Coconut

As you may have seen in one of my recent Tweets that I really like coconut. I thought it best to explain what I meant in that tweet.

You might know that I like experimenting with food. I've been known to create some very interesting "shakes" with some fairly random things thrown in there. Within the last week, I've added coconut as an additional topping to my toast. The first test was toast with peanut butter and (creamed) honey, sprinkled coconut on top. I really liked that, as it increased the delicious factor quite a bit. I ran out of creamed honey after trying this combination twice, so last night I tried it on my peanut butter and raspberry jam toast, it was also very very good.

Therefore, I can't think of anything that I've put coconut on where it hasn't been made better. I have tried it on/with things other than toast as well.

I've also found that coconut is quite the polarizing food. When you ask most people it will either be love or hate, very rarely somewhere in between.

Chipotle Mexican Grill

I have discovered over the last year or so that I have a new favorite (fast food) restaurant. Chipotle Mexican Grill is delicious and I find that I love it more and more every time I eat it. It makes it even sweeter that we have 2 Chipotles here in Fresno (area) now with the addition of the Sierra Vista Mall Chipotle in Clovis.

Here is my normal order, which of course I do not limit myself to, but enjoy this on a regular basis.

Chicken burrito with black beans, medium corn salsa, cheese, sour cream, lettuce.

The reason I get this normally is because I love it so much, not because I'm afraid to try other things or thing the other things won't be good, but because I'd be missing out on that.

As a note, Chipotle recently changed their logo/branding (Via Brand New)

Pepsi Natural

I twittered the other day that I was trying/drinking the new Pepsi Natural.

I wanted to give you a bit of a summary of my experience, in case you were thinking about or hoping to try this new product from Pepsi.



First off, I bought a 4-pack, like most things I buy, from Target. I paid $4.49 (plus deposit and tax, not including my discount).

My first impressions were positive. Glass bottle, fairly natural looking 4-pack carrier, and minimalist bottle design.

It does utilize the new logo I blogged about back in October, whether good or bad it is a personal choice.

The color of the soda itself is not as dark, which adds to the perception of natural. As you can see by the packaging, the Pepsi is made with sparkling water, sugar, and kola nut extract. It doesn't taste exactly like Pepsi, and I'm not sure I'm the best person to be talking about the taste of Cola's because I'm not sure I could even differentiate between Pepsi and Coke (just because I don't really care). It does seem to have a lighter taste and experience in your mouth. It doesn't have the same acidic taste I am used to when drinking cola. The carbonation is a lot lighter as well.

Overall I like it. I am not completely sure if the natural ingredients mean it is actually healthier but for the amount I actually drink soda if it was healthier I would probably drink this more often.

Check out these two articles on new Pepsi products using sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

UK Times Online
Chicago Tribune

I actually haven't been able to find a lot of information on this new Pepsi Natural.

Pizza and Wine

Really interesting blog post about pairing wine with pizza over at Dr. Vino. Apparently Italians don't drink wine with pizza.

It says that Pizza and Beer is a much more common and sacred pairing, which is understandable, but I don't necessarily understand the aversion to matching a good wine with pizza. A lot of popular Italian foods (and other foods from around the world) contain a mixture of three basic ingredients, pasta/bread, cheese/dairy, tomato. This also happens to be one of my justifications for eating my mac 'n cheese with ketchup. But if you look at everything from nachos with salsa to spaghetti with parmesan cheese they all contain these ingredients.

Therefore, if you drink wine with your favorite Italian pasta dish, it shouldn't be that far of a stretch to drink wine with a pizza.

Veni Vidi Vici in Fresno

I went out last night to Veni Vidi Vici here in Fresno in the Tower District. I had never been to Veni's before, and it turned out to be a pretty cool hang out place. When you first walk in through the 10-12 foot doors, you enter a small, dimly lit room with some tables and a bar. The walls are exposed red brick and the top of the bar is cement.

Walking to the back through a small hallway you emerge outside in a fairly large patio with tables and another bar at the far end. Right in the middle of the patio is a large tree. Lights are hung throughout the patio as well as overhead fans to keep the air circulating.

It's a very chill place, and it's great for people watching, especially because it is in the Tower District, and there are a lot of interesting people that hang out there.

The place seems to really start getting busy around 11pm to 11:30pm.

Dinner Last Night

Since getting my HD Television, I've really enjoyed watching PBS HD (especially since I don't have cable or satellite). One of the great things about PBS and especially PBS HD is that there are a number of good cooking shows, which have given me numerous ideas for meals. The other night I was watching a show on PBS HD called Lidia's Italy which is all about Italian food and how to cook it. I love Italian food, and watching this show inspires me to no end. On this episode was a dish called Neapolitan Macaroni & Cheese. It looked really good.

If you've watched PBS shows you'll know that they often link to the PBS.org website for more information on what they are discussing at the moment. Lidia's Italy links to their website for more info and recipes, I figured they would have the recipe available on the website. They did not. I searched the web and someone with a DVR figured out the recipe after multiple watchings of the episode. I used the recipe, and with the help of my roommates made the dish last night. It turned out quite well, and it is definitely a keeper.

I paired the dish with a Chardonnay from Sutter Home's Fre label. Fre is their alcohol removed wine. I wanted to try it and see how it compared to real wine. It was definitely more "juicy", fairly sweet, and very smooth. It worked fairly well with the dish.

Cigarettea

No, it's not a spelling mistake. This is a (probably fake) product that does something pretty mundane using a creative process. With my love for tea, I thought I would share this with you.

Cigarettea is tea that is in the shape of a cigarette. Basically all you do is throw the cigarettea into a cup of hot water, and your tea will steep like any normal tea bag.



Even if it is fake, I think it is an interesting idea. I like it when people look at everyday items or processes and try to modify it or make it better. It really uses a lot of one's creativity muscles.

One of the potentially great things about this product is that it would make carrying tea with you much easier (at least for a guy). Plus, if you can roll the box up into your white t-shirt sleeve, then you can look like a real hellion.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that as always loose leaf tea is the best option, much better than tea bags and the like. Plus, if you like really good quality tea you should visit CargoandJames.com to buy some of the best tea I've ever had. (Disclaimer: I did a marketing/management Internship for Cargo & James Tea in 2006, but their tea is really good.)

From idealist via Presurfer

Root Beer

In an attempt to make this trip back to Fresno relaxing and leisurely Andrew and I have stopped at A & W for some refreshing on tap root beer in a frosted mug.

Andrew and I are big fans of root beer and we both agree it is hard to beat one of these cold root beers in a frosted mug.

Jones Organics Green Tea

So I'm at Panera Bread with Andrew and I got a jones Organics Green tea mandarin flavor. It is pretty good, very light and refreshing. I hadn't seen these before and I thought I would try it because of my love for tea and all. There was also a peach flavor but I'm usually not a big fan of peach flavored drinks.

Rat Taco Update

We had another executive report to our store today, which as you guessed means we got rat tacos again! This time I got to to go and buy them for the Team.

First, they come from a store called la hacienda which has groceries and a western union as well as a meat shop and a taqueria. Second, rat tacos are actually called (at least at this place) tacos dorado.

It was a good experience because I haven't really been to too many stores that authentic. It was fun.

Rat Tacos

I experienced a first today.

Every Monday the executives of my store (of which I am one) have our weekly meeting. Often times we will order food, and on the rare occasion the store will pick up the tab. (our meetings will sometimes last up to 3 1/2 hours)

Today at our meeting, because it was the first day for one of our new executives at the store we ordered some food paid for by the store. The food we had ordered though was unlike anything I have had before. They are affectionately called rat tacos by my peers. Let me explain.

These are regular size tacos that you might find at taco bell, it contains only a couple tablespoons of filling, which is a mystery meat of some kind (actually beef). The taco was a half circle held together by toothpicks and then deepfried. It was pretty good, but very noticeably deepfried, and if you do eat one you shouldn't be very surprised if you get sick (or at least make sure you have a strong stomach).