J.B. Dough Bread Adventure #1

Oy. Today I made my first loaf of homemade bread.

It was from a package, (and beware, this is a series of 12) of bread dough from J.B. Dough company. They were extremely friendly and sent me all this bread, and today, I had some free time and decided to try my hand at it.

Ha ha. Get it? Hand? There I am, kneading the bread. I'm kneading it in an ice tray stolen from the community kitchen. In front of our window. In my dorm room.

It's sitting on the shelf now, rising.

The view from our dorm. Some kids brew moonshine or grow weed, The Foodette bakes bread.

When I baked this, these were my potholders. Please, someone send me potholders.

Otherwise...this will happen. I still can't quite fathom that I got a third-degree burn on my finger and yet took a photo of it before I washed it off. It's a little pathetic and makes me worry just a little.

There's the bread, in the oven. On the tin foil that I bummed off the dining hall in place of a pan. If someone were to send me cooking supplies, I would be most indebted.

Beauty shots of the delicious, delicious bread.

It looked so pretty.

All my friends ate the bread and we had a bread and Nutella eating party. It was the shit.

They loved it! We ate most of the loaf.

Bread and Nutella...Mmmmmm!

Your Foodette. Eating the Nutella off the knife. I AM NOT PRETTY.

The bread was really great. It had excellent cell wall definition, was puffy and tasty, and had a buttery flavor without any toppings on it. It came out crispy and had a good crust. Overall, an awesome experience.

8/10- SUPER!

UHA Kyoho Grape Puccho

Today, my candy taught me some Japanese. From the packaging, I could tell that this flavor of Puccho was grape (perhaps Concord?), but I didn't know the kanji for the flavor name. After little internet searching, I found out that the kanji was read Kyoho, and means a Kyoho grape.

According to Wikipedia (linked above), Kyoho grapes are similar to Concord gapes, so I was optimistic about the flavor. Although usually not as authentic as Hi-Chew, Puccho typically provides a good combination of flavor and fun with the taffy and gummy composition.


In the wrapper, these smelled a little like cinammon, but the taste was a strong, fairly authentic Concord grape. The flavor felt natural, and the candy got juicier as I chewed. There were about 4 gummies in both of the pieces I sampled, and the gummies had an even stronger grape flavor. I got the sensation of grape skin from the gummies, which I liked.

I was pleased with these and would get them again if there weren't so many other flavors and similar candies to try. Also, Puccho is pretty quick about rotating flavors, so I doubt these will be around that long.

B+

UHA website

Sky Bar

This bar is one of those "old-timey" candies, like Necco wafers, candy buttons, Squirrel Nut Zippers, etc. Actually, anything made by Necco is brittle and antiquated. So this is one of those classics that everyone sees but never has any desire to try, passing it up for a Snickers or other 21st century candy bar.

This rickety old fucker gives good reason for people to never wish to approach it. It has four components, each much bigger than I expected. Each component has a different flavor in it- chocolate fudge, marshmallow, caramel, and peanut butter.

Upon opening the cantankerous old man of a candy bar, I have an encounter with the worst white bloom I've ever seen. Is this a white chocolate candy bar or- OH GOD. Seriously. It's got a shiny, waxy sheen that can only mean one thing- mockolate. But it's not. It's just authentic, awful milk chocolate, which almost disappoints me more.

So I bit into each component. The chocolate was brittle and flaked off. The first flavor was caramel, but I thought it was peanut butter because of the graininess and absolute aversion to smooth texture that the bite had. But no, it was just a sugary lump, so it must have been caramel.

The next bite held marshmallow, or if marshmallow had hung out in an old folk's home for sixty or so years and had slowly decomposed into a sugary white goo that got all over my frigging French notes. It put me into a coma, like my geriatric candy bar, and I almost didn't get to try the next piece.

That piece was the peanut butter. Oh yeah. I didn't get a photo, but there was a small layer of oil from the peanut butter that made this inedible. I did not eat most of the piece as it was smelly, bitter, and oozing liquid. Again...like some old people. Shame on you, Necco.

The last piece was fudge...and I'm not even going to make a stool joke here. It was soft. It was mushy. It tasted like caranuba wax and broken dreams of dime stores.

2/10- AWFUL

Bittersweet Men's Pocky

Swagger came by for the weekend and had a nice visit and left us food for weeaboos- dark chocolate bittersweet men's Pocky.

We're not entirely sure why this Pocky is just for men. Probably because it has a darker chocolate on it that might not appeal to those with sweet teeth. Maybe because it has trace amounts of hormones and bull semen for that extra muscular taste. The cracker has a salty, pretzel taste that mingles with the dark chocolate like an interracial party at a dance club. Either way, Pocky is damned good.

I'd been craving a snack I could eat in bed with. There's not a lot of space in our dorm, so we have to eat and work in the same spaces. These are clean to eat, no crumbs or little messy bits, and you can literally overdose on these without worrying about your figure. There are at least twenty to a package, and two packages in a box. Eight grams of fat, two hundred calories. Damned delicious. More filling than a candy bar, and the ratio of biscuit to chocolate makes you think you're eating more chocolate.

It's edible mind control!

From the exquisitely cryptic Engrish, "Stick to fun!" on the bag, to the masculine package, this is a phenomenal snack. So, men who are keeping their figures slim, women who want to be men, and CIA members, eat this. It "brings a whole new flavor to fun."

8/10- MMMM!

I Got Ribbed Off

The rain stayed away and the crowds came out for the all-you-can-eat ribs, brisket, and other grillables from local professional and amateur teams at A Full Plate's Annual Rib Cook-Off this past Saturday, and what a great time it was!

FYI, the "I Got Ribbed Off" in the title of the post refers to the cute bovine T-shirts with the same saying being sold at the event.
All teams were required to grill ribs, so there were lots of those to be had, although some teams ran out of food quickly with the hungry people chowing their way full force through the crowd. Ribs, Brisket, Anything Goes, and Vegetarian were the four categories teams could enter into the judging, and, let me tell you, the food went fast!

As a judge for the Professional Vegetarian category (there was also an Amateur Vegetarian category), I wasn't allowed in the festival area so as to keep my peepers off the goods and keep the blind judging truly blind, so when my duties were over and I did get a peek at the competitors' tables, much of the food was already gone!
A Full Plate kept the buffet sides and desserts coming, though. E's mini red velvet cupcakes are too cute, and her oatmeal creme pies are one of my all-time favorite desserts she makes. Coleslaw, mac and cheese, baked beans, and brussel sprout salad were a few of the items off the all-vegetarian buffet we picked up.
Carnage from the Professional Vegetarian judging table.

Being a judge in the Professional Vegetarian category was a lot of fun, but I took the job seriously, thoughtfully scoring each entry on presentation, creativity, and taste. I think the Vegetarian category and the Anything Goes category (didn't judge Anything Goes) were truly the most interesting, with each entry being so different from the next. These categories weren't just plate of ribs, one after the other. Vegetarian and Anything Goes were where the grill masters could really use their creativity and bring something special to the table.

With first and second place winners in both amateur and professional divisions of four categories (Ribs, Brisket, Anything Goes, and Vegetarian), as well as a people's choice award, my little, end-of-the-day, non-note-taking brain just can't remember who won what, except for the category I judged and the people's choice award (that award went to Sonata), so you'll just have to wait for the official announcements. (Updade: and here they are.)
Tower Investments took home the second place prize in the Professional Vegetarian category with a grilled vegetable sandwich that was truly delicious -- and I encounter many grilled veggie sandwiches. Who'd a thunk a property developer could turn out good grub!
Q BBQ and Tequila took home the first place prize in the Professional Vegetarian category with grilled caramelized onions and mushrooms with toasts topped with herbed and sweetened goat cheese. This really was the tastiest vegetarian dish of the day in my opinion (and apparently others'), and Q deserved the win.

No pictures or prize, but Mermaid BBQ, 2008's first place rib winner and people's choice winner, made tiny bbq seitan sliders topped with chunky blue cheese dressing that was simple, but delicious. If I had the power (sadly, I have none) to grant a third place prize, I'd award it to Mermaid Barbecue.

I had a lot of fun and can't wait til next year! Check out a few more of my pics on Flickr.

Pom Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice

We were sent these adorable bottles of juice in a special blogger package from Molly, at Pom PR, so thanks, Molly!

First, let me extol the graces of how useful POM Juice is for kids in college. We've had this, the Roomba and I, for about a week and it's made our mini fridge brighter and stocked full, and is also the perfect size for bringing to class on those mornings when we have to get up really early! The antioxidants, which are molecules that prevent the oxidation of other molecules, (duh) lower the risk of heart disease and help with other health-related benefits, as well as promoting the effects of exercise when one should get up off of one's bunked dorm bed and turn off the Food Network.

These little juices are great. For my tastes, they're a little too rich and tangy, but that's the price I'm willing to pay for good, pomegranate juice, not the nasty, ghetto juice with strange dirty sediment at the bottom. This shit is pure.

And like any good crack cocaine, the juices are small but intense enough to refresh without having to drink a whole lot of it. Looking forward to trying other varieties.

7/10- MMM!

Spoleto Restaurant, Northampton, MA

Last night I went on a date to Spoleto, an Italian restaurant in Northampton, MA. It's the town next to mine, roughly ten minutes away by car. It's a funky place to go and eat, with cool history and neat people. We went to Spoleto and had their $20 special. It consists of almost any appetizer on their menu, any entree, and any dessert.

My partner had calamari for an appetizer, while I had the carrozza, which the waitress told me I was the only one to pronounce the correct way. That was fresh mozzarella sandwiched between two pieces of bread, sauteed in a pan, with a dipping sauce. I asked for the sauce on the side, but was ignored. What I received was decent. It was filling, but the mozzarella was gooey and I expected some crunchiness to counteract that. Unfortunately, the heavy tomato sauce, most of which I scraped off, was somewhat soggy and made the rest of the dish soggy. I ate half. I would have liked to experience more of the flavor, but unfortunately, the tomato sauce also took over the majority of the flavor palate, and the freshness of the mozz was thus undermined.

3/10- SOGGY

For an entree, I had the ravoli alla vodka. It was obvious with this dish that the ravioli was homemade, and the sauce as well. I ought to take the time to mention that our waitress, although I did not catch her name, was extremely friendly, courteous, and talkative throughout our dining experience.

Back to the pasta. There were seven or eight large ravioli, each roughly the size of a doll's plate, or an oversized watch of Flava Flav's. They were covered in a nice tomato vodka sauce. Unfortunately, a lot of the creaminess was lost in the tomato flavor, but was still hearty and tasty. The pasta was done perfectly- al dente and soft, with the perfect amount of gooey cheese filling inside. It was a very tasty dish for a raw and rainy night. Quite filling, too. I finished half of it, but did not manage to take a photo.

7/10- LOVELY

For the last part of our dinner, we finished off with a selection from their dessert menu. Unfortunately, the dessert that I was most eager to try, the Late Summer Berry Cheesecake Bites, were sold out, and I was most disappointed. I was assured by the waitress that the strawberry cheesecake was just as good, which I ordered, and she made it special by swirling lovely designs on the plate in strawberry syrup.

The cake came on a plate accompanied by whipped cream, homemade that morning. I was surprised to see that the cake was not a cheesecake with strawberry topping, but rather a cheesecake with strawberries incorporated into the mix. It was delicious, tangy, and flavorful. The crust was crumbly and soft, and the cake was very filling. I ate half and put it in. The syrup and cream made it an enjoyable texture adventure.

8/10- DELIGHTFUL

Spoleto Restaurant
50 Main Street
Northampton, MA, 01002
www.spoletorestaurants.com