Tirade about restaurants

Last week my husband and I had a very disappointing food week. First of all, I've stopped baking (at least during the week) in an attempt to lose weight, have been living off whatever is in the freezer, and had a horrible restaurant week.

When my mother-in-law was in town we decided to take her to Balboa Park on the free museum day (Tuesday). Whenever we visit that area of San Diego we like to hit up either the Garden Grill or Extraordinary Desserts. Since we're on a tight budget we thought the Garden Grill would be ideal. When we pulled up our favorite meditteranean place was replaced by a NY Giant Pizza place (that looked like a chain) that was under construction. The husband and I were truly heartbroken. There aren't any reliable and super affordable Lebanese-type restaurants up in our neck of the woods (or beach?).

So we hung our heads low and retreated home for whatever I could scrounge up. Then this past Saturday we were tired after running errands all day and decided to go to Big Jim's Barbeque. I never posted about my first trip there but I loved their sides, sweet tea, and spicy shrimp. I could take or leave the barbeque but the sides were true quality comfort food for Southerners. Even though the atmosphere was like eating on picnic tables in a run-down building, I didn't mind. My husband was thrilled to finally find some good sweet tea. We were excited to see if our first impression would hold true for the second visit.

Since we were craving some down-home food at a great price, we drove down the PCH towards Big Jim's. When we got to Encinitas we looked at each other and wondered how we missed the restaurant. On the drive back we realized that Big Jim's has been replaced with another restaurant.

We ended up going to Leucadia Pizza since we were starved but it wasn't very good that night (a lot of restaurants have an off night every now and then). Actually, it was pretty bad. So we're truly considering staying in for a long time just in case we're cursed.

Does anyone know of any good and authentic Lebanese/Meditteranean restaurants in San Diego?

We're actually looking into moving to Silicon Valley/the bay area this fall and I'm starting to get excited because we've just had a hard time finding restaurants here (with the exception of our favorite..Ba Ren) that taste great and are priced well. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are lots of great restaurants in San Deigo but up in Oceanside there aren't as many options as I would like. We mostly choose between pizza, Thai, pizza, sushi, pizza.

If anyone's reading this from North County (or should I say North Northwest County) and has some good restaurant options, please let me know.

Kuat

In the fall of 2002 my boyfriend (now husband) and I stopped by a 7-11 outside of Richmond, VA to pick up a cold soda. I'm always on the look out for new and unusual drinks or food products and was immediately drawn to the green soda bottle on the top shelf labeled Kuat. You might be thinking "Kuat? That doesn't sound appetizing!" I can see how you would think that given the name but I had to try it for myself.

The bottle said it was a product of Coca-Cola so we assumed it was brand-new to the market. The label also said that it contained guarana berries which contains guaranine, a substance that is identical to caffeine.

Guarana berries grow in South America and were named "secret eyes" after their appearance. Guarana is the pure seed of the Paullinia Cupana vine - a climbing shrub found in isolated areas of the Amazon rainforest (Guarana Co.).

After a few sips of the Guarana soda we were hooked. It is probably an acquired taste but it didn't take long before we liked it. If I remember correctly, Kuat tasted fruity and perhaps a little bitter.

Apparently Kuat is still being sold under different names in other countries like Brazil. What I don't understand is why Coca-Cola didn't market the soda and only tested it in random 7-11's for one to two months. We only saw it that one day and everytime we went back they didn't have Kuat.

So, if you work at Coca-Cola and have any say in the matter, please bring back Kuat! I think it would do really well with the right marketing campaign. As far as I remember it was refreshing, unique, and a good alternative to cola.

If anyone ever sees this soda being sold please let me know!

Thursday will be Cheese Sandwich Day

I know, I know. This is old news by now. I have to give you my two cents on Pete Wells' article in the March issue of Food and Wine. First of all, I love this magazine. I'm pissed that a writer in this magazine would act like a "know-it-all." I understand that he is trying to say that there are some really good food blogs out there but the way he said that was insulting to many good food blogs out there.

The whole point of blogging is to bring people together who share similar interests. It's a great place to express yourself freely (whether you have 2 readers or 200) and learn from others. To judge bloggers by calling them "boring" is beyond me. How could someone be so insulting by taking quotes out of context from blogs and bad mouth them? One example is a quote about a woman's pumpkin cookies being cakey and that she didn't realize that they are supposed to be cakey. What's wrong with her saying that? She's mearly letting everyone know what she learned that day. I do that all the time and I'm not ashamed. I like to talk through my mistakes or misunderstandings.

Afterall, blogs are basically online diaries. Most people are not professionals and are just learning as they go. Myself included. It's been a few years since I was in college and my writing skills have gone to crap. Starting a blog was my way of keep my brain active and finding an outlet for my food/cooking passion. I was fortunate enough to meet others who share my passion.

Thursday is going to be Cheese Sandwich Day for food bloggers to show their disdain regarding Wells' asinine comments. It's silly but a cute way to say "we don't care what you say" and to stand up for those blogs that were unfairly mocked.

I thought Noodlepie's post today was interesting. He wrote about how the article was good because Pete Well's was saying that there are good blogs out there. He was sticking up for the article but 1.) he received a great review in the article and 2.) he's a journalist himself so he's essentially a professional writing a blog because he writes for a living. It's not really fair to compare professionals to amateurs. It's okay to say "these are exceptional blogs" but I think it's completely unfair to make fun of amateur blogs.

On the other hand, I do understand the idea of the "cheese sandwich blog." It isn't interesting to read what someone ate for lunch if it's something uninteresting and basic. However, a "cheese sandwich" is not neccessarily a good example since there are gourmet cheese sandwiches. In Los Angeles there are several popular restaurants that serve gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches.

I do wonder if my blog is considered a "cheese sandwich" blog. If Mr. Wells thinks my blog falls under that category I would be very annoyed. I just started this blog in December, I'm not a professional writer or chef, and I only know a little html. I'm hoping over the next year I can really make my site look professional and raise the stakes a bit in the level of difficulty and quality of the dishes I make. As far as restaurant reviews, those will still be few and far between while money is tight. When I do go to a place that's worth sharing I will still post about it. Knowing of delicious and affordable places to eat is priceless. I love reading about places to eat (especially affordable ones) from other blogs and really love the inspiration I get from bloggers' recipes.

Okay, that was more than two cents but I've said what I needed to say. One day I hope to be a good writer and chef and I have to start somewhere. Therefore, I will be making a cheese sandwich on Thursday and hope you will join me in making a statement about "cheese sandwich blogs."

Note: check out Kitchenmage's clever t-shirts for foodies and cheese sandwich lovers.

Pickles and Ice Cream

After years of driving my husband, friends, and family crazy with my food obsession I have finally found an outlet for my passion. Food blogging!

It will probably take a while before I figure out how to make my blog look as professional as I would like so please be patient. I'm definitely not technologically inclined. My laptop is mainly used for email, research, and finding recipes online.

Discovering food blogs may be the death of me. I could probably spend hours just reading about the farmgirl's biscotti or the food whore's cranky customers. Lately I've been checking out every food writing book I can find from one of Ruth Reichl's famous memoirs of food and her life to a book called A Meal Observed that appears to be entirely about this one meal in a fancy French restaurant. Now that's passion.

So where do I start? Maybe I should start by letting you know that I am a bit ADD and can jump about from one topic to another with very little warning. Please forgive me if I lose you along the way.

Gourmetish wasn't my first choice in blog names. The first title I thought of that represented me best was Pickles and Ice Cream. Gets your attention, doesn't it? The problem: it sounds like a pregnancy blog.

In reality I looooove pickles and ice cream. I am still the only person I've met who likes pickles and ice cream (fried pickles and ice cream is the best, you used to be able to get them in Richmond, VA at the Galaxy diner) for their pure delicious-ness and not for shock value. My husband is a bit concerned. What am I going to eat when I actually am pregnant?!

To make matters worse: I've found a new variation on pickles and ice cream.

I could say that it happened accidently, much like the onion ring, but I would be lying. A few weeks ago I discovered Breyer's lactose free vanilla ice cream. I'm a bit lactose intolerant and was thrilled to find that it tastes great. It's creamier and softer than regular vanilla ice cream and it doesn't make me [sick] (I'll spare you the details). I was in one of my pseudo-pregnancy moods and was craving the satisfaction of a pickles-and-ice cream flavor combo. On my way to the fridge I passed by a bag of Tim's Wasabi Potato Chips (crunchy, crispy, and oh so good).

Anyway, these chips are so addictive (I don't normally eat junk food) that I immediately started craving them. At first I ate just a spoonful of ice cream and a few chips but eventually realized that I might as well jump right in and put them in the same bowl. In a way it's like chips and dip. Only the dip is made of vanilla ice cream and the chips are anything but ordinary.

If you have pregnancy-like cravings as well (or hey, maybe if you are pregnant) I definitely recommend this combination. Your friends might think you're crazy but you'll get my gourmetish seal of approval. Afterall, you can't deny that it is gourmetish to eat wasabi potato chips and all-natural vanilla ice cream. It would be even more gourmetish if you were to make your own homemade ice cream. I don't recommend making your own wasabi potato chips because there is no way they would be as good as Tim's. (Thanks, Tim).

With that said (that being my riveting comment on wasabi chips and ice cream), I'm off to bed. I actually just got my wisdom teeth out on Friday and haven't been able to enjoy any crunchy goodness all weekend. Hopefully by Christmas my jaw will be ready for anything. My plan as of right now is to spend all week baking cookies so my mouth better get ready for all kinds of Christmas cookies.

You know what I just realized? There is a lot of pressure involved with writing a food blog. If I say I'm going to bake cookies all week--I better bake cookies, huh? You'll probably want proof too, won't you? Oh, you.

Well, goodnight. I'm off to sleep with visions of snickerdoodles dancing in my head.