Text 11436, 103 rader
Skriven 2008-07-31 16:34:00 av Michael Loo
Ärende: trip to Dave's 2: 694
=============================
A. Dong Market

One of the great things about Asian markets is that you can get
lost for an arbitrary amount of time in a good one. We took our
sweet time, poking our way up and down every aisle that looked
vaguely interesting and purchasing various oddities, mostly sweets.

I got a big bag of lychees, only to discover that the Sacerdotes
don't eat them (I entreat them, as I left a dozen or so behind,
to obey the Aunt Ah doctrine and give them a second to ninth chance).

Then to Whole Foods, which supposedly sells Vosges chocolates so
I could replenish my supply for the Echo Picnic. They have quit
selling them, as the price is too high even for Whole Foods ($8 for
a 3-oz bar here; $7 other places); there were a few white chocolate
with tropical fruit bars left on sort of remainder (no price break,
though) that Ruth found, but I was not about to pay full price for
white chocolate when I was looking for bacon chocolate.

We dropped Ruth off home, as she was looking a little tired, and
went back to Enfield. As soon as we had any capability of eating
again, Dave did the grill thing and made sirloin tip steak and
eggplant from the garden, both simply seasoned, both excellent.

==

Morning brought the lovely scent of home-cured bacon: I took a
nibble; thought it was Canadian whisky flavored, but it turned
out to be Southern Comfort cured (tasting a somewhat rare piece
confirmed this in spades).

Peaches, bought in an effort to prove to me that decent ones
could be had in New England, made a fun juxtaposition: these were
juicy and tender with good aroma though not particularly sweet.

Taste from Lynnie: raspberry iced tea mints - spookily tealike,
with the right tannic pucker on the tongue; a bit of berry
Jell-O-like-ness. Sort of cool. And cooling, as sorbitol is the
main ingredient.

We went off shopping to Costco, where Lynn was all excited to
find Chicken Bakes in the frozen section. So we picked up a pack.
At the food booth at the entrance, individual Chicken Bakes were
on sale for $3; she prevailed on me to try one. They are these
big phallic things of tender brioche-like substance filled with
this unholy mixture of brined roast chicken breast and creamy
cheese sauce, topped with Parmesan-like substance. I traded half
of this phenomenon for a few lactase pills; a trade that was
satisfying to both parties. Turns out, the chicken is tender,
the sauce assertively but not poisonously cheesy, and the whole
nicer than your average chicken pot pie, especially if you love
dairy products.

=

Chocolate tasting

Santander (Colombia)

53%
pleasantly creamy, nice melt, quite sweet; sugar cane and dried
fruit aroma, brown sugary

65
a little too sweet, vanilla cake, a little mustiness, a touch of
spiciness, raisiny

70
malty-cereally aspect, rich chocolate, hard melt; I didn't like
this as well as the extra-bittersweets of the big European
companies

70 with espresso
subtle but distinct coffee flavor, very pleasant, quite bitter;
I preferred this to all of the above.

Noi Sirius (Iceland) 56 - coconut nose, very sweet, smooth melt;
flavors of coconuts, cashews, raisins (Dave got peanuts); a bargain
at $4 for 6+ oz (part of the savings no doubt from the spartan
labeling and packaging, which it is claimed has remained essentially
unchanged since 1935).

Ithaca Fine Chocolates Art Bar (Ithaca NY from Switzerland)

58
slight graininess, quite sweet, lemon drops and molasses,
cardboard + brown sugar finish; Dave got a bit of a rotten taste
as of Hershey milk chocolate

70
nondescript, a bit cardboardy, good cocoa, as nice as the Santander
but not as nice as major label 70s.

Vosges
Mo's bacon bar (deep milk) - appetizing aroma, sweet and salty,
bits of smoked salt and bacon (tough and not fatty enough but of
good almost Chinese ham intensity); ashtray finish sort of spoiled
it for me. The combination is, as Lynn said, surprisingly good.

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