Monthly Archives: December 2015

Ho ho Ho Forking Christmas Food is out there

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What could be forking more merry than Red Velet Christmas tree cakes?

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Perhaps forking regular Christmas tree cakes?

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Run run as fast as you can to catch some Christmas Gingerbread Little Debbie’s

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I NEVER FORKING thought I’d see the day when I saw a forking thing like Christmas Dum-Dums.

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Some kind of forking weird Rudolf the red nose reindeer sucker.

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Oh my……

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Of course it isn’t forking Christmas  without forking Christmas Crunch!

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White Peppermint M&M’s

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Holiday Mint M&M’s

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Marshmallow Snowman’s don’t forking melt in Arizona.

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Forking Candy Cane Peeps

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That thing looks like a forking sponge in a forking box to me.

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This was on the shelf with the Christmas Candy. I think this is a forking leftover from Halloween. I would try one but didn’t feel like buying this forking bag.

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No Bake Jell-o and Yes Bake Duff’s Candy Cane Cake Mixes

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Ginger Family

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Gingerman that look like forking blobs

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Forking Reese’s fece’s Christmas Turds

Actual Turd

Actual Reese’s Turd

Ho ho ho Forking Christmas Food is out there!

 The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

 

Dining with Dogs at Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery Phoenix AZ Worth a Fork

"Where are we going to eat today?"

“Where are we going to eat today?”

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery is a small fast casual restaurant that specializes in the Vietnamese Sandwich called a Banh Mi. The sandwich is made on a Vietnamese Style Baguette that’s made with rice flour in addition to wheat flour. The sandwiches at BMBVE get topped with fresh sliced cucumber, fresh cilantro, pickled carrots, daikon radish, jalapeño, house made aioli and one of ten fillings to pick from. Most of the sandwiches look similar to the photo below. I’ve tried three of the ten Bahn Mi Sandwiches so far. The bread seems much lighter than a regular baguette with a different kind of crunch to the exterior and a soft center. All the sandwiches taste different and so far all that I tried were very tasty. They are the perfect blend of savory, sour/sweet and spicy. I also like that you can eat a big sandwich and it doesn’t leave you with a rock in your stomach like a regular hoagie or submarine sandwich.

Banh Mi Sandwich

Banh Mi Sandwich

This Vietnamese Restaurant does NOT offer Pho. This is a Pho-free Vietnamese Restaurant.

Other items they offer are….

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Lotus Root Salad

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Green Papaya Salad (more sweet than sour and accented with fresh mint)

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Egg Rolls served with lettuce fresh herbs and fish sauce so you can wrap them.

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Tasty plump Pot Stickers in chicken or pork

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Noodle salad bowls called bun. It’s almost like a pho salad.

This time I tried a rice plate with chicken. I note that this plate came with an egg roll that my husband swiped.

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This was really FORKING delicious! The dark meat boneless chicken was moist, juicy and developed with exotic flavors and brushed with more flavors. Even the salad was light and delicious.

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The dogs forking enjoyed some of the food too! This is dining on a budget. Prices run from $4.00 for a salad, most Banh Mi Sandwiches run 6-$7.00 and the rice plate is the most expensive item on the menu and runs $8.00 at the time of me writing this review. (I do note prices are subject to change)

Other items that they offer are specialty drinks such as Vietnamese Iced Coffee, Milk Tea and Smoothies.

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“Banh Mi Vietnamese Bistro is Worth a Fork!”

Your most likely not going to drive across town to dine here but if your in the neighborhood this place is suggested.

Your most likely not going to drive across town to dine here but if your in the neighborhood this place is suggested.

For more information on Banh Mi Vietnamese Bistro go to www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com

 The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

MORE-Does Fecal Material Matter 2-U in Your Food

 

Fecal Contamination

Fecal Contamination

Does Forking Fecal Material matter to you in your food?

I was deeply bothered about the recent Consumer Reports Story.

Actual from Consumer Reports

Actual from Consumer Reports

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In short they said that every sample of ground beef they tested contained some fecal matter.

Some of the ways fecal matter gets spread to the beef are……

At the Slaughter house from a number of ways

Removing the hides (cutting threw everything)

Breaking the gastrointestinal tract (splashing all over)

Simply from the tools not being cleaned after feces contact.

I don’t know if kosher beef was tasted. I know kosher beef is only the front quarter of the cow so chances of fecal material getting on that meat would be more difficult.

I was surprised to learn that Sardinian People enjoy cheese with maggot poop.

Casu Marzu Cheese

Casu Marzu Cheese

The cheese called case marzu is banned but is still made anyway. The cheese starts out as a pecorino that they leave out and cut the crust off attracting maggots to lay eggs. The eggs hatch and turn to larvae and then the larvae poop and that becomes the unique flavor of this cheese. It’s said that when you eat this cheese you have to chew and kill the maggots or they will chew threw your intestines. I read this from the Huffington Post.

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According to infowars.com if you eat fish from China it’s likely the fish were raised eating pig poop. Most of China’s poultry are raised eating pig poop too according to infowers.com.

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The FORKING SAD thing is……

The FDA rejected thousands of food shipments from Asia due to FECAL contamination and the FORKING kicker is that only 3% of the food gets inspected.

A study from the International Journal of Food Microbiology states that Fecal Contamination often happens at soda fountains.

I don’t even want to know how the fork that happens.

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The DailyTech.com posted that the Japanese are already experimenting with growing steak from FORKING POOP.

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What the fork would you have with that?????? A side of Pees?

Now that is FORKED up!

Now that is FORKED up!

Does fecal material matter to you in your food?

 The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

Malaysian Style Food Forking Hits Tempe AZ……sort of****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

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UPDATE*****NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS***** In local Food News there is a Forking Lot of Hype for the New Restaurant BP Street Cafe because they are possibly the only Malaysian Restaurant in the Metro Phoenix AZ Area.

Malaysian Food is different from other Asian Foods and some people describe it as food with influences of Chinese, Indian and Thai but unique and all it’s own. Also you won’t find pork here because Malaysians are mostly Muslim and pork is prohibited under Muslim teachings.

The BP Street Cafe is bright and airy with a modern decor decorated with Big Screen TVs on the walls that play videos of Malaysian Food. This is a family ran restaurant and everyone is friendly and ready to offer any information you might want to know about Malaysian Food.

We started sharing the Al Roti Canel appetizer.

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It’s described as an Indian Style Pancake with Chicken and Potato Spicy Curry.

I liked the flavor of the spicy coconut curry. To me the pancake seemed like greasy chewy puff pastry. I would have liked the pancake with less butter.

For my entree I tried the Ri Nasi Lemak. It was fried chicken with rice, hard boiled egg, peanuts, cucumber and spicy anchovy chili sauce called Papa Sauce. The white meat chicken seemed oil free and was tasty. It seemed mildly infused with flavors and the “Papa sauce helped to bring out more flavors. The rice was almost creamy in texture and was a blank canvas to the chicken. The plate was also garnished with peanuts, a slightly over cooked hard boiled egg and fresh slices of cucumber. Ri Nasi Lemak is the National Dish of Malaysia and is usually eaten for breakfast but can be served any time of day. BP Street Cafe’s version does differ slightly from the National Dish.

Ri Nasi Lemak

BP Street Cafe’s Ri Nasi Lemak

I have been told by people who are familiar with Malaysian Food that this is an inauthentic variation of this dish. However it must be said that it is almost impossible to get authentic style Malaysian Food in the United States. In Malaysia you would get served a piece of un-breaded fried chicken on bone that was marinated in galangal, turmeric, lemongrass and other seasonings. The coconut soaked rice should have been cooked in Pandan Leaf to infuse exotic flavor. An essential part of this dish would have been Ikan Bilis.

Iran Bilis

Iran Bilis

Iran Bilis are dried anchovies combined with peanuts and chili paste. Maybe the owners of the restaurant wanted to present a more Americanized approachable dish for a wider span of customer appreciation.

My husband had the Char Kway Teow. It’s a Malaysian Stir Fried Noodle Dish with Shrimp and egg. It was very hot spicy but tasted sort of like Chinese Fried Rice with Soy Sauce.

Pricing is very low. Our appetizer and two entrees with tax were under $19.00.

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For more information on BP Street Cafe in Tempe AZ visit www.BPStreetCafe.com

Not rated…….Nothing was terrible and the food really was OK but, I left slightly underwhelmed and didn’t feel I had a true taste of Malaysia.

BP Street Cafe serves the only Malaysian Style Food served anywhere in the metro Phoenix area so by default it’s the best Malaysian Food Around!

******UPDATE****NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS******

So it’s worth a try!

 The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Forking AWESOME Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple

Lemon Cucumber

Lemon Cucumber

The lemon cucumber is the best cucumber you ever tasted. It’s so sweet and crispy. This recipe will NOT forking work with any other cucumber.

I love the smell of lemon verbena

lemon verbena

lemon verbena

and I thought these special lemon cucumbers would make a delicious light refreshing salad paired with fresh squeezed lemon, lemon verbena and crisp sweet apple. The recipe is very simplistic. I want the ingredients to shine.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

7 lemon cucumbers (no need to peal but trim the flower ends) sliced in chip shapes

1 honey crisp apple – pealed, cored, sliced in chip shapes

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about three lemons)

8 lemon verbena leaves finely chopped

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

Place your cucumbers and apples in a large bowl. In a small pan slowly bring the rest of ingredients to a boil and let simmer around five minutes. Pour mixture over the cucumbers and apples and refrigerate over night.

Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple

Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple

This salad is delicious and so light. I think everyone would like it.

This is Forking Yummy and That's The Forking Truth

This is Forking Yummy and That’s The Forking Truth

The Lemon Cucumber is totally WORTH A FORK!

Lemon Cucumber

Lemon Cucumber

I see these little cucumbers at the Farmer’s Market and I’m glad I picked some up. These are the BEST FORKING cucumbers I ever tried. They are very sweet with a good cucumber taste and crisp like an apple. the skin is thin and edible. They happen to also be burp free and lack any bitter taste.

These are delicious.

Made Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple. Recipe to Follow.

Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple

Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple

The Lemon Cucumber is the BEST FORKING CUCUMBER I ever had in my life!

Worth a Fork! These are Forking Great!

Worth a Fork! These are Forking Great!

 The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

Red Chinese Noodle Beans are Worth a Fork!

Red Chinese Noodle Beans

Red Chinese Noodle Beans

I’ve never seen or heard of these type of beans before and purchased them at a farmer’s market recently. I washed them really well and trimmed off the ends and was a little forking afraid of the beans because they felt very tough and I didn’t think I’d be able to make them edible.

So I gently boiled them in vegetable broth until the beans were fork tender. (didn’t time it but it seemed like over five minutes. I drained the beans and noticed they lost most of the red color.  (Not sure but baking soda might have saved some of the color and might have tenderized the beans during the cooking process) Then I threw them back into the pot and hit them with a dap of butter tossed the beans around a little and added fresh ground sea salt and some fresh ground black pepper.

The beans had a very different taste than other green beans I’ve had before.

They were almost nutty and I liked the texture and taste of them.

I also think they’d pair really well with noodles.

After cooking Red Chinese Noodle Beans

After cooking Red Chinese Noodle Beans

Red Chinese Noodle Beans are Worth a Fork! Give them a try when you see them.

 The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Baking Soda has More Culinary Uses Than You Forking Know

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Baking soda has many culinary uses in the kitchen that you might not forking know about.

A small amount of baking soda is added to popsicles to prevent them from getting forking rock hard.

Home made yogurt taste less tangy with a little added baking soda.

Although baking soda tends to make canned tomatoes to taste flat sometimes baking soda is added to neutralize acid.

Some cooks add baking soda to boiled vegetables to keep their color….however the vegetables do tend to get soggy.

I haven’t tried it but I read in Cook’s Illustrated Magazine that baking soda is used to help caramelize meat.

I have tried the Cook’s magazine recipe that uses baking soda to make better tasting browned potatoes.

When boiling eggs a little baking soda added to the water helps to make the shells peal off easily.

To make the best creamiest hummus add baking soda to the boiling garbanzo beans.

Bring to slow boil cream and add some baking soda to make cream cheese.

Perhaps these are more Uses for Baking Soda than you Forking Knew About?

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

References

incredible egg.org

chowhound.com

Cook’s Illustrated Magazine

The Forking Truth is that Sometimes a Very Good Restaurant will SCREW UP

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The Forking Truth is that sometimes a Very Good Restaurant WILL SCREW UP. I was at this well known usually very good restaurant recently in Carefree Arizona. This is a restaurant that has a James Beard Nominated Chef/owner. I love nearly all the food I’ve tried at this Chef’s Restaurants. The food is always highest quality, mostly locally sourced, very creative and masterfully prepared. The food is always forking good and sometimes it’s so good it’s mind-blowing. I’ve been here several times before so I was looking forward to an amazing lunch. I have blogged about all the Chef’s other restaurants and was hoping for a new “Worth a Fork” story to tell. Sadly what happened to me here I wouldn’t want to happen to you so I don’t feel like writing a “Worth a Fork” story. Instead I have to just tell The Forking Truth about what happened kind of forking story.

We arrived and a server told us to pick any table we wanted so I picked a table facing the scenic mountains instead of the other direction with a table facing the parking lot. The server takes our beverage order and I soon receive an iced tea. I was looking forward to starting with a creative vegetable plate prepared with interesting ingredients I’d never think of paring together. Then a lunch plate of some sort and if I had room maybe dessert.

It wasn’t too busy yet in the restaurant and only a few tables were seated behind me.

Then the forking unthinkable happens.

Nobody forking comes back to wait on us……

We wait……

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We forking wait some more……

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We notice the three tables behind us were all waited on and those people are eating but we didn’t get any FORKING service.

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Why?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

What am I Forking Chopped Liver?

Forking Chopped Liver

Forking Chopped Liver

A forking Leper?

A Forking Leper

A Forking Leper

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Twenty five or more minutes go by so we decided to have lunch some forking place else.

Against my husband’s wishes I left $4.00 on the table. Not as a tip but I wanted to pay for the forking iced tea I hardly drank.

I wrote my story on one review site and the same day someone who identified themselves to me as the waitress from that restaurant contacted me to let me know that they apologized for bad service and wanted to buy me lunch. To me not getting waited on is the worst thing that can happen (besides forking food poisoning). It’s not like you got any food to rave or complain about. It’s like going to the amusement park and they won’t let you on any rides.

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I would have thought the owner would have apologized on this one because it’s a biggy…I think.

I was very unhappy about making the trip to this restaurant and not getting waited on. I traveled maybe 30-45 forking minutes to dine here. It’s not terribly far but it’s not in my forking back yard either.

I also feel really forking weird about the offer to come back because if I come back to take them up on the free lunch offer they might just artificially kiss up to me.

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I’m just very unhappy that this happened…….

I guess I should be happy that they want to fix this and I should take them up on their offer.

I do note that you will usually get service from this particular restaurant and the food is usually very good but, on my last visit THEY DID FORKING SCREW UP.

As a forking update…..Nothing has happened so far…………

The Forking Truth is that Sometimes A Very Good Restaurant WILL SCREW UP and if they are a very good restaurant they will try to fix it.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth