Food, Food, and More Food Thread

kisarazu wrote:the packaging is also superb!!

Does it taste as good as the chocolate? :beaten:

bmwracer wrote:
Does it taste as good as the chocolate? :beaten:

even better :hehe:

I made some furikake party mix today. I would've posted a pic, but I forgot to take one. :sweat: I need to make 2 more things and then I'll finally be done with all this Christmas cooking. :victory:

From Yahoo! Food ( http://food.yahoo.com/blog/edlevineeats/11329/the-best-hot-chocolate-mixes/print ):

The Best Hot Chocolate Mixes
Wed, Dec 19, 2007, 11:10 am PST

The holiday season is hot chocolate season no matter where you live, so the Serious Eaters and I have endeavored to taste every hot cocoa and hot chocolate we could find at under 75‘ a serving.

How did we judge what we sampled? Hot cocoa is made with cocoa powder, a by-product of the chocolate-making process, which means that almost all hot cocoa/hot chocolate varieties we found in our price range contained no chocolate. Mixes not containing chocolate are not going to taste particularly chocolatey, so we couldn't use that criterion. So we asked ourselves how smooth and rich and tasty each hot cocoa/chocolate was. Some preparations called for water, others for milk. We followed the instructions on the package. Some instructions said you could use milk or water, and in those cases we did both.

Swiss Miss Rich Chocolate
This was the cheapest brand we tried. It had no discernible chocolate flavor, but everybody was satisfied with its sweet, smooth taste and rich texture. If it's hot cocoa on a budget you're after, Swiss Miss will do you up right. $2.59 for 10 servings

Lake Champlain Chocolates' All Natural Traditional Hot Chocolate
Despite being called hot chocolate, Lake Champlain's product contains no actual chocolate. Made with milk, it was surprisingly thin but pretty satisfying. We got the best results with Lake Champlain when we doubled the amount of powder the instructions called for. Doing that, the 16-ounce package, which supposedly makes 21 servings, only makes about ten. $8 for 21 servings

Dagoba Organic Hot Chocolate Authentic Hot Chocolate
Dagoba was the priciest brand we tried at 72‘ a serving, but it was far and away the richest, most chocolatey, most satisfying cup we found. It tasted very chocolatey, was plenty rich, and was just sweet enough. $8.80 for 12 servings

Stephen's Gourmet Hot Cocoa Belgian Dark Chocolate
It may call itself dark chocolate, but Stephen's contained no chocolate and therefore no discernible chocolate flavor. Stephen's tasted like a slightly better Swiss Miss, sort of like a Swiss Miss on steroids. $4.99 for 13 servings

Green & Black's Organic Hot Chocolate Drink
Although this contained dark chocolate, it was surprisingly watery. When we doubled the amount of powder called for in the instructions (which drove the per serving price over a dollar), the results were markedly improved. $4.99 for 8 servings

I skipped the Christmas Dinner last night and went to a new Japanese Restaurant instead with siblings and a cousin. It's called Toshi. Seriously. :hehe:

Site: http://www.toshi.ca/

It was really good and I was really impressed. I had Dynamite Sushi, Gyoza, and Ramen. All three were uber delicious.

We all had something different so it was fun trying out different things. The atmosphere was great and the waitresses spoke Japanese, so it was great trying to understand and reply. :victory:

Wynter wrote:I skipped the Christmas Dinner last night and went to a new Japanese Restaurant instead with siblings and a cousin. It's called Toshi. Seriously. :hehe:

Site: http://www.toshi.ca/

It was really good and I was really impressed. I had Dynamite Sushi, Gyoza, and Ramen. All three were uber delicious.

We all had something different so it was fun trying out different things. The atmosphere was great and the waitresses spoke Japanese, so it was great trying to understand and reply. :victory:

Sugoi... :thumbsup:

No shrimp heads, ne? :beaten:

bmwracer wrote:
Sugoi... :thumbsup:

No shrimp heads, ne? :beaten:

I steered clear, that's for sure. :P

My cousin ordered Unagi Don, which was very good. Sis ordered Oyako Don which was also very good. Prolly the best in terms of presentation. Bro ordered Salmon Teriyaki I believe.

When I go again, I think I might go with the katsu.

Gosh, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. :drooling:

Wynter wrote:I steered clear, that's for sure. :P

My cousin ordered Unagi Don, which was very good. Sis ordered Oyako Don which was also very good. Prolly the best in terms of presentation. Bro ordered Salmon Teriyaki I believe.

When I go again, I think I might go with the katsu.

Gosh, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. :drooling:

We'll have the shrimp heads if and when you swing out thisaways. :victory:

bmwracer wrote:
We'll have the shrimp heads if and when you swing out thisaways. :victory:

That's enough encouragement to stay away. :bleh:

Wynter wrote:That's enough encouragement to stay away. :bleh:

Once you get over the initial shock, you'll love 'em. :victory:

bmwracer wrote:
Once you get over the initial shock, you'll love 'em. :victory:

Uh huh.

I still haven't found a restaurant that serves Omurice tho. That's the one thing I'm DYING to try.

Wynter wrote:I still haven't found a restaurant that serves Omurice tho. That's the one thing I'm DYING to try.

That's sorta off the beaten path... You'll be hard pressed to find one, I'll bet.

i just made a giant pot of XO chili sauce/oil, you walk into my kitchen and you'll cry for sure.

that does count as food right? :sweat:

Wynter wrote:
I still haven't found a restaurant that serves Omurice tho. That's the one thing I'm DYING to try.

I've tried omurice before at a japanese restaurant that was owned by chinese people. i remember thinking "why is there so much ketchup in this dish?" i still want to try the real thing. does it really have ketchup in it? :confused:

krim wrote:i just made a giant pot of XO chili sauce/oil, you walk into my kitchen and you'll cry for sure.

that does count as food right? :sweat:

sure, if it's edible. though it might burn twice as bad leaving.

lilly_pad wrote:

I've tried omurice before at a japanese restaurant that was owned by chinese people. i remember thinking "why is there so much ketchup in this dish?" i still want to try the real thing. does it really have ketchup in it? :confused:

well the sauce in omurice is either ketchup or demiglace sauce which reminds me of the drama lunch queen. *i'm getting hungry by just thinking about it*

kisarazu wrote:

well the sauce in omurice is either ketchup or demiglace sauce which reminds me of the drama lunch queen. *i'm getting hungry by just thinking about it*

hmm. maybe i don't like omurice after all. still, i'm starting to salivate thinking about food. :drooling:

lilly_pad wrote:

hmm. maybe i don't like omurice after all. still, i'm starting to salivate thinking about food. :drooling:

have you tried omurice with the demiglass sauce?? sorry i made the wrong speling I think that's demiglass not demiglace :hehe:

kisarazu wrote:

have you tried omurice with the demiglass sauce?? sorry i made the wrong speling I think that's demiglass not demiglace :hehe:

nope, but i'm sure it tastes better. i just googled what a demi-glace sauce is (you spelled it right the first time ^_^) and it contains beef stock. i'm vegetarian, so i guess it wasn't meant to be. :sweat:

lilly_pad wrote:

nope, but i'm sure it tastes better. i just googled what a demi-glace sauce is (you spelled it right the first time ^_^) and it contains beef stock. i'm vegetarian, so i guess it wasn't meant to be. :sweat:

yes I think it does contain bits of beef.. o well that's too bad :sweat: anway to be sure you should try cheking out the recipe for omurice and the demiglace /demiglass sauce on the lunch queen thread in the japanese drama section.. thtl posted it there a few months ago :mrgreen: