ATSUI!: Just Simply Good Stuff's Beyond The Border seasoning

Maybe not "atsui" yet, as I haven't tried this, but my sister was given a gift pack this year and it featured a number of sauces and seasonings. I had never heard of this brand so I wanted to try it out, which I will do very soon.

Just Simply Good Stuff! is a company based out of the small town of Sagle, Idaho, and the seasoning in question is called Beyond The Border. Is is Tex-Mex, Southwestern? I do not know. The website shows they have a number of other seasonings and a chili mix.

Once I commit myself to a taste test, I'll come back with a review.

ATSUI!: DaViola Spicy Ancho pepper

Atsui is the Japanese word for "hot". It is the word that I will use to signify something that will be hot and spicy, from peppers to hot sauce. I have become a convert of hot food in recent years, always enjoying that bit of Tabasco my mom would put on her chicken or tonkatsu, but eventually feeling a need to want more heat. I enjoy to explore, and test my own limits.

I read a review in Fiery Foods & BBQ magazineabout a new brand of pepper from a company based here in the Pacific Northwest called DaViola. These peppers were created by someone who made the peppers to make frozen pizza taste better. I thought it was interesting, and while I'm not a big fan of frozen pizza, I wondered how it would taste on quality take-out pizza. I went to Albertson's on an unrelated visit when I saw the three varieties of DaViola: Hot Habanero, Smoky Chipotle, and Spicy Ancho. I decided to try Spicy Ancho.

It would be a few days before I would be able to taste it, but I ordered some pizza from Nick-N-Willy's and went for the taste test.

What I tasted first from putting a few dashes of Spicy Ancho on the pizza was the flavor of the peppers, which were roasted. It is salty, but not too much, and it blended well with the pizza, but not to where it completely takes over the pizza. Upon a second bite, it was then that I felt the heat. It's a nice heat, it doesn't burn but you can feel it. This would be considered mild, but I didn't want a bum rush of heat to hit me, and it made me want to have another slice to try it again.

The only ingredient listed is the chile pepper, with the legend All natural. No added salt. Everything that comes from this pepper blend comes from the pepper itself. I think this would taste good in soup, chowder, or on fish and chicken (it would make for a wicked jerk chicken-type dish), or even in ketchup to give it a little kick for dipping.

Lunch @ Arby's: A Very Bad Idea

(PREFACE: I'm probably setting a bad example by doing a blog where I'm supposed to find good places to eat, and I end up at a place like Arby's. At least I'm honest. Now, we begin.)

I know already, why pick Arby's to eat lunch when I can pick a wide range (I was going to say "myriad" but who am I kidding?) of places, but I had wanted to try their new Chicken Parmesan sandwich. Of course I get there, and I see a Bacon Beef & Cheddar and opted for that instead, in combo form. They ask me if I wanted a large, I say no. The guy then tells me the price, $7.something or other. When did Arby's combos get to 7+ dollars? I don't eat there often, but c'mon.

I eat the sandwich, and it's lousy, and of course it reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons where one of the twin sisters says "I'm so hungry, I could eat at Arby's". But this is no excuse. If I'm going to pay for $7 on anything, I'll get a large Bruchi's Philly cheesesteak sandwich. But this was a lousy roast beef sandwich with liquid cheese, a small, barely-any-flavor piece of bacon, and a cup of soda with way too much ice and barely any carbonation. I was in shock and I wanted to look at the receipt. Of course, there was no receipt in the bag.

I know I should be eating better, but I made a foolish impulse choice and it was crap. The curly fries were crap. All of it was crap. I could have just had bacon, beef and cheddar flavored dryer sheets and I would not have known.

Yes, I did read Fast Food Nation and I did go there for a specific reason (i.e. it was convenient) but it was worth $2, if that.

Fried Slice?

I'm watching the bonus section of a DVD starring British adult video star Roxy Jezel (i.e it wasn't a Dragon Tales DVD), and as they're applying make-up on her, the guy behind the camera asks her what she likes for breakfast. I have never been to England nor have eaten a British breakfast, but it is slightly different from what Americans eat, or at least there are some interesting variations. One of the things she said was "fried slice" and another lady in the room is puzzled: "fried slice?" Jezel doesn't explain herself, but the guy behind the camera is more puzzled when she says she also likes beans. To me, it's not a big deal to eat beans for breakfast, but I wonder if it has any effect on some of her more risque scenes.

Anyway, I found something called The Idiotica guide to fried-up English Breakfasts, and it does feature an entry for fried slice. Sounds interesting.

Blogging Around: 5 LB Burger with 54 Toppings

What happens when you wake up in the morning and say "I'm hungry. How about... a 5 pound burger with everything on it?" I found this at imeem.com while on a music related search for a forthcoming podcast, and thought that I needed to share this with people.

A man attempts to eat a 5 pound burger with 54 toppings... in under 30 minutes.

De Waflebakkers All Natural Flaxseed Apple Cinnamon Waffles

For my first review, I take a look at breakfast in a box. Yes, it's better to make breakfast from scratch, especially if you go to mom's house. Breakfast is an essential part of my day, or at least the weekends when I stay away from the whey protein drinks and eat something hearty.

I went shopping at Wal-Mart and... yes, I know Wal-Mart is the satan of department stores, but sometimes convenience is there and you take it. I did this time and I wanted to get some frozen waffles. Here was a brand I had never seen before, De Wafelbakkers, who promote themselves as being all natural, and offering something healhier than a regular box of Eggo's. There were a number of options but since I like apple cinnamon waffles, I chose to buy it. A box of waffles has 8 waffles, and at a dollar more than a box of 10 Eggo waffles, I had hoped that it would be good for the value. Upon opening them, I immediately noticed the size of the waffles. Eggo waffles are small to begin with, but these were smaller than my palm. I had the option of warming them up with an oven or toaster, and I went for the toaster. I like my waffles with butter and syrup, so I put a bit of each on and... the flavor from these waffles are great. Eggo's apple and cinnamon variety barely has a hint of anything compared to DeWafelbakkers, and even after being frozen, it had the same texture of a Belgian waffle. Well, a lo-fi Belgian waffle, but still. I would have ripped open another bag (each box contains four bags of 2 waffles)) but I figured it would be best to wait for another time.

Upon looking at the box, I noticed the company was based in Arkansas, so perhaps Wal-Mart is trying to help out a company in their home state.

I would definitely buy these waffles again, and while I would prefer to buy them outside of Wal-Mart, it might be worth going into every once in awhile for these.

Website: De Wafelbakkers

Aloha! (First post)

I finally went ahead and did it. Everyone and their mom has a food blog. I love food, I eat it, and I dabble in cooking, so why not talk about it, right? Not sure how far this will go, but I always say that with each project so it's best to begin somewhere. I begin here.

A few of you may know me from my work as a music journalist, as I am a contributor to Okayplayer and Music For America. I've been a journalist for 22 years, and have had much more success on the internet compared to writing for countless fanzines and magazines. If you know me as a writer, welcome.

Some may know me from my work as an artist/producer. I create music under the name Crut, which I have done since 1992. We music people love the battle between "possible success" and "bordering on homelessness", and of course that goes into the music. My style of music is electronic, although I may go down an experimental route at any given time. Or I may play congas and do a percussion album. If you are familiar with my music and wanted to read about my journey into foodie-dom, welcome.

Maybe some of you may actually know me, either personally or in a blog somewhere in the distance. I sometimes bring up food-related topics, so if you know me in that sense, welcome.

So, another food blog. Is it needed? Well, it's like a non-sports person asking if there really needs to be another football analysis show, or another baseball team. Maybe not needed, but the more variety, the better.

I'm originally from Hawai'i, so I was surrounded by a wide range of foods. During any given weekend, my household may have served up some meat loaf, Hawaiian-style curry, Spam chop suey, chicken katsu, ox tail, or we went out to eat saimin, gau gee min, or find a box of manapua, or round up some huli-huli chicken. If there was a luau or party somewhere, there would be poi, kalua pig (pork), lau lau, lomi salmon, shoyu and/or teriyaki chicken. Plus, we had Spam recipes down pat, along with canned Vienna sausage, corned beef, and corned beef hash. Some of these foods are terribly unhealthy, but everyone loves comfort food, and a few of these dishes have become staples of modern-day Hawai'i. I would learn years later that that love of canned foods (especially the salty ones) came from having to stock up during World War II. What became a necessity became the food of the common folk, and while times have changed, people still love those dishes we grew up with.

Even with all of that, I was picky. If I liked something, I'd want more. If I didn't like it, I'd avoid it, would never touch it again. It was possible to try out foods of various cultures, everyone was willing to share, everyone was willing to try and sample. To step out of ones comfort zone in order to try something new, it was a mix of fear and a mean adrenalin rush. But again, I was picky.

My family moved to the mainland, and all of us held to our traditions. I wanted to try new things, listen to new music, meet new friends, and perhaps find a few cool places to eat. That would all happen, some more than others.

When I turned 30 in 2000, I started to think about what I had done throughout my 20's, which lead to "what did I not do in my 20's, and why didn't I do them?" In my 30th year, I became more aware of a few things in life, my actions and reactions and felt that I needed to make some changes. I also had a lot of personal troubles and struggles, which lead to a lot of thoughts about what to do next. Two years ago, I was on my way home in my car when as I was crossing an intersection on a green light, someone decides to go through a red light, thus hitting me on the driver's side. I remember the moment all too vividly, but afterwards I compared the impact to being hit by two Samoans. *POOM*, how you like me now, pruddah? When I got home, I knew I had to make some serious changes in my life, everything from pushing myself to lose weight (I've been walking almost every day for over two years) to doing things in life that I hesitated to do for no good reason than to stay behind a wall and not do anything.

One of those things included a need to try out foods that I had never tried before. To be honest, I had been doing this for awhile, but I would make it something I felt I had to do. Yeah, that sounds silly too but I figured did I really have a good reason for not wanting to try out certain foods? No.

On top of that, I wanted to go out of my way to find variations of some of the things I do enjoy, such as BBQ and hot sauce. Plus, one can live in an area and literally survive (or kill yourself, depending on perspective) on nothing but junk and fast food. I wanted to change that.

If there has to be a real good reason for starting this, it has to do with me enjoying food, wanting to find new places to eat, and to be able to document it so people can try them out and perhaps find something to enjoy and experience as I did. I hope you'll come along for the ride. Maybe Celebrity Chef's are silly, but many of them have pushed people to break out of their comfort zones and to try out something new. I hope to be able to do that with this blog.

In closing, why Book's Foodie? Well, that's what they had left. Not original, but I think it will catch on.

Welcome.