure I can soldier on.

One other note for spice wimps: Mild+ is my limit. My lips are tingling and my tongue is swolen. There is only one level less spicy, and about 5 shades of heavier spice. Do people with that much gastrointestinal fortitude even have tastebuds left?

I don’t know where, when, or why the decision was made.

But I don’t like it.

I feel betrayed.

Abandoned.

Deceived.

I didn’t need to be consulted. But at least a little warning, and perhaps an explanation would be appreciated.

How could you just rip something like that away from me without as much as a “how d’ya do”?

Just because you didn’t feel you had a use for it anymore, doesn’t mean it didn’t make my life a little better.

Oh McDonald’s…

WHY did you discontinue the Hot Mustard Sauce?

My nuggets and fries will never be the same.