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.

Mint Premium Foods - Tarrytown NY

Sometimes, I feel that in my entire life, I've been eating well. This day was not one of those times. The Culinary Institute of America and Mint had, in a mere 8 hours, made me think that I've just been a plebeian in the world of cuisine, or even just American restaurant culture. Maybe I get delighted too easily by simple food eaten while sitting on the stairs, and maybe I just don't go to enough swanky places where there is live jazz music playing and a guy sauntering around offering at least 20 types of cheese on a giant platter. So I think, "Hmh, maybe I'm not actually cultured."

But then I remember that I can cook and if I tried, I could remake whatever I'm eating here, minus the classy atmopshere.

Giant cutlery and rooster sculptures are themes of this trip. Assorted rooster sculptures were displayed at Bocuse, while Pepsi - wait, I signed a confidentiality agreement with them, so I guess I can't say. :(

The green chunk is pesto cheese. Now I must buy pesto cheese! It was perfect. While we waited for our food to arrive (our group had personalized menus!), we snacked on bread, cheese, and square-rimmed bowls of olives. I tried an olive and immediately rekindled my dislike for them (it was way too salty).

I got the chipotle chicken and avocado wrap with salad and fries. I had no appetite, but I ate everything anyway because I don't like wasting food (especially good food that took a lot of energy and time to produce). The wrap was not spicy at all, though there was this orange sauce. The chicken was in some sort of casing, making it sort of like sliced chicken sausage, except that the chicken was not mushy or a slurry; it had actual chicken texture (although it was a bit more elastic than usual). There was a lot of stuff in the whole wheat wrap too, which kept falling out. The salad with vinaigrette(?) was a bit too salty. The fries smelled like fries I had when I was a kid, and they were tasty (but aren't all fries?).

Our table was made out of a slab of wood that had been sliced vertically from a tree and varnished. Hence, the table was not actually rectangular. I thought it was neat.

Mother...what is an Apple Slice?

I'm taking NURS-313, Obesity and Society. I do enjoy the class and I really respect my professor (Dr. Compher). Here is one of the assignments: Look at a piece of media and explain the stigma/message. Unfortunately, I didn't get the grade that I wanted because the prose wasn't formal enough. Well, it's definitely formal enough for this blog! Quite pertinent, too.

As a reminder, if anyone would like to use information from my site, citing me would be necessary.

The image I am analysing is from here. I don't wan to repost it because my blog contains original content.

Mother...what is an Apple Slice?

While I was rinsing chard one day, an apartment-mate asked me, "What IS that?" Chard is neither famous nor common, so it's understandable that one is wary of eating a blood-red stalk. Apples, however, are ubiquitous in the U.S., so it's ridiculous to ask "What is an Apple Slice?" [1] This absurd statement is portrayed in the satirical cartoon by Bryant Arnold. A shallow interpretation is that McDonald's is a maverick for educating children and sneaking fruit into their meals. However, it is more likely that it signifies that the business of food today is neither healthy nor natural, and that children’s food education is inadequate.

An obese Caucasian mother and her equally obese son purchase a Happy Meal from a skinny Caucasian McDonald's employee. The son asks "Mother...what is an Apple Slice?", while in the corner, a sign proclaims that McDonald's has now added Apple Slices to Happy Meals (notably, the word "Happy" is cut off, and no characters look happy), which occurred in July 2011 [6]. Although the child barely reaches the countertop, he is drawn to be ugly and old, which contrasts with the common depiction of children as adorable. The skin around his eyes is wrinkly, his various chins are wobbling, and his face is red and blotchy; it looks as though he could be in the process of a stroke! One of his front teeth is missing, and he is wearing a bland sweater, which, with its various curves, extends outwards out of the frame. He possibly represents the population of children already suffering from disorders traditionally only considered to affect adults. Similarly, the mother's facial expression resembles a pig and she looks haughty and defiant, as though she dares anyone to ask her why she’s at McDonald's. She clenches her son's shoulder, as though with a talon. Like her son, she isn’t dressed in a flattering outfit, signifying the American layperson. 

Despite asking "Mother... what is an Apple Slice?” in a possibly cautious tone, the child nevertheless attempts to grab the Happy Meal. This incongruity can imply two things. Perhaps children would eat anything, as long as it has been well-advertised and has familiar McDonald's packaging. Therefore, even though there is a new item in his Happy Meal, the child will eat it due to its "fast food"-style packaging. On the other hand, perhaps children are willing to try new things, including fruit, if only their authorities (i.e. parents, McDonald's) would offer them the chance. According to the cartoon, the mother has never given apple slices to the child. This implies that childhood obesity can be traced to irresponsible parents. 

The phrasing is also awkward. "Apple Slice", with capitalization, implies something sinister; it's as though apples are only sellable as a brand name product! Plain apple slices have morphed from an apple cut into wedges to Apple Slices, skinless, seedless, and wrapped in plastic. This disconnects children from farms and nature; will kids soon think that apples come in plastic (like how tuna comes from cans)? This also depicts the general laziness of the population; it is certainly not difficult to buy an apple at the grocery store and slice it (which isn't even necessary); instead, patrons take the same amount of time driving to a fast food restaurant to buy Apple Slices. In addition, only about 11% of customers actually choose to get Apple Slices rather than fries, although this will change since McDonald's is soon adding Apple Slices to Happy Meals by default and removing a portion of the fries [6].

The McDonald's employee, Billy, contrasts entirely with the other two characters. He is skinny, and represents the 1/3 of Americans who aren't overweight or obese [2]. His expression is wary and apologetic, which represents two things. As a person, he represents the normal-weight population who stigmatizes overweight or obese people, and he is separated from them by a counter [6]. As a McDonald's employee, Billy represents the "business" that exploits the general population by creating a façade of appearing "ideal" in order to make money.

A better message could elicit an even more outrageous response in satirizing the situation further, because the point of the image is to portray problems and misinformation in the food industry. By using a Ronald McDonald look-a-like instead of Billy, parents would feel more contrast and disgust, because the skinny Ronald, who is advertised as the champion of being friendly and caring, instead lures their children towards unhealthy food. Using McDonald's Apple Dippers would have made McDonald's more insidious. Apple Dippers are two servings of Apple Slices plus a “Low Fat Caramel Dip”, which has 100 Calories and 15 g of sugar, which is more than that of the Apple Slices (35 Calories and 6 g of sugar)* [4, 5]! The Apple Slices/Dippers also lack skin, and therefore, fiber. Also, the mother could have retorted with a comment such as “Stay away, that hasn’t been processed for human consumption!” to represent the current media’s lack of mention (whether positive or negative) of fruits. Marketing for high-sugar cereals and processed foods that have added vitamins, instead of fruits that naturally possess vitamins, misinform consumers. In addition, this cartoon may be seen by some to stigmatize obese people because the question could portray obese people as stupid, since the child doesn't know what an apple is [3]. To portray an alternative message that puts more blame on society, companies, advertising and convenience (rather than on misinformation or personal choice), the mother could've said "Fat chance that'll change anything!" which would indicate that she is aware that she is obese, but that the obesogenic environment fueled by McDonalds and other companies has made her powerless. This way, the stigma of obese people being stupid wouldn't be implied.

*Actually, this figure isn’t trustworthy because the McDonald's website has glitches. By refreshing the page, I get values of 35 Calories/6 g sugar/68 g/1 Carbohydrate and 70 Calories/9 g sugar/21 g/0.5 Carbohydrate for the Apple Dippers (without dip) and 15 Calories/3 g sugar/34 g/0.5 Carbohydrate

References

[1] Arnold, Bryant. "McDonald's Fights Childhood Obesity with Apple Slices Cartoon." Cartoon A Day Funny Business Cartoons and Web Comics. Copyright Cartoon A Day / CartoonaDay.com, 26 July 2011. Web. 14 Sept. 2011. 

[2]  CDC/National Center for Health Statistics. "FASTSTATS - Overweight Prevalence."Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 June 2010. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

[3] Lillis, Jason, Jason B. Luoma, Michael E. Levin, and Steven C. Hayes. "Measuring Weight Self-stigma: The Weight Self-stigma Questionnaire." Obesity 18.5 (2009): 971-76. Web.

doi:10.1038/oby.2009.353

[4] McDonald's. "Apple Dippers :: McDonald's.com." McDonald's.com. McDonald's, 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

[5] McDonald's. "Apple Slices :: McDonald's.com." McDonald's.com. McDonald's, 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

[6] Redroxe, Christina. "McDonald's to Include Apple Slices in Every Happy Meal | NOLA.com." New Orleans Net LCC. The Associated Press, 27 July 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

Quiz Bowl at UMD

Just a multicultural girl...

Livin' in the stressful world.

She took the 4:40am train going the south-ish way...

Just a multicultural boy...

Born and raised around the world.

He took the 4:40am train going the south-ish way...

A reader in an UMD room,

A sound of buzzers and voices too.

For a smile they can share a bonus...

It goes on and on and on and on...

QUIZ

BOWL 

WHOOT 

WHOOT!

So somehow I wrote a mirror to the first few verses of "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey so that it fit the Early Autumn Collegiate Novice Quiz Bowl Tournament on the 1st of October (I know! I've been super busy! No time to blog!)

We (4 frosh guys and me, the sophomore... the "leader") took a 4:40am train, two metros, and one taxi to get to UMD from Penn by 9:00 am. We were a few minutes late, but other teams didn't arrive until later anyway. The tournament was pretty intense and fun! Of course I messed up a few times :( but we came 4th overall out of 14 teams, which is quite neat.

Since we missed breakfast (due to a lot of 20-minute waiting at the metro station and bus station), during the bye round, we got food at the "UMD version of Huntsman Hall", and I got waffle fries from Chick-Fil-A. SP commented that it's pretty sad that I'm taking pictures of fast food for my blog. I suppose the point is that I'm recording fun times, and this Quiz Bowl tournament was DEFINITELY fun (despite the fact that I had 3 hours of sleep, slept on the train a bit, and was demented for comp sci homework for the next week).

We got back just in time for the dining halls to close (not that it mattered to me, because I lack a meal plan) so we went to the Mediterranean Cafe and I got a Falafel wrap and the dude charged me 2c less, which was cool. The falafel wrap sauce was really nice.

European Republic

European Republic. A shop tucked away at the corner of Strawberry St. and Chestnut St. Intersection of food! I got there at 11am, but they weren't open until 11:30, so I walked around town a bit. I entered promptly at 11:35, and there was already a guy ordering. From then until around noon, around 7 or 8 customers had purchased some sort of wrap and/or fries.

The only reason I wanted to check out this spot was that I had a small amount of hope that there would be cheese curds and gravy flavoured dip for my fries. A.k.a. poutine. A.k.a. something I've been wanting to try since I found the snack on Wikipedia! In retrospect, it doesn't make sense that a store called European Republic would sell something Quebecois. I went anyway, because I wanted fries. Oh delicious potato fries. Chips.

Unfortunately, no poutine on the menu. Ah well, at least they had fries! I liked the way the guy at the counter spoke. I ordered the large fries so that I could get two dips, but out of 22 choices, I really didn't know what I wanted! So, I stood there awkwardly, mentally crossing out dips that I was certain that I didn't want - olives, lemon dill, honey dijon, jalapeno cheddar - all the flavours you can get at a grocery store or another restaurant.

I asked what the European sauce was, and he said that it was mayonnaise. European ketchup was apparently mayonnaise, ketchup, and onions. Well! I decided that I'd have to try European ketchup then! I also was debating between the Jamaican curry and the avocado dip. The guy at the counter said that once my fries were out, he'd let me sample them. That was really nice, because I'm really indecisive.

The fries took about 10 minutes to make; I'm guessing they make these from scratch. There were tiny grains of salt lightly sprinkled on my serving (Okay, I believe this is probably 4 or 5 "servings" of carbs and fat. So delicious!). For $4.05 (including tax), I was very satisfied. I was afraid that I'd have some dip left over, so I severely over-dipped during the first half of my serving. I was out of dip near the end :(.

The fries: Thickly cut, extremely potatoey, and slightly soggy, these remind me of "diner fries". They're delicious, of course, but maybe I am conditioned to enjoy thinner crispier fries. They were very hot, and stayed warm in the paper wrapper. I don't think I love them to the point that I'd go out of my way to come back here.

The European Ketchup: I've had mayonnaise and ketchup together before, and I've been indifferent to it. With a hint of finely chopped/blended onions, however, the whole dip becomes much better! I really enjoyed this slightly sweet, slightly tangy dip.

The Jamaican Curry: A splendid green colour, with visible spices, this vegetarian dip was simply amazing! The creaminess helped ameliorate the spicy flavour, but it did get a tad too spicy (after chugging half the sauce in a few super-coated fries). I would eat this dip with everything! The best!

The Avocado Dip: I sampled a big blob of this one, and it was really mild and creamy. I mainly tasted mayonnaise, and didn't taste or smell any avocado at all. Therefore, I didn't decide to pick this dip.

Overall, it was a mouth-watering, satisfying meal. I'm not sure why I would come back though, because there are so many other places that sell equally delicious fries, and there are a zillion restaurants that I've yet to try in Philadelphia.

Something I'm confused about, though, is how the wraps relate to Europe.

European Republic

213 Chestnut St.

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.

Dorney Park

TJ invited me to go to Dorney Park with her and her family. Although I have been to Dorney Park before, 3 summers ago, I still found it fun since I love roller coasters (I've never been to a water park before, and I guess I'm just not interested in them).

Knowing amusement parks, I should've brought along some food. I did bring my steel water bottle, and there were water fountains (so I didn't have to waste $3.50 on water!!). The food was overpriced, of course, which is why I got fries. I haven't had fries in at least two months, and I've been craving them, even though I could get them for $1 somewhere nearby. The fries I got were $5.83, although I later saw them for about $5 at another part of the park :(. The fries nice and crunchy though, and sort of fulfilled my craving.

Since TJ's mum is part of a union, they got this free buffet meal thing (it was union day at the park), although TJ told me that there was no real vegetarian stuff there - it was all burgers and hot dogs etc. There was mayo-covered potatoes ("potato salad") and macaroni (sweeter... "macaroni salad"), which TJ brought out of the catering area in my bag, which got soaked in some mayo. Haha, oh well. The potato salad was mediocre, but not terrible since it was free. While we were eating, I was watching the three guys at the table next to ours; two were eating pizza/fries/milkshake, while the other one was eating a burger/fries/milkshake. While he went off to get some ketchup, the other two guys grabbed about half of his fries. He came back with ketchup, and seemed unaware of the fact that half his fries had been stolen. Just an anecdote.

TJ was determined to get funnel cake, so after we had gone on all the rides that we wanted to go on (except Possessed, because we saw it break down four times), she bought one with powdered sugar ($7). I've never had funnel cake before, and I think that it's basically a doughnut with more exposed surface area...it's delicious, yes, but definitely not one of my favourite foods. I'd prefer doughnuts solely because I have more of an emotional attachment with them. The portion is huge, though. We ate only half of it, and boxed the rest for later.

I do like the crunchy bits of funnel cake with a lot of powdered sugar, actually.

Throughout the day, I basically saw foods in shades of yellow. (Such is America, right?). Actually, I did see some coloured foods in the form of sugar+food colouring. Oh, and somehow having real insects in a candy store is a good thing.

I wonder if I can bake funnel cake? Low-free funnel cake? I know that my sister likes it.

My Brain Isn't Fried!!

...But my food is.

Today I did absolutely no work. I had an extra half an hour of spare time because we finished comp sci recitation early, and I had an extra two hours of spare time because we got out of bio lab early. My Thursdays usually go from 9 to 2, then 4:30 to 7:30. Today, however, I had all this extra time! Perhaps I should've done some homework. I used it very unwisely, but very wisely all the same; I slept, I read The Hobbit , I went to Quiz Bowl, I watched Robocop ... and I fried apples!

At 10pm, my dorm house had Fry Night; there were fried Oreos, fried apples, fried pop-pastries, and one fried cherry pie [which I fried!]. I wanted to fry an orange, but apparently oranges are too watery...

So, here is a fried Oreo. Since the kitchen table area apparently lacks lights, I had to use flash, and with oily hands and people swarming around picking up food, picture-taking was a bit difficult. I'm quite unhappy about this image, but I can say that the oreo cream was literally dripping, and it looked like icing. The cookie was moist, and the batter was...well, fried batter. 90% oil.

The rejects...

...tasted great too!

These are a close up of the fried Oreos; they look so perfectly elliptical!

After a while, I decided to help out at the fryer, and this reminded me of Spongebob although I don't think I've actually seem him frying fries; he does have a deep-fryer though [I think?]. J, who had been at the fryer, had burned himself a bit when the oil splattered on him, which made me scared to use a wooden stick to flip the fried items over... but I did it anyway, so now I smell like fryer oil. It was fun, though!

I made a few batches of stuff, and this was the last batch; the huge thing in the middle is a cherry pie. A pre-packaged oblong cherry pie. I couldn't flip it over with a wooden skewer/stick, so I had to use a knife, and it was seriously difficult to manoeuvre it, with oily hands. I thought this was really fun, though, and a few specks of oil did fling onto my arms but they were really minuscule, so it's alright.

I really loved the fried apple; it reminds me of fried apple pie which I used to adore in HK, from McDevil. It was perhaps more enjoyable than the fried Oreo, to be honest. I accidentally ate some fried pop-pastry, because I thought it was just an abnormally small piece of fried Oreo. It tasted like melted pop-pastry, and I decided just to finish the rest of my chunk instead of wasting it, despite the fact there were PHO and HFCS in it. Oh, that reminds me; today I was eating a calzone and realised that there was small cubes of ham in it...because I suddenly tasted ham. I suppose that was a bit upsetting. Oh well...

Here is the fried cherry pie...cut into pieces because it was really huge. I didn't eat it, though. They also tried to fry chocolate but the batter kept slipping off or something.

I'm really glad I went and helped out. It was all delicious and fun, and I have to say I did have an amazing day!

Green Tea Ice Cream!

Xenophobia has been, and still is, a major issue everywhere in the world. The sad part is that while some people shun others because they are of a different ethnicity/race/religion/etc., they still reap the benefits of that ethnicity/race/religion/etc. Now, that sounds confusing, but here is an example that comes to my mind: Green tea.

A lot of people like tea. A lot of xenophobic people like tea. Perhaps. I don't have statistics, but judging by the fact that tea is mentioned so frequently and drunk so often, one can assume that at least one xenophobe has enjoyed tea in this world.

Tea is originally from Asia. There are plenty of stereotypes about Asian people.

Yet, I'm sure during WWII, some people liked green tea, although perhaps some among thaose green-tea-consumers detested the Japanese for I'm-not-sure-what [I don't want to delve into facts about war. It just irks me.]

Also during WWI, sauerkraut was named "liberty cabbage".

Oh, then there were "freedom fries" and my spin-off, "freedom kisses" and etc. in 2006 when something happened between the U.S. and France.

I suppose my question is, why do people judge and hate and despise people of other ethnicities/races/religions/etc. while they still enjoy those places' foods? I'm not sure French fries are "French" though. At least, not the ones at McD.

Either way, why blatantly say "I hate those primitive/sneaky/dirty/cheating/useless _______s" when one drinks tea, eats chocolate/xocolatl, chews samosas, bakes macarons, or indulges in latkes?

Food unites us all, it's something we all need, and such diverse foods by so many cultures should be appreciated. And, it is appreciated; people love to try exotic food.

So why do people hate other people based on their culture? Culture should be appreciated.

Actually, a side note I have is that yesterday I saw a website detailing the weirdest foods or something, and thousand year egg was on it, as were other foods, and they were all really scorned upon, which angered me. I personally don't like the taste of thousand year egg, but I still appreciate it exists. The fact that the website degrades cultural food just makes me mad.

At least thousand year egg doesn't have freakin' propylene glycol in it, like chocolate cake you can get at the store these days.

The reason I bring this topic up is that THERE IS GREEN TEA ICE CREAM AT COMMONS. Green tea ice cream at a school cafeteria.

Green tea ice cream.

Sure, there's green tea ice cream at the Asian food mart, and at Asian restaurants, and perhaps even some groceries [I don't think Shoprite stocks it, though]. But, at a school cafeteria? I found this surprising because green tea is getting incorporated in American food culture, which is pretty interesting.

Actually, chocolate mochi, or coffee mooncakes are also an Americanization of Asian food culture, but that stuff is usually reserved to sort-of high end retail.

Green tea ice cream at Commons indicates a larger acceptance of different cultures, I suppose. Maybe they'll have red bean ice cream one day, although I really doubt it.

The ice cream itself looked like green tea ice cream, and it did taste like green tea, although the flavor was extremely weak. It mainly tasted quite sweet and not that bitter. However, I tend to prefer tea without sugar and super strong, so I suppose other people may have liked it.

Pod

I had lunch at Pod today, with 6 people from the lab at the Monell Center for Chemical Senses where I'm volunteering, and Stephanie Lucianovic. Stephanie is a food writer [which made this lunch even more amazing!, which is certainly intriguing since I've never met a professional writer/blogger at lunch before! She also likes Alton Brown, so that's cool.

I've walked past this restaurant a lot with TJ when we go to Kings Court for dinner, and from the outside, it looked pretty amazing; everything was red and the furniture was interesting.

I walked in today and remarked that...

Firstly, it looked swanky. There is no other word to describe it - it was swanky [but then again, I don't know much about upscale-ish restaurants, except Chinese ones]. They had matches next to the door, in little pieces of card. I'm not sure why, since I'm sure they don't want the place burned down. In close proximity was a wine bar. It was all rather red and pretty.

Note the buttons that look like chocolate candies; they were about the size of a hand, and once pressed, made the lighting in the booth change colour. There were only two booths with these lights; the rest of the restaurant was nicely laid out as shown below:

Note the conveyor belt sushi! That reminded me of Genki Sushi in Hong Kong, which I sorely miss right now.

There were booths by the window which were pretty cool too. I blurred out the faces of people.

Since we had lunch under green lighting [until dessert], my photos look green. At the time, my eyes had adjusted to the green lighting, so I wasn't aware of the fact that my sushi looked... green. I don't think that green makes food that photogenic; the best lighting is evidently white light from the sun. Then, I suppose it's the yellow that I'm used to from incandescent light bulbs. Green light... well, I suppose it adds to the mood, right? Neutral, relaxing?

I got the TnT sushi roll, which was eight pieces of vegetarian sushi.

Vegetarian sushi that surprising looked and tasted un-vegetarian.

1. It looks like there are raw tuna slices on the top, but it actually is slivered tomato. It's the part of the tomato that's between the skin and the seeds. I'm wondering what the did with the other 90% of the tomato... because each ovule takes up a LOT of the tomato [the seed, the liquidy part, and the segments between them], and what I had here was merely the outer part of the tomato...

2. The chopped garnish at the top, which reminds me of walnuts, is actually a jalapeno cucumber salsa. It was a bit spicier than the ginger on the side, which, unlike the ones I'm used to seeing, were cream coloured rather than salmon-coloured. I suppose they didn't add the FD&C Red, which is good to know. However, I still didn't like the taste of pickled ginger. Maybe I will one day.

[So, I used flash a lot because the lighting was rather dim. To compensate, my photos now make the rice look like it lacks detail.]

3. The filling tasted fishy. Perhaps I am confusing umami with fishy. There was tamago, which I learned was the Japanese-style egg that I used to eat a lot in Hong Kong. Some of the tamago was crispy, which gave off that Japanese-style-eel flavour. There was also carrot, cucumber, and avocado. I truly think that the avocado makes any sushi taste fishy. I'm not sure why; perhaps the soy sauce enhances it, although soy-sauce-free avocado sushi tastes just as fishy. It could be the texture; the smooth, fatty, melt-in-your-mouth feeling reminds me of raw salmon. So, yes, avocado definitely makes sushi taste fishy.

A dissection of the filling. I suppose I was being kind of inappropriate at the lunch table since everyone else was eating their food, and there I was, prying it open with a scalpel - I mean, with a fork. After my third piece of sushi, I decided to use the chopsticks, because I realised that using a fork to eat sushi [my first time, I daresay] was a bit clumsy. So, you can see the vegetables.

4. I'm not sure what the yellow-orangey mixture, which looks like fish roe, is. It tasted like fish. It definitely was not carrot or tomato. I'll have to ask next time. It tasted nice and savoury though.

5. This is a really bad picture, but if you look closely, you can see that I've taken apart some of the rice in the front, leaving only a thin, white membrane. I could not tell what this membrane was. I tried to eat some by itself, and I noticed a hint of soy. I think that this is the soy wrapper thing that my mum cooks all the time - I'm not sure what the English name is, but it's used a lot in stir-fries with wood ear. Next time I make sushi, I will definitely incorporate some soy wrappers!

Another image of the membrane.

I tried some hibiscus tea, which arrived in a cute little teapot, which appears green under the lighting. I've tried hibiscus bubble tea before, which was tons sweeter than this, but this tea gave off such a nice aroma!! I've never seen or smelled a live hibiscus flower before, and now I'd really like to.

A close up of the stuff in the tea, which turned out pink or purple...I couldn't tell in the lighting; it almost looked light blue for a while.

Desserts! This was a Chocolate Bread Pudding, which in my opinion did not taste like bread pudding [well, I suppose if the bread was crumbled into 1mm pieces...]. It tasted like a chocolate brownie, but lacked the oily residue that commercial brownies possess. I'm not sure how the garnish thingy [A chocolate flake?] tasted.

Butterscotch Brown Sugar Cake, with panna cotta. Panna cotta is amazing! I'd never had it before, so it was new, and it did make a normal cake look pretty and taste interesting ["Butterscotch Brown Sugar Cake" is basically a sponge cake made with brown sugar...the name just makes it sound elite]. The gingersnaps were super delicious. I like ginger cookies, and these were super crunchy. They should make gingersnaps cereal. They really really should - not with reconstituted-corn-and-corn-syrup, but with actual gingersnaps. Hm... next time I buy gingersnaps, I guess I'm going to eat them crumbled up in milk, with a spoon and a bowl...

4 sorbets on a chunk of ice: pineapple, coconut, mint, and guava. One of them had a peppercorn in it, but I'm not sure whether it was the guava or the pineapple. The coconut ice sorbet had a nice refreshing taste to it, BUT THE MINT SORBET WAS... ... The mint sorbet reminded me of three or four winters ago, when I got snow, added milk and sugar to it, and added dried mint flakes. As in, the one from the shaker from the grocery store. It tasted like mint, not peppermint, and it tasted just like my snow ice cream. It just looked prettier. This was pretty surprising, because most people would expect the conventional mint-chocolate type sorbet... so this one wins at being "cool". Haha... cool mint...

But this means that I can make my snow ice cream and sell it for $2/scoop.

I lack plating and customers, though.

Oh, some pictures were taken after people had taken chunks out of the food; the desserts weren't served to us half-eaten. The servers were really nice.

One last remark: the fries that came with the hoagie were literally shoe-string fries. Sure, they were only 5cm long, but they were, maximally 2mm thick. It was an amazing sight. I should just order those next time.