Vegetarian!

"Are you vegan?"
J asked me that today when we were on the bus to the track meet [at which I did terrible. Worse than terrible, actually]. I wonder what makes him think that I could be vegan [considering I don't really talk to him much...]? I replied that I'm a vegetarian, though I've honestly considered being vegan in the past. I don't want to though, because chicken eggs and cow's milk yoghurt are huge components of my meals.
Why am I vegetarian, though? Here is my train of thought, a mish-mosh of propaganda welded together into my own beliefs.
1. Homo sapiens are evolutionally able to eat other animals - the teeth are evolutionally adapted to eating animals, AND plants. A.k.a. we are omnivores [no disputin' that].

2. Homo sapiens are evolutionally able to drink cow/goat/buffalo milk. We have enzymes. If PETA [or any other narrow-minded activist] tells you that "humans are the only species to drink milk from another species, so humans ought to be vegan", you should retort back: "So what? We're the only species that eats Boca Burgers."

3. I hate Tyson and its stupid chicken farms, oh, I mean, cages, oh, I mean, shoe-boxed sized jails. I hate McDonalds and its uncaring shredding of rainforests [for raising crappy food] and its Republicanism [sorry to bring in the politics] and lack of the concept of welfare [for both its workers and its ingredients]. I hate other restaurant chains and other animal killing operations for the fact that they're basically monopolies and jerks and freakin' uncaring. Thus, I will not buy their stuff [usually dead animals in marinade], so they won't profit. They should DIE. I could go on for hours about this.

4. This is my favourite reason ever. In simple terms: if I have a hectare of corn, I can feed myself for... let's say a month. If I have a hectare of corn and feed it to a baby cow, a month later it would've eaten all the corn. If I eat the cow, it could feed me for, perhaps, 4 days [if I made cow-butt soup or something]. Doesn't sound like much, but if you're comparing billions of people, you have a WHOLE lot more food for people.

5. I like being a rebel.

6. I'm not really into the whole animal activist crap. PETA sickens me because they are so extreme and NARROWMINDED. People Eating Tasty Animals is actually a very appropriate backronym for them, because what they do is way too absurd to be taken seriously, and they basically kill off caged animals when they "set them free into the ocean" because caged animals do not develop right, and thus aren't able to live in their natural habitat. Plus, they put a really bad name on we vegetarians/vegans. I can be a vegetarian and respect people for consuming animals.

7. People who truly care about me will respect me for being vegetarian. Great way to tell what side people are on.

8. I don't really miss eating animals. Bacon smells good. Tuna sandwiches smell good. But I'm kinda indifferent to them. It's kinda like telling me stuff about baseball. I don't really care.

9. I figured out an answer to the [grammatically incorrect] question that people always ask. "Where do you get your protein from?!", they exclaim. From now on, I will say, "Where do you get your narrow-mindedness from?" and if they reply, "What?" I will say, "Where do you get your common sense from? I get my protein from food."

Reese's Mini Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

I love Calc AB. I love the teacher too, not only because she actually teaches! but also because she has this drawer of candy in the room. Even though teacher's aren't supposed to give candy out to students, she basically said, "If you guys come and take the candy, I wouldn't be actually giving it out." Despite the fact that I don't eat half the stuff she gets [HFCS, PHO], I occasionally happen upon something novel. This time, it was the Reese's [Hershey's] Mini Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup. I immediately liked the wrapper, and proceeded to consume the dark chocolate shell and peanut butter+ sugar interior.
My expectations weren't really high, so I was surprised to find that the dark chocolate actually tasted bittery! It was awesome! I typically like Reese's peanut butter cups... not in love with them, but I do enjoy them once in a while. These, however, are wayyyyyy better. A bit sweet (if it was sugar-less, and with no sugar substitutes, I'd be even happier), but extremely inviting.

Heath Bar and Book Review

Many people have been gnawing on Heath Bars ever since their baby teeth started growing out. I, however, had never heard of such thing until I started working at the Carvel Ice Cream Store. Since the U.S. admires toppings on ice cream, there were little jars of different candies and sprinkles spread across the counter at Carvel.
The manager showed me crushed up Heath bars, and I said, "Heath what?" She let me try some, and it was both familiar and novel, at the exact same time. Of course I'd eaten tons of milk chocolate before, and of course I'd eaten plenty of toffee [but not as much as I wanted]... but the two mixed together with almonds was so crunchy and creamy and satisfying.
Heath started off being an independent company, and I wished it had stayed that way. They got bought by Hershey's, a oligarchy... but at the moment, I don't have any blatant hate against Hershey's, so I'm giving the Heath bar a nice review. When I learn how to make them myself I think this'd change. Plus, when Hershey's decides to use palm kernel oil and flavouring to make these, I'd start burning their logos in effigy (figuratively).

I bought a pack of mini Heath bars this Halloween, and I have one piece left... so much for my Halloween candy lasting a year. I supposed it'd last to mid-February, and then I can go buy more chocolate. Anyway, Heath bars. Are. So. Addictive. Like I said, it's crunchy, but creamy, chewy, sweet, nutty, buttery...
HeatH bars. A.k.a. H eat H bars.
You add an L and you get "Health bars" but seriously, adding an L is like adding a Lie. They are [as The End of Overeating by David Kessler would say] "almonds, toffee, chocolate - fat on sugar on fat on sugar on fat".

As a book review, The End of Overeating is a terrible book. I have read shelves of books, stacks of books about food, and I must say that this one is the second worst book. The worst? A book written by a haughty connoisseur which I think was called Fork Over It or something. That one was worse because the guy was so condescending to we readers. The End of Overeating basically goes through restaurant food and labels each one as "sugar on fat on salt on fat etc. etc. etc." It also stated that overeating causes obesity. Oh really? I never knew. I totally thought that being anorexic causes obesity.

If I had to sum this whole post up in one sentence, it'd be: Eat Heath bars and don't read The End of Overeating.

Homemade Coffee.

Somehow in the past century, or, okay, millennium, we've gone from chewing coffee beans raw to buying three pieces of plastic [cup, hemispherical-lid, straw] filled with sugar, milk, and coffee flavouring with water. And other flavourings.

Why are we paying a freakin' $1 to $6 buying "coffee"?
Convenience.
Society = wants stuff fast, ready, easy to dispose, easy to consume while sittin' in a car, or in class.
Plus, society wants to look cool. I sure can't be the only teenager in my first period class who doesn't have store-bought coffee perched on the left side of the desk. I sure can't be the only kid who isn't slurping among the icy dregs of diluted sugary stuff.

I've been to Starbucks before, and I've had their Frappucinos before. A bunch of times. And it's great. It's extremely sweet and minty and chocolatey and JUST the right consistency. It's great. The experience, smell, and the non-vanishing showcase of food. In that essence, it's almost worth it, compared to drinking water at home while studying Biology.

HOWEVER, my parents bought bottled Frappucinos... Personally, I think that that is an asinine idea - a Frappucino is basically a very sweetened, cooled, cappuccino. A legit one, though, has crushed ice, flavouring, and a mound of whipped cream. The bottled one? Sweetened, cooled cappuccino with pectin.

So I made my own "Frappucino"...
Ground Coffee + Hot water + Milk [one bottle was soy, one was cow] [and a ton of sugar, but I didn't add any, because I didn't want any. But adding sugar would make it more Frappuccino-esque]
It looks like the real thing, tastes like the real thing. I had to shake it though, because it settled after a while, as you can see. You can also see that paper... which are my calc notes. I made this during midterms.

Lindor Truffles.

I despise the "grown-up" notion that a famous brand name equates quality. I'm sorry, but that is simply false! Just because the name Lindor is on the label does not mean that the truffles that the produce are somehow "superior" than some local chocolate bar.

I'm not bashing Lindor; the chocolate truffles are pretty yummy. They're not as good as some plain dark chocolate bars that one uses for baking. But then again, I have weird tastes.

One of my new year resolutions is to eat 100 different, new, pieces of chocolate/chocolate candies. Here's 1 and 2.
1. Lindor Peanut Butter Truffle.
Aw, the image quality sucks. It was some 500 x 1000 px JPG but I suppose it got compressed. Either way, if you really wanted to see a beautifully-programfully-edited-and-airbrushed picture of a Lindor truffle, all you have to do is go [here].

So. Mind my pun, but the Lindor-Chocolate-Making-Machine fudged (haha. Not.) up the peanut butter truffle. Looks like a golf ball with one dimple. Which thus makes it aerodynamic, but only 1/314th as aerodynamic as a golf ball. Actually, I'm not so sure., because the dimple is kinda big relative to a golf ball dimple. Look's kinda pasty and sweaty, too. Here's a lovely close up:


I did not spray it with cologne.
Taste-wise... The official Lindor website states that it has "...exclusively prepared Lindor Truffles in Peanut Butter for the American taste palate. Delicately pairing the flavors of decadent peanut butter and fine chocolate into a smooth-melting experience, Lindt's Master Chocolatiers have created a recipe to satisfy the cravings of the American chocolate connoisseur".
I LOVE peanut butter. If I could, I would eat jars of that stuff every single day. On bread. On fruit. On chocolate. Even in rice! This truffle should've been the "decadent" thing I asked for. But then again, I'm not American, and perhaps I don't fit this "American palate" of which Lindor speaks. In all honesty, the truffle wasn't that great. The ratio of chocolate to peanut butter was quite unappealing in the sense that the peanut butter taste wasn't that IN YOUR FACE. I am not willing to shell out $2.50 (I think that's how much one truffle cost at the Lindt/Lindor store on 5th ave in NYC?) for a piece of chocolate that. In all honesty. Is average.
Plus, Lindor does nothing for the environment except screw it up.

Organic peanut butter [~$4 for a 400ish gram jar] + organic dark chocolate [~$2-3 for a jar] = many more truffles at a more reasonable price for both me and the world.
One day I'm going to get a whole bar of dark chocolate and spread thick, creamy peanut butter over it, filling in all the smooth crevices. Then I'm going to gently press fresh roasted peanuts over each piece, and tenderly make sure that they are all facing the same direction. I will then use a gold-rimmed sieve and sift light, pure cocoa powder over my suicidal creation.
Psh.... So much for the imagery. As a digression [this will be a later post], doesn't that sound so much more romaniticky-finicky-proper than "mix chocolate, pb, cocoa powder and peanuts together and eat it while chillin'?"

2. Lindor "Extra" Dark Chocolate Truffle.
Was pretty good, I suppose. But wasn't as dark as I wanted it to be. But then again, it's a truffle, not a piece of chocolate for baking into sugar-stuffed cookies.

Yoghurt Oatmeal?

So... I had a track meet today, and as all runners know, carbs = vital for racing. In all honesty though, a 1600m race is not going to require 5 meals of 90% carbohydrates the day before and of. The 1600m is short enough that one could definitely chug 140 Calories [or even fewer, since 6-7 minutes of racing does not require 140 Calories] worth of sugar [a.k.a. candy!] However, since I love food, I always eat a lot before race day. Well, I eat a lot in general.

Even though today is Monday, I only had 1 hour of school because it was midterms, so I went to school to take the French midterm around 10. This meant that I could actually cook something for breakfast :D [Though in all honesty, I love cereal, toast, and sandwiches. I could live on that].

I made oatmeal. Usually, people add water or milk, but I decided to be adventurous and added yoghurt... I figured it'd be gooeyer. My method of cooking oatmeal? Dump everything in at the same time and stir it until it looks done, on medium to high heat. Gets done fast... and uses the least energy. I do not want to use fossil fuels to let the liquid boil, then add the oats, then add the fruit. *Kerplunk!* goes everything.

I cut up a whole apple [Pinklady, though I personally prefer Royal Gala Apples the most] and dumped it in, with the oatmeal and yoghurt. I also added a small cinnamon stick since I don't have powdered cinnamon at home [unfortunately - way back, when we went shopping for spices I got the cinnamon sticks because they looked cooler. Sigh.].

I'm guessing, [at most] 10 minutes later, I turned off the heat.

Looks pretty bland.
Tasted kinda sour... so I added stuff to it :) Dried fruit, chocolate powder. I know, I'm not traditional at all.

As for the track meet... didn't go so well.

Flurt in NYC

It's actually been [exactly] a month since I've been to Flurt, but I'm including it here as it is utterly remarkable. I've never had legitimate frozen yoghurt before, so I went there with A after we had gone thrift shopping. We also stopped by a Thai restaurant for a late lunch, and the yellow curry was simply. Breathtaking. [literally. It was hot, and I loved it.] Anyway, Flurt was this little shop on 3rd Ave between 22nd and 23rd street with cute chairs, each with one hole in the butt area of the chair, which fleetingly reminded me of a potty. "For the rain to drip out of," A said, "in the summer when the chairs are outside".
Ah.
Note that since I love cheesy [haha] puns, I was immediately attracted to its slogan. "yogurt culture" HAHAHA!!! Culture. Bacterial cultures. Get it? [hahaha!] Plus, since it's become a cultural thing to get frozen yoghurt, it fits into this blog. Not that I had an inkling of wanting to blog Flurt a month ago.


Also, note the red chairs in the background :).

In my family, we rarely buy frozen desserts, although there's a bunch of dead animal pieces in the freezer [since I'm the only vegetarian in the house]. So, Flurt was a new experience for me, and I'm not able to compare it with other brands such as Pinkberry [but from what I've heard, Flurt is better than Pinkberry]. But basically, there is one machine.
Yes, One.
One machine that spews out frozen yoghurt [yoghurt flavoured, of course, with a touch of sugar]. There's flavourings from these little containers at the front. There's a wide selection, ranging from fresh mango and pomegranate to chocolate and marshmallows. Since I was in a coconut mood, I got the dried coconut [not the Kraft/Baker's kind, which is drenched in sugar], A got the mango, and MK got the raspberry. Unfortunately as I picked up the container, I spilled a bit of the coconut :(. In other words, the frozen yoghurt is pleasantly heaped with topping :) [we could've got more than one topping of course, but the yoghurt with one topping came around $3, I believe].

Taste? Hmm... It's frozen. Yoghurt. Smooooooooth, slightly sour, sweet, light, and delicious. It's not clumpy, nor does it melt fast. There is no aftertaste, and it was simply simple.

Beats the time I put plain yoghurt in the freezer. It came out looking like a white, cylindrical rock. It would've made a dent in a sledgehammer. Could've been a great paperweight...

First Post!

Hey everyone!
I've always been fascinated with other food blogs - cupcake blogs, candy blogs... cheeseburger blogs (yeah - they're nice to look at... even though I'm a vegetarian) - and I realised that I ought to make my own blog, especially since I'm multicultural, and LOVE FOOD!

I'm also interested in the ingredient/scientific/agricultural/cultural aspects of "food" (note the ""!! I don't consider propylene glycol "food" but it's in some cakes...)

I should've made this blog wayyyyy back in 06, or even earlier (but my grammar would've been pathetic). I'm starting today, because I'm a second semester senior in HS, which means that I'm chillin' :)

As of this moment, my profile is extremely vague. I am not sure whether I ought to reveal too much of myself online (spam = facepalm).