lunch in brown and yellow

We were out of lunchmeat this morning, and I forgot about the tasty leftovers in the fridge from last night’s Korean food frenzy at Wu Chon House, so it was the dreaded caf for me today.
When forced to go to the caf, I’ll usually get two grilled cheese and tomato sammies and a cup of soup. Outrageous at 7 bucks (ok, it’s really like $6.50, but I round up) but it’s fairly safe and the soup usually doesn’t totally suck.
But it’s slim pickin’s at 1:20 — it closes at 1:30 (not the first of my peeves). By the time I get down there, they’ve already shut down the grill and the one soup that might have been appetizing was popular enough that all that’s left are a few grains of barley and bits of drying vegetables dotting the bottom of the serving container.
So I end up with the meatloaf from the “Market Carvery” station, topped with brown gravy. Two sides? Well, the rice tray looks almost untouched, and the green beans look like sad withered twigs cooked with…something. Onions? Garlic? I give up on 20 questions and get the mashed potatoes and corn.
The corn looks to be cooked to within an inch of its life. But no, I stand corrected — they’ve had the life cooked out of them, leaving only yellow husks of fiber and starch. The meatloaf tastes alright, but it has a strange chewiness that I don’t generally associate with meat. The potatoes are quite passable by comparison, but that’s not saying much.
And all this for five bucks. What a deal, eh?
I hate the caf.

Fat = Good

This may not be the start of the new all-butter diet fad, but a new study has been published that suggests that fat isn’t the evil-doer that many take it for and may even be good for you. [Reuters]

“A relatively high amount of fat in the diet may be a boon to a healthy person’s cholesterol levels, a small study suggests. On the other hand, limiting fat intake too much could have the opposite effect.”

So no more funny looks when I request aggressive butter application on my popcorn at the Coolidge, thank you very much.

albany mexican and strawberries

Thanks to P for taking us to a great mexican place in Albany — El Mariachi. Authentic dishes, good flavors, fresh ingredients… mmmm. Try the sangria — it’s excellent and better than the margaritas. WHY don’t we have any decent mexican food here? Perhaps it’s hiding in the neighborhoods I don’t frequent, much the way the decent BBQ is in Dorchester.
California strawberries are in season again, and cheeep in the markets. Get ’em while they’re yummy!

Etorki

While on a rampage at the den of temptation known as the Whole Foods Cheese Department, I acquired a hunk of sheep’s-milk cheese from France: Etorki. It’s just wonderful: it’s creamy, yet nutty and slightly pungent and ever so faintly sheepy. Mild-cheese lovers like it, stinky-cheese lovers like it, and it’s a perfect eating cheese. Good on bread or plain.

the holy grail

the holy grail of chips, while we’re on the subject, is Herr’s Hot Cheese Curls. These things are fucking transcendent. They are the best snack EVER. They are everything a snack should be: crunchy, salty, spicy, cheesy, savory. I get chills just thinking about it. (And while on the Herr’s site, I noticed they make/sell the Glenny’s Soy Chip line, which strangely doesn’t suck — they’re good for you, protein/carb balanced, and deliver full doses of flavor crystals. Good for those times you need salty goodness but feel virtuous.)
hmm, and these are good too, but I have no idea where to buy them in these parts.

While we’re on the subject of chips

Check out Taquitos.net. The site is a bit cluttered, but their hearts (and stomachs) are in the right place.
I initially thought it was a commercial site, (I must have been thinking of Tostitos® corn chips) but that misconception was quickly corrected with a quick peek at the FAQ:

Q: Do you manufacture chips?
A: Nope. Mainly, we eat chips.

Well, there you go.