Monthly Archives: January 2017

My review on White Cheesecake M&M’s – Worth a Fork!

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A new flavor of M&M’s is out there now at your local Walmart Store called White Cheesecake. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like them because when I opened the bag and took a sniff I got an aroma of sweet puppy feet. Yes, just like dog feet in frosting.

I took a look at the candies. I notice that the candies are irregular in shape and size. The colors are a pink similar to bubble gum, white and porcelain flesh like of a fancy doll.

I ate them one at a time normal. then I let one dissolve in my mouth, and then I ate three at a time normal so I got to taste them three different ways.

These White Cheesecake M&M’s are best one at a time dissolving them in your mouth and then you taste the flavors best. First the candy shell melts in your mouth and then you actually do taste cheesecake. For me the cheesecake flavor does fade fast and I am left with a vanilla custard ice cream taste that I do like because it taste like ice-cream…… But we aren’t finished yet……A fun graham cracker crust taste happens at the end.

The White Cheesecake M&M’s faired least well when I ate them three at a time. They seemed less layered in taste but it was the finish of graham cracker that didn’t taste as well with three candies in my mouth leaving a slightly bitter or chemical finish that I didn’t notice with one candy in my mouth.

Well any who…these White Cheesecake M&M’s seem to be Worth a Fork to Me!

Worth a Fork!

Your opinion may or may not differ…..

The Forking Truth

Green Chile Harissa Recipe

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Green Chile Harissa

I had a bunch of Green Chiles I thought I’d make them into Green Chile Harissa. You might want to try the Green Chile Harissa on Eggs, Tuna, brushed on grilled meats, grilled vegetables or as a Tasty Healthy Sandwich Spread. The Green Chile Harrisa is easy to prepare and quick once you got all your chile roasted, peeled, de-seeded and de-stemmed. I note that my recipe uses the least amount of oil possible so you might care to add some extra oil for your taste. This sauce will also thicken slightly after a day.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

3 cups roasted green chile peppers. (I used about 25 but mine were on the smaller side) -peeled, seeds and stems removed and rough chopped

1/2 cup scallions – sliced up thin

2 garlic cloves – smashed

1/2 cup parsley – chopped

1/2 cup cilantro – chopped

2 Tablespoons cumin seeds

2 Tablespoons corriander seeds

1/4 cup lemon juice – fresh squeezed

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

Combine cumin seeds and corriander seeds in a small microwaveable dish and microwave until fragrant. (about 30 seconds depending on dish and microwave) When the seeds cool down a little put them threw your spice grinder and then add to your blender. Add all the remaining ingredients to your blender and blend.

Something different and delicious that you can do with Green Chile Peppers.

Green Chile Harissa

The Forking Truth

There are Musical Comedy Cooking Shows Out there!

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Who knew that there are Musical Comedy Cooking Shows Out There?    I like comedies and I like cooking shows so i thought it would be fun to see Cooking with the Calamari Sister’s at the Herberger Theater. This show was unlike any show I’ve ever seen before. Delphine and Carmela are suppose to be sisters (played by men) that have a fictional public cooking show. They joke, sing and dance their way through light attempts of preparing food and are naughty with improvisational audience participation. Delphine plays herself as a nun-like church goer and shuns several audience members for not attending church enough though out the show. Delphine is not feminine and talks with the male voice he has.  Carmela plays herself as a tramp similar to the way cartoon Bugs Bunny does when he plays himself as a female. Carmela can pass as a female and does until he pops out a startling deep male voice once in a while. Then the illusion of female disappears and you remember he is a man.

They told stories a bit about Italian life with stereotypical Brooklyn Italian family members in the show. The sisters sing many Italian songs such as a racy version of Volare, Botcha Me, Mambo Italiano….and a “Cheesy” Pasta Tarantella Song that really was amazing. It was very fast paced and all rhymed naming maybe a hundred shapes of pasta while they were wildly dancing.

They didn’t actually cook. They prepared an Antipasto Salad with an audience member that they ridiculed. (but it was funny) The antipasto platter and a basket of rolls did get pasted around the audience.

Then they filled cannoli shells with another audience victim. The poor guy got to ware an apron that made him look naked.

They had a short quiz show on their show for three audience members.

Then the Pasta Song got belted out and it was great. I thought it was the highlight of the show. They then sung it again but even faster.

The actors-comedians- singers really were very talented. Hilarious fun and also kind of WEIRD.

For more information please visit www.CalamariSisters.com

Your Forking Opinion may or may not differ.

Sorry about the lack of pictures but photography was not permitted in the Theater.

The Forking Truth

 

My Trip to the New China Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ

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Ten years back it seemed there was a budget Asian Buffet on every corner. Today many of these places are a thing of the past. It’s very difficult to keep over a hundred items of food at the right temperature and stored correctly and often buffets suffer violations at health inspections. The New China Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ might be the cleanest buffet in all of Maricopa Country at this time. The New China Super Buffet over the past twelve months has earned a grade “A” health inspections. This is very unusual and very impressive for a restaurant that offers maybe over a hundred different pans of prepared foods so it seemed worthy of a try. The atmosphere is a little dated but seems clean. The dining room chairs are extra wide and are on wheels sort of like chairs from convalescent  homes.

This is an inexpensive and very large buffet. I came for dinner on the weekend and the price was about $12.00 for all one wants to eat including beverages.

We weren’t greeted or felt welcome by the people at the hostess desk but were seated quickly in the dining room.

I take a walk around the buffet and this is what I see.

They offer a variety of sushi. I tried a few pieces and it’s it’s good for buffet style sushi.

This salmon is typical example of buffet salmon. Albumin formation is going on here from over cooking. I will pass on the salmon.

From this row I take chicken on a stick. The chicken is fresh and juicy but is very sweet with slight Asian flavors. They have Mexican Hot Sauce on the table as a condiment. I use some on the chicken to cut the sweet and make it a little spicy.

I did try a taste of the macaroni and cheese…It was very unusual looking. The pasta was florescent orange in color and then topped with a cheese sauce. I never saw florescent colored pasta before. It was slightly better than it looked.

Most of the food I tried came from this row. I tried mushroom chicken, spicy chicken and vegetables. They all seemed fresh and were prepared nicely but they all….. even the vegetables tasted exactly like the chicken on a stick. All sweet with slight Asian seasoning. It seemed like they have one universal sauce for the Asian Inspired Dishes. You can eat like a warrior here if you are a fan of the sweet slightly Asian Taste.

A few pans like the salmon contained over cooked meats. My husband tried the pork dish and he told me that the pork was very dry and tasted exactly like all the chicken dishes.

We shared an egg tart. It was the one thing I tried that I thought was delicious. It had a nice thin perfect crust and the filling was rich and smooth. It tasted cheesy and slightly sweet.

The New China Super Buffet offers many desserts, cookies, macaroons, cream filled puffs, iced cakes, peanut clusters, and four kinds of ice cream.

Our server was efficient at serving beverages and clearing plates but also made us feel slightly unwelcome by rolling her eyes and laughing slightly when she served my husband a refill.

Besides dining in…..New China Super Buffet offers a menu of Take Out Chinese Food and Take Out Buffet Food.

1/2 a Fork….better than some of the other Budget Asian Buffets I’ve been too ……Nothing was too oily or too salty…………. grade “A” by Maricopa county for the past twelve months…..downside was that most of the Asian Inspired entrees tasted the same.

The Forking Truth is that everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

For more information on New China Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ you will have to visit them or give them a call at 602-424-1660

The Forking Truth

 

 

Baked Popper Style Risotto Balls Recipe

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Baked Popper Style Risotto Ball

If you make risotto then you know risotto doesn’t reheat so well and you might want to make some sort of risotto balls out of the leftover. I wanted to do something different so I thought of some sort of Italian inspired “Popper.” A “Popper” is usually a spicy pepper stuffed with cheese. I thought the perfect pepper to use would be those spicy and sweet cherry peppers. I added about a 1/2 slice of sharp provolone to each pepper, added an egg to my risotto and rolled them in seasoned whole wheat panko and they came out delicious! This one is a crowd pleaser I doubt you will have any leftovers after you make these. You can use this recipe with my Risotto with Black Truffle recipe (but you don’t need the truffles here) or another person’s recipe should work….but no guarantees.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

2 cups leftover risotto

1 XL egg

8 sweet/hot jared cherry peppers

4 slices sharp provolone cheese

1 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs – unseasoned

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon basil

non stick spray

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Mix a slightly beaten egg into your risotto and put to the side.

Shake the liquid off the cherry peppers and stuff them with provolone cheese.

In a small bowl combine the crumbs and seasoning and set to the side.

Take about a quarter cup of risotto and encase the stuffed cherry pepper. You roll it in your hands like you are making a meatball. The mixture will be soft.

Repeat till you are out of stuffed peppers and risotto. If you can get more out this …do so.

Now start rolling the balls in the crumbs. I found it easiest to keep lifting the ball and dropping it in and roll it at the same time.

Put the balls on the oil sprayed pan in the oven for 20 minutes or until they seem cooked.

Let the balls cool a few minutes and serve with tomato sauce.

Baked Popper Risotto Ball

Everyone will Forking Love them!

The Forking Truth

 

My Forking Thoughts on Reese’s Clusters

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I’m a BIG Fan of Reese’s Peanut-butter cups so when I saw this new to me variety of Reese’s I thought I’d give them a try because I haven’t met a Reese’s I didn’t like…….at the time. On the package the clusters are described as Creamy Peanut-butter, caramel, peanuts and pecans wrapped in milk chocolate. That sounds forking delicious doesn’t it and they come in a cute fun looking Holiday package.

I open up one of the individual wrapped candies and I notice that it is a very small size for a Reese. Actually it’s the perfect size. Not too little and just enough for a sweet. It smells good…sort of like an original Reese’s Cup. I decide to take my first bite.

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Ohhhh it’s sweeter than a Reese.

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It’s doesn’t have that signature Reese’s Peanut-butter taste at first bite. It’s more like the center of a candy bar filled with nougat and caramel mixed with a little lumpy Reese’s Filling. The chocolate almost taste slightly darker than the milk chocolate from a Reese’s cup……maybe because of the different flavors….?…..I was expecting a cluster of nuts since this candy is called Reese’s Cluster but the inside is only sort of lumpy and not like a cluster……

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Eating it I thought that this candy might not contain actual nuts..but when I looked at it I was wrong…..It does contain a few broken pieces of nuts that are stale and very soft and some sort of .mixed lump object…….that I don’t know what it is but I think are  lumps of flour with nut dust…..The Reese’s cluster leaves a weird chemical aftertaste in my mouth.

I did eat a second candy to confirm my thoughts. I found that if I ate the candy much slower with tiny bites I could taste more flavors and in some parts of the candy I did get that Reese’s Peanut-butter taste but it became overpowered by the other flavors for the majority of the time laced with a weird chemical aftertaste.

For a Reese’s Lover like me The Clusters are a disappointment.

But on the other hand my husband who is in the 1% of the world that doesn’t like Reese’s Cups really likes the Reese’s Cluster. He thinks the caramel over powers the peanut taste and they are great to him.

He doesn’t know but that means the candy might to some be a failure as something associated with Reese’s. People that enjoy Reese’s Cups and other Reese’s Candy enjoy that unique salty and slightly lumpy in a good way peanut taste with milk chocolate.

I like the size and shape and aroma of the candies and…I also like that these candies are heavily  coated with chocolate….but…for the reasons mentioned-

I won’t eat them. They don’t appeal to me.

1/2 a Fork....OK at best

1/2 a Fork….OK at best…maybe for lovers of caramel

People that want to mix up the Reese Taste with an added sweet nougat like taste, caramel and lumps might enjoy this candy.

Those were my thoughts on Reese’s Clusters.

Your opinion may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Risotto with Black Truffle Recipe

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Risotto with Black Truffle

I picked up a small fresh looking but American Black Truffle so I thought I’d cook up some risotto and see how it would taste.  This risotto is a well seasoned risotto but not over seasoned. It pretty easy to prepare risotto. It takes about twenty minutes of slowly adding ingredients and a lot of stirring. I normally don’t add cream or butter to my style of risotto but used them here because they pair well with truffles. Leftover risotto does not reheat well and you might want to make rice balls with whatever risotto that’s left. It turns out that the American Truffle was better than a canned or bottled truffle but not anywhere up there with Australian Truffles. I’ve read that Italian White Alba Truffles are considered to be the finest and most expensive. But I only remember tasting Australian Truffles from restaurants I’ve visited. Sorry for the poor photos. For whatever reason the risotto was next to impossible for me to capture with my iPhone and turned everything yellow without the colors that it had.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

3 cups mushroom stock (your stock should be hot for preparing risotto)

2 cups arborio rice

1 medium sized sweet onion – finely chopped

1 garlic clove – mashed to paste

1 Calabrian Chile – chopped fine – stem removed

2 oz. sweet butter – room temperature

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil – maybe extra for serving

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup parmigiana reggiano

1/2 teaspoon dry thyme

1/4 teaspoon dry basil

1/4 teaspoon dry oregano

1/4 teaspoon dry rosemary

pinch saffron

a few grates fresh nutmeg

fresh ground black pepper to taste

pinch ground white pepper

at least .05 of a pound of fresh truffle

Directions

Get your sauce pot on medium high heat and add the butter, olive oil and, chile, onions, rice and stir until the onions are translucent.

Next add wine and stir until wine is absorbed.

Add a cup of stock and garlic and stir until stock is absorbed.

Add a cup or less of stock stirring till absorbed and continue till done with stock.

Add remaining herbs, spice, cheese and a cup of heavy cream.

It should look like this. Taste test and check that the rice is firm and cooked through. Add fresh ground sea salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately with shaved truffles. Garnish with a little extra olive oil if desired.

Risotto with Black Truffle

You will impress people with this one. It’s luxurious and delicious!

The Forking Truth

 

With GE Monogram Appliances you Forking need a Home Warranty Service

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Here I am soon to receive my 9th GE repair in 10 years of owning GE Monogram Appliances.

1-My first GE problem was a slow leaking GE Monogram dishwasher that ruined my floor and cabinets and trim. (was under warranty and was replaced)

2- My GE Monogram wall oven kept shutting off. Spent $300. for new control pad.

3- My wall oven still kept shutting off and I didn’t need the $300 control pad but only a $10. connector wire that caught on fire. (problems were both diagnosed by a certified GE Repairman.

4-GE Monogram Microwave repaired 10-25-07 – needed magnetron

5-GE Monogram Microwave repaired 6-30-08 – needed magnetron

6-GE Monogram Microwave repaired 11-13-08 – needed magnetron

7-GE Monogram Microwave repaired 10-26-09 – needed magnetron

A few months latter the microwave stopped working again. Didn’t get anywhere with GE. Someone named Tommy told me all they could do for me was give me a 20% off on a new GE microwave oven but I was on my own for a wall kit. His deal was about the same price as I could do on my own so I threw my over $1,000 dollar microwave oven in the TRASH. I had to spend $100.00 every time I needed a magnetron so I replaced that lemon with a $200.00 microwave oven that works better and hasn’t needed a repair so far.

8-GE Monogram refrigerator and freezer stopped cooling and freezing. Needed an inverter kit ($551.76) 4-29-2014

9-GE Monogram refrigerator and freezer stopped cooling and freezing. Waiting for repair to be done…December 2016…diagnosed as needing a new control board….Got the new control board installed.

Other GE related problems are the plastic inside refrigerator cracks and my egg tray fell apart.

GE used screws that rust in my dishwasher.

The Forking Truth is that when you have GE Monogram Appliances you FORKING need a Home Warranty Service for all the repairs you are going to need. I note that this is typical of GE Monogram Appliances as I learned that all my neighbors and strangers I met at appliance stores have similar stories to tell.

GE Monogram Appliances and GE Repairs and Consumer Service is….

NOT WORTH A FORK!

With GE Monogram Appliances you Forking NEED a Home Warranty for all the repairs you will encounter.

The Forking Truth

My re-visit to The Marketplace Cafe at Nordstrom Department Store at Scottsdale AZ Fashion Square

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My favorite place to eat a fast casual meal in the Scottsdale Fashion Plaza isn’t in the food court. It’s a cafeteria cafe in Nordstrom’s Department Store called The Market Place at Nordstrom’s. They serve eggs that are cage free, the food is organic and much of the food they offer is locally sourced. The casual menu consist of soups, salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, entrees and amazing looking and tasting in house baked desserts.

A few of the house made desserts at Nordstrom’s

I went threw the cafeteria line and we ordered and paid. They gave us a number and we seated ourselves. Other times they have handed us our plates over the cafeteria line then we proceed threw with a tray.

Soon our food arrives.

I got the Nicoise Salad with Herb and Dijon Roasted Salmon. My salad was full of fresh mixed greens, French Green Beans, hard eggs, olives, onion, and delicious creamy and crisp gold potatoes. The dressing that tied it all together was delicious.

Last time I had a delicious Berry Salad that I almost got again…All the salads are great here..I’ve eaten my way threw about half the salads on the menu. I’ve never felt deprived when I tried a salad here!

Berry Blue Cheese and Chicken Salad from Nordstrom’s

My husband got The Grilled Skirt Steak Chimichurri.

The steak was tender like butter and delicious. It came with a generous serving of roasted carrots, asparagus potatoes and cilantro lime vinaigrette. (steak is over the vegetables)

The Market Place Cafe at Nordstrom’s is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

For more information please visit www.restaurants.Nordstrom.com

Your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth