Been awhile, I see. I've been busy. I have a life you know.
Not much in the way of new food or drink lately. So unless you'd like a review of the various Totino's pizza bite flavors, I can probably skip a lot. I will however say that the Trader Joe's Indian tv dinners are surprisingly tasty. Nowhere near as good as going to a restaurant or making it myself, but it's very good for a tv dinner. For as many tv dinners as I have eaten my time, I pretty much despise the things. Whether it be rubbery fried chicken, rubbery salisbury steak, or potatoes that taste like nothing at all, I find them to all be pretty nasty, though undoubtedly convenient. The pizza variety of things are not so bad because the only real ingredients are cheese and preserved sauce and meats, which just so happen to be the ingredients in most regular pizzas also.
But anyway, I went to a tea tasting a week or two ago that was pretty interesting. I love food combinations, or pairings or whatever you want to call it. Tea paired with food much the same way wine generally is. The fact that teas were really quite good, and the food was surprisingly good and varied. The concept is very nice and I really want to go for brunch sometime where they pair the whole meal. I have never really thought about the whole complementary foods concept before beyond that some things taste good together, but in depth its pretty interesting. Makes me want to yell science and start experimenting. Cooking all kinds of delicious items, and comparing their effects on the taste buds. All in the name of science.
Lunch today at Sawicki's was super tasty. I haven't had a sandwich that good in a long time, and not just because I make crappy sandwiches. Warm beef, papas frites, and aioli sauce, on a crusty baguette, soo good. The only thing I've had to even compare it with was at Les Halles. I could have done with the beef being a little rarer, but it was delicious all the same. I think I had been craving something like it without really knowing it. Plus, Decatur isn't so crappy during the day, kinda. It was enjoyable to walk around anyway.
They had magazines on the table at Sawicki's. Food magazines. With pictures. It was like food porn. One had a huge article on lamb. I have never wanted to kill a sheep so badly before. Everything just looked so good. I've never cooked lamb before and I'd really like to try it. I'm thinking after finals I will just go buy a ton of lamb and cook every possible thing with it until I'm good at it. I feel like I'm a good cook, but the reality is probably more that I'm just not picky. No one ever compliments me on my food, and that's a pretty obvious sign. I'm deluding myself here, but maybe it also has to do with the fact that I cook a lot of the same things over again for myself, but always try new things when I cook for others. The more realistic option is that I am just a bad cook.
I'm trying to recall anything else remotely worth mentioning. Beer! Oh, how could I forget you beer? I am currently sampling the Trader Joe's 2009 Vintage Ale. And it is...meh. I feel like it is missing some depth of flavor, perhaps to appeal to the more casual (hippy) customers that frequent the place. Not to say its bad. It's a fairly dark ale with a bit of malty flavor but not so much the cocoa, lemon or ginger promised by those little cards they put on the shelf to describe it. 9% though so not all bad, and reasonably priced (I think around $5 for the big pint bottle). I think it's certainly good for a casual drink, or maybe drinking a lot, but I think I'll pass on it next time around, unless its to see if it actually does get better with a year or two of aging (also on the little card).
