Text 35640, 103 rader
Skriven 2013-04-04 03:13:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: tastes 370
==================
More things found and tasted

Tastes from the house

Sun-Maid Mediterranean apricots, expiry 10/12/05 -
shriveled, black, and hard. I popped one into my mouth,
trying to ignore the resemblance to something one might
find on the forest floor. A musty taste, reminiscent of
the smell at a not-too-clean south Asian grocery, otherwise
pretty neutral. It took a bit of chewing to get any kind
of taste out of these, but once hydrated and mushed up,
the taste was not altogether bad, with some sweet tart
fruitiness, not specifically apricot though. I may use
these in cooking instead of throwing them out.

Harrington's pure Vermont maple syrup (grade A medium
amber), expiry 3/21/04 - a bit metallic, no surprise,
from the can, and gone a bit thin (I'll have to check
eventually to see if there are sugar crystals on the
bottom). Still decent maple flavor, though, and once
one habituates to the metal still pretty tasty. I may
use it in cooking instead of throwing it out.

Chiltepins - these were my fault - I bought them in
Texas in the late 1970s and left them here in Washington
to spice things up for when I cooked, which I did maybe
once every 3 or 4 years. They're still here, in the
same tightly sealed jar. They don't taste like much but
are still quite hot. I will definitely use these.

Tastes from Annie's house

Oscar Mayer beef bologna - not what I remember from
my childhood. Rubbery texture but with a peculiar almost
starchy aspect and discernible bone sand. Negligible
flavor, as of cheap hot dogs. Sort of what I have
encountered in off-brand bologna before and like what I
imagine Joe Arpaio might feed to the inmates at his jail.
Would have been disappointing if I had had any expectations.

Harrington's boneless spiral cut ham - we way overcooked
this thing. As a result, it acquired a dryish texture that
at least was very hamlike. Problem: the spiral was cut less
than 1" deep in the meat, so it was essentially useless. A
hypothesis that it was meant to allow the (rather scanty)
sugar glaze to penetrate the meat was nixed because it was
wholly ineffective at that. Decent flavor, not too salty,
pleasantly smoky. Not moreish the way a truly great ham is,
owing to its almost preternatural fatlessness, but okay.

Nathan's famous onion rings - Annie touted these as the
best thing since sliced bread. They're okay, if you like
puffy greasy onion rings, which I do, in moderation. She
made a huge amount of them (deep-fried from frozen), and
they don't reheat well, and I could eat only a few. Result:
much waste. A minor disappointment, but only because of
the high initial hopes.

Tito's Handmade vodka - hugely lauded in the press, I found
it harsh and below average. Expensive and disappointing.

Schweppes cream soda - two words: bubble gum. Three words:
Bazooka bubble gum. No vanilla flavor. Very disappointing.

Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot Noir 10 - kind of wimpy
and unconcentrated, unripe cherries, funny texture. I was
mildly disappointed, but for $8 or so a bottle, eh.

Castello di Verduno Barbaresco 06 - nose had raspberry vinegar
and some woody notes; a bit harsh on the palate. Way not ready
to drink, but my crystal ball says that it doesn't have enough
oomph to age more. So much for the wine that some king of Italy
liked so much that he bought the vineyard. For the rather hefty
price (around $30) I was seriously disappointed.

Silk Light chocolate soymilk - Annie had bought this, which
disappointed me in itself, as she should know by now I don't
like it - the chocolatiness is muted, the sweetness fake. I
did find a use for it - made almond float out of it, which
made it okay. But for drinking I picked up a half gallon of

Wegmans chocolate soymilk - better texture and flavor than
regular Silk and miles above the above. This one had sat around
a while at the store, though, so particles of cocoa had sunk to
the bottom and a beany taste had come forward, sort of like
that that Silk had had when first on the market.

Haagen Dazs vanilla milk chocolate almond bar - surprisingly
(I don't care for this brand) good though not exactly rich
vanilla ice cream covered in good though not exactly rich
chocolate coating; a nice balance of chopped roasted nuts.

Dole 0022Costa Rica bananas #4011 - that's what the sticker
said. Good thing, otherwise from the taste I might have thought
it was a potato. Lately I have occasionally been encountering
bananas of this quality, and I wonder what's up - they look
pretty normal.

On the other hand, Wegmans's pineapple chunks were superb, as
good as anything I've had outside south Asia.
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 Join Us: www.DocsPlace.org (1:123/140)