Text 26119, 87 rader
Skriven 2015-04-18 23:21:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: mighty = fallen 532
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Silk chocolate soymilk - my attitude towards this stuff has
changed in various directions over the years, and I don't
think that's based on nothing. Rather, I figure the recipe
keeps getting tweaked, and I'm one of the few who notice.
Decades ago, Silk was this weak chalky substance, and I shied
away from it, but I gave it another chance after a few years
and decided that it had improved; gradually I came to realize
that I preferred some of the store brands, but in recent days
it seems that the store brands have become scarce, so back to
Silk it is. What a disappointment - it seems to have returned
to the weak chalky condition of yesteryear; I took an extra
squint at the label to make sure we hadn't picked up the Light
version by mistake.

Emilio Lustau Deluxe Cream Capataz Andres - at one time this
house was the source of the greatest sherries at the best
prices. It was discovered a while back and now offers decent
products for decent prices. I got this for a party at a somewhat
inflated price, which I paid because I knew it was going to be
good, and I wanted something to show off my good taste [g] ...
well, I got a shock, as this was certainly a poor relation of
what the stuff used to be. It's a monochromatic fig-raisin bomb
with maybe a touch of fresh acidity at the end to liven things
up. It's a sad day when I'm sipping a glass of Lustau and
wishing it were Bristol Cream.

Nabisco Chips Ahoy! - these were never any good, but now, it
seems to me, the chocolate is worse and the texture is tougher.
I used to detect a mild but pleasant palm-oil aroma which is
now gone. There's no redeeming value any more. Avoid.

And now for the gooder news.

J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 - not a great wine
by any means, but better than it has to be for the price. Sage
and mint with a bit of fruit, not sweet like so many in its
price range, in fact a bit acidy; went well with roast lamb.

Colby Red (California) nv - the main selling point is that
part of the proceeds are pledged to fight birth defects via
the American Heart Association. Colby is apparently the son
of the winemaker, and he had a hole in his heart that was
repaired using the latest medical technology, and in gratitude,
this brand was born. I thought, okay, they take whatever barrel
ends they can throw together and sell it to bleeding-heart
liberals like the woman who gave this to us. So I took a taste,
and next thing I knew half the bottle was down my gullet. It's
a surprisingly nice wine, with a distinctly Cabernet backbone
and maybe some Shiraz and Merlot; pleasantly dry, understated
curranty fruit, lots of spice and a little minty-wintergreeny
kick. Medium pucker. Longish finish in which the oak came out.
Better than the J. Lohr at approximately the same price.

Alden's organic vanilla bean ice cream is a pretty standard
product but claims organicity, which I suppose is a plus
assuming you don't have to pay scads extra for the attribute.
Most of the entries in the ingredients list have "organic"
in front of them, except for the gums. I wonder why they didn't
bother to use certified xanthan and guar and locust bean gum -
maybe there's no authority that bothers with these? Anyhow, the
ice cream is decent, pluses being a nice creamy smoothness, the
major minus being a rather fugitive vanilla flavor, as if they
were deliberately reinforcing the "plain vanilla" stereotype.
Why have the little companies fallen in lockstep behind the
conglomerates and shrunk their containers? They used to be a
half gallon.

Mint Oreos - Rosemary likes these a lot and took them to an
after-concert party along with the aforementioned Chips Ahoy!
and a thing of ginger snaps, about which little need be said.
They have an abundance (almost as if they were double-stuf
without that being advertised) of lurid green filling, so
relatively few of these got eaten.

Readi-Cat 2 creamy vanilla smoothie - aroma of chalk and
artificial vanilla. Sweetish, good facsimile vanilla taste
with a quite spicy attack and a medicinal-plasticky finish.
Many warring strange tastes. Not very good as a beverage,
but relatively ununpalatable as a contrast medium - the
last one I had was wintergreen-flavored and utterly nasty;
further I had wintergreen burps and farts for a couple days
afterward. This time, just a bit of watery netherlandish
discharge and plenty of vanilla-scented gas (more than you
wanted to know, but, hey, I've always had boundary issues).
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