Fig Almond Anise Dark Chocolate

When my co-worker and ace snack-finder Dana announced she had a bar of chocolate with figs, anise, and almonds, I jumped up for the challenge. She found it at Chase's Farm Stand in Wells Maine, which by law farm stands are usually loaded with interesting food and other goodies.

The first bite was mostly anise, which was quite disconcerting. The second bite was anise and fig, which was better because one balanced the other (strong/sweet). Third was the almond and anise, which was OK. The almond pretty much got lost, and the only real interest the almond has is to go along for the ride with the chocolate.

I have to say if offered another piece, I would politely decline. To echo Dana's sentiment, if the stuff was INSIDE the chocolate, it might be better, or less tactile (specifically the anise). But I think I might have to do some farm stand exploration, word on the street is that they also had a pomegranate seed bar too.

Sweets Map of Boston

Have you ever eaten lunch at a place just because you love their dessert? Have you ever walked 20 minutes out of your way, just to get a particular cookie?

There are a few places I've found around town that I'll always go out of my way for. Check out my personal map of Sweets in Boston.

Enjoy!

Oreos Versus Snackwells - the Vanilla Cookie Standoff

As the summer approached, my palate abandoned my post-lunch chocolate ache for a refreshing vanilla cookie craving. Having Vanilla Creme Snackwells in the snack machine was bad for two reasons, 1) I used up my stash of change for meters, and 2) my nutritionist would not approve. Then I get home last night and found that my adorable husband brought home a bag of Vanilla aka Golden Oreos. This brings me to my posting, a comparison between the two.

Snackwells are kind of like the Vienna Finger, the slightly more bland cookie, like an off-brand animal cracker can be. However, I think they put some kind of little kick (chemical probably) that gives it a nice boost and gives it an addicting quality. Because it's not completely sweet, I find it perfect.

Vanilla Oreos are pretty amazing. The creme is heavier, the cookie is fab, but I got that OUCH from my teeth on sugar overload.

As Nabisco corners the market here (they own both Oreos and Snackwells), it's difficult to compare the two labels side by side for an easy determination of what is better for you by serving size or grams.
At first glance, it almost looks like Oreos (right) are better, however, you have to rely on the daily value % to give you some kind of comparable scale. Snackwells (left) are better for you, well, as better as cookies can be for you. So good in fact they sell them in 4 packs. If anyone knows how to do the math to figure out 4 snackwells VS 4 vanilla oreos, you win!

Summer of Love with or without Iced Tea?

As I stand on the brink of voluntarily going off of caffeine in less than two weeks, it turns 88 degrees outside and my body is screaming for an Iced Tea. If I cram it all in and drink Iced Tea every day until June 1st, I'll probably NEED to go off of caffeine for health reasons. This time I'm hopping off the Buzz Bus because I've done it before and LOVED the way I felt. Nice and even-keeled, no highs, no lows.

I'm drinking an Iced Tea RIGHT NOW, my all-natural Snapple Lemon Tea that they stock at work in the 16 oz bottles. I like their Real Facts inside the cap (today's is "Alaska was bought from Russia for about 2 cents an acre"). It tastes SO good.

I also have the Trader Joe's Kettle Brewed Black Tea Gallon at home in the fridge. Perhaps I should work on drinking that up, I usually only partake on weekends when it's hot. Last year, it took me all summer to drink one gallon, and I need to polish it off in less than 2 weeks?

I am in the process of investigating DECAF options, so if anyone has quality decaf iced tea options by the gallon, or other suggestions, please share. Oh, and hurry, June 1st is coming up fast!

The Art of The Waffle

Recently I had the opportunity to participate in an Art Show that my Studio (FableVision) was hosting. Given the fact that most of the folks in the Studio are amazingly talented, I decided to stick with the medium that I know best -- food. After a little brainstorming, I decided to create art with waffles. The concept of my piece was:

To create software that when given a photo and number of servings would generate instructions for creating waffles with that approximate that image and serve that many people. (Play with it)

My first task was to generate an edible color palette that could be used to color the waffles. Initially, I was hoping to keep it to standard toppings like peanut butter, jams and Nutella, but I quickly learned that I would need additional colors. I then started recording colors for whipped cream mixed with different amounts of food coloring. With a little work, I was able to create a color palette of about 50 colors:



Once the palette was established, I got to work writing the software to generate the instructions. The basic concept was to break up the image into the appropriate number of waffle squares based on the number of servings the user entered in the software.




For each square, I then computed the average color and matched it to the closest color from the 50-color palette I had created. Below are two examples of the output of the software. Note that each square has a designated 'recipe' for creating the appropriate color (e.g. strawberry jam or Nutella).





In my experimentation, I realized that it required a lot of waffles to create a complex image. Therefore for the Art Show, my friend Ryan found a relatively simple picture of Mario from the Mario Brothers video games. It was made using approximately 25 waffles.







If you'd like to play with the software, click here. Click the Load button to create waffle art from a preselected set of images. Roll over each square of the waffle to see what it's made of. You can control the number of servings using the slider.

Special thanks to Gary Goldberger, Kate Cotter, Ryan McNulty, Sarah Reynolds, Tami Wicinas and Taryn Johnson for helping assemble the final piece. And thanks to Matt Bargar for some of the photos in this posting.

His and Hers Salmon

There are times in a relationship, when no matter how well you communicate, you just can't come to an agreement. There are times when, even though it will win you martyr points, you don't feel like you can compromise. Here is a story of such an occasion, but this time it has a happy ending.

You see, last Tuesday my wife and I decided to make salmon for dinner. When discussing how it should be prepared, we couldn't reach an agreement. Fortunately for us, the recipes were simple enough that we could split the fillet in half and make both.

Here are two simple recipes for enjoying salmon:

His : Maple Soy Salmon
with Maple Soy soaked rice... yum!

Combine ingredients, bring to a boil until it just starts to thicken. Brush onto salmon to coat, pour the remainder of the glaze over medium grain white rice. Bake the fish at 425. Break up fish into pieces and serve 'His Style' in bowl over sauced rice with chopsticks.

• 1/2 cup maple syrup


• 1/4 cup soy sauce


• 2 cloves crushed garlic

Hers: Sweet and Spicy Rubbed Salmon

First referenced April 2008

Brush salmon with olive oil. Combine equal parts chili powder and brown sugar. Rub over salmon. Bake at 425. Serve over medium grain white rice.

• olive oil


• chili powder


• brown sugar

Hopefully this tip will serve you well the next time you have a disagreement about how to prepare the salmon...

Sweet and Sour... and SPICY

Wikipedia will tell you that scientists describe five basic tastes:

• bitter
• salty
• savory
  
• sour
  
• sweet

and you may even recall learning about the anatomy of the tongue and where the specific taste buds are for each of these tastes.

Some people attempt to create dishes that deliver combinations of these tastes. These days, you'll hear folks talk about how they really enjoy the combination of sweet and salty. Examples can be found in chocolate-covered pretzels, many trail mixes and the addition of sea salt to items in bakeries like chocolate cookies.

Sweet and sour is popular as well -- and always has been. This is evidenced by the classic sweet and sour chicken that so many of our parents order in Chinese restaurants. Additionally, many fruits could be considered both sweet and sour. For example, oranges and mangoes.

Among many of the fantastic products you can find on the shelves at Trader Joe's, consider the photo above of Chile Spiced Mango. This snack consists of dried mango (a favorite of mine as is) dusted with a generous amount of chili powder mix. These take sweet and sour one step further by introducing 'spicy' to the mix. While 'spicy' isn't one of the five flavors, it's definitely a great addition. After eating the first piece, the spice sticks with you and leaves you craving another.

A great, healthy snack.

Note that these are relatively spicy and may not be appropriate for everyone. But if you like them, you'll love them.