Rulloff's Restaurant

Yay, dinner at a restaurant-bar-type place: Rulloff's. Do I feel like an adult? Do I feel comfortable with a beer at the table (not on my side)?
What a peculiar lifestyle.
We sat at a table next to the only wall-window in the place. Happy Chowder-TV-show type music played in the background, which later switched into some sort of jazzy fling. There were ceiling fans, dim lighting, and a dusty cabinet.

I asked for clam chowder because I've had a fortnight-long craving for it (specifically, in a bread bowl, but they don't have bread bowls). However, I was later told that they had run out from lunch time. This was completely fine with me. I know this happens. At least they make it fresh?
AK (not to be confused with AK from high school) got French Onion Soup which tasted pretty good.

 He also got a pulled pork sandwich and sweet potato fries. The pulled pork sandwich came in a burger bun, which was unexpected but extremely tasty. I had no idea that pulled pork was so succulent and the BBQ
sauce wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. I also haven't had sweet potato fries in 2 years and these were excellent.

 Instead of clam chowder, I got the California burger with potato fries. The burger had a smidge of guacamole and baby sprouts which were pretty good since I've only ever had mung bean sprouts that look like this. The cow part was also really chewy and umami. It was a nice meal except I felt a bit hurried. Maybe I eat too slowly, or maybe the waitress was bored. We weren't left alone for more than 10 minutes at a time. I kinda wish the place was more crowded (though, as primarily(?) a bar, the place was near empty at 7 pm) so that I would've had an entire hour or two to nibble on food and people-watch.

Food Reviews

Doing food reviews because I didn't cook today.

Review 1. FOOD SHOULD TASTE GOOD All Natural Chips SWEET POTATO TORTILLA CHIPS (it's a cracker too) MADE WITH Sweet Potato

With a really "well-duh!" company name, Food Should Taste Good actually disappoints me. Although I do love tortilla chips, and although this brand's chips are definitely delicious, and even these sweet potato ones are delicious, I am disappointed for two reasons.

1. I'm not really sure I like the way they advertise. It's a bit pompous and the "CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE" and "CERTIFIED VEGAN" irk me because it implies that these diets are "healthier" or something. Plus, these chips are evidently less healthy than broccoli, but broccoli doesn't have these labels because they take $$$ to buy.

2. The chips are tasty. They taste like tortilla chips. However, they do not taste even remotely like sweet potato. Go figure.

Review 2. QUAKER OATMEAL SQUARES HINT OF BROWN SUGAR

Quaker sent me "free" (okay, not free for them...and it cost 5 minutes of my time for me) cereal. Whoo! I'm not sure why there had to be so much packaging for a mere 120 Calories, and I think that the red box probably hindered Quaker's advertising scheme (I mean, the postman/woman is more likely to figure out what s/he's sending with the smaller box, due to the heart-healthy claims and such on the blue box). Well. Free cereal.

These remind me of wheat Chex cereal, except that they're thicker and sweeter. They taste nothing like oatmeal!! Nothing! There's nothing whatsoever "hearty" about this cereal (ha. ha.) except for the anatomically incorrect heart on the box. There's no warmth, no snuggling, no mother-chiding-at-me to this boxed cereal that doesn't resemble oatmeal. In addition, although oats are great for you and all, sugar is not (yeah, I'm talking about the brown sugar), especially in a refined cereal.

I mean, you start off with oats. You end up with bubbly airy sugar coated crunchy stuff that digests mad fast.

Oats > Oats without bran/germ/other fibre-y stuff > Flattened quick oat pieces > Mashed up quick oat pieces > Mashed up quick oat pieces with sugar > Poof! Stuff your kids will actually eat!! (In my case, stuff my sister* will actually eat.)

I guess I have some issues with advertising and labelling, and not with the food itself. Perhaps I'm just a little angry these days.

*My sister has decided that Frosted Flakes (NOT generic brand sugar-coated cornflakes - Frosted Flakes ONLY) and Lucky Charms are the only cereals that she will eat. She has also abstained from any carbohydrate that is whole-wheat, looks slightly wheaty, and/or lacks sugar. Therefore, she now only consumes the above-mentioned cereal, noodles, white bread, and white rice for her, er, "complex" carbs. She won't listen to me. So... none of that stuff is going to ever be in the house, if I ever have kids (although I don't think I will).

Storming of the Bastille Etc.

Today was rather food-filled!

1. I had some spaghetti, TVP, and onions at breakfast-time. No, not conventional breakfast fare, but still food!

2. Took a trip to Clark Park to get some lemon balm for mother, but it turns out that lemon balm will no longer be sold (for a while) due to irrigation issues on the farm! Oh well. I did get three delicious local peaches, with really thick and lovely-textured skins, and extra-fuzz! $1.75/lb.

3. My lips are sunburned. I can feel it.

4. At noon, I went to Commons intending to go the "Snack Time: Making Healthy Snacks With Local Ingredients" event. It was apparently free and I was hoping that I could get a sample of fruit leather or something. When I walked towards the entrance, I saw a sign saying "Snack Time", and a tail of a line. "Oh No! What if there's a space limit for how many people go to this event!?" I joined the line, and found myself being chauffeured up the stairs, with a guy apologising to me for some reason (for holding up the line or something? He told me I could go ahead...). I looked around. No one looked ready to make kale chips.

When there were about 8 steps between me and the salad bar, I realised something.

I looked down from the stairs. No, more down, into the basement. I saw laminated paper with arrows, pointing down. Then it hit me: the Snack Time event was in the basement! My quandary now was this: Should I observe people cook for an hour, and perhaps get a chunk of fruit leather, or should I follow the crowd and obtain a whole meal?!

So, Commons food over the summer is pretty good (so much fruit!!), especially when they're cooking for really hungry football-camp guys from various high schools, and their parents. The male:female ratio was maybe 95:1. There are also very few empty tables. I haven't had sweet potato fries in ages...they were delicious, but potato fries are definitely better. I also ate eggs. I haven't eaten eggs since the end of May.

5. Global Fusion Festival... because I was full from eating at Commons, I didn't buy any food here, although there were sundry choices...

...and even two vegetarian food stands! Surprising!

There was also a game by a company that I will not name because it didn't let me play its game. All you had to do was roll a 7 or 11 on two dice, and you could get a shirt or an umbrella! Its game was apparently only for people over 21, and when it was my turn, the lady asked to see my ID. I was like... wow. This sucks. Dude, a 2 year-old can roll a dice! Why stick the restriction to 21?! So, apparently I don't look like I'm 21. Which is fine because I have no intention of going to bars and clubs, but to merely roll dice?!

6. Storming of the Bastille! In honour of celebrating Bastille day, le 14 juillet, Eastern State Penitentiary has been doing this re-enactment of the Revolution in 1789. It was obviously tinted with American culture; there were litres of beer, hundreds of plastic cups and glass beer bottles, face painting and kiddie stuff, pizza, and other foods. During the re-enactment, I happened to be standing next to people who were smoking cigarettes and cigars. How putrid.

The re-enactment itself was quite interesting, although I don't understand why everyone (else) sang "God Bless America" before the re-enactment. Dude. This is supposed to be French.

The organisers also sang the French national anthem, but no one in the crowd was paying attention during this part. Philly also got mentioned a few times during the re-enactment, as did other American icons including Lady Gaga (Marie Antoinette "was the original Lady Gaga") and Star Wars.

Then one of the organisers recited the sacred sentence: "They have no bread!" and Marie Antoinette yelled out, "LET THEM EAT TASTYKAKE!"...

...And aristocrats/Marie/Darth Vader/Stormtroopers shovelled out Tastykakes to the crowd, which promptly started either smooshing them, or throwing them back.

My first Butterscotch Krimpet, thrown from the "Bastille" a.k.a. Eastern State Penitentiary! It landed right in front of me. For some reason, it tastes a bit like banana bread. Having not grown up consuming these PHO-filled "foods", I don't have any emotional associations with Tastykake, so I feel very indifferent towards its products. I later picked up a few more from either the ground or the stage. I felt really bad because I watched some workers throw away at least 15 wrapped Tastykakes that people decided to leave behind... it's such a waste of food. I should've just picked them all up and kept them, but I didn't, mainly because "other people probably think I'm crazy". A.k.a. "public image". I guess it's okay for little kids to search the concrete for Tastykakes, but it's not socially acceptable for a not-21-year-old to do it.

I doubt I'd ever buy any Tastykake products. There is no reason to, when I can bake cake that tastes better, and make icing out of 3 or 4 ingredients instead of 23.