Crystal Light Strawberry Slurpee

Ah, my first flirt with Slurpees for a long, long time. We had an awesome 7-11 near my high school that I used to frequent for most of my freshman year until it closed down. And now I'm in a town with like, three of them within bus distance. It's super.

So I went with my friend Death Cake (DC) and we grabbed some. They didn't have the limited edition Domo Apple Slurpee- yet- so we settled for a recommendation of the Crystal Light Slurpees from the kid at the register. Apparently there are many Crystal Light flavors of Slurpee, including a cherry limeade that I feel like I'd be extremely partial to.

We got little cups, 'cause I'm no pig and in this weather could probably catch pneumonia from a Big Gulp, though there were these crazy Guitar Hero controller shaped cups that could hold like, thirty thousand ounces of Slurpee. Overkill, but awesome. The drink was good. I didn't expect it to be fizzy, but it was, to the point where it expanded in the cup like cream on milk and rose above the level that I filled it to.

The flavor was tasty, very berry-esque and true to the actual drink, but extremely sour, at times, too sour for my personal preference. It was good. It also melted extremely fast, and half the fun of a Slurpee is that strange, thick texture that we all know and love.

6/10- GOOD

Veg Night At Royal Tavern

Hey, look! It's a restaurant event that I can actually go to, and it's at Royal Tavern, one of my favorite Philly bars.

On Wednesday, November 11th Royal Tavern’s week long 7th anniversary celebration kicks off with a night for vegans and vegetarians. For one night only the blackboard specials will consist entirely of vegetarian and vegan items. There will be a specialty cocktail menu crafted from cruelty free ingredients. Festivities start at 5pm and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to PAWS.

What will I do with so many choices? Can I bring myself to order something other than the vegan sloppy Joe's?

Kettle Chips Salt and Pepper

I bought these for my friend, Sherlock, because Cape Cod makes their salt and pepper chips with whey. Really? Is it so hard to make a salt and pepper potato chip and not use dairy? But I digress.

So we ate these with hummus while watching a movie, and to be quite honest, they were really not as good as I'd hoped. My standard for salt and pepper chips is Utz or Herr's, with the crispy thinness and massive application of seasoning. I've eaten entire bags of those.

These were just disappointing. Out of ten chips, nine were basically transparent. And these weren't thin slices, either. These were big, crunchy, stabby pieces of potato chip, and still really greasy and clear! There was no salt flavor to speak of. None at all. There was a light dusting of pepper, but the overwhelming taste was...grease.

I guess the most redeeming quality of these chips was that they will never go stale. I keep thinking I'll want to eat them, eat some, find that they're still very crispy, but bland and tasteless, and then put them away for another week. If you like bland, too thick, greasy chips, these are for you. A real miss on the part of Kettle Foods. Take my advice- for your salt and pepper craving, eat Terra or Utz.

2/10- SUCKAGE

Arizona Iced Tea Lite Arnold Palmer

Here's a drink that I like to keep around the dorm to remind me of summer and to quench me whenever I'm in need of a refreshing drink. It's the classic Arnold Palmer- half iced tea, half lemonade, but this version doesn't burden you down with all the calories and sugar that most soft drinks have. Each 8 oz. serving has fifty calories and just 13 grams of sugar.

But how does it taste? It's really delicious. The flavor is nice and mellow, with a good lemony aftertaste and a nice "tea" flavor, too. At times, there's a slightly bitter aftertaste, which dissuades me from drinking too much of it, but the flavor is well rounded and I definitely taste both lemonade and tea.

The "lite" part is barely noticable, in fact, it's almost better than the regular version because it's less sugary and doesn't make you thirstier.

8/10- YUMMY

Pho Cali

Did it not take forever for Pho Cali in Kirkwood Plaza (no relation to Pho Cali in Philly) on Kirkwood Highway to open up? I pretty much gave up on the place, and when it did open up about four months ago, they neglected to make a website (inexcusable nowadays), and neglected to answer the phone (because Google lists the number incorrectly...and that's why you should have a website) the few times I tried to call and ask the very most important question a Pho-seeking vegetarian has: Do you serve a Pho made with vegetable broth?

So, yeah, I wrote them off. That is until Spark, Wilmington's free weekly, reported back that the vegetable and tofu Pho at Pho Cali uses vegetable broth. Sign me back up!

Soup is the hardest thing for vegetarians to eat when dining out, because they're invariably made with meat stock, and only the most conscious kitchens offer up a vegetable-based soup. So, always a soup skeptic, I asked if Pho Cali's vegetable and tofu Pho was made with vegetable stock, and, sadly, it is not. It's made with chicken stock. Or, at least that's what my server told me, and what a person on the phone told me when I called back later to double check. Meat-stock-Pho is the norm at most Pho shops, but it sure would be nice if everyone offered a veggie option.Aw, well! I was already sitting at one of the bright green booths in the stark, white walled, beige tiled, strip mall restaurant with plasma TV's at either end of the room, so decided to order the one vegetarian Bun dish: a bowl or rice vermicelli topped with fried tofu and onions sauteed with lemongrass and chilis. Tucked on the side of the bowl are shredded carrots, shredded iceberg lettuce, cucumber sticks, mung beans sprouts, and chopped peanuts to be stirred about with the side dish of nuoc cham brought to the table, and any of the various condiments already sitting on the table, such as garlic chili paste, sriracha sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, and chilis in oil.

For $5.95, the huge bowl of veggie Bun is a good deal, and the sweet and spicy fried tofu is the tasty centerpiece of the dish, but only hints at the strong lemongrass flavors the menu alluded to. And, I would have loved to have seen some strongly flavored herbs like cilantro, basil, mint, or scallions either already in the bowl or brought out in a dish for me to add to the Bun.
The tops of the condiment bottles are a little crusty, and one hole on the soy sauce bottle at my table was clogged, so it'd be nice to see Pho Cali clean these up daily.

With no veggie Pho, or veggie egg rolls or spring rolls (I really wanted the spring roll-topped Bun), and only a fried rice dish and a couple noodle dishes for vegetarians, I can't see myself going out of my way to visit Pho Cali on Kirkwood, but if I were closer I certainly would stop in occasionally.

It's just nice to see Wilmington finally get a Pho restaurant! And Pho Cali offers dim sum on Saturday and Sunday.

Want to know what's on Pho Cali's menu? No problem! Just click the pic to enlarge.
Pho Cali
4373 Kirkwood Hwy Wilmington, DE 19808
302-999-8107
Open daily, 11am-10pm

Japanese KitKats on the Radio

Recently on Public Radio International's The World, there was a piece about Japanese KitKats and the Japanese marketing cycle in general. My sister informed me about it, and I wanted to share it, too. Click here to listen. There's also a link to one of the Flickr Japanese KitKat photo groups.

Ingrid's Peanut Butter Cups

Sent to me last night on a rainy day...the perfect early breakfast treat! And yes, for me, 2:27 PM is early breakfast. I'm in college, let me be!

I tried a white chocolate peanut butter cup first. The chocolate was good, very tasty, like a nice melting chocolate, but there was not enough peanut butter in the ratio to chocolate, I found. With peanut butter cups, this can make the chocolate melt really well or be too crunchy if there's not enough, which I found to be the case.

It wasn't bad, but the creaminess of the white chocolate really detracted from the peanut butter and if I hadn't known it was a peanut butter cup from its iconic shape, I might not have thought so.

4/10- ALL RIGHT

The chocolate one fared a little better. The thickness was still prominent and the chocolate had a bit of a waxy taste. I'm not sure. The rule about candy sort of applies with the same rule of things like toy boats. Surface area increase and size increase are different, and what tastes perfect on a tiny peanut butter cup won't taste as good on a novelty, three-pound cup. Too thick. Bottom line. Not enough peanut butter flavor.

5/10- OKAY

www.ingridsgoodies.blogspot.com
Ingrid's Goodies