Pumpkin Pie & a Blender:
This entry is cross-posted on Emily’s excellent blog for those forced onto a liquid diet, Jaws Wired Shut. Check it out!!
When I was little, our neighbour grew these prize-winning pumpkins. They were MASSIVE. And every year, the vines would grow under the fence and a good number of pumpkins would grow in our yard. And by ‘a good number’, I’m talking like 20-30. Needless to say, we had a problem with hooligans smashing pumpkins in our neighbourhood. We also had an absurd number of Jack-O-Lanterns, which led to an absurd number of smash Jack-O-Lanterns in our driveway.
That said, it also meant that we had easy access to pumpkin for eating. My mom makes delicious pumpkin pie that starts with a real pumpkin and not some crap from a can. And oh, the difference it makes. I definitely have a heart-on for all things pumpkin.
A few months back, I posted that I’d had my wisdom teeth out and was trying to find interesting things to eat, Connor from Hold the Beef recommended a pumpkin pie shake. I got the recommendation at about 8:30am and was at the grocery store 10 minutes later, buying up all the ingredients. Not only until I got home and got to talking Emily did it hit me that an actual pumpkin pie is pretty blendable (and in my case, soft enough to eat as-is, but I was pretty paranoid for the first couple of days). So we decided to try a delicious experiment: concocted shake vs. blended pie.
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The Fun of a Liquid/Soft Food Diet
It’s been a long time since we posted. Partly because both Kate and I are trying to eat sensibly, which runs against what this site is all about, and partly because Kate has been busy and I’ve been lazy. But good news!
I got my wisdom teeth out yesterday!
Why is that good news? Because I means I have the opportunity to find all sorts of weird crap to eat. I’m not in much pain (none, actually) less than 24 hours later, but I still want to go by the book when it comes to my diet in recovery. Our friend Emily, thankfully (and unfortunately), had to go through a much more prolonged ordeal this summer, and started Jaws Wired Shut. It’s a pretty amazing resource for all those on a blended diet for whatever reason, and even got some press in a New York Times blog.
So now that I’m off the first day’s relatively boring clear liquids diet, it’s time to start playing around. For lunch today’s, I’ve made myself this delicious Banana & Avocado Shake. An avocado, a banana, some plain yogurt, and some milk. I threw in some protein powder, some vanilla Progressive Harmonized Vegan stuff that I picked up this morning. So far, it doesn’t seem to be as soluble as the non-vegan stuff I usually get, but… this is what they had at GNC this morning.
Anyway… completely delicious. And significantly more filling than a bowl of straight-up chicken broth.
If anyone has any ideas to help get me through the next week, send them along!
Weird Drinks: Pepsi White vs Pepsi Green!
Behold, I present to you, a death match between two exotic Pepsi flavours, gathered from around the world!
In this corner…
Pepsi Green
I got this little gem at a 7-11 in Thailand, where it’s all over the place. My friend who lives there absolutely hates it, and can’t understand why the locals “are obsessed with it” (she says with disgust). I’m not sure how I feel about it, or even if it counts as a cola. Everyone I feed it to says the taste is familiar, but they can’t quite place it (check out the heated internets debate on the subject). My kid sister says it tastes like Dr. Pepper. I also taste mint, with a hint of a floral bathroom air spray (or maybe just it’s the putrid green colour that makes me think of bathroom products talking).
Wanna know more? Check out Pepsi Thailand, which has got to be the slowest loading corporate website in the entire known universe. I wrote this entire post before it finally loaded. Go you, Pepsi Thailand!
Once the novelty wears off, I give it 6 Mehs out of 10.
In the other corner...
Pepsi White
Good old eBay provided me with this questionable limited edition beverage from Japan. Guess what the White refers to? Yogurt! But it doesn’t actually taste like yogurt. At all. (Maybe this is a good thing?) I was expecting that it would taste like calpis, but it actually tastes kinda spicy. According to the “The Japan Marketing News” it has ‚Äúa deeper, more memorable flavour.‚Äù Metafilter says it tastes like “malted battery acid.”
I do like the smell though, which smells like a cordial I had as kid in New Zealand called witches’ brew (any kiwis remember it?).
Overall, I give it a 5 Good Thing It’s Limited Editions out of 10.
So, Pepsi Green … wins! (if you can call being less gross winning…)
No wai! We’re gonna be on the radio!
Dear Perth Readers,
Apparently some folks over at ABC Perth like our blog (and I’m a bit of a fan of the ABC myself. Go public broadcasting!)! So, they’ve invited me to be a guest their afternoon show to talk about some super serious important business: tuna cupcakes and other weird and crazy food. So tune in to 720AM around 2:40 this afternoon.
Extra bonus, it’s a call in show (this should be fun!)
Love,
Kate
Why I love Austin, Reason #1
BREAKFAST TACOS
Eggs, potatos and chorizo from Taco Shack
Cheap Eats: 25% off at New Outback Jacks in Northbridge
Some of you may remember my battle with the 1 kilo of steak plus 1 kilo of wedges at Outback Jacks (if you eat it all, you get it for half price plus a free tshirt). Well, if you live in Perth, now you too can try their insane challenge on the cheap - even if if you fail, which you will - at their new restaurant in Northbridge, thanks to this nice ghetto email coupon that they sent me for 25% off the final bill, plus a free Corona for the challenger (like that will really help…). Of course, if the challenge doesn’t tickle your fancy, you can get anything else off their menu for 25% off too. It’s good until March 31, and I figure you can just print out as many as you want until then and go get fat on steak for the next two weeks. Good times.
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25% Discount Off total bill when this cut-out is presented. Please inform waitperson when ordering that you will be using this promotion when paying.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Offer is valid when details are completed on this coupon.
Name:_____________________________________________________________________
Address:___________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________Postal Code:_______________
Tel/Mobile:_________________________________________________________________
Email:_____________________________________________________________________
Thanks for Supporting Outback Jacks Northbridge.
Offer expiring 31st March 2009. This promotion cannot be used with other specials or promotions. Only meals will be discounted, alcoholic beverages are still at standard prices.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Extreme Food Dating: Lava Stonegrill
A mere few blocks away from my old home in Mount Lawley there exists a restaurant where they bring you a stack of raw meat and a rock that was supposedly thrown out of an erupting volcano. This rock is heated to an insane temperature - hot enough to make your face sweat the entire meal - and delivered to you at your fancy white linen covered table so that you might cook your food upon it. Reservations are a must.
I had been curious about this place - the Lava Stonegrill - for a while. But it wasn’t quite quirky enough for Extreme Food Dating. It just sounded like a variation on Korean BBQ. Then, a friend of mine took some girl from the internet on a date there and liked it (and the date worked out well…). He reported back that they had along with the beef and chicken stacks of raw meat, they also had a game platter, featuring crocodile fillet, venison steak (although, I feel I must tell you that they promised me “venison” on the menu), wild boar and kangaroo steak, all served with a bush tomato chutney. Sold!
For extra bonus fun points (but not intentionally), the date was scheduled to occur during a brief period when I was on a some rather innocuous medication that, despite its supposed innocuous nature, had the side effect of messing with my head (if you have ever tried old school anti-malarials, it was something like that, but more of the daytime weirdness and less of the sleeping weirdness).
So, the date started out well (at least it seemed so to my foggy brain). We arrived at the grill - it was packed and swanky and somehow fully stocked with hot gay waiters. Despite their hotness, these waiters kinda sucked at waiting in a timely fashion.
I mean really, how long does it take to prepare food that I cook myself?
This is something I’ve noticed that is annoyingly common with Perth cafes and restaurants. Even with no one else in the cafe, it often takes them a good 5 minutes to take the cookie out of a jar, put it in a bag and charge me for it. One time I waited 15 min just to get a pre-made sandwich warmed up.
As advertised, the plate of uncooked meat and a sizzling lava rock came with the tomato chutney, and some other delicious yet unidentified dip type thing. The waiter hurriedly told me what each piece of meat was, and then scurried away, and I immediately forgot what everything was, except for the one that looked like chicken (the rest were all red meat) - that one was crocodile. When I finally hailed the water down again to ask which meat was what, he claimed they had been reorganized and couldn’t tell me. So, my dear readers, I cannot give you much of a review of each meat, other than the crocodile tasted like chicken. Surprise.
This was $34. I had to order the steamed vegetables on the side - another $7.90. Some readers might remember the kilo of steak and kilo of chips I had at Outback Jack’s, all of which were a mere $36.
When I was done the cooking, I wanted the hot rock to go away because they made me feel like I was going through menopause. I’m not sure if this was from my crazy drugs or the heat of the sizzling plate before me. But either way, you can imagine its not so pleasant to have a sizzling hot rock cooking your face while you’re trying to enjoy your dinner.
All and all, overpriced and underserved. Also, more craziness next time please.
First Weird Drinks video review: Ginseng D!
David C. Fono reviews the somewhat scary Ginseng D mystery drink.
Update: Smart Energy Blood Orange & Chilli not recalled
I was kinda excited when someone named Amelia reported in the comments that a Coles employee told her that the Smart Energy Blood Orange & Chilli had been recalled. This was all I needed to prove that those skinny little cans were filled with chilli flavoured danger and insanity. So, I emailed Spring Valley to ask what was up, and after about a week they replied:
Dear Ms Raynes-Goldie
Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding our Spring Valley
Blood Orange and Chilli Smart Energy Drink.Please rest assured that we have no concerns with this product. It is
supplied to smaller retailers only such as Petrol stations and Convenience
stores.Once again thank you for taking the time to contact us and we trust this
has been of assistance to you.Kind regards
CADBURY SCHWEPPES PTY LTD
I was kinda relieved since I accidently bought a can the other day, thinking it was the Blueberry flavour. And not being one to waste food, I drank it with some spicy pizza, whilst fearing for my life. Now I’m glad it was safe, but, it still tasted mega-ick.
WTF? Tuna Cupcakes?
When we founded this site, a big part of the naming process was finding things we liked that would never, ever be eaten in combination. Or at least that we couldn’t picture eating together. Or at least that we couldn’t picture eating together except for on some kind of hilarity-inducing dare.
Sadly, if finding an impossible combination was our aim, we fail, fail, FAILED, because it turns out that tuna cupcakes are positively delicious. Hellebelle, a friend and occasional TunaCupcake.com commenter, pointed us to a recipe for tuna cupcakes within a few days. And then when I posted my comfort food dare, she brought it up again. So I went for it, guys. I totally went for it.
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